Lee Merton "Dewey" Bunnell (born January 19, 1952) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, and a founding member of the band

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Music career

After an initial attempt at forming a band in the late 1960s, Bunnell, Beckley, and Peek formed

in 1969 and released their first album in 1971. As with the other members, Bunnell wrote, sang and played guitar. His best-known compositions include " A Horse with No Name", " Ventura Highway", and " Tin Man". Bunnell has explained that "A Horse with No Name" was "a metaphor for a vehicle to get away from life's confusion into a quiet, peaceful place", while "Sandman" was inspired by his casual talks with returning

Vietnam veteran A Vietnam veteran is an individual who performed active Army, ground, Navy, naval, or Air force, air service in the South Vietnam, Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed fo ...

s. Afraid that they might be attacked and killed in their sleep, many of them chose to stay awake as long as possible, either naturally or with pharmaceuticals. Thus, they were "running from the Sandman." Bunnell is still a member of America, along with the remaining founding member, Gerry Beckley. America has made more than 20 albums of original material, along with a number of hits compilations, between the 1960s and the present. In 2002, the band released a holiday album entitled ''Holiday Harmony''. America's album ''Back Pages'' was released on 26 July 2011. The group was given a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

in February 2012. America's most recent album, ''Lost & Found'', was officially released 5 May 2015, containing unreleased tracks recorded between 2002 and 2010.

Personal life

Bunnell was born in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, England, to an American serviceman father, stationed at the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

base at RAF South Ruislip, and his English wife. As a young musician, Bunnell was inspired by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. While attending

London Central High School London Central Elementary High School (LCEHS), formerly London Central High School, was a United States Department of Defense Dependents School (Department of Defense Dependents Schools, DoDDS) in the Isles District of DoDDS Europe for pupils in ...

in England, he met

Gerry Beckley Gerald Linford Beckley (born September 12, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, and a founding member of the band America (band), America. Early life Beckley was born to an American father and an English mother. He began pla ...

and

Dan Peek Daniel Milton Peek () was an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder of the band America, and later a "pioneer" in contemporary Christian music. Early life Peek was born in Panama City, Florida, on November 1, 1 ...

. In 1973, he moved to

Marin County, California Marin County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat a ...

, with his then-wife, Vivien. They had two children, Dylan and Lauren. The two divorced in 1999 and he married Penny in 2002. He then legally adopted Penny's daughter, Destry.

Discography

References

External links

* * * 1952 births Living people American soft rock musicians Musicians from Harrogate American male singer-songwriters American singer-songwriters American people of English descent American rock guitarists America (band) members American folk guitarists American male guitarists American folk singers American pop guitarists People from Palos Verdes, California 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Singer-songwriters from California {{US-musician-stub