Riggs
Jerry Riggs is an American rock guitarist and vocalist, born on August 25, 1955, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Riggs first became known as lead guitarist for the local group, Lynx, as a teenager. Already teamed with friend Jeremy Graf, the group was a popular staple on the Knoxville music bar circuit in the mid-70's. This version of the band featured Michael Byassee on vocals. After a serious romantic breakup with his first love, Cynthia Shubert, (aka "Sinde" a popular local singer/songwriter), a distraught Riggs resolved to move to Atlanta, Georgia with his band. After the move, Jerry changed the name of the group to Raggedy Ann, bringing Jeremy Graf (later with the Georgia Satellites) with him. (Shubert went on to become a respected Jazz singer, regularly performing with legendary Jazz guitarist, the late Lenny Breau.)
After the move to Atlanta, Riggs hired singer Don Trane, who wound up leaving the band in 1980. After Trane's departure, Jerry replaced him as frontman and the band became Riggs. Two of the band's songs Radar Rider and Heartbeat were featured prominently in the 1981 animated feature film Heavy Metal. They were also included on the movie's soundtrack release. Riggs' debut album on the Full Moon label was released shortly after, but failed to make much of an impact on the music scene. One song "Ready Or Not" was a minor hit, but the album basically went unnoticed.
Jerry Riggs began working with Canadian rocker Pat Travers in 1983 and joined Travers' touring band as co-lead guitarist. At the time Riggs joined, Travers was at the end of his most successful period. The Pat Travers Band became a staple on the North American nightclub circuits during the latter half of the 1980s and toured constantly with very grueling schedules. At headlining shows, Riggs performed at least one of his original songs, and "Ready Or Not" was always a crowd favorite. He also showcased his exceptional guitar skills with a very memorable solo. A few of Riggs' original compositions made it onto Travers' 1990 release School Of Hard Knocks. One Riggs-penned track was an instrumental entitled Guitars From Hell that featured first-rate fretwork from both he and Travers. Riggs is also featured on the 1991 video release Boom Boom-Live At The Diamond Club. This video is a full-length concert filmed in Toronto, and features Travers' greatest hits, as well as "Ready Or Not" by Riggs. Although one of his songs was included in this video release, unfortunately Jerry Riggs' guitar solo was not included.
Riggs left Travers' group in 1993 and now lives in Florida. He continues to be active in music and performs regularly with Bobby Friss. The Bobby Friss Band has a large and loyal following in their home state, but are virtually unknown outside of Florida. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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