J. Geils

J. Geils was born John Geils Jr. in New York City, NY, the guitarist's nickname becoming the handle for one of the most legendary musical groups in the history of Boston rock & roll, The J. Geils Band. During live performances, singer Peter Wolf would say, "Play it Jerome" to his lead guitarist when Geils took a solo. "Occasionally it was Tyrone [that Wolf called him on-stage]," the musician told the All Media Guide.

Growing up in New Jersey, Geils was a big jazz fan during his high school years thanks to his father's (John "Jack" Geils) love of the genre. "All the music I heard...probably the first music I heard as a kid in the late '40s...was Benny Goodman," says Geils. Jack Geils Sr. had many 78 rpms in his record collection -- Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman -- and he also took the young musician to concerts, a performance by Louis Armstrong when he was ten or 12 years old being particularly memorable. Geils' own musical playing began when he performed Miles Davis tunes on trumpet and drums. He got turned on to the blues when New York radio station WRVR broadcast recordings by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and others on Sunday afternoons.

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