Leslie West

Leslie West
Leslie Abel West (born Weinstein; October 22, 1945 – December 23, 2020) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain. West was named the 245th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023.
Life and career
Early years: 1945–1973
West was born in New York City on October 22, 1945, to Jewish parents. He grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, Forest Hills, and Lawrence, New York. After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West. His musical career began with the Vagrants, an R&B/blue-eyed soul-rock band influenced by the likes of the Rascals that was one of the few teenage garage rock acts to come out of the New York metropolitan area itself (as opposed to the Bohemian Greenwich Village scene of artists, poets, and affiliates of the Beat Generation, which produced bands like the Fugs and the Velvet Underground). The Vagrants had two minor hits in the Eastern United States: 1966's "I Can't Make a Friend" and a cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" the following year.
Some of the Vagrants' recordings were produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream on their album Disraeli Gears. In 1969, West and Pappalardi formed the pioneering hard rock act Mountain, which was also the title of West's debut solo album. Rolling Stone identified the band as a "louder version of Cream". With Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. D. Smart, the band appeared on the second day of the Woodstock Festival on Saturday, August 16, 1969, starting an 11-song set at 9 pm.
The band's original incarnation saw West and Pappalardi sharing vocal duties and playing guitar and bass, respectively. New drummer Corky Laing joined the band shortly after Woodstock. They had success with "Mississippi Queen", which reached No. 21 on the Billboard charts and No. 4 in Canada. It was followed by "Theme For an Imaginary Western", written by Cream bassist Jack Bruce. Mountain is one of the bands considered to be forerunners of heavy metal.
After Pappalardi left Mountain to concentrate on production projects, West and Laing produced two studio albums and a live release with Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce and Laing. West, along with keyboard player Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, recorded with the Who during the March 1971 Who's Next New York sessions. Tracks from the sessions included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Baby Don't You Do It," and early versions of "Love Ain't For Keepin'" and the Who's signature track "Won't Get Fooled Again". Though the tracks were not originally included on the album (recording restarted in England a few months later without West or Kooper), they appear as bonus tracks on the 1995 and 2003 reissues of Who's Next and on the 1998 reissue of Odds & Sods.
Reforming Mountain and solo career: 1973–2000
Mountain reformed in 1973, only to break up again in late 1974. West had acting roles in Family Honor (1973) and The Money Pit (1986).
West also played guitar for the track "Bo Diddley Jam" on Bo Diddley's 1976 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album. Also in 1976, West auditioned for Lynyrd Skynyrd after the departure of Ed King, but the vacated slot eventually went to Steve Gaines.
During the mid '70s, West issued a pair of albums simply credited to himself, 1975's The Great Fatsby (which included a guest appearance by Mick Jagger on guitar) and 1976's The Leslie West Band (which featured Mick Jones on guitar, just before he formed Foreigner).
Since 1981, Mountain has continued to reform, tour, and record on a regular basis. West teamed up with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple renown, to co-write and play guitar on the song "Hang Me Out To Dry" from the Gillan album ToolBox, released in Europe in 1991. West and Joe Bonamassa recorded Warren Haynes' "If Heartaches Were Nickels" together. West released it on Guitarded (2005), and Bonamassa on A New Day Yesterday (2000). In May 1987, West played the band leader in a series of late night pilot shows for Howard Stern on the FOX network. He taped a total of five shows with Stern, which never aired. Stern went on to create a new show dubbed the Channel 9 show without West. West continued to make occasional appearances on radio, notably on Stern's radio show.
21st century
West contributed the music and co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Immortal" on Clutch's 2001 album Pure Rock Fury, which was a reworked cover of the song "Baby I'm Down" from West's first album. In 2005 he contributed to Ozzy Osbourne's Under Cover album, performing guitar on a remake of "Mississippi Queen". In addition to fronting Mountain, West continued to record and perform on his own. His solo album, entitled Blue Me, was released in 2006 on the Blues Bureau International label. West was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006. In 2007, Mountain released Masters of War on Big Rack Records, an album featuring 12 Bob Dylan covers that saw Osbourne providing guest vocals on a rendition of the title track.
West married his fiancée Jenni Maurer on stage after Mountain's performance at the Woodstock 40th anniversary concert in Bethel, New York (August 15, 2009). A concert crowd of over 15,000 people was present, as West and Maurer were wed under a canopy of upraised electric guitars. On June 20, 2011, West had his right leg amputated as a result of complications from diabetes. West made his first public appearance after his surgery on August 13, 2011. In 2014, West was a guest performer on Eli Cook's album, Primitive Son. His 2015 album, Soundcheck, peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart.
Weeks before his death West was scheduled to begin recording a new studio album with a variety of guitarists. That group of musicians including Slash, Zakk Wylde, Dee Snider, and others, came together to record the album, titled Legacy: A Tribute To Leslie West, which was released on 25 March 2022.
