Jerry Harrison


Jeremiah Griffin Harrison is an American songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur. He achieved fame as the keyboardist and guitarist for the new wave band Talking Heads and as an original member of the Modern Lovers. In 2002, Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.

Career

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Harrison played with Jonathan Richman in The Modern Lovers when he was an architecture student at Harvard University. Harrison was introduced to Richman by mutual friend and journalist Danny Fields and the pair bonded over their shared love of the Velvet Underground. He joined The Modern Lovers in early 1971, playing on their debut album in 1972, and left in February 1974, when Richman wished to perform his songs more quietly.
Harrison joined Talking Heads in 1977, after the release of their debut single "Love → Building on Fire".
Harrison's solo albums include The Red and the Black, Casual Gods, and Walk on Water. The single "Rev It Up" reached a high-point of number seven on the US Mainstream Charts in 1987. The song appeared in the 1992 movie The Prom, and an instrumental version appeared in the 1986 movie Something Wild.
After the 1991 breakup of Talking Heads, Harrison turned to producing and worked on albums by bands including Hockey, Violent Femmes, The BoDeans, The Von Bondies, General Public, Live, Crash Test Dummies, The Verve Pipe, Rusted Root, Stroke 9, The Bogmen, Black 47, The Mayfield Four, Of A Revolution, No Doubt, Josh Joplin Group, The Black and White Years, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bamboo Shoots, the String Cheese Incident and The Gracious Few. He was also Chairman of the Board for Garageband.com, an internet music resource he co-founded in 1999.

Film work

Harrison, as a member of Talking Heads, is featured throughout the 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme. Also during the Talking Heads era, Harrison made cameo appearances as Billy Idol, Kid Creole and Prince look-alike lip-synchers in David Byrne's 1986 film True Stories. Harrison also had a small part in the 2006 film The Darwin Awards as "Guy in Bar No. 1" alongside John Doe of the band X.

Discography

Talking Heads

Solo albums

Singles

The Heads

Production