John Porter (born 11 September 1947 in
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
) is an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
and
record producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
.
He attended St Michael's School, Allerton Grange, King's College, and Newcastle University.
While at Newcastle, Porter met singer
Bryan FerryBryan Ferry is an English singer, musician, songwriter and occasional actor known for a suave visual and vocal style, earning him the epithet 'The Electric Lounge Lizard'...
, and was part of his fledgling band The Gas Board. Ferry's later band
Roxy MusicRoxy Music are an English art rock group initiated during the early 1970s by art school graduate Bryan Ferry . The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eno's replacement Eddie Jobson...
had achieved some success in the early 1970s, but having had some troubles with bass players, Ferry invited Porter on board to record the 1973 album
For Your PleasureFor Your Pleasure is a 1973 album by the British glam and art rock group Roxy Music, released by Island Records . The band's second album, it was also their last to feature synthesizer and sound specialist Brian Eno, who would later gain acclaim as a solo artist and producer.-Production:The group...
.
John Porter (born 11 September 1947 in
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
) is an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
and
record producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
.
He attended St Michael's School, Allerton Grange, King's College, and Newcastle University.
While at Newcastle, Porter met singer
Bryan FerryBryan Ferry is an English singer, musician, songwriter and occasional actor known for a suave visual and vocal style, earning him the epithet 'The Electric Lounge Lizard'...
, and was part of his fledgling band The Gas Board. Ferry's later band
Roxy MusicRoxy Music are an English art rock group initiated during the early 1970s by art school graduate Bryan Ferry . The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eno's replacement Eddie Jobson...
had achieved some success in the early 1970s, but having had some troubles with bass players, Ferry invited Porter on board to record the 1973 album
For Your PleasureFor Your Pleasure is a 1973 album by the British glam and art rock group Roxy Music, released by Island Records . The band's second album, it was also their last to feature synthesizer and sound specialist Brian Eno, who would later gain acclaim as a solo artist and producer.-Production:The group...
. He did not perform on tour for the album;
John GustafsonJohn "Gus" Gustafson also known as John Gustafson is a an influential bass player who has had a thirty eight year recording and live performance career...
took over the live duties. Porter went on to serve as a record producer for many later albums for Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry.
Porter is credited with the production of Liverpool's Watt 4 album at Matrix Studios in 1979. He has since claimed this to be the high point of his career. The fact that he had chance to work with legendary guitarist Colin Buchanan "made my day in fact made all my musical career worthwhile"
He has since produced for
JapanJapan were a British pop/rock group, formed in 1974 in Lewisham, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .-Early years:Original members:* David Sylvian : vocals, guitar, keyboards*...
,
The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
,
Billy BraggStephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician who blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs. His lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
,
School of FishSchool of Fish was an alternative rock band which formed in 1989 and disbanded in 1994.The core members were Josh Clayton-Felt and Michael Ward who would play club dates in Los Angeles, California as a duo accompanied by programmed drums and bass. The band signed with Capitol Records in 1990, and...
,
B. B. KingRiley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and guitar playing....
,
Los Lonely BoysLos Lonely Boys is a Grammy Award-winning rock band from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music which they dub as Texican Rock n' Roll, combining elements of rock and roll, blues, soul, country, and Tejano....
, Wonderland
Buddy GuyGeorge "Buddy" Guy is a five-time Grammy Award-winning American blues guitarist and singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and many other guitarists, Guy is considered an important exponent of Chicago blues. He is the father of female rapper Shawnna and...
,
Ryan AdamsDavid Ryan Adams is a Grammy Award-nominated American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter from Jacksonville, North Carolina....
,
Missy HigginsMissy Higgins is an Australian singer-songwriter, best known for the hit singles "Scar", "The Special Two", "Steer" and "Where I Stood". Her second album, On a Clear Night, was released in April 2007...
and numerous other bands. Lol Tolhurst, a founding member of
The CureThe Cure are an English alternative rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976 by Robert Smith, Lawrence Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, stated that Porter was the producer for the second album recorded by his other former band
PresencePresence was a short-lived British rock band started by Gary Biddles, Lol Tolhurst, and Michael Dempsey. Dempsey and Tolhurst were founding members of The Cure, and Biddles was a former Cure roadie who previously played in a band with Simon Gallup called Fools Dance...
, which has never been released.
In 1983 John Porter married the iconic British model, Linda Keith. She is noted to have jump-started the career of such notables as
Jimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter...
. She introduced Jimi to Chas Chandler, then bassist for the Animals, who took Jimi to London in late 1966 and formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience, arguably the finest rock 3-piece trio of all time.
Selected discography
- 1975 Sunny Side of the Street
-Track listing:# "Good Job"# "Pick Me Up"# "Darlin Cory"# "Dance"# "Peace Of Mind"# "Give All You Got To Give"# "Heaven Knows"# "Sunny Side Of The Street"# "Used"# "Thank The Lord"- Personnel :*Bryn Haworth - guitars and vocals...
