Lonnie Joe Parker

**Lonnie Joe Parker** (born September 11, 1981) is an American guitarist and philanthropist. He is best known as a member of the rock band All Business, which he joined at the age of 12 during the Industry Titans Tour of 1992-1993. He is well known for his high speed finger picking technique, with critics often comparing him to Eddie Van Halen "if he was twice as fast and half as good." His membership in the band fluctuated over the years, especially after his battle with drug addiction and subsequent rehabilitation prior to the band's mid-2010s comeback.

## Life and Career

Parker claims to have been born into a carny lifestyle and that he doesn't know who his real parents are, however these claims have been highly contested. The only evidence of this comes from lead singer Vernon O'Shaughnessy, who first discovered and photographed Parker while performing on carnival fairgrounds. Parker lied to O'Shaughnessy about his actual age when the two met, saying he was 15 so he could legally join All Business. He was promptly added as the band's youngest member, a fact which drew many of his new bandmates to him as a hypothetical son-like figure they could mentor. A power struggle for Lonnie's affection ensued, with Vernon coming out on top given that he had the most material possessions to give him. This infuriated many of the other paternal hopefuls, in particular bassist Johnny Law. Upon learning of his actual age, Law swiftly informed Child Protective Services of Parker and the band's misdeeds, thus getting the child briefly taken into custody. This strained relations between Law and O'Shaughnessy, who would start to physically assault each other on a near-daily basis. This helped prompt the band's short lived demise after the recording of *Friction Makes Heat* (1996).

Lonnie was freed from the foster care system in 1998, after which he rejoined All Business for the Back on the Road Tour. *The Impossible Album,* his solo disc on the band's *18 Kings* release (1997), was recorded without the participation of his then-former bandmates, as they were all legally barred from seeing him. Upon reuniting, the other members began introducing the now 16 year old to the hard drugs they were dabbling in. Vernon had made efforts in the past to shelter him from this lifestyle, however he believed "16 year olds can handle it". Lonnie would quickly slip into addiction over the course of the tour, becoming unable to play at several shows. This tendency would only worsen over the coming years, and by the 2000-2001 Stage 2 Tour he was almost completely strung out. Lonnie finally mustered up the strength to quit the band and check into rehab after the tour's completion. He became one of the last members to depart All Business, who went on hiatus following the September 11th attacks on Parker's 20th birthday.

Lonnie's involvement with All Business would be minimal after his rehabilitation. O'Shaughnessy attempted to convince him to release an "I'm Still Standing"-esque comeback song to celebrate the occasion, however he swiftly shot this idea down. He agreed to play Andrew Jackson in the revolutionary war epic *Unify* (2005), which starred the rest of his former All Business bandmates, in order to financially support his new wife and child. On-set tension between him and O'Shaughnessy was high, however, and the two would not speak for a number of years afterwards. Parker would not participate in the group's 2009 Brazilian reunion show, nor would he appear on the band's comeback album *Back to Business* (2015). He would instead use this time to focus on raising his children, exercising and appearing on various online movie-based talks shows such as Screen Junkie's Movie Fights and Red Letter Media's Half in the Bag. Only after the immense success of All Business' single "Can't Stop the Feeling" from their album *Back 3 Basics* (2016) would he rejoin the band, albeit briefly. He appeared as a special guest at select dates on the Can't Stop the Feeling World Tour, and he briefly appeared on their follow up album *Buy Low, Sell High* (2017). His relationship with most of the members was still strained, though, and he subsequently left them again as they began to get embroiled in mob related activities. His final activity with the band before their retirement was during a brief visit to Turkey while the band was in exile there as an excuse to take his family on a free vacation.

Parker would properly rejoin All Business nearly a decade later after they announced their years long farewell Vegas Residency. Being a permanent source of income that wouldn't involve constant travel, and given that his children had graduated high school, he decided to relocate to Nevada and play with the band for just one year. His contract stipulated that he had to remain with the band until his death, however, and thus he would have to play at minimum one show per year with them after the fact. He would use his excess income to start a foundation for troubled child stars and kids dealing with drug abuse. This, along with his guitar playing on *The Lonely Road* (1998), is what he claims to be his "greatest legacy to the world."

## Discography

### All Business

* *Mogul Status: Executive Perks* (1993)
* *Uniting the World* (1993)
* *The Band That Rocked The Fable* (1994)
* *The Impossible Album* (as part of the *18 Kings* release) (1997)
* *The Lonely Road* (1998)
* *God Bless America* (1998)
* *Humble Servants* (1998)
* *The Real History* (1999)
* *We’ve Got Something to Say* (2000)
* *Buy Low, Sell High* (2017)
* *Rockstantinople: Dawn of an Empire* (2020)
* *Last Men Standing* (2028)