Joe Bonamassa

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Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. When he was 12 years old, Bonamassa opened for B.B. King.

In the last 13 years Bonamassa has put out 15 solo albums through his independent record label J&R Adventures, of which 11 have reached number 1 on the Billboard Blues charts.Bonamassa has played alongside such artists as Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton, Blondie Chaplin, Foreigner, Buddy Guy, Steve Winwood, Warren Haynes, Journey, Solomon Hicks,and Derek Trucks among others.

His career highlights include performances at the Royal Albert Hall and a Grammy Award nomination in 2013.

In addition to his music career, Joe Bonamassa runs a nonprofit organization called the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, whose mission is to further music education by funding scholarships and providing music education resources to schools in need. He also owns an enormous collection of guitars and related gear.

Early life

Bonamassa was born in New Hartford, New York, and grew up in Utica, New York. He started playing guitar at age four, encouraged by his father, who was an avid music fan and exposed him to British blues rock records by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, greatly inspiring him. At eleven years old, Bonamassa was mentored and trained by American guitar legend Danny Gatton. When he was twelve years old, he had his own band called Smokin' Joe Bonamassa, which gigged around western New York and Pennsylvania, including cities such as Scranton and Buffalo, only on weekends since he had school on weekdays. Bonamassa played a crimson 1972 Fender Stratocaster he called "Rosie", given to him by his father.

Bonamassa opened for B.B. King at approximately twenty shows in 1989. In 1991, he performed on The Mickey Mouse Club where he is inducted into the Hall of Fame. Before he reached eighteen years old, Bonamassa was playing in a band called Bloodline with the sons of Miles Davis, Robby Krieger and Berry Oakley. Although Bloodline did not become a famous act, it attracted some attention to Bonamassa's guitar chops.

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Music career

Bonamassa's debut studio album, A New Day Yesterday, was released in 2000. It features original tunes and covers of artists such as: Rory Gallagher, Jethro Tull and Warren Haynes. The album features a guest appearance by Gregg Allman on the song "If Heartaches Were Nickels", and was produced by Tom Dowd. The album reached No. 9 on the Billboard Blues chart.

Between 2002 and 2006, Bonamassa had three studio albums hit No. 1 on the Billboard Blues charts, and all five of his solo studio albums made the Top 10. In 2009, Bonamassa fulfilled one of his childhood dreams by playing at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where Eric Clapton played a duet with him. Bonamassa's live album, Beacon Theatre: Live from New York, was released in 2012. The show featured one of Bonamassa's musical heroes, Paul Rodgers (formerly of the bands Free and Bad Company), as a guest.

The live acoustic album, An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, was released as a CD/DVD/Blu-ray set on March 26, 2013. This concert marked the first time Bonamassa played a wholly acoustic show. The acoustic ensemble that performed the show was assembled with the help of Bonamassa's longtime producer, Kevin Shirley. The concluding, three-night stand of Bonamassa's spring 2013 tour, occurred at the famous Beacon Theatre in New York City. Over the summer of 2013, Bonamassa performed four shows in London featuring three different bands (and a horn section at one show), covering four different sides of his music. Each show had a unique set list. The shows were recorded for a DVD release, and the set of DVDs was released in October 2013 as "Tour de Force".

Bonamassa's album, Different Shades of Blue, is his first solo studio album since So, It's Like That to showcase only original songs (with the exception of a brief instrumental Jimi Hendrix cover). Bonamassa wrote the album in Nashville with three songwriters: Jonathan Cain of Journey, James House (known for his work with Diamond Rio), Dwight Yoakam, Martina McBride and Jerry Flowers (who has written for Keith Urban). Bonamassa sought to create serious blues rock in the project, instead of three-minute radio hits. The album was recorded at a music studio in the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. The album charted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on the blues chart, and No. 1 on the indie chart.

In May 2015, Bonamassa won a Blues Music Award in the Instrumentalist – Guitar category. In April 2018, Bonamassa's signature amplifier, the ‘59 Twin-Amp JB Edition, was released by Fender. On June 27, 2018, Bonamassa premiered at the Grand Ole Opry. He made a guest appearance after being introduced by Chase Bryant, and playing along with him in his final song of the set, "I Need a Cold Beer".

Bonamassa released the live album and film, Now Serving: Royal Tea Live from the Ryman, on June 11, 2021. It was from his one-night-only concert, at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee on September 20, 2020. The show was live-streamed at the time, and raised $32,000 for Bonamassa's Fueling Musicians program, which has been helping financially struggling musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bonamassa was first exposed to Beth Hart's music after seeing her play several television performances. The two would often cross paths when playing shows separately in Europe, and Bonamassa became very impressed with Hart when he caught her show at the Blue Balls Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. While recording his album, Dust Bowl (and listening to the expanded edition of the Rolling Stones' Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! which features tracks by Ike & Tina Turner), Bonamassa became inspired to try pairing up with a woman. Hart came to mind, and the two musicians met up in a hotel bar in Dublin. Bonamassa floated the idea, which Hart accepted immediately, although she was at first under the impression that he was asking her to sing backup vocals on his next album. When she realized that his intention was for her to sing lead vocals, she said "I was floored".

Bonamassa, Hart and producer Kevin Shirley wrote down lists of soul songs they liked to come up with material for the album, which was named Don't Explain. The group settled on twelve songs, although only ten ended up being recorded. Bonamassa and Hart each chose five songs for the album. Some of Hart's favorite tracks on the album included, "For My Friend" by Bill Withers, and "Sinner's Prayer" by Ray Charles. Bonamassa had wanted to do versions of Brook Benton's "I'll Take Care of You", and "Well Well" written by Delaney Bramlett & Bonnie Bramlett.

Their follow-up album, Seesaw, was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Blues Album in 2013. Hart and Bonamassa released, Black Coffee, on January 26, 2018. It was produced by Kevin Shirley.

Bonamassa is a member of the jazz-funk band Rock Candy Funk Party. In 2013, they released their debut album, We Want Groove. It was followed by Rock Candy Funk Party Takes New York – Live at the Iridium. The show was recorded over three nights, at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City. The band played during Conan on February 10, 2014.

Bonamassa produced podcasts with another guitar aficionado, Matt Abramovitz, between January and July 2015. The Pickup Radio episodes are about "the life and lore of the guitar". Bonamassa and Abramovitz discuss their favorite guitars, guitarists and occasionally non-guitarists associated with the blues and rock genres.

Bonamassa also serves as the guitarist for the hard rock supergroup Black Country Communion. In September 2017, the band released their fourth studio album, BCCIV.

In August 2021, Bonamassa appeared as a contestant on To Tell the Truth.

Bonamassa played lead guitar on two tracks from the 2022 album, From The New World, by Alan Parsons.

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