Probyn Gregory is a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 who was raised in the disparate climates of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

 and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and is now based in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. For many years, he has been a member of the Brian Wilson Band (2005 Grammy award), and has performed/recorded with Wondermints, Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

, Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

, Billy Joel

Billy Joel

William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...

, Badly Drawn Boy

Badly Drawn Boy

Damon Gough is an English alternative music singer/songwriter. He was born on 2 October 1969, in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. He grew up in the Breightmet area of Bolton, Lancashire, England....

, Andrew Gold

Andrew Gold

Andrew Maurice Gold was an American singer, musician and songwriter. His works include the Top 10 single "Lonely Boy" , as well as the singles "Thank You for Being a Friend" , and "Never Let Her Slip Away" ....

 (Byrds Of A Feather), Eels

Eels (band)

Eels is an American indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E...

, Arthur Lee

Arthur Lee (musician)

Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...

 and Love

Love (band)

Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...

, Riviera, The Mello Cads, Cosmo Topper, The Now People, Heart

Heart (band)

Heart is an American rock band who first found success in Canada. Throughout several lineup changes, the only two members remaining constant are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music...

, Jan & Dean, Baby Lemonade

Baby Lemonade

Baby Lemonade is a band in the neo-psychedelic genre formed in Los Angeles. Their 1998 album Exploring Music was produced by Darian Sahanaja of The Wondermints. The group was Love founder Arthur Lee's backing band prior to his incarceration, and after his release from prison in 2001 until his death...

, Peter Case

Peter Case

Peter Case is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has had a wide-ranging career ranging from new wave music to folk rock to solo acoustic performance.-Early career:...

, TNP/Stew

Stew (musician)

Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name...

, The Groundlings

The Groundlings

The Groundlings are an improvisational comedy troupe based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin to produce sketches and improvised scenes...

 house band, and innumerable others in L.A.'s power pop

Power pop

Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...

 scene over the past 25 years. He features as lead vocalist on “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” from Wondermint’s “Wonderful World of the Wondermints”-album, on “I Send Up My Prayer” from Nick Vernier Band

Nick Vernier Band

Nick Vernier Band is an alias for productions by Dutch musician and record producer Eric Van Den Brink. Although a ‘one man band’ in essence, featured collaborators include Probyn Gregory, Gerry Beckley , Stephen John Kalinich, Paul Jones, Iain Matthews, Matt Malley, Emitt Rhodes, Duncan Maitland,...

’s “Sessions

Nick Vernier Band Sessions (album)

Nick Vernier Band’s Sessions is a collaborative album by an ensemble containing notable musicians, such as Probyn Gregory, Gerry Beckley , Matt Malley, Paul Jones, Iain Matthews, Emitt Rhodes, Pizza Delivery Boys, Janaki, The Monkees...

”-album, and on “A Time To Live In Dreams” from Stephen Kalinich

Stephen Kalinich

Stephen John Kalinich is an American poet.-Early Days:Kalinich drifted from the East Coast to California in the mid-‘60s, transferring from New York’s Harper College to UCLA. Immersing himself in the anti-war movement, he began working the LA scene as a poet and performer, appearing at legendary...

’s “California Feeling”-album.

Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist

Probyn brings a hidden musical element to the Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson

Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...

 show that is not unlike what Al Jardine

Al Jardine

Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...

 brought to The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

. He plays guitar, banjo, keyboards, trumpet, French horn, Flügelhorn

Flugelhorn

The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...

, and the tannerin (a theremin

Theremin

The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...

 emulator, featured on "Good Vibrations"), and adds a beautiful tenor voice to the harmonic blend. His guitar playing has garnered praise from no less than Eric Clapton, who complimented his slide guitar playing.

Smile album

He also is a long time Beach Boys fan. To date his fanhood, back in the 1980s Probyn placed a classified ad in L.A.'s Recycler, pleading that Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 would release the Smile album

Smile (Brian Wilson album)

Smile, sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE, or referred to as Brian Wilson Presents Smile is a solo album by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks released on September 28, 2004 on CD and two-disc vinyl LP...

. Little did he know that two decades later he’d be playing and singing on that very album.

Valentunes

He founded Valentunes, a music company creating personalized musical Valentine messages, and wrote and recorded 19 songs for a Children’s TV Workshop science series. Probyn is also a summer director at Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music

Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music

The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music is located in Nelson, New Hampshire , housed in the buildings of an old horse farm on Apple Hill Road, on the eponymous hill...

, and has composed and recorded for several music libraries.

External links

• Probyn Gregory
• Brian Wilson Band