The Jimmy Crespo Project
| Jimmy Crespo | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | James Crespo, Jr. |
| Born |
July 5, 1954 Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Genres | Hard rock, blues rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Associated acts | The Jimmy Crespo Project, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Meat Loaf, Billy Squier, Stevie Nicks, Stress |
| Website | www.jimmycrespo.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| ESP Vintage Plus Gibson Les Paul |
|
James "Jimmy" Crespo, Jr. (born July 5, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist. He was the lead guitarist for Aerosmith from 1979 until 1984. He co-wrote "Rock in a Hard Place" with Steven Tyler, and has performed or recorded with Rod Stewart, Billy Squier, Meat Loaf, Stevie Nicks, Robert Fleischman, Rough Cutt, Renegade, Flame and others.
James Crespo, Jr. was born in Brooklyn and raised by Puerto Rican-American parents (Jaime and Carmen) within a musical family and has one brother John Crespo. Crespo first took up the guitar at age 14. He joined his first band, The Knomes, shortly afterward. During his teenage years he became an accomplished guitarist, drawing on the stylings of such artists as The Yardbirds, Cream, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Forming the New York club band Anaconda, Crespo drew the attention of industry figures, leading to session work with a number of high-profile artists such as Meat Loaf and Stevie Nicks before he was recruited as lead guitarist and songwriter by producer Jimmy Iovine for the major label RCA-signed band "Flame", who was fronted by the powerful lead vocalist Marge Raymond. Flame released two albums: their debut in 1977 Queen of the Neighborhood and in 1978 their second album entitled "Flame".
Returning to session work following the breakup of Flame, Crespo attracted the attention of Aerosmith's management following the departure of Joe Perry from the band in 1979. Invited to audition for the vacant lead guitarist position, Crespo was asked to join Aerosmith in October 1979. Contributing a guitar solo to the song "3 Mile Smile" for the already recorded Night in the Ruts album, Crespo commenced touring with the band soon after joining. The tour was hampered by the increasingly erratic state of the band's singer, Steven Tyler, at this stage heavily beset by drug addiction and suffering several on-stage collapses. Drummer Joey Kramer formed a band called Renegade during this time, and he recruited Marge Raymond to sing lead and front the band. Jimmy Crespo, Tom Hamilton and the late Bob Mayo completed the line-up. An album was recorded at the Power Station in NYC and was produced by Tony Bongiovi, but it has never been released. Renegade is somewhat of a legend in the music industry and the tapes are much sought after by fans. Tyler, after realizing that Renegade was buzzing the industry and about to take off, came back to fulfill his contractual obligation to CBS. Renegade is referenced in several Aerosmith autobiographies.
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