Jerry Harrison

Harrison was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was exposed to artistic fields from a young age: his mother studied art and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Layton School of Art; his father was a musician and worked as an executive in an advertisement firm. Harrison graduated from Shorewood High School (Wisconsin).[http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/97141994.html "Shorewood stars align for fund-raiser"]. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 25, 2010. Accessed March 17, 2012. where he played in many bands, was in the debate club, the student council, the youth club, the math club, also played basketball and was a part of the track team. He later attended Harvard College where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in Visual and Environmental Studies in 1972 with his bachelor thesis being about the fields of painting, sculpture and drawing.{{Cite web |url=https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=01HVD_ALMA212195081640003941&context=L&vid=HVD2&lang=en_US&search_scope=everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=everything&query=any,contains,jeremiah%20harrison&offset=0 |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 11, 2022 |archive-date=January 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113093129/https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=01HVD_ALMA212195081640003941&context=L&vid=HVD2&lang=en_US&search_scope=everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=everything&query=any,contains,jeremiah%20harrison&offset=0 |url-status=dead }}

In 1971, Harrison met Jonathan Richman, and they formed the Modern Lovers.{{cite news |author=Malcolm Jack |title=The Guardian – Talking Heads – 10 of the best |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/sep/21/talking-heads-10-of-the-best |access-date=November 14, 2018 |newspaper=The Guardian|date=September 21, 2016}} Harrison was introduced to Richman by mutual friend and journalist Danny Fields and the pair bonded over their shared love of the Velvet Underground.{{Cite web |last=McNeil |first=Legs |date=2017-10-10 |title=MODERN LOVERS BASSIST ERNIE BROOKS ON RECORDING THEIR CLASSIC ALBUM |url=https://pleasekillme.com/modern-lovers-bassist-ernie-brooks/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=PleaseKillMe |language=en-US}} He joined The Modern Lovers in early 1971, playing on their debut album in 1972 in California (not released until 1976 and produced by John Cale), and left in February 1974,{{Cite news |last=Barton |first=Laura |date=2007-07-20 |title=The car, the radio, the night - and rock's most thrilling song |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jul/20/popandrock5 |access-date=2025-02-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} when Richman wished to perform his songs more quietly. Devastated by the breakup of the band, Harrison returned to Harvard to get his Master's degree in architecture.{{Cite web |title=Jerry Harrison {{!}} HuffPost |url=https://www.huffpost.com/author/jerry-harrison |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=www.huffpost.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Rapp |first=Allison|date=2022-09-16 |title=How Jerry Harrison Stumbled Into Talking Heads |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jerry-harrison-joining-talking-heads/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |language=en}}

Harrison joined Talking Heads in 1977, after the release of their debut single, "Love → Building on Fire".{{Cite news|last=Palmer|first=Robert|date=April 14, 1982|title=The Pop Life|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/14/arts/the-pop-life-061233.html|access-date=August 15, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Jack |first=Malcolm |date=2016-09-21 |title=Talking Heads – 10 of the best |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/sep/21/talking-heads-10-of-the-best |access-date=2025-02-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} He was offered a spot in the band in 1976, while he was still studying at Harvard. Tina Weymouth phoned Harrison to ask him to come and see Talking Heads play in Boston, not knowing he had already seen them and had been impressed by their material. After the performance, Harrison did not give a precise answer about whether he would join the group.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} In September 1976, Harrison told Weymouth he would come to New York City to jam with the band, but he did not have enough money to take a bus. He instead helped his friend, former Harvard classmate and Modern Lovers bassist, Ernie Brooks moving a family's furniture to New York, hitching a ride with him in the process.{{Cite web |title=Jerry Harrison - The Bob Lefsetz Podcast |url=https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/jerry-harrison-107860584/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=iHeart |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison on 'Stop Making Sense' Re-release {{!}} All Of It |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/all-of-it/segments/talking-heads-jerry-harrison-stop-making-sense-re-release?tab=transcript |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=WNYC Studios |language=en}}

Harrison designed the cover for the band's third album in 1979, Fear of Music, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package.{{Cite web |title=22nd Annual GRAMMY Awards {{!}} GRAMMY.com |url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/22nd-annual-grammy-awards |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=grammy.com}} Between tours, Harrison started producing records, working with a group called the Escalators in New York and also New Wave soul singer Nona Hendryx.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} In 1980, Remain In Light caused a dispute in the band due to the credits when Harrison was given additional writing credit for "The Overload" and "Houses in Motion" alongside Brian Eno and David Byrne.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

