Geoffrey Charles Whitehorn (born 29 August 1951) is a guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has played as a member of If, Crawler and Procol Harum.

Geoff Whitehorn
Whitehorn in 2018
Whitehorn in 2018
Background information
Birth nameGeoffrey Charles Whitehorn
Born (1951-08-29) 29 August 1951 (age 73)
London, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • vocals
Years active1973–present
Formerly of

History

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In August 1973, Whitehorn joined the pioneering British jazz-rock band, If, in what was their third and final line-up, appearing on their last two albums, Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces (1974) and Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads (1975). During that period, he recorded his first solo album, Whitehorn (1974, Stateside), featuring fellow If members Dick Morrissey and Cliff Davies. This was followed by two largely instrumental solo albums, Big in Gravesend and Geoff Who? which he also re-recorded and expanded as Geoff Who? 2002. In 1976–1979, Whitehorn played in the band Crawler (formerly known as Back Street Crawler), replacing the band's founder Paul Kossoff after the latter's death.

Geoff also played as lead guitarist with Chuck Farley besides Steve Simpson, Boz Burrell, Poli Palmer and Alan Coulter.

In 1979 Whitehorn joined Roger Chapman' s Band The Shortlist, touring Europe extensively and recording ten albums with Chapman. His playing in the Band was inspired by jazz. He left Shortlist in 1988.

In 1991, he joined the group Procol Harum,[1] and was their second longest serving member (after founder Gary Brooker), having played on all of their recent recordings, such as The Long Goodbye, One More Time - Live in Utrecht 1992, The Well's on Fire and Novum as well as on Procol Harum's live DVDs in Denmark and at Union Chapel (Concert on Friday 12 December 2003), and one recorded with an orchestra in 2006 at Ledreborg Castle, again in Denmark. He has also played live and recorded with The Palers' Project, the Procol Harum quasi-tribute collective. He changed his style into a more classic rock solo performance.

Whitehorn has also contributed to the recordings and performances of other artists, such as Bad Company,[2] Jethro Tull,[3] Kevin Ayers, Elkie Brooks, The Who,[4] Roger Waters, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Paul McCartney, Billy Ocean and Paul Rodgers.[1] In 2007, he worked with Elkie Brooks on her UK tour. Since then Geoff has played regularly with Gambler and, more recently, The Strumbums.

References

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  1. ^ a b Taylor, Mick (2007) "Whitehorn Goes Organic", Guitarist, 4 April 2007, retrieved 8 August 2011
  2. ^ Smith, George (1990) "Nowadays Lots of Hard Rockers are keeping Bad Company Company", The Morning Call, 20 July 1990, p. D01
  3. ^ Johnson, Dean (1993) "Jethro Tull makes living in the past a welcome reunion at Great Woods", Boston Herald, 29 August 1993, p. 43
  4. ^ Sullivan, Jim (1996) "Resurrected 'Quadrophenia' resounds", Boston Globe, 18 July 1996
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