Gary Duncan (born Eugene Duncan, Jr., adopted at birth and named Gary Ray Grubb,
September 4, 1946 – June 29, 2019) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was guitarist with
The Brogues, then most notably with
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...
, where the complex interplay between himself and fellow-guitarist
John Cipollina did much to define the unique sound of that San Francisco based band.
Early life and musical career
Born in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, Duncan grew up in
Ceres, California, where (as Gary Grubb) he played guitar for the Ratz until they finished their performance itinerary as an opening act for
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
and
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
at the War Memorial Auditorium in San Jose, California. It was in 1965 when, as Gary Cole, he joined
the Brogues, in
Merced, California
Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on Apri ...
, and met future Quicksilver Messenger Service drummer
Greg Elmore. It was with the Brogues that he adopted the stage name Gary Duncan. He stayed with them until they broke up in 1965.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
In late 1965 Duncan received a call from
John Cipollina offering an audition for himself and fellow Brogues member Greg Elmore to join Quicksilver Messenger Service. The group first performed in December 1965 at The Matrix. The complex guitar interplay between Duncan and John Cipollina had a big influence on the sound of
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
. In early 1969, after
recording
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
two albums, Duncan left Quicksilver and as he describes it, "I left for a year and rode motorcycles and lived in New York City and Los Angeles and just kind of went crazy for about a year."
By the beginning of 1970 Duncan rejoined Quicksilver Messenger Service along with singer/guitarist
Dino Valenti
Chester William Powers, Jr. (October 7, 1937 – November 16, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter, and under the stage names Dino Valenti or Dino Valente, one of the lead singers of the rock group Quicksilver Messenger Service. As a songwri ...
which pushed the group toward a more
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
sound. By 1971 the original group had splintered with Cipollina,
David Freiberg and
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...
all leaving while Duncan, Elmore and Valenti continued to perform as Quicksilver Messenger Service until the end of the 1970s.
Later career
In the mid-1980s Duncan revived the Quicksilver name and began touring with his own band even releasing an album, ''Peace by Piece''. He released a few more albums into the 1990s with the Quicksilver name but was the only original member in the group (except David Freiberg who guested on some tracks). He began touring with a four-piece band up until 2001 when the
World Trade Center was
attacked. After that Duncan recalled there were no more shows to play and he tore down his home studio for financial reasons. He said: "I tore the Studio apart by myself... no help from any of my friends... in fact not even a word... they all came and got the stuff they had stored and left the stuff they didn't want so I could haul it away and they just never spoke to me again..."
Duncan walked away from the
music industry
The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...
for the next few years until 2004, when he began releasing music from his Quicksilver band in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2006 Duncan reunited with Freiberg and began touring again as the Quicksilver Messenger Service. They were still performing up to his death.
Death
On June 19, 2019, Duncan fell, and had a seizure, and had multiple cardiac arrests. He fell into a coma, and died on June 29, 2019, in Woodland, California, having never regained consciousness.
Discography
With Quicksilver Messenger Service
*''
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...
'' (1968)
*''
Happy Trails'' (1969)
*''
Just for Love'' (1970)
*''
What About Me'' (1970)
*''
Quicksilver'' (1971)
*''
Comin' Thru'' (1972)
*''
Solid Silver'' (1975)
With Gary Duncan's Quicksilver
*''
Peace by Piece'' (1986)
*''Shape Shifter'' (1996)
*''
Live at Field Stone'' (1997)
*''
Six-String Voodoo'' (2009)
*''
The Hermit'' (2010)
*''
Strange Trim'' (2011)
With Crawfish of Love
*''
Snake Language'' (2006)
References
External links
Aol.com/artist/Gary Duncan Interview with Gary Duncan, 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Gary
1946 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
Neurological disease deaths in California
Deaths from epilepsy
People with epilepsy
Guitarists from California
Jefferson Starship members
Musicians from San Diego
People from Ceres, California
Quicksilver Messenger Service members