Shawn Lane

Shawn Lane ( born March 21, 1963 in Memphis, Tennessee; † September 26, 2003 ) was an American musician.

He was a well known in the art rock and fusion guitarist. At age 4, he began to be interested in music, played cello in school and took piano lessons. At the age of 10 he began to play the guitar, and made great progress here very quickly. The age of 12 he was playing in local clubs. At the age of 15, he was considered a " guitar prodigy " and was known in the local scene. He was attending an audition in 1978, the new guitarist known in the southern U.S. band Black Oak Arkansas, and played numerous concerts with this band. After the dissolution of the band in 1979, Lane played in various bands until Black Oak Arkansas got together again with a new cast. Again he went with the band on tour until the age of 18 he retired from it in order to recover and focus on private studies in various fields. Mid-1980s, he reached a high local reputation with the band "The Willys ", a cover band, in which his virtuoso solo skills were strong in the foreground. Many famous guitarists like Kirk Hammett and George Lynch saw Lane live with this band and were deeply impressed. In his time with The Willys Lane played as a studio musician for various artists such as Joe Walsh, Sam And Dave and Tony Joe White. In 1991, a demo tape of Lane reached the well-known record company Warner Brothers, who then took Lane under contract. He also played in the same year on the " Centrifugal Funk" album with Frank Gambale and Brett Garsed.

He spent the next two years working on his first solo album, and released it in 1992 under the title " Powers Of Ten". He then went on tour in the United States. This tour was released in 2001 on the live album " Powers Of Ten: Live " was published.

In 1994, he played for the first time with the exceptional Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg. Over the following years they released with drummers like Kofi Baker and Jeff Sipe various fusion albums such as " Time Is The Enemy" (1997), the acoustic " Zen House " (1999) and " Personae " (2002). The long-awaited follow-up album to " Powers Of Ten" was released in 1999 under the title "The Tri-Tone Fascination", but no longer with Warner Bros, but by the independent Eye Reckon label. This album has been remastered some time later.

In February 2003, Shawn Lane played with Jonas Hellborg a short tour in India. There, a loyal fan base was created, and the performances of the formation were enthusiastically applauded. Shortly after this tour, still followed by a tour of Europe.

In September Lane was admitted to a hospital due to problems with breathing. In the course of the previous year his health had extremely deteriorated. So he suffered, among others, psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis, and may be partially caused by the drugs high body weight, meant that he was now dependent on artificial respiration in conjunction with the already failing health. He died on 26 September 2003 in Memphis.

Auswahldiskographie

Solo:

• "West Side Boogie" (1992, Promo Single)
• " Powers Of Ten" (1992 )
• " Powers Of Ten" (1993, re-release with two remixed songs )
• " Powers Of Ten: Live" (2001)

With Jonas Hellborg:

• " Abstract Logic " (with Kofi Baker, 1995)
• " Temporal Analogues Of Paradise " ( Hellborg / Lane / Sipe, 1996)
• " Time Is The Enemy" (1997)
• " Zenhouse " (1999)
• " Good People in Times of Evil " (2000)
• " Personae " ( Hellborg / Lane / Sipe, 2002)
• "Icon" ( Hellborg / Lane / Vinayakram Bros, 2002)
• "Live In Paris " DVD ( Hellborg / Lane / Vinayakram Bros, 2004)