Gaye Delorme

Gaye Delorme (born March 20 1947, Thunder Bay Ontario ) is a Canadian songwriter and virtuoso guitar player. He currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Delorme is able to play many styles of guitar music including Flamenco, Classical, Jazz (in the styles of Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery), Country, Blues, Rock and even Heavy Metal. His wide-ranging skill as a guitarist can emulate other instruments such as the sitar and the koto. Stevie Ray Vaughn described Delorme as "one of the best" [ [http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/etoday/story.html?id=a1d1dba1-1851-43dc-b891-37ba30806b34 The Province January 08 2008] ] . He is entirely self-taught, having picked up the guitar at age fifteen during a stint in juvenile detention. He learned how to read music in the 1990's after performing as a professional musician for over thirty years.

Collaborations

Delorme has played with many musicians and groups including Jann Arden, the Powder Blues Band, Lenny Breau, David Foster, Airto Moreira, Billy Cobham and Stanley Clarke. In 2006 he was accompanied by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra for his performance of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez. 1986 saw Delorme record a one-hour special for CBC television entitled "Gaye Delorme in Concert". As well as composing and playing guitar, he produced k.d. Lang's first album A Truly Western Experience.

The LA Years

During the 1970s-1980s Gaye Delorme lived in Los Angeles, collaborating frequently with Cheech and Chong, most notably writing the music for Cheech and Chong's anthem Earache My Eye.The immediately recognizable guitar riff has become part of the modern musical lexicon, with numerous covers of Earache My Eye having been recorded by heavy metal, punk and even hip hop artists. His long-running association with Cheech and Chong included musical contributions to Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980), and culminated with Delorme scoring their film Things Are Tough All Over (1982). The drug and alcohol fueled atmosphere of LA was taking a heavy toll on Delorme by the mid 1980s, so he moved back to his native Canada.

Comedy

Delorme was often involved in Cheech and Chong's improvised writing process, and humor is integral to his audience rapport during live performances. His own comedy caused a buzz in 1980 when The Rodeo Song was released by Garry Lee & Showdown. The single resulted in a CRIA double-platinum record [ [http://www.cria.ca/cert_db_search.php?page=12&wclause=+WHERE+%28+cert_award+%3E+100000+AND+%28+cert_search+%3D+1+OR+cert_search+%3D+2+OR+cert_search+%3D+5+OR+cert_search+%3D+6+OR+cert_search+%3D+7+%29+%29+AND+%28+cert_date+%3E%3D+%271979-01-01%27+AND+cert_date+%3C%3D+%271982-12-01%27+%29+ORDER+BY+cert_album_name%2C+cert_date%2C+cert_award++ASC&rcnt=234&csearch=200&nextprev=1 Canadian Recording Industry Association] ] . The song quickly became a cult favorite and was compiled by Dr. Demento on Demento's Mementos, and was used in the Stephen King film Sleepwalkers (1992). Delorme's own version of the Rodeo Song was released on the album Rodeo Songs in 2002.

Discography

American Jumbo - Beautiful Guitar vol. 2 (2008)
Borderline (2002)
Delorme (2002)
Rodeo Songs (2002)
The Best of Gaye Delorme (1999)
Beautiful Guitar (1998)
Blue Wave Sessions (1990)

References

External Links

[http://www.gayedelorme.com/ Official Site]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9_94cdhRbM Video of Gaye Delorme accompanied by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HhAYuKBn9E Video of Gaye Delorme's 1986 special "Gaye Delorme in Concert"]