BRENTWOOD BAY — Alan Gerber's will be hitting the stage in Brentwood Bay this weekend.
Gerber's career spans more than 40 years and is rich in modern music history.
At the age of 15 he won a songwriting contest and had two original songs recorded at the legendary Chess Studio. On the day he went in to record the studio was being painted — by recording artist Chuck Berry.
"That was a real life lesson in the fickle nature of the music business," Gerber said.
Lured from university in 1965 by producer Paul Rothchild, Gerber became singer, songwriter and keyboardist for the super-group Rhinoceros.
With the release of two albums, Rhinoceros toured North America with the likes of Janis Joplin, BB King, Jefferson Airplane, Traffic, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf and others.
Home for Gerber was the famed Chelsea Hotel with Andy Warhol and Janis Joplin as his fellow tenants.
Gerber left Rhinoceros and released his first solo effort in 1971 and toured with Leon Russell. He also placed two songs on the soundtrack of Bob Dylan's movie Renaldo and Clara.
For several years Alan lived in France and toured with his All Star American Blues Review before settling in Quebec.
In 1994, he produced and released Chicken Walk. He followed that up with Fools That Try in 1997 and The Boogie Man in 1999.
When demand for a live CD began to surface, Alan took the studio on the road and produced Alan Gerber Live in 2002. In 2005 he released the critically acclaimed Blue Tube.
His next CD, Queen of Hearts, included a duet with his teenage daughter Hannah and two songs nominated for the Grammy long-list in 2010.
Gerber's show is grounded in the blues, but has Appalachian style fiddling, slide guitar and gospel boogie woogie on the piano thrown in.
Tickets for the show at the Centre in Brentwood (cash bar will be available) are $15 and are available at Breadstuffs Bakery, The Dollar Den and online at www.brentwoodbay.info
— With files from Music in the Bay