- Bryn HaworthBryn Haworth is a Christian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music in mainstream rock. Born in Darwen, Lancashire, UK, he has released some eighteen albums and several singles since the 1970s as well as guesting as guitarist on many other albums by rock and folk artists...
- 1979 Quiet Life - Japan
- 1980 Gentlemen Take Polaroids - Japan
- 1984 The Smiths
The Smiths is the debut album by English alternative rock band The Smiths, released on February 20, 1984. The album was well received by the critics as well as the public, and it established The Smiths as a prominent band in the 1980s music scene in the United Kingdom.In 1989, the album was ranked...
- The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
- 1985 Hatful of Hollow
Hatful of Hollow is a compilation album by The Smiths that features BBC Radio 1 studio recordings and two contemporary singles with their B-sides. It was released on November 12, 1984 by the band's British record company, Rough Trade, just months after the band's debut, The Smiths...
- The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
(compilation album, selected tracks only)
- 1985 Meat is Murder
Meat Is Murder is the second studio album by the British alternative rock band The Smiths. It was released in February 1985 and became the band's sole number one album in the UK charts during the band's lifetime. It reached number 110 in the US. In 2003, the album was ranked number 295 on Rolling...
- The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
('How Soon Is Now?' only)
- 1986 The Queen is Dead
The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by the English rock band The Smiths. It was released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records. Sire Records released the album in the United States on 23 June 1986...
- The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
('Frankly Mr Shankly' only)
- 1986 Talking With the Taxman About Poetry - Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician who blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs. His lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
- 1987 Eye of the Hurricane - The Alarm
The Alarm are an alternative rock band that emerged from North Wales in the late 1970s. They started as a Mod band and stayed together for over ten years. Unusually for a rock band, they displayed marked influences from Welsh language and culture...
- 1987 Louder than Bombs
Louder Than Bombs is a compilation album by The Smiths. It was released as a double album in March 1987 by their American record company, Sire Records. Its highest chart position was number 63. Popular demand prompted their British record company, Rough Trade, to issue the album domestically as...
- The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
(compilation album, selected tracks only)
- 1987 The World Won't Listen
The World Won't Listen is a compilation album by The Smiths. It was released in February 1987 by their record company, Rough Trade Records, and reached #2 on the British charts.-About the album:...
- The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
(compilation album, selected tracks only)
- 1991 Three Strange Days - School of Fish
School of Fish was an alternative rock band which formed in 1989 and disbanded in 1994.The core members were Josh Clayton-Felt and Michael Ward who would play club dates in Los Angeles, California as a duo accompanied by programmed drums and bass. The band signed with Capitol Records in 1990, and...
- 1991 Damn Right I've Got the Blues - Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is a five-time Grammy Award-winning American blues guitarist and singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and many other guitarists, Guy is considered an important exponent of Chicago blues. He is the father of female rapper Shawnna and...
(Grammy Winner)
- 1992 Drenched - Miracle Legion
Miracle Legion was a Connecticut-based college rock band begun in 1984, consisting of singer Mark Mulcahy, guitarist Mr. Ray Neal, drummer Jeff Wiederschall, and bassist Steven West. In their early stages they received constant comparisons to R.E.M., more in their presence, and over all sound and...
- 1992 Best of The Smiths Vol. 1 & 2 - The Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
(compilation albums, selected tracks only)
- 1993 Dancing the Blues - Taj Mahal
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who goes by the stage name Taj Mahal, is an internationally recognized blues musician with two Grammy Awards to date who folds various forms of world music into his offerings...
(Grammy Nominee)
- 1993 Feels Like Rain - Buddy Guy (Grammy Winner)
- 1994 Ain't Enough Comin' In - Otis Rush
Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...
(Grammy Nominee)
- 1994 Keb' Mo - Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo is an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter.-Early life:...
(Grammy Nominee)
- 1994 Meet Me at Midnite - Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the folk music revival of the early 1960s...
(Grammy Nominee)
- 1994 Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's - The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made rock history as the first all-woman band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
- 1994 Simpatico - Velocity Girl
Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland, although it was generally known as a Washington, DC-area band. The band took its name from a Primal Scream B-side...
- 1995 Good Girl - The Go-Go's
- 1995 The Singles - The Smiths (compilation album, selected tracks only)
- 1995 Sweet and Tender Hooligan - The Smiths
- 1996 Just Like You - Keb' Mo' (Grammy Winner)
- 1996 No Day - Moe.
moe. is an American jam band, formed at the University at Buffalo in 1990. The band members are: Rob Derhak , Al Schnier , Chuck Garvey , Vinnie Amico , and Jim Loughlin ....
