Becky Barksdale

Becky Barksdale (born April 27, 1961), most widely known as a Blues Rock Artist is an American songwriter, musician, singer, guitarist, composer, and music producer. She is also known for her work in Hollywood Blockbusters like Straight Outta Compton, Wake Me Up, John Ledger, Suburbicon, Mission Impossible lll, Argo, Us, Wild, Terminator, Predator, Inception, Munich, Cinderella, War Of The Worlds, Bring It On, Cold Mountain, Finding Neverland, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Trust, UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship and many more.
Barksdale is a multi-award-winning artist who has worked alongside several prolific industry giants such as Michael Jackson and Canned Heat. She was the first artist to sign with the House of Blues record label.
Barksdale has toured and performed at blues festivals throughout the United States and Canada including several concerts for Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation. She has opened for BB King, John Lee Hooker, and Etta James, as well as Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac to name a few.
==Early life and education==
Barksdale was born on 27 April 1961 in Port Arthur, Texas to Charles Boyd Barksdale Jr., an oil refinery worker, and Betty Jane Ware, an office supervisor for the Jefferson County, Texas Health Department. 
Barksdale began playing guitar at the age of 12 when her grandfather gave her a $12 acoustic guitar. During her high school days at Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas, Becky sang in choirs and played lead guitar in the school’s jazz band which earned her the prestigious Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. She graduated in 1979.
Barksdale worked her way through school playing guitar, keyboards, and singing in regional southern rock, blues, and jazz bands and in 1984 she graduated from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas with a Bachelor’s in Music Composition where she developed her contemporary classical writing style and orchestral scoring skills. 
==Career==
Barksdale by the age of 16 began performing professionally at regional clubs and venues such as the Winnie Rice Festival in Texas. In 1985, after completing her college education, Barksdale relocated to Los Angeles, California to pursue her career in music.
In 1986 she performed solo, played piano, and sang ballads and jazz standards at The Hotel Hollywood Metropolitan on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. By 1987 she was performing and recording as a vocalist, guitarist, and/or keyboardist for local pop, rock, and R&B bands. In addition, she was often the lead guitarist for The China Club Band. She then formed her own band which went through several incarnations and eventually became a stripped-down rock-blues power trio featuring Barksdale as lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter. The sold-out shows at popular Los Angeles clubs include Fais Do Do, The Mint, Harvell’s, The Sunset Social Club, Club Lingerie, and The House of Blues gained Barksdale a lot of attention and led to her opening for blues legends BB King, John Lee Hooker, and Etta James, as well as Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac, and others.
In 1991, Barksdale began touring as lead guitarist and vocalist with a latter-day incarnation of blues-boogie band Canned Heat following in the footsteps of guitar greats like Walter Trout, Henry Vestine, and Junior Watson. The tour was hugely successful throughout all of Europe and included a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. Canned Heat even asked Barksdale to become an official member of the band. However, the conditions for her to join were not in step with the other band members. She declined and within a few months, Barksdale came to the attention of Michael Jackson and he personally handpicked her as his lead guitarist to bring an authentic rock punch to his 1993 Dangerous World Tour.
In 1995, Barksdale’s original song “Handles You With Care” became a favorite of actor David Hasselhoff’s. He invited her and her band to perform the song live in an episode of his TV series, Baywatch Nights. She became the first artist signed to the House of Blues record label appearing on the 1996 House Of Blues Hot Biscuits sampler and also included on the 1997 compilation album “Essential Women In Blues” where she's featured with blues greats Etta James, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith and more. 
In 2002, Barksdale released Real Live, her first solo album. Later that year, while continuing to perform live, she built her own studio and started her own record label, Bark at the Moon Music (later becoming Workhorse Records). From this point forward she recorded and self-produced her own albums and singles as well as music for film and television. In 2002, Becky also released “Cowgirl Blues”, an EP of five original songs which unearthed her Americana/Country roots (her great uncles, Karl Farr and Hugh Farr were members of The Sons Of The Pioneers - one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups). 
In 2003, Barksdale released 12 new songs on her album “Out of the Blue.” In 2006, she released The Christmas EP, a collection of Holiday classics recreated in Becky’s blues-rock style which includes Becky’s version of "Amazing Grace" which later was featured in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” movie trailers and promos. 
In 2011, Barksdale scored Phoenexus Pictures short film “Wake Me Up” which also featured her performance of “Amazing Grace” for the opening credits. A year later, she released the album “Blood & Wine (Music Featured in Trailers and Film)” - an eclectic collection of Becky’s compositions for film and tv and “The Limited-Edition EP” a rocking collection of classic blues songs. In late 2013, Becky recorded, mixed, produced, and released another album “The 2120 Sessions,” receiving rave reviews - most notably by Barry Kerzner of Chicago Blues News. 
