John McCurry

John McCurry (born June 24, 1957) is an American musician and composer, a guitarist, songwriter and singer based in New York City. He has worked with many well-known musical artists, including Chicago, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, John Waite, Belinda Carlisle, Julian Lennon, Joss Stone, Katy Perry, The Jonas Brothers, and Elliott Yamin.
In 1983, McCurry played lead guitar in the band Cool It Reba. He was lead guitarist in Cyndi Lauper's touring band in the early 1980s. He has also performed in other bands on concert tours, including Anita Baker's Rhythm of Love World Tour in 1994–1995, and John Waite's 1985 American tour. As a performer, all through his younger years, McCurry was visually distinctive because of his naturally bright red hair.
On the website allmusic.com, John McCurry is credited as composer on 119 music albums. His genres are described as pop/rock and classical, and his styles as vocal music and opera. He is credited with guitar on 67 albums, out of which ten specify electric guitar, nine specify acoustic guitar, and four specify bass guitar. He is credited with vocals on seven albums, lyricist on one, arranger on one, producer on one, and text on one. He also has one credit each for coral sitar, banjo and accordion. McCurry is listed as either main personnel, performer, primary artist, or guest artist on 10 albums.
McCurry has also written songs for film and television. He has songwriting credits for soundtrack songs: 11 on film soundtracks, 2 on a TV film soundtrack and one in a television series soundtrack. He has a performer credit for one soundtrack song, and has "music department" credits as vocalist on one film, and for electric guitar on one TV series.
Songwriter
Cowritten songs
Songs that were co-written by McCurry with other artists appear on the following albums:
Mr. Jordan, Julian Lennon, five songs co-written with McCurry
Trash, Alice Cooper, two songs
Mask of Smiles, John Waite, one song
Classicks, Alice Cooper, one song
Help Yourself, Julian Lennon, one song
BBC Sessions and Other Polished Turds, The Vandals, one song (the Alice Cooper song)
Mask of Smiles, John Waite, one song
Stone of Sisyphus, Robert Lamm Sleeping in the Middle of the Bed
With Julian Lennon
In an interview on the website "Hey Jules", about Julian Lennon's 1991 album "Help Yourself", Lennon commented about McCurry's musicianship and the songwriting process:
"John McCurry, as usual, did some great stuff with me on this I felt. We didn't actually have that much time together to write this time 'cause he was working on other projects. But we did manage to come up with "Help Yourself."
Lennon also said, about writing the album's title track, "Help Yourself":
"John McCurry and I sat around thinking, 'Well, where are we going to go with this?' and I'd already had part of the music there and then John came in and said, 'Alright, try this' and it was a back and forth thing and we didn't have any lyrics and John again had to, like everybody else I write with, had to disappear back to New York. And I sat around writing and he'd sort of mentioned a couple of ideas and it came together in about two days."
Guitarist
In a review of John Waite's album Rovers Return, about the track "Wild One", Brian McGowan commented that the spirit of the song was "defined in stark relief by John McCurry’s freewheeling, razor sharp axework".
Various others albums that McCurry has played guitar on are:
Cher (1987 album), Cher
Heart of Stone, Cher
Paintings in My Mind, Tommy Page
The Bridge, Billy Joel
Hide Your Heart, Bonnie Tyler
Valotte, Julian Lennon
The Secret Value of Daydreaming, Julian Lennon
Mr. Jordan, Julian Lennon
Help Yourself, Julian Lennon
Soul Provider, Michael Bolton
Inside, Matthew Sweet
No Sound But a Heart, Sheena Easton
Saints and Sinners, Kane Roberts
Circle in the Sand, Belinda Carlisle
Heaven on Earth, Belinda Carlisle
Some People's Lives, Bette Midler
Something Real, Phoebe Snow
Maria Vidal, Maria Vidal
Rhythm of Love, Anita Baker
Over My Heart, Laura Branigan
True Colors, Cyndi Lauper
A Night to Remember, Cyndi Lauper
Spoiled Girl, Carly Simon
Have You Seen Me Lately, Carly Simon
Discipline, Desmond Child
Save the Last Dance for Me, Ben E. King
Satisfied'', Taylor Dayne
References
External links
More info at UFO, Underground For Overground
And at Sweet Lorrainne
One Sweet Lorraine track at
Kill Lizzie at
American male composers
20th-century American composers
Living people
Lead guitarists
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
American pop guitarists
American session musicians
American male songwriters
1952 births
Songwriters from New York (state)
Guitarists from New York City
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians