Gary Pihl
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Gary O. Pihl (pronounced "peel") (born November 21, 1950) is an American rock musician and guitarist best known for playing with
Sammy Hagar Sam Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose before launching a ...
and the
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
band
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
."Boston: Musicians,"
Bandboston.com/


Biography

Gary Pihl was born in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, where he lived the first 12 years of his life. In 1963 his family relocated to
San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...
, where Pihl would become active in music and a participant in a number of local bands. Gary graduated from Hillsdale High School. At his home recording studio, Pihl worked with the founding members of a band that would eventually be called "
Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in 1982 and experienced a surge of popularity during the 1980s with the release of several successful albums and hit singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and ...
." They recorded demos for their first and second albums ('' Dawn Patrol'' and '' Midnight Madness'', respectively) at his home studio. Night Ranger was initially called "Ranger," but the band found that the name was already being used by another band and changed it prior to the first album release. He also played with several other bands including Day Blindness, Fox, Crossfire (Steve Jones,
Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, including David LaFl ...
, David Froom, Phil Marshall with Jeff Dorenfeld as manager; Crossfire also performed with
Norman Greenbaum Norman Joel Greenbaum (born November 20, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, known for his 1969–1970 hit song "Spirit in the Sky". The song made him one of the most famous acts with a best-selling one-hit wonder for all time. Early life a ...
as lead singer for several years.), Stark Raving Mad (Gary on lead vocals and guitar, Donovan Stark, Paul Taylor (later of Winger), Jay Causbrook, and David Payne, with Eric Martin of Mr. Big joining after Gary left, among other players), and
Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
. (Note: There have been several different bands named Alliance.) Crossfire featured an
ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog circuit, analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Minimoog, Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, a ...
and
ARP String Ensemble The Solina String Ensemble, also marketed as the ARP String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral string synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Eminent BV (known for their ''Solina'' brand). It was distributed in the United ...
played by Mitchell Froom (who would later become known for the soundtrack to " La Bamba" and other films while also producing bands in LA). Crossfire's seminal moment was their performance at the ''Stop the Dam Concert'' held at Sonoma State College, (now
Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...
). The concert was to raise awareness and funds to stop the Army Corps of Engineers construction of the Lake Sonoma Dam project in Geyserville's Dry Creek Valley. Before leaving Stark Raving Mad to join Sammy Hagar, he was known for songs such as "Olga on the Volga." Sammy Hagar was the opening act at the end of Boston's first tour in 1977 and opened the whole second tour in 1978/79. It was on those tours that Pihl met
Tom Scholz Donald Thomas Scholz (born March 10, 1947) is an American musician. He is the founder, main songwriter, primary guitarist, keyboardist and only remaining original member of the rock band Boston. He has appeared on every Boston release. Scholz, a ...
. The two of them found out how much they had in common with their extensive home studios and techniques. It set up a lifelong bond and a few years later Tom asked Pihl to join Boston, after Hagar decided to join
Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
. After Jeff Dorenfeld became manager for Boston, Pihl made other introductions including Doug Huffman, another drummer from Sebastopol in Sonoma County when Boston needed a replacement, and still later,
bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...
David Sikes from Fairfield, California near
Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...
.


Discography


with Day Blindness

* ''Day Blindness'' (1969)


with FOX

* ''San Francisco Session'' (1970)


with Sammy Hagar

* ''
Musical Chairs Musical chairs, also known as Trip to Jerusalem, is a game of elimination involving players, chairs, and music. It is a staple of many parties worldwide. Gameplay A set of chairs is arranged in a circle with one fewer chair than the numbe ...
'' (1977) * '' All Night Long'' (1978) * '' Street Machine'' (1979) * '' Danger Zone'' (1980) * '' Loud & Clear'' (1980) * '' Standing Hampton'' (1981) * '' Three Lock Box'' (1982) * '' Live 1980'' (1983) * '' VOA'' (1984)


with Boston

* ''
Third Stage ''Third Stage'' is the third studio album by the American rock band Boston, released on September 24, 1986, on MCA Records, as the band's first album on the label. It was recorded at Boston co-founder Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio over a long, s ...
'' (1986) * '' Walk On'' (1994) * ''
Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
'' (1997) * '' Corporate America'' (2002) * '' Life, Love & Hope'' (2013)


with Alliance

* ''Alliance'' (1997) * ''Missing Piece'' (1999) * ''Road To Heaven'' (2008)


with Color Three

* ''Paint By Number'' (2013)


with All 41

* ''The World's Best Hope'' (2017)


with The Roads

* ''Simple Man'' (2022)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pihl, Gary Boston (band) members American rock guitarists American male guitarists Living people 1950 births American session musicians Sammy Hagar & the Waboritas members Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American guitarists