Jerry Riggs is an American rock guitarist and vocalist.

Biography

Riggs began his musical career as lead guitarist for the Knoxville, Tennessee group Lynx, a bar band in the mid-1970s. The band, featuring Michael Byassee on vocals, soon relocated to

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. There musician Don Train ("Stormtrooper") recruited Riggs and fellow guitarist Jeremy Graf to join his group "Raggedy Ann". The band recorded a series of demos at Last Stand Studios in 1978. By 1979, the band was being courted by major producers and new demo tapes were cut in

Lookout Mountain, Tennessee Lookout Mountain is a town in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,058 at the 2020 census. Bordering its sister city of Lookout Mountain, Georgia to the south, Lookout Mountain is part of the Chattanooga, TN– GA ...

resulting in new management and recording deals. When Don Train elected to leave the group and returned to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1980, Jerry Riggs replaced him as frontman, and the band became known as Riggs. Two of the band's songs, "Radar Rider" and "Heartbeat", appear in the 1981 animated feature film '' Heavy Metal''. The songs were performed by Jerry Riggs, Jeremy Graf, Dave Ridarick, and Steve Carlisle. The songs were also included on the movie's soundtrack release. Riggs' self-titled debut album on the Full Moon label was released shortly after that but failed to make much of an impact on the music scene. One song, "Ready Or Not", was a minor hit, but the album otherwise went unnoticed, and the band split up. Riggs began working with

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rocker

Pat Travers Patrick Henry Travers (born April 12, 1954) is a Canadian rock guitarist, singer and songwriter who began his recording career in the mid-1970s. Early life Travers was born and raised in Toronto. Soon after picking up the guitar at age 12, h ...

in 1983, and joined the Pat Travers Band as a co-lead guitarist. At the time Riggs joined, Travers was at the end of his most successful period in recording and touring. The band became a staple on North American nightclub circuits during the latter half of the 1980s and constantly toured. At headlining shows, Riggs performed at least one of his original songs, and "Ready Or Not" was always a crowd favorite. He also showcased his skills with a very memorable guitar solo. A few of Riggs' original compositions made it onto Travers' 1990 release ''School Of Hard Knocks.'' One Riggs-penned track was an instrumental entitled ''Guitars From Hell'', which features Travers and Riggs on guitar. Riggs also appears in the 1991 video release ''Boom Boom-Live At The Diamond Club'', a concert filmed in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

which features Travers' greatest hits, as well as "Ready Or Not" by Riggs. Riggs' guitar solo was not included. Riggs left Travers' group in 1993 and lives in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

where he plays with various supergroups. The band Riggs has reunited for occasional one night engagements, most recently on November 28, 2009, playing at The Loft in Atlanta. Riggs started touring as a lead guitarist with

38 Special 38 Special or 0.38 Special or .38 Special, may refer to: * .38 Special, a revolver cartridge Music * 38 Special (band), an American rock band ** ''38 Special'' (album), the 1977 debut album of the band 38 Special * .38 Special (song), a 2022 ...

in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riggs, Jerry Living people Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee American rock guitarists American male guitarists Guitarists from Tennessee 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)