- 1996 Phantom Blues - Taj Mahal (Grammy Winner)
- 1997 Blues For the Lost Days - John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is a pioneering English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical career spans over fifty years but the most notable episode in it occurred during the late '60s...
- 1997 Deuces Wild - B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and guitar playing....
(Grammy Nominee)
- 1997 Senor Blues - Taj Mahal (Grammy Winner)
- 1998 Smile Like Yours - John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an African American singer-songwriter and blues guitarist, born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues...
- 1998 Blues on the Bayou - B.B.King (Grammy Winner)
- 1998 Silver Tones: The Best of John Mayall - John Mayall
- 1999 Moonburn - Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Jon Cleary is a funk and R&B musician based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is from Cranbrook in Kent, England, and has studied for the past 20 years the "musical culture and life of New Orleans," according to his website...
- 1999 Preaching to the Converted - Billy Bragg
- 1999 Time to Burn - Jake Andrews
Jake Andrews is an American blues-rock guitarist, singer and song-writer from Austin, Texas. Andrews began playing guitar at age 5, taught by his father, John Andrews of the 60s Roots Band Mother Earth with noted singer Tracy Nelson...
- 2000 End of Bliss - Wonderland
- 2000 Makin' Love is Good For You - B.B. King (Grammy Winner)
- 2000 Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down - R. L. Burnside
R. L. Burnside , born Robert Lee Burnside, was a North Mississippi hill country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s...
(Grammy Nominee)
- 2001 Dot Com Blues - Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
(Grammy Nominee)
- 2001 Double Dealin' - Lucky Peterson
Lucky Peterson is an American musician who plays contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He plays guitar and keyboards...
(Grammy Nominee)
- 2001 Down to Earth (Limited Edition) - Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English singer-songwriter, whose career has now spanned four decades. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of pioneering British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and eventually achieved a multi-platinum solo career which revolutionized the heavy metal genre...
- 2002 Dirty Sexy Nights in Paris - Audiovent
Audiovent was an American alternative rock band from Calabasas, California. Audiovent was formed in the early 1990s under the name Vent, and broke up in 2004.-History:...
- 2002 Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen - Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
- 2003 Los Lonely Boys - Los Lonely Boys
Los Lonely Boys is a Grammy Award-winning rock band from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music which they dub as Texican Rock n' Roll, combining elements of rock and roll, blues, soul, country, and Tejano....
(Grammy Winner)
- 2003 Love is Hell Pt. 1 & 2 - Ryan Adams (Grammy Nominees)
- 2003 Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues - Red, White, and Blues (Grammy Winners)
- 2003 Punch Clock - Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres...
- 2004 Heaven - Los Lonely Boys (Grammy Nominee)
- 2004 Keep it Simple - Keb' Mo' (Grammy Winner)
- 2004 Pin Your Spin - Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
- 2005 All That I Am - Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican-born American Grammy Award-winning rock musician and guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a blend of rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based...
- 2005 Live At the Filmore - Los Lonely Boys
- 2005 Man Alive! - Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
- 2005 The Sound of White - Missy Higgins
Missy Higgins is an Australian singer-songwriter, best known for the hit singles "Scar", "The Special Two", "Steer" and "Where I Stood". Her second album, On a Clear Night, was released in April 2007...
- 2006 No Doy/Tin Cans and Car Tires - Moe.
- 2006 Out of the Shadows - Phantom Blues Band
- 2006 Sacred - Los Lonely Boys
- 2006 Suitcase - Keb' Mo' (Grammy Nominee)
- 2007 Painkiller - Tommy Castro
Tommy Castro is a blues guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at a young age and was influenced and inspired by electric blues, Chicago blues, west coast blues, soul music, '60's rock and roll and Southern rock. His style has always been a hybrid of all his favorite genres...
- 2007 So Many Nights
So Many Nights is The Cat Empire's fourth studio album. On 30 July 2007, the band announced on their website and to their mailing list that the album has been released on 22 September. The release of the album was followed by an Australian tour in September and October. On 14 October, the band...
- The Cat EmpireThe Cat Empire is an Australian eclectic band from Melbourne, Australia. Currently, the Cat Empire comprises of Felix Riebl , Harry James Angus , Ollie McGill , Ryan Monro , Will Hull-Brown and Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala...
Roxy Music discography
Porter is credited on the following Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry works:
- For Your Pleasure
For Your Pleasure is a 1973 album by the British glam and art rock group Roxy Music, released by Island Records . The band's second album, it was also their last to feature synthesizer and sound specialist Brian Eno, who would later gain acclaim as a solo artist and producer.-Production:The group...
- These Foolish Things
- In Search Of Eddie Riff (1974 Version)
- Another Time, Another Place
- In Search Of Eddie Riff (1975 Version)
- Let's Stick Together
- In Your Mind
- A Song For Europe
- In Search Of Eddie Riff (2000 CD Version)