John Geils
| J. Geils | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Warren Geils Jr. |
| Born |
February 20, 1946 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 11, 2017 (aged 71) Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1967–2017 |
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John Warren "J." Geils Jr. (/ɡaɪlz/) (February 20, 1946 – April 11, 2017) was an American guitarist. He was known as the leader of The J. Geils Band.
Growing up in New York City, Geils became interested in jazz and blues. After moving to Massachusetts for his college education, he formed the J. Geils Blues Band while still a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After dropping the word "Blues" from their name, the band released their first album in 1970, performing soul and rhythm and blues-influenced rock music for most of the 1970s before turning to pop music in the 1980s. After the band broke up in 1985, Geils left regular performing to take up restoration and racing of automobiles, with occasional forays into music production. He continued to appear in reunion tours with the rest of his band sporadically during the 2000s and 2010s. He died of natural causes at the age of 71 on April 11, 2017, at his home in Groton, Massachusetts.
John Warren Geils Jr. was born on February 20, 1946 in New York City, and grew up in Morris Plains, New Jersey. He was of German ancestry. His father was an engineer at Bell Labs and a jazz fan.
From an early age, he heard his father's albums by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie, and was escorted by his father to a Louis Armstrong concert. He worked out Miles Davis music on trumpet and drums, and he listened to blues guitarists Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters on the radio. In 1964, he began attending Northeastern University and was a trumpeter in the marching band. When he was drawn to folk musicians in Boston, he left Northeastern for Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he studied mechanical engineering.
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