TOMMY EMMANUEL

 

William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian virtuoso guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer, best known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. One of six children, Emmanuel was born in Muswellbrook, NSW, in 1955. He received his first guitar in 1959 at age four and was taught by his mother to accompany her playing lap steel guitar. In 1961, at the age of six, he heard Chet Atkins playing on the radio. He vividly remembers that moment and said it greatly inspired him as a musician.

By the age of six, he was a working professional musician. Recognizing the musical talents of Emmanuel and his older brother, Phil, their father created a family band, sold their home, and took his family on the road. With the family living in two station wagons, much of Emmanuel's childhood was spent touring Australia, playing rhythm guitar, and rarely going to school. After their father died in 1966, Australian Country Music star Buddy Williams approached the family and asked permission to take the Emmanuel brothers on the road with his touring show travelling around Australia. Tommy Emmanuel would go on to record a number of Buddy Williams albums in the early 1970s. Eventually, the New South Wales Department of Education insisted that the Emmanuel children had to go to school regularly.

The Emmanuels eventually settled in Parkes. Tommy Emmanuel eventually moved to Sydney, where he was noticed nationally when he won a string of talent contests in his teen years. By the late 1970s, he was playing drums with his brother Phil in the group Goldrush as well as doing session work on numerous albums and jingles. He gained further prominence in the late 1970s as the lead guitarist in the Southern Star Band, the backing group for vocalist Doug Parkinson. In 1979 he collaborated with lap steel player Pee Wee Clark and released the album 'From Out Of Nowhere'.

During 1986–1988 and 1995, he joined the lineup of the leading New Zealand/Australian 1970s rock group Dragon that had reformed in 1982, touring widely with them, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner; he left the group to embark on a solo career. In 1987 he released the album 'Up From Down Under' followed by 'Dare To Be Different' in 1990, 'Determination' in 1991 and 'The Journey' in 1993.

In 1994, Australian music veteran John Farnham invited him to play the guitar next to Stuart Fraser from Noiseworks for the Concert for Rwanda. Emmanuel had previously been a member of Farnham's band during the early 1980s and featured on the album 'Uncovered' and rejoined after the 1994 concert. In July 1999, Chet Atkins commented that Emmanuel was a "fearless" fingerpicking guitar player and awarded Tommy and four others (John Knowles, Marcel Dadi, Jerry Reed, and Steve Wariner) the "Certified Guitar Player" title. Emmanuel and his brother Phil performed live in Sydney at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in 2000. The event was televised worldwide with an estimated 2.85 billion viewers.

In December 2007, he was diagnosed with heart problems and was forced to take a break from his hectic touring schedule due to exhaustion but returned to full-time touring in early 2008. In 2009 he worked with fellow local artists Ray Burgess, Marty Rhone, John St Peeters and John "Swanee" Swan to release a single, "Legends of the Southern Land". In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (OAM).At the 2011 ‘TommyFest’, Tommy took the chance to talk to the audience about his strong Christian faith. “The Lord is my shepherd, so I lack nothing—it’s true!” he told the gathered crowds. In 2012, Governor Steve Beshear awarded Emmanuel the state of Kentucky's honorific title of Kentucky Colonel. During a July 2019 concert he mentioned recently receiving American citizenship.

SINGLES

''Up From Down Under / Raindance'' 1988 Artful Balance
''Guitar Concierto De Aranjuez (Electric Version) / Guitar Concierto De Aranjuez (Acoustic Version)'' 1989 Mega
''Guitar Boogie / Countrywide'' 1990 Mega
"Heart Grows Fonder" 1990 Mega
"Stevie's Blues" (#93) 1991 Mega
"The Journey" (#29) 1993 Columbia
"Villa Anita" 1993 Columbia
"Initiation" 1993 Columbia
"Big Brother" 1994 Columbia
"Since We Met" 1994
"(Back on the) Terra Firma" (#45) [with Phil Emmanuel] 1995 Columbia
"Love Gone West" [with Phil Emmanuel] 1995 Columbia
"Classical Gas" (#44) [with Australian Philharmonic Orchestra] 1995 Columbia
"No More Goodbyes" 1997 Columbia
"After the Love Has Gone" (#74) [with CDB] 1998 Epic
"When a Child is Born" [with Damien Leith] 2011
"One Christmas Night" 2012
"Bam!" [with Glenn Proudfoot] 2014
"Here with Me" [with Pam Rose] 2017
"Djangology" 2018
"Imagine" 2020 CGP
"Somebody That I Used to Know" [with Mike Dawes] 2021 CGP
"Serenade to Sunshine" [with Richard Smith] 2021 CGP
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" [with Mike Dawes] 2022 CGP

EPs
'Accomplice Series, Vol. 1' [with Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley] 2021 CGP
'Accomplice Series, Vol. 2' [with Richard Smith] 2021 CGP
'Accomplice Series, Vol. 3' [with Mike Dawes] 2022 CGP

ALBUMS
'From Out of Nowhere' 1979 Trafalgar
'Untitled' [with Philippe Gabbay] 1981 ABC
'Up from Down Under' (#48) 1987 Artful Balance
'Dare to Be Different' (#13) 1990 Mega
'Determination' (#17) 1991 Mega
'The Journey' (#5) 1993 Columbia Records
'Terra Firma' (#12) [with Phil Emmanuel] 1995 Columbia Records
'Classical Gas' (#6) [with Australian Philharmonic Orchestra] 1995 Columbia Records
'Can't Get Enough' (#26) 1996 Columbia Records
'The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World' [with Chet Atkins] 1997 Columbia Records
'Collaboration' (#51) 1998 Sony 
'Only' (#53) 2000 Favored Nations
'Chet Lag' [with Jim Nichols] 2000 Adalt Records
'Endless Road' 2004 Favored Nations
'The Mystery' 2006 Favored Nations
'Happy Hour' [with Jim Nichols] 2006 Original Works
'Just Between Frets' [with Frank Vignola] 2009 Solid Air Records
'Little by Little' 2010 Sony 
'All I Want for Christmas' (#92) 2011 Favored Nations
'The Colonel & The Governor' [with Martin Taylor] 2013 Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings
'The Guitar Mastery of Tommy Emmanuel' 2014 Favored Nations
'Dov'è andata la musica' [with Dodi Battaglia] 2015 Più In Alto
'Just Passing Through' [with Ian Cooper and Ian Date] 2015 CGP Sounds
'It's Never Too Late' (#31) 2015 Sony
'Christmas Memories' 2016 Sony 
'Pickin' [with David Grisman] 2017 Acoustic Disc
'Accomplice One' 2018 CGP
'Heart Songs' [with John Knowles] 2019 CGP
'Accomplice Two' 2023 CGP 

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Emmanuel

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/