Gregg Rolie
Encyclopedia
Gregg Alan Rolie is an American
keyboardist
, organist
, and singer, who is one of the founding members of the bands Santana
, The Storm
, Abraxas Pool
and Journey
, for whom he was the original lead singer. He currently performs with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
with Santana.
in Palo Alto, California
, circa 1965, playing at least one high school dance at Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California
. A year after graduating from high school in 1965, Rolie joined with Carlos Santana
and others to form the Santana Blues Band, which was later shortened to Santana
. With Santana he was part of their first wave of success, including an appearance at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival
and several hit albums. He is perhaps best known for being the lead vocalist on Santana's hits Black Magic Woman
(US #4) and Evil Ways
, as well as his work developing a style and a sound on the Hammond B3 organ
. However, persistent differences with Carlos Santana regarding the musical direction of the band led Rolie to leave the band at the end of 1971. He went home to Seattle, opening a restaurant with his father, which was not very successful.
In 1973 Rolie joined a new band with ex-Santana guitarist Neal Schon
; this became Journey
.
Starring in a lineup that featured Schon, Aynsley Dunbar
, George Tickner
, and Ross Valory
, he was keyboardist
for the band's first six albums. On Journey and Look into the Future
, he was lead vocalist
, and on Next
he shared those duties with guitarist Neal Schon. After Steve Perry
joined the band in 1977, Rolie sang co-lead vocals on several songs on the albums Infinity, Evolution
, and Departure
.
After leaving Journey in 1980, Gregg released several solo albums, including the eponymous Gregg Rolie in 1985. This album featured the song "I Wanna Go Back," which later became a hit for Eddie Money
, and included contributions from Carlos Santana
, Peter Wolf
, Neal Schon
, and Craig Chaquico
. A second solo effort, Gringo, was released in 1987.
Rolie formed The Storm
in 1991 with Steve Smith
and Ross Valory
of Journey. The band also included Josh Ramos (whose guitar style resembles that of Neal Schon) and Kevin Chalfant
(whose voice resembles that of Steve Perry). Similar to his work with Journey and Steve Perry, Rolie played keyboards and was a co-lead vocalist on several tracks of the band's first, eponymous, album, which hit #3 on the Billboard
albums chart and spawned the Top Ten single "I've Got A Lot To Learn About Love." Despite this success, their second album, recorded in 1993, was shelved, due to the industry's shifting focus to favor rap and alternative music audiences. It finally saw limited release in 1996, and in 1998, Rolie and other former members of Santana, including Neal Schon, briefly reunited as Abraxas Pool
, releasing one eponymous album. When Schon left to lead a re-formed Journey later that year, Rolie and other Abraxas Pool members formed the Gregg Rolie Band, which released the album Roots in 2001.
, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on the organization's Honorary Board of Directors.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
, organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
, and singer, who is one of the founding members of the bands Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
, The Storm
The Storm (band)
The Storm is an American rock group, formed in the Bay Area of San Francisco during the early 1990s. The band is best known for their first single, the power ballad "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", which peaked at #6 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.The...
, Abraxas Pool
Abraxas Pool
Abraxas Pool is a 1997 album by ex-Santana members Mike Shrieve, Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie, José "Chepito" Areas, Alphonso Johnson, and Mike Carabello.-Track listing:# "Boom Ba Ya Ya"...
and Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
, for whom he was the original lead singer. He currently performs with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
with Santana.
Career
Prior to embarking on his successful career, Rolie played with a group called William Penn and his Pals while attending Cubberley High SchoolEllwood P. Cubberley High School
Cubberley High School was one of three public high schools in Palo Alto California. Opened in 1956, Cubberley High was located at 4000 Middlefield Road. It was finally closed in 1979 as a reaction to declining enrollment and decreased revenues following Proposition 13...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
, circa 1965, playing at least one high school dance at Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
. A year after graduating from high school in 1965, Rolie joined with Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
and others to form the Santana Blues Band, which was later shortened to Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
. With Santana he was part of their first wave of success, including an appearance at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
and several hit albums. He is perhaps best known for being the lead vocalist on Santana's hits Black Magic Woman
Black Magic Woman
"Black Magic Woman" is a song written by Peter Green that first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1968, subsequently appearing on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums English Rose and The Pious Bird of Good Omen . In 1970, it became a classic hit by Santana, as sung...
(US #4) and Evil Ways
Evil Ways
"Evil Ways" is a song by Santana from their 1969 album Santana. It was written by Clarence "Sonny" Henry and recorded by jazz percussionist Willie Bobo in 1968 on his album of the same name. The song is in simple verse form...