Health, death, and tributes
By the late 1970s, West was recovering from addiction to heroin, morphine, and cocaine. West said in various interviews that his drug problems and similar drug abuse problems of other bandmates, had interfered with the success of both Mountain and West, Bruce and Laing. In the mid-1980s, just as he was overcoming the drug problems, West was diagnosed with diabetes, and his weight fluctuated over the years as he struggled with the disease. In the early 2000s, he also survived a short bout with bladder cancer. In 2011, due to complications from his diabetes, West's right leg had to be amputated. West said in a 2014 interview that he believed his past smoking also contributed to the crisis with his leg.
West went into cardiac arrest on Monday, December 21, 2020, and was rushed to a hospital in nearby Palm Coast, where he never regained consciousness. After being contacted by Rolling Stone, West's brother Larry West confirmed that Leslie West had died. A report by Variety based on social media posts made by Larry West states that Leslie West died on Wednesday, December 23, 2020. He was 75.
Many celebrities and rock musicians paid tribute to West on his death, including Howard Stern, Brian May, Geezer Butler, Peter Frampton, Joe Satriani, Neal Schon, David Coverdale, Vernon Reid, Tom Morello, Slash, Joe Bonamassa, and Dee Snider, among others. Foo Fighters also performed "Mississippi Queen" live on The Howard Stern Show in tribute to West shortly after his passing.
Influence on other guitarists
A multitude of rock guitarists have credited West as an influence on their playing over the years, including Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Michael Schenker, Johnny Ramone, and Tim Sult, among others.
Equipment
West was renowned for helping popularize the Gibson Les Paul Jr. guitar, with a single P-90 pickup, along with the use of Sunn Amplifiers, to create a tone which became his trademark sound.
Guitars
West frequently used two Les Paul
Juniors, one "TV Yellow" and the other a sunburst. West also used a modified Gibson Flying V, with the neck pickup removed (he used the hole for an ash tray) and a P-90 pickup fitted at the bridge position. West also had a two-pickup Flying V (serial number 906965) which he used after the "ash tray" Flying V broke. West also used a plexiglass Electra guitar, which is a Japanese copy of the better-known Ampeg-made Dan Armstrong guitar, for slide.
West also played a Westone Pantera guitar. From 1977 to 1982, he used a signature on-board effects MPC model guitar, created by the Japanese company Electra. He most recently used a signature model from Dean Guitars, the USA Soltero Leslie West Signature model, fitted with a custom-designed Dean pickup called "Mountain of Tone." Based on an endorsing contract in the 1970s, West played British-made Burns guitars. West also long favored "headless" guitars, and can be seen playing them on some of the videos he appeared in. In an interview segment on Night of the Guitars – Live! West stated that he had narrowed his commonly played instruments down to two: an off-the-shelf Steinberger and a Kramer with DiMarzio pickups.
Amplifiers
In 2005, West received a sponsorship with Carlsbro amplifiers, and could frequently be seen playing through "Carlsbro 50 Top" valve heads. His studio amplifier was a Marshall JMP. Live, he used Marshall JCM 900s. He started endorsing and using Budda Amplification in 2008. He was also associated with Sunn amplifiers, and used a Sunn Coliseum PA head, when it was shipped to him by accident. He claimed that this is the amp that gave him his signature sound in a Gibson interview with West.
The Sunn amplifiers that West used were of the late 1960s era and were not factory stock. The four-channel amplifier heads' preamps were wired as cascading preamps to channel one, out to the amp's power section. This is what produced the long compressed sustain and distorted overdrive of the great Mountain sound that he is well known for.
West used Blackstar amps. West also used Budda amplifiers, with a Budda backline visible on stage footage of West's appearances.
Effects
West employed octaver, chorus, and delay effects.
Discography
Solo
With Mountain
With West, Bruce and Laing
References
External links
Mountain biography site at AllMusic.com
Video Interview Series with Leslie West by Living Legends Music
Leslie West obituary on Best Classic Bands website
American amputees
Amputee musicians
Singers with disabilities
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
Jewish American songwriters
Jewish American rock musicians
Jewish singers
1945 births
2020 deaths
Mountain (band) members
People from Forest Hills, Queens
People from Lawrence, Nassau County, New York
Lead guitarists
People from East Meadow, New York
People from Hackensack, New Jersey
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
American male guitarists
Jewish rock musicians
Jewish heavy metal musicians
20th-century American guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
Songwriters from New Jersey
Guitarists from New Jersey
West, Bruce and Laing members
20th-century American male singers
21st-century American male singers
Musicians from Queens, New York
21st-century American Jews
American male songwriters
Provogue Records artists
American musicians with disabilities