User:Pjayr/Jimmi Hood

Jimmi Hood Jimmi Hood (born James Richard Glaser on June 13th, 1950) is an American rock musician and recording artist of Irish, English and German heritage. A native of Long Island, New York, he is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer who has also been active as a novelist, screenwriter and actor. Intelligent, educated and artistically formidable, Jimmi represents the new paradigm “Brains, class and rock n’ roll.” An entrepreneurial artist with a science degree, Hood reset the music industry bar in 2011 as a “debut” artist from the revered classic rock era of the 1960s and early '70s. A no-nonsense champion of artistic excellence, Hood is also known as “The Godfather of Uber-Rock” and is the founder and CEO of Uber-Rock Entertainment, Inc. [ref. to trademark site], a 21st century production company and record label.

Dissatisfied with the waning prominence of rock music and the general decline of the music industry in the digital age, Jimmi was inspired by a 2003 Billboard article titled “30+, Music For Grown-Ups: 80 Million Customers With No Place to Go”[ref.] to develop the concept, company and genre of Uber-Rock. Believing the “Rs” in rock and roll stand for “revolution and rebellion,” Hood defied youth-oriented music industry convention and set precedent on May, 27th 2011 with the global Uber-Rock label release[ref. link to iTunes page] of his digital “debut” single “Rock-A-Bye, Baby,” a guitar-drenched fusion of rock, r&b, blues and gospel that reignited the American rock and roll revolution and induced the birth of Uber-Rock: Classic Rock for the 21st Century.

Early life

Born James Richard Glaser on June 13th, 1950, in Queens, New York, Jimmi is the eldest son of a commercial airline captain and a registered nurse. He grew up in Centerport, NY in an upper middle-class neighborhood on the North Shore of Long Island. While attending kindergarten and taking accordion lessons, he composed his first written melody at the age of six. After glimpsing Elvis Presley on television in 1956, Jimmi was taken by Elvis’ raw rock and roll energy and wanted to switch to playing rock and roll guitar in the hope of winning the affections of his boyhood crush, the French film goddess Brigitte Bardot; yet, the accordion lessons continued. Despite the rock and roll setback, in addition to being a little league pitcher, Jimmi made his first public performance at the age of nine as a soloist with the St. Philip Neri boys choir in Northport. An A student, he soon became the lead soloist of the 70-member boys choir; and over the next four years he learned and performed complex musical works that included Gregorian chant, the classic Latin hymns, Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion.

Early career

A self-taught bass guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who was inspired by The Beatles appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, Jimmi came of age as a musician in the classic rock era of the 1960s and early ’70s. While attending St. Anthony’s High School and Stony Brook University, he was the leader of a series of Long Island rock bands, most notably The New Breed—a precociously polished cover band that performed a 50/50 mix of classic rock (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds) and classic soul (Wilson Picket, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin) that more often than not wiped the floor with the competition at local band battles. After winning their first press coverage in The Long Island Press as The Voyagers in 1964, Jimmi and his newly-formed “uber” band The New Breed were tapped by Gretch guitars in 1965 to promote the company’s famous guitar line at a music expo at the Sherry Netherland Hotel in New York City. That same year Jimmi’s band adopted a guitar/bass/drums and Hammond B3 organ line up and became one of the more popular rotating house bands at Hullabaloo, a teen nightclub in Northport, NY, and played the same stage as headline acts like Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, Vanilla Fudge and The Vagrants featuring guitarist Leslie West.

Influences

An authentic musician from the classic rock era, Jimmi witnessed The Beatles perform live three times (Forest Hills, 1964; Shea Stadium 1965 & 1966) and had another definitive rock experience in 1969 when he watched at close range (within fifty feet) as Jimi Hendrix played The Star Spangled Banner live on a white Fender Stratocaster guitar at the historic Woodstock festival in Bethel, NY. That same summer Hood’s band evolved into The Wanted, a semi-original guitar-oriented group that performed regional gigs including a stint at the ”Pig n’ Whistle” saloon in Fort Dix, New Jersey, where Jimmi played backup music for a Latin American stripper billed as “Wilma the Brazilian Bombshell.” In 1971 Jimmi was inspired by guitarist Duane Allman live at close range and was significantly influenced when The Allman Brothers Band played a series of notable concerts at Stony Brook University. In June of the following year Jimmi also witnessed riff-heavy Led Zeppelin live at the height of their creative career (Nassau Coliseum, 1972) when “Stairway to Heaven” was a newly minted rock anthem. A month later with the Viet Nam war raging, Jimmi lost his college student deferment and reported to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, NY, for his own induction physical into the United States Army. Hood was ultimately rejected for a pronounced case of flat feet aggravated by a childhood brush with polio and closed out his band days as the lead singer and bassist in Vandetta, a short-lived heavy metal trio. In 1972 Jimmi was struck by the profound intimacy of Roberta Flack’s hit soundtrack ballad “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” that was first featured in Clint Eastwood’s music-themed thriller “Play Misty for Me” and got the inkling that songwriting might be his true calling. While completing a degree in Biological Sciences at Stony Brook, family travel privileges allowed Jimmi to travel extensively throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, which included a visit to The Vatican, a safari on the Serengeti plains of Kenya, prowling the back streets of Istanbul, trekking in the Himalayas and flirting with harlots in the brothels of Bankok, all of which gave him a taste for the exotic and a “big picture” view as an artist.

