Born in Vancouver and raised in Deep River, Ontario, Gerry Griffin first learned to play the harmonica at the age of 7 and then the guitar and vocals at age 15 when he formed his first band. He has been performing as a professional musician ever since.
His extensive band experience includes:
* Cain, original music rock band in the late 1960's and early 70s. They performed on the same circuit as the bands of their time including: Whiskey Howl and Crazy Horse,; they performed Canada Day on Parliament Hill and opened for Iron Butterfly and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Cain was also the after-hours house band at Ottawa's legendary "Le Hibou" folk café for over a year.
* The Blue Angels, Ottawa's most popular blues band throughout the eighties. They opened for the Nighthawks, Albert Collins, and John Hammond and influenced every up and coming blues musician in the area.
* The Dah Acme Stomperz and The Jaws of the Flying Carpet: experimental music groups in the seventies and on into the eighties which consisted of musicians from all levels and genres working together. They performed both original and cover music; the list of cover songs included a lot by Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.
Gerry is a much requested harmonica player both for his tone and for his technique for live performance and studio sessions. He has performed with many greats, including Long John Baldry and Willie Dixon. He is a multi-instrumentalist and tri-lingual vocalist but mostly he is a songwriter.
Gerry's songs are intensely poetic and presented in a dramatic and highly original musical style. His material ranges from observations of life, its eccentricities and its humour, to tender songs of love and relationships, separation and loss. His insightful lyrics are supported by music that is an esoteric melding of musical styles and influences: folk, blues, rock, celtic, and elements of North African music.
His influences are Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder and the traditional songs of every genre (blues, country, and different types of world music).
He began performing only his own original material in 1989, first with his band "Rodeo Active" who opened for John Hiatt and then with the band "Griffin" who opened for Big Sugar in 1994.
Gerry's first CD "Hour Glass" was recorded "live off the floor" at the award-winning Lakeside Studios, Clayton, Ontario in July 1995 with Griffin. It was produced by Jeffrey Lesser who has worked with the likes of Barbra Streisand, Lou Reed, The Chieftains with Sting and Sinead O'Connor and The Chieftains with Los Lobos and Linda Ronstadt. All but one of the songs on the album were written during his wrongful incarceration for two and a half years in the Spanish prison system in the early 1990s in North Africa and Spain.
He and "Griffin" showcased privately at UltraSound Showcase Bar in Toronto, August, 1996, and the North American Folk Alliance, Toronto Conference in February, 1997. Their final performance was July 1997 at the National Capital's Astrolab Theatre.
Since July 1997, Gerry has presented his material with his partner, Heather Houston. Together, they perform as a professional Canadian touring act known as the XrAYZ and have played festivals, concerts and club engagements from coast to coast. In April 2001, they returned to the Ottawa area to build a studio and record their new CD.
Highlights during the four years of being on the road are engagements at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in both 1996 and 1997; the South Country Fair in both 1997 and 1998; The Nickelodeon Folk Club (Calgary, 1998); The West End Cultural Centre (Winnipeg, 1999), The Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa, 1999); The Marquee Club (Halifax, 2000) and other venues of all sizes in towns too numerous to mention.
Through out this time, Gerry always worked in the recording world. He has recorded his own material with or without a band at home on his own equipment or in a commercial studio and has worked as a sideman on countless recording projects for other artists since the mid-seventies. Therefore, with his experience, the move to production was inevitable.
His first soundtrack, for the documentary film, "Life on the Heater," was nominated for a Gemini award (2001) in the "Best original soundtrack in a documentary" category; and his first production for another artist, "Fair is Fair" for singer/songwriter Peggy White, cracked the top 100 on the Americana Music Chart in the U.S. a couple of months after it was released in February 2003. It also received considerable radio play in Europe and down under in Australia/New Zealand where Peggy is now touring regularly.
Gerry Griffin continues to be full time with his music. In May 2002, he opened his custom-built production studio under the name of Renegade Music. (Equipment list available upon request.) Co-owned with his partner, Heather Houston, he is producer and head engineer. The new XrAYZ record is recorded and ready to be mixed. It will be released sometime in the new year.