Tommy Bolin
| Tommy Bolin | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Richard Bolin |
| Born |
August 1, 1951 Sioux City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | December 4, 1976 (aged 25) Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | Hard rock, blues rock, funk rock, jazz fusion |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals, bass, drums, piano, keyboards, synthesizer |
| Years active | 1966–1976 |
| Labels | Columbia |
| Associated acts | Zephyr, Billy Cobham, James Gang, Deep Purple, Moxy, Alphonse Mouzon, |
| Website | Official website |
| Notable instruments | |
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Gibson Les Paul |
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Thomas Richard "Tommy" Bolin (August 1, 1951 – December 4, 1976) was an American guitarist who played with Zephyr (from 1969 to 1971), James Gang (from 1973 through 1974), and Deep Purple (from 1975 to 1976), in addition to maintaining a notable solo career.
Tommy Bolin was born in Sioux City, Iowa and began playing in bands around the city as a youth ("A Patch of Blue" and others) before moving to Boulder, Colorado, in his late teens. He had played in a band called American Standard before joining Ethereal Zephyr, a band named after a train that ran between Denver and Chicago. When record companies became interested, the name was shortened to Zephyr. This band included Bolin on guitar, David Givens on bass, and Givens' wife Candy Givens on vocals. The band had begun to do larger venues, opening for more established acts such as Led Zeppelin. Their second album, entitled Going Back to Colorado, featured a new drummer, Bobby Berge, who would pop up from time to time in musician credits in album liner notes from Bolin's later projects.
In 1972 Bolin, at the age of 20, formed the fusion jazz-rock-blues band Energy. While the band never released an album during Bolin's lifetime, several recordings have been released posthumously. He also played on Billy Cobham's Spectrum album, which included Bolin on guitar, Billy Cobham of Mahavishnu Orchestra on drums, Leland Sklar on bass and Jan Hammer (also of Mahavishnu Orchestra) on keyboards and synthesizers.
1973 found him as Domenic Troiano's replacement, who had replaced Joe Walsh, in the James Gang. He had two records with this band: Bang! in 1973 and Miami in 1974.
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