==Discography==
S.No.	Title 	Year	Type
1 	Real Live 	2002	Album (11 songs)
2 	Cowgirl Blues 	2002	EP (5 songs)
3 	Out of the blue 	2003	Album (12 songs)
4 	Silent Night / Amazing Grace	2006	Single
5 	The Christmas EP 	2006	EP (6 songs)
6 	It Hurts 	2010	Single
7 	Remember Me 	2011	Single
8 	Close to you 	2012	Single
9 	Easy 	2012	Single
10 	Blood & Wine 	2012	Album (25 songs)
11 	Limited Edition EP 	2013	EP (4 songs)
12 	The 2120 Sessions 	2013	Album (12 songs)
13 	Rollin’ and Tumblin’ 	2013	Single
14 	Christman time is here 	2013	Single
15 	Under my tree 	2014	Single
16 	New Year’s Resolution Blues 	2014	Single
17 	The Good One 	2016	Single
18 	All the same 	2016	Single
19 	All the same (radio edit) 	2016	Single
20 	You shook me 	2017	Single
21 	Dance the Night with Me 	2018	Single
22 	Son of a Preacher Man 	2019	Single
==Select credits==
* The Crown (trailers) - Netflix
* Big Little Lies (promos) - HBO
* Mulan (2020) (trailers) - Walt Disney Pictures
* Straight Outta Compton (original song/ soundtrack) - Universal Pictures
* Straight Outta Compton (trailers/ tv spots/ promos) - Universal Pictures
* Silence (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championship (various shows- score and promos)
* Downhill (trailers) - Fox Searchlight Pictures
* Antebellum (trailers) - Lionsgate
* Yesterday (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Wild (trailers)- Fox Searchlight Pictures
* Captain America: The Winter Soldier (trailers) - DisneyPictures
* Neighbors (tv spots) - Universal Pictures
* Wake Me Up (film score) - Phoenexus Pictures
* The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (trailers) - Warner Brothers Pictures
* Insidious: Chapter 2 (trailers) - Film District
* Argo (tv spots) - Warner Brothers Pictures
* Mama (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Seberg (tv spot) - Amazon
* US (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Dark Phoenix (trailers) - Twentieth Century Fox
* Running with Beto (trailers) - HBO
* Jojo Rabbit (trailers) - Fox Searchlight Pictures
* Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark (trailers) - Lionsgate
* Glass (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Pet Sematary (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* Velvet Buzzsaw (trailers) - Netflix
* Overlord (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* Truth or Dare (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* The Grinch (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Lizzie (trailers) - Saban Films
* Wind River (trailers) - The Weinstein Company
* Annabelle 2 (trailers) - Warner Brothers
* Suburbicon (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* Mother! (tv spots) - Paramount Pictures
* Boss Baby (trailers) - 20th Century Fox 
* Trust (promo) - FX
* The Accountant (trailers) - Warner Brothers
* Alien: Covenant (tv spots) - 20th Century Fox
* The Girl on the Train (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* It (trailers) - New Line Cinema
* Queen of Katwe (trailers) - Disney Pictures
* Despicable Me 3 (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Don't Breathe (trailers) - Sony Pictures 
* Ghost In The Shell (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* Birth of a Nation (trailers)- Fox Searchlight Pictures
* Allied (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* The Shallows (trailers) - Sony Pictures
* The Accountant (trailers) - Warner Brothers
* Split (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Bleed for This (trailers) - Sony Pictures
* 10 Cloverfield Lane (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* Death Race 4 (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Sing (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* All Eyez On Me (trailers, promo) - Morgan Creek
* The Conjuring 2 (trailers) - New Line Cinema
* Ash vs Evil Dead (tv spots) - STARZ
* Hardcore Henry (trailers) - STX Entertainment
* The Big Short (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* Black Mass (trailers) - Warner Brothers
* Vinyl (tv spots) - HBO
* Steve Jobs (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Midnight Special (trailers) - Warner Brothers
* Krampus (trailers) - Universal Pictures
* Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass (trailers) - Disney Pictures
* Cinderella (trailers) - Disney Pictures
* Paranormal Activity 4 (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* The Rite (trailers) - Warner Brothers Pictures
* Paranormal Activity 2 (trailers) - Paramount Pictures
* Inception (tv spots) - Warner Brothers Pictures
* 127 Hours (trailers) - 20th Century Fox
* Let Me In (trailers) - Overture Films
* Predator (trailers) - 20th Century Fox
* Baywatch Nights (original song / on screen performance) - The Baywatch Company
* Splice (trailers) - Warner Bros Pictures
* The Crazies (trailers) - Overture Films
* Youth In Revolt (trailers) - The Weinstein Company
* Pandorum (trailers) - Overture Films
* Becoming Jane (trailers) - Miramax
* Borat (tv spots) - 20th Century Fox
* Mission Impossible III (tv spots) - Paramount
* Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (trailers/feat. performance) - New Line
* Finding Neverland (trailers) - Miramax
* Bring It On 3 (additional film score) - Universal
* Alpha Dog (trailers) - New Line
==Awards==
* 1979 - Louis Armstrong Jazz Award
* 1993 - Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation Red Rooster Award
* 2012 - Museum of The Gulf Coast Music Hall Of Fame inductee
==In the media==
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==Gallery==
==References==
==External links==
* Official Website
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Category:1961 births
Category:American songwriters
Category:American musicians
Category:American singers
Category:American guitarists
Category:American composers
Category:American record producers
Category:American music producers
Category:American audio engineers