, as well as his work developing a style and a sound on the Hammond B3 organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
. However, persistent differences with Carlos Santana regarding the musical direction of the band led Rolie to leave the band at the end of 1971. He went home to Seattle, opening a restaurant with his father, which was not very successful.
In 1973 Rolie joined a new band with ex-Santana guitarist Neal Schon
Neal Schon
Neal George Joseph Schon is an American rock guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist best known for his work with the band Journey. He is the only member to have recorded on all of Journey's albums...
; this became Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
.
Starring in a lineup that featured Schon, Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Thomas Dunbar is an English drummer. He has worked with some of the top names in rock, including Eric Burdon, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, UFO, and Journey...
, George Tickner
George Tickner
George Tickner is an American rock musician who played rhythm guitar and co-wrote songs as a founding member of Journey. Prior to joining Journey, Tickner was a member of the San Francisco psychedelic rock band Frumious Bandersnatch, along with fellow Journey founder Ross Valory...
, and Ross Valory
Ross Valory
Ross Lamont Valory is Journey's noted bass player. He and Neal Schon are the only original members of the band still performing with the group. Aside from his termination from the group during the Raised on Radio album sessions in 1986, Ross has played on all of Journey's albums...
, he was keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
for the band's first six albums. On Journey and Look into the Future
Look into the Future
Journey's second album, Look into the Future, was released in January 1976 on Columbia Records.For their second album, the members of Journey toned down the overt progressiveness of their first, self-titled release, in favor of a more focused, commercial approach...
, he was lead vocalist
Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, and on Next
Next (Journey album)
-Band:*Neal Schon - guitar , lead vocals, producer*Gregg Rolie - keyboards, lead vocals, producer*Aynsley Dunbar - drums and percussion, producer*Ross Valory - bass, background vocals, producer-Other:*Smiggy - engineer, mixing...
he shared those duties with guitarist Neal Schon. After Steve Perry
Steve Perry (musician)
Stephen Ray "Steve" Perry is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Journey from 1977–1987 and 1995–1998. Perry had a successful solo career throughout the late 1980s and early '90s.Perry's voice has garnered acclaim from musical peers and music...
joined the band in 1977, Rolie sang co-lead vocals on several songs on the albums Infinity, Evolution
Evolution (Journey album)
Evolution is the name of Journey's fifth studio album. It was released in April 1979 on Columbia Records.The album was their highest charting album to date, selling three million copies in the US...
, and Departure
Departure (Journey album)
-Personnel:*Neal Schon - guitars, lead vocals on track 4, backing vocals*Steve Perry - lead vocals*Gregg Rolie - keyboards, harmonica, lead vocals on track 3, backing vocals*Steve Smith - drums and percussion*Ross Valory - bass, backing vocals-Charts:...
.
After leaving Journey in 1980, Gregg released several solo albums, including the eponymous Gregg Rolie in 1985. This album featured the song "I Wanna Go Back," which later became a hit for Eddie Money
Eddie Money
Eddie Money is an American rock guitarist, saxophonist and singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums...
, and included contributions from Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
, Peter Wolf
Peter Wolf
Peter Wolf is an American Rhythm and Blues, Soul and Rock and Roll musician, best known as the lead vocalist for the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983; and for a successful musical solo career to date with writing partner Will Jennings.- Life and career :Wolf was born in the Bronx, New York...
, Neal Schon
Neal Schon
Neal George Joseph Schon is an American rock guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist best known for his work with the band Journey. He is the only member to have recorded on all of Journey's albums...
, and Craig Chaquico
Craig Chaquico
Craig Chaquico is an American guitarist of Portuguese and Native American descent. He has had over thirty years of success in a variety of genres: in the 1970s with the post-Summer of Love Jefferson Starship, in that band's 1980s incarnation, Starship, and in the 1990s and 2000s as a...
. A second solo effort, Gringo, was released in 1987.
Rolie formed The Storm
The Storm (band)
The Storm is an American rock group, formed in the Bay Area of San Francisco during the early 1990s. The band is best known for their first single, the power ballad "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", which peaked at #6 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.The...
in 1991 with Steve Smith
Steve Smith (musician)
Steve Elliott Smith is an American drummer who has worked with hundreds of artists in his career, but is mostly known for being the drummer of the rock band Journey during their peak years of success. Modern Drummer magazine readers voted him the #1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row...
and Ross Valory
Ross Valory
Ross Lamont Valory is Journey's noted bass player. He and Neal Schon are the only original members of the band still performing with the group. Aside from his termination from the group during the Raised on Radio album sessions in 1986, Ross has played on all of Journey's albums...
of Journey. The band also included Josh Ramos (whose guitar style resembles that of Neal Schon) and Kevin Chalfant
Kevin Chalfant
Kevin Chalfant is an American singer-songwriter and a native of Streator, Illinois. He obtained a BMI award for co-writing and singing on one of the most frequently aired rock radio hits of 1992 and 1993, "I’ve Got A Lot To Learn About Love"', by The Storm...
(whose voice resembles that of Steve Perry). Similar to his work with Journey and Steve Perry, Rolie played keyboards and was a co-lead vocalist on several tracks of the band's first, eponymous, album, which hit #3 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
albums chart and spawned the Top Ten single "I've Got A Lot To Learn About Love." Despite this success, their second album, recorded in 1993, was shelved, due to the industry's shifting focus to favor rap and alternative music audiences. It finally saw limited release in 1996, and in 1998, Rolie and other former members of Santana, including Neal Schon, briefly reunited as Abraxas Pool
Abraxas Pool
Abraxas Pool is a 1997 album by ex-Santana members Mike Shrieve, Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie, José "Chepito" Areas, Alphonso Johnson, and Mike Carabello.-Track listing:# "Boom Ba Ya Ya"...
, releasing one eponymous album. When Schon left to lead a re-formed Journey later that year, Rolie and other Abraxas Pool members formed the Gregg Rolie Band, which released the album Roots in 2001.
Philanthropy
Gregg Rolie is a proponent of music education for children. In 2005, he signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids RockLittle Kids Rock
Little Kids Rock is a nonprofit organization that provides free instruments and lessons to children in under-served public schools. The organization is supported by a number of music industry luminaries including Bonnie Raitt, Slash, Joe Satriani, BB King, Jason Newsted, Linkin Park's Brad Delson,...
, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on the organization's Honorary Board of Directors.
Solo discography
(also as Gregg Rolie Band)- Gregg Rolie - 1985
- Gringo - 1987
- Rough Tracks - 1997
- Roots - 2001
- Rain Dance (Live) - 2007
with Santana
- SantanaSantana (album)Santana is the debut studio album by the San Francisco rock group Santana released in 1969. It is a release of largely instrumental music, recorded by what was originally a purely free-form jam band...
- 1969 - AbraxasAbraxas (album)Abraxas is the second studio album by the Latin influenced rock band Santana. Consolidating their highly acclaimed live performance at the Woodstock Festival in August of 1969, and the interest generated by their first album, Santana , the band took some time to issue a follow-up...
- 1970 - Santana III - 1971
- CaravanseraiCaravanserai (album)Caravanserai is the fourth studio album by Santana released in October 1972. It marked a major turning point in Carlos Santana's career as it was a sharp departure from his critically acclaimed first three albums...
- 1972
with Journey
- Journey - 1975
- Look into the FutureLook into the FutureJourney's second album, Look into the Future, was released in January 1976 on Columbia Records.For their second album, the members of Journey toned down the overt progressiveness of their first, self-titled release, in favor of a more focused, commercial approach...
- 1976 - NextNext (Journey album)-Band:*Neal Schon - guitar , lead vocals, producer*Gregg Rolie - keyboards, lead vocals, producer*Aynsley Dunbar - drums and percussion, producer*Ross Valory - bass, background vocals, producer-Other:*Smiggy - engineer, mixing...
- 1977 - Infinity - 1978
- EvolutionEvolution (Journey album)Evolution is the name of Journey's fifth studio album. It was released in April 1979 on Columbia Records.The album was their highest charting album to date, selling three million copies in the US...
- 1979 - DepartureDeparture (Journey album)-Personnel:*Neal Schon - guitars, lead vocals on track 4, backing vocals*Steve Perry - lead vocals*Gregg Rolie - keyboards, harmonica, lead vocals on track 3, backing vocals*Steve Smith - drums and percussion*Ross Valory - bass, backing vocals-Charts:...
- 1980 - Dream, After Dream - 1980
- CapturedCaptured (Journey album)This album was recorded during the band's "Departure" tour in 1980. Tracks 1-4 were taken from a performance recorded at The Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on August 8, 1980...
- 1981
with The Storm
- The Storm - 1991
- Eye of the Storm - 1992