Jack Starr

{{for|the musician who recorded in 1960s and whose recordings have been released by Norton Records|Jack Starr (Texas guitarist)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Jack Starr

| image = Jack-starr.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1951}}

| birth_place = Paris, France

| occupation = Musician, songwriter, record producer

| genre = Rock, hard rock, heavy metal, blues

| instrument = Guitar

| years_active = Late 1960s–present

| current_member_of=Jack Starr's Burning Starr, Jack Starr Blues Band

| past_member_of = Virgin Steele, Devil Childe, Phantom Lord, Thrasher, Strider, Smokestack Lightning, Guardians of the Flame

| website =

}}

Jack Starr (born 1951) is an American heavy metal and blues guitarist.

Biography

Starr was born of a French mother and American father.{{cite book | last1 = Putterford | first1 = Mark | title = Mega Metal Kerrang! | chapter = Starrgazer | volume = 1 | publisher = Morgan Grampian | year = 1986 | pages = 46–47 }} He learned to play guitar by ear, copying the riffs of R&B records. His first semi-professional band was Les Variations in France with future members of Trust. In the U.S. Starr emerged on the rock and metal scene in 1981, forming, together with Joey Ayvazian, David DeFeis and Joe O’Rielly, the first incarnation of the heavy metal band Virgin Steele. The new band was selected in 1982 by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records to appear on the label's compilation album U.S. Metal Volume 2.{{cite web|url=http://www.virgin-steele.com/bio.html |title=Virgin Steele Biography |accessdate=10 April 2010 |last=DeFeis |first=David |publisher=Virgin-Steele.com }} The song Starr sent in for the compilation was "Children of the Storm". After only two albums, Virgin Steele of 1981 and Guardians of the Flame of 1982, Starr left Virgin Steele in 1983 because of musical differences with the band's front man and other main songwriter David DeFeis.{{cite web |url=http://www.jackstarr.com/jackbio.html |title=Jack Starr Biography |accessdate=10 April 2010 |publisher=Jackstarr.com |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325065917/http://www.jackstarr.com/jackbio.html |archivedate=25 March 2009 }}

In 1984, Starr started his solo recording career with the album Out of the Darkness, featuring former Riot vocalist Rhett Forrester, members of The Rods and former Rainbow drummer Gary Driscoll. It was released in Europe by Music for Nations and was picked as one of the best albums of the year by the music magazines Kerrang! and Metal Forces.{{cite web|url=http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=14398 |title=Jack Starr |accessdate=10 April 2010 |date=10 December 2009 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Metallum}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jackstarr.com/jackdisc.html |title=Jack Starr albums |accessdate=27 December 2011 |author=Starr, Jack |work=jackstarr.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426073033/http://jackstarr.com/jackdisc.html |archive-date=26 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}

Starr changed the name of his band to Jack Starr's Burning Starr and between 1984 and 1989 he produced albums, both solo and with the band. The music of those albums was classic American eighties heavy metal, a style between Poison and Metallica. In 1989, the band dissolved and Starr joined short-lived bands like Strider and Smoke Stack Lightning.

After a break, in 2003, Starr founded a new band called Guardians of the Flame, which released only one album, Under a Savage Sky.{{cite web|url=https://glorydazemusic.com/articles.php?article_id=162 |title=Jack Starr's Guardians Of The Flame – 2003 Under A Savage A Sky|publisher=GloryDazeMusic.com}}

In 2006, Starr founded the Jack Starr Blues Band.{{cite web |url=http://www.jackstarrblues.com |title=Jack Starr Blues Band |accessdate=26 December 2011 |work=jackstarrblues.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216130301/http://www.jackstarrblues.com/ |archive-date=16 December 2011 |url-status=dead }}

In the following years, Starr once again assembled a group of musicians for a new incarnation of Burning Starr, which performed at the Magic Circle Festival 2008 and released the album Defiance on the Manowar's label Magic Circle Music in 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=20708 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201133859/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=20708 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 February 2013 |title=Former VIRGIN STEELE Guitarist JACK STARR Signs With MAGIC CIRCLE MUSIC |date=24 March 2004 |accessdate=27 December 2011 |publisher=Roadrunner Records |work=Blabbermouth.net }}{{cite web|url=http://www.burningstarr.com/ |title=Burning Starr Biography |accessdate=10 April 2010 |year=2009 |publisher=Burningstarr.com }} In 2011, they released Land of the Dead with Limb Music. The albums includes ex-Manowar guest musicians Ross the Boss and David Shankle.{{cite web|url=http://www.limb-music.de/ |title=Limb Music |date=11 November 2011 |accessdate=26 December 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226044004/http://www.limb-music.de/ |archivedate=26 December 2011 |url-status=dead }} The band played at the 2013 Keep It True festival and recorded a DVD.{{cite web |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/Blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=167036 |title=JACK STARR'S BURNING STARR: 'Keep It True' Performance To Be Filmed For DVD Release |publisher=Roadrunner Records |work=Blabbermouth.net |date=8 December 2011 |accessdate=27 December 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Discography

=Solo albums=

Out of the Darkness (1984)
A Minor Disturbance (1990)
Soon Day Will Come (2000)
Before the Steele: Roots of a Metal Master (2001) (compilation)
Swimming in Dirty Water (2011){{cite web|url=http://jackstarr.com/jackhome.html |title=Jack Starr's home page |accessdate=27 December 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217201008/http://www.jackstarr.com/jackhome.html |archivedate=17 December 2011 |work=jackstarr.com |url-status=dead }}