Breakthrough

In the mid-Seventies, after completing the course work for a Masters degree in cell biology and biochemistry at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, Jimmi was performing as a solo acoustic singer-songwriter in local LI bars and pubs, working on his thesis research and contemplating a career in medical research—when he moved into Manhattan, answered a songwriters “wanted“ ad in the Village Voice and broke into the music business as a free-lance songwriter writing Roberta Flack-type ballads for music publisher E. B. Marks Music.

Orbit/Atlantic Records

Two years later Jimmi abandoned academia and his unfinished Masters and became the president and co-founder of Orbit Record Productions, Inc. (i.e. Orbit Records) the independent record label that launched the recording career of R&B vocalist Tasha Thomas on Atlantic Records. Under his birth name, James R. Glaser, Jimmi was the songwriter, bass guitarist, and record producer (along with fellow college student and Orbit co-founder Peter Rugile) of Tasha’s international dance club smash “Shoot Me (With Your Love)”—a record The New York Times recognized as “…a classic of erotic dance music” [ref.] that had every pole dancer from Brooklyn to Bankok doing a heated bump-and-grind. Nominated for “R&B Single of the Year” at the 1979 BMA awards, “Shoot Me (With Your Love)” was a Top-15 favorite of DJ Larry Levan at the historic Paradise Garage club in NYC [ref.] and one of the records that defined the “House” genre of dance music[ref.]. Mentored by Atlantic Records president Jerry Greenberg, Jimmi’s label mates at the time were Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Foreigner, Chic and the newly-signed rock band, AC/DC. In addition to “Shoot Me (With Your Love),” Jimmi wrote the singles “Street Fever” and “Hot Buttered Boogie” for Tasha along with “Midnight Rendezous,” the title track of her highly acclaimed Atlantic Records album which he produced with Peter Rugile.

In the Eighties Jimmi returned to his rock roots and produced the regional dance-rock hit “Fire In My Heart” for the Long Island rock band, K Darling. While working on song material for his own rock album, Jimmi got an out-of-the-blue call from Tasha Thomas who had parted ways with Atlantic Records and was looking for a way to jump-start her stalled recording career in the post-disco era. As a way to revamp her image, Jimmi suggested that Tasha do a “guest” vocal on one of his rock tracks; and three weeks later Tasha did a (now historic) one-take “guest” vocal on Hood’s “Rock-A-Bye, Baby.” Jimmi had written the “I’ve got the fever for some rock and roll…” song for himself in 1979 as a cathartic “rock” antidote to disco overload, and he scored the guitar/bass/drums and Hammond B3 organ arrangement to evoke the keepin’-it-real feel of his youthful “uber” rock band, The New Breed. Sadly, Tasha’s untimely passing in 1984 made the track difficult for Jimmi to listen to; the promising record was shelved and the master tape was relegated to the back of a dusty closet. Switching gears, Jimmi studied acting at The Long Island Actor’s Workshop, co-founded the Roadhouse Players Touring company and won rave reviews [ref.] as a lead male actor in a regional theater production of Sam Sheppard’s Obie Award-winning play, “Fool For Love.”

Rebirth

Flash forward thirty years: Throughout three challenging decades that included the passing of his father due to a long-term illness, his mom’s near-fatal heart attack, a failed marriage, a litany of go-nowhere day-jobs, bankruptcy and a failed attempt to live a normal suburban Long Island life that resulted in temporary homelessness, Hood never abandoned his music or his guitar playing. In fact, Jimmi kept writing—a completed music-oriented novel, an Academy-endorsed screenplay, and a catalogue of songs. Much like Clint Eastwood’s resurrected gunslinger in the Oscar-winning film, Unforgiven, the rock musician in Jimmi was inspired by financial necessity—and a 2003 Billboard article titled “30+, Music For Adults: 80 Million Customers With No Place To Go.” Dissatisfied with the waning prominence of rock music and the general decline of the music industry in the digital age, Hood realized he had a choice to make: he could view his stripped down, setback-ridden life as a failure—or an open runway. Jimmi chose the latter—and conceived the concept, company and music genre of Uber-Rock.

In 2010 Jimmi reconnected with long-time co-producer Peter Rugile, strapped on a white Fender Stratocaster guitar, resurrected his on-going song catalogue, declared himself to be The Godfather of Uber-Rock—and on May 27th, 2011, at the age of 60, stood up and defied youth-oriented music industry convention and set precedent with the Uber-Rock records release of his digital “debut” single “Rock-A-Bye, Baby”— a guitar-drenched fusion of rock, r&b, blues and gospel that, against-all-odds, was salvaged from the back of a dusty closet and featured Hood’s 2011 lead guitar work, his crowd-rousing “Hey, hey” chant, a career-defining “guest” vocal by the late Tasha Thomas, all while reigniting the American rock & roll revolution and heralding the birth of Uber-Rock: Classic Rock for the 21st Century. new article content ...