In the last 35 years in radio I’ve easily interviewed over 3-4 thousand artists and I’ve kept everything on old reel-to-reels or cassette tapes. We are slowly digitizing them now. One of my favorite interviews was with two of the three members of America. First I interviewed Gerry Beckley and then Dan Peek read that chat online and contacted me to give his side of the America story. Dan left America in 1977 and passed in 2011. We’ll have his interview on this channel in the next few months.
Something happens when a young band tours with a heritage act like the Beach Boys. Beckley said those early tours planted a wishful seed. (clip 004)
I wanted to ask Gerry about another interesting association – Janet Jackson. She sampled the guitar riff from “Ventura Highway” on her hit “Someone To Call My Lover” which peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts while the America original hit #8. (Clips 03)
We will have more from our exclusive interview with Gerry Beckley of America next Friday. America are currently on tour. Go to VenturaHighway.com for details – by John Beaudin
John Beaudin has been in major market radio (Edmonton, Vancouver & Calgary) for 35 years and a music journalist since 1989. He graduated from Broadcasting school as a news man so he would have the skills to write about the artists that inspired him since he bought his first album, “Madman Across The Water” by Elton John as a teen. In the 80’s Beaudin was the host of the syndicated radio show “The Cross Canada Report” which had two version (Rock and A/C). Beaudin was also asked to be a judge at the Juno Awards (Canada’s answer to the Grammys) Twice. He has anchored every position in radio including morning and afternoon drive and was a Program and Music Director for The Breeze and California 103 in Calgary. He currently hosts the popular Lovesongs at QM-FM in Vancouver and on iHeartRadio.
To Follow John Beaudin’s posts on all subjects https://www.facebook.com/JohnBeaudinBroadcaster/?ref=br_rs
To Follow John’s “Rock News” only posts FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/rockhistorybook
John Beaudin Official Website http://www.johnbeaudin.com
TWITTER for Rock History Music https://twitter.com/rockhistorybook
TWITTER for John https://twitter.com/johnbeaudin
Subscribe to this Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChUv5CZuAuh08DfHA8klNSA?view_as=subscriber
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR SISTER ROCK CHANNEL https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKUUfqq_iuwk63pZEUOTIQ
Heading West by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Artist: http://audionautix.com/