Les Dudek
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| Les Dudek | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 2, 1952 Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island, United States |
| Genres | Blues rock, Southern rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1976- Now |
| Associated acts | Steve Miller Band, The Dudek-Finnigan-Krueger Band, Stevie Nicks, Cher, Boz Scaggs, The Allman Brothers Band |
Les Dudek (born August 2, 1952, at Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island) is an American guitarist.
Early years
Les Dudek's father, Harold, was born in Campbell, Nebraska, and was a World War II veteran in the United States Navy. His mother, Alma, born in Brooklyn, was a former Radio City Music Hall Rockette. Les has one older sister, Sandy, who was born in Brooklyn. The family is of Czech, German, Italian, and Russian ancestry. Six years after Les was born, his father retired from the Navy and the family moved to Florida where he grew up.
Musical career
The Beatles caught Les’ ear at an early age. In 1962, at the age of ten, Les asked his parents for a guitar for Christmas. They bought him an acoustic guitar from Sears & Roebuck. His musical influences, along with The Beatles, were Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and The Ventures.[1] He had built quite a reputation around the Florida area as a proficient guitar player, having started playing in local bands as a teenager. Those bands were "The United Sounds", "Blue Truth" and "Power". That reputation would place him in the studio with the Allman Brothers Band for the recording of the Brothers & Sisters album. He played guitar harmonies with Dickey Betts on the well-known song "Ramblin' Man" and acoustic guitar on "Jessica".[2] Dudek claims he should have received credit for Jessica. In the book "One Way Out," Dudek claims to have written the part in Jessica from when it modulates into G then eventually back to A.
His next stops were as a guitarist for Boz Scaggs and The Steve Miller Band. Dudek was invited to play in a supergroup called Journey but he had received an offer to record for Columbia Records as a solo artist. He recorded four solo albums for Columbia Records, "Les Dudek" (Debut), "Say No More", "Ghost Town Parade" and "Gypsy Ride". His work was praised by the critics but widespread fame and success eluded him. He had two minor hits with “City Magic” and “Old Judge Jones” which were played frequently on local radio stations in the Los Angeles, California area, where he lived at the time, having moved to West Hollywood in the mid-1970s.[citation needed]
He later collaborated with Cher, Stevie Nicks, and with two other Columbia Artists, Mike Finnegan and Jim Krueger, with whom he formed DFK (Dudek, Finnegan, and Krueger) in 1978. A DFK album was released by Columbia Records a year later.
Between the years 1979 and 1982, Les and Cher had a personal as well as professional relationship. Dudek wrote and performed some of the music for the 1984 movie Mask starring Cher, Sam Elliott, Eric Stoltz, and Laura Dern. He had a small part in the film as "Bone", a biker. He has worked for NBC, ABC, ESPN, Fox Sports, and E! Entertainment Television. He can be heard on many television series including Friends.
In 1989, he did a brief stint with Canadian rock group John Kay & Steppenwolf as their guitarist. But problems developed between Dudek and Kay which led to him leave the band after a month of touring.
1991 Les played guitar with Stevie Nicks on her "Whole Lot Of Trouble" tour.
Two more solo Cds later, "Deeper Shades Of Blues" and "Freestyle", Dudek hit the road again with his own band, and has been performing songs from all his records, plus a few hits he's recorded with other artists.[citation needed]
Finally in 2013 he releases another album "Delta Breeze".
Discography
Les Dudek
- Les Dudek (1976)
- Say No More (1977)
- Ghost Town Parade (1978)
- Gypsy Ride (1981)
- Deeper Shades of Blues (2001)
- Freestyle! (2003)
- Delta Breeze (2013)
The Dudek, Finnigan, Krueger Band
- Fly Like An Eagle (1976)
- Book of Dreams (1977)
- Living in the 20th Century (1987)
- Wide River (1993)
- Rock A Little (1985)
- Black Rose (1980)
- Old crest on a new wave (1980)
- Silk Degrees (1976)
- Southern Winds (1978)
- Red Hot & Blue (1978)
- Black & White (1978)
- Brothers & Sisters (1973)
- Rock Your Socks Off (1976)
References
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External links
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with unsourced statements from December 2009
- 1951 births
- American rock guitarists
- American people of Czech descent
- American people of German descent
- American people of Italian descent
- American people of Russian descent
- Living people
- Musicians from Florida
- Steppenwolf (band) members