In 1984, Harrison heard a recording on the radio of President Ronald Reagan, apparently from an off-air hot mic soundcheck saying, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." Though many people had heard of the joke, most had never actually heard the recording itself. Believing it summed up the entire Reagan presidency, Harrison tracked down a copy of the tape through a college radio station and then worked with co-producer Daniel Lazerus and funk bassist Bootsy Collins to create a song. "If the song is a hit," Harrison quipped, "I'll be willing to share royalties with 'lyricist' Ronald Reagan."Bowman, Dave (2001). Fa fa fa fa fa fa: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th Century. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 0-7475-4586-3 When the song, "Five Minutes (Bonzo Goes to Washington)", was completed, no major label could guarantee a release before the 1984 Presidential election, so Harrison chose micro-label Sleeping Bag Records to release it in October 1984.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}{{Cite web |date=2025-01-27 |title=Bonzo Goes to Washington, 'Five Minutes (B-B-B Bombing Mix)' |url=https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/-71340/bonzo-goes-to-washington-five-minutes-b-b-b-bombing-mix-71341/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Rolling Stone Australia |language=en-AU}}{{Cite web |title=Jerry Harrison |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/jerry-harrison/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Trouser Press |language=en-US}}

Harrison has released three solo albums. Many have assumed that the title of his debut, The Red and the Black in 1981, derived from Stendhal's novel of the same name. But in 2021, Harrison revealed that the name was inspired by the group of Situationists. Some members who had come to the United States to join the protests at Harvard against the Vietnam War ended up living in Harrison's room and would constantly talk about their philosophy and Wilhelm Reich, which fascinated Harrison. From this time, Harrison remembered a pamphlet that Guy Debord created named "The Red and The Black" and he "just really liked" the title. The main thoughts behind the album were the ideas of communism and anarchism.{{Cite web |url=https://omny.fm/shows/thismustbetalkingheads/playlists/podcast/embed?style=artwork&image=1&share=0&download=0&description=0&subscribe=0&playlistimages=1&playlistshare=0&foreground=6d4d8f&background=f5f5f5&highlight=6313bc |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 11, 2022 |archive-date=January 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113093045/https://omny.fm/shows/thismustbetalkingheads/playlists/podcast/embed?style=artwork&image=1&share=0&download=0&description=0&subscribe=0&playlistimages=1&playlistshare=0&foreground=6d4d8f&background=f5f5f5&highlight=6313bc |url-status=dead }}

In 1988, he created Casual Gods, recorded in Milwaukee in a bomb shelter-turned studio by the brother of Harrison's best friend in elementary school. During the day Harrison took care of his mother and during the night he worked at the studio. Harrison co-wrote many songs on the album with his bandmate from the Modern Lovers, Ernie Brooks. The track "Man with a Gun" was featured in the 1988 film Two Moon Junction, and the instrumental version of the same song was used in the 1986 Jonathan Demme film Something Wild. The single "Rev It Up" reached a high-point of number seven on the US Mainstream Charts in April 1988;{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-mainstream-rock-tracks/1988-04-16|title = Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart|magazine = Billboard|date = November 28, 2013}} In an interview, Harrison recounts taping the music video with a room full of babies.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO4gHSB-MQ8|title = Jerry Harrison|website = YouTube}}

In 1988, with the success of the Casual Gods album and "Rev It Up" single, Harrison toured internationally with a band including Ernie Brooks, Alex Weir, Bernie Worrell, and Chris Spedding. Their performances included cover songs associated with Harrison: "Roadrunner", "She Cracked", "Life During Wartime", and "Children of the Revolution".https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jerry-harrison-casual-gods/1988/unknown-venue-milwaukee-wi-2b8b90ae.html

Harrison's last solo work was Walk on Water, in 1990.

After the 1991 breakup of Talking Heads, Harrison turned to producing and worked on albums by bands including Hockey, Violent Femmes, The BoDeans, The Von Bondies, General Public, Live, Crash Test Dummies, The Verve Pipe, Poi Dog Pondering, Rusted Root, Stroke 9, The Bogmen, Black 47, The Mayfield Four, Of A Revolution, No Doubt, Turkuaz, Josh Joplin Group, The Black and White Years, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bamboo Shoots, the String Cheese Incident and The Gracious Few. He was also Chairman of the Board for Garageband.com, an internet music resource he co-founded in 1999.{{Cite web|url=http://www.talking-heads.nl/index.php/jerry-harrison|title=Jerry Harrison Bio|website=Talking-heads.nl|access-date=November 5, 2019}} As of 2015, Harrison is the founder and chairman of the board at RedCrow, which is a web based direct investment platform that connects financial and human capital to healthcare start-ups as "a community who share knowledge, interest and passion for healthcare innovation."{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/|title=LinkedIn|website=Linkedin.com|access-date=May 26, 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://redcrow.emktg.info/home/who-we-are.html|title = RedCrow: Equity Crowdfunding – the RedCrow Team|website=Redcrow.emktg.info}}

In 2021, Harrison joined Turkuaz and Adrian Belew for a series of shows celebrating forty years of the album Remain in Light, in his first public performances since the 1996 tour to support No Talking, Just Head.{{Cite magazine |magazine=Rolling Stone |title=Talking Heads Guitarist Jerry Harrison on His 2020 'Remain in Light' Anniversary Tour |department=Music |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=2020-01-13 |accessdate=2023-08-18 |language=en-US |issn=0035-791X |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/talking-heads-guitarist-jerry-harrison-remain-in-light-tour-936665/}}

Harrison, as a member of Talking Heads, is featured throughout the 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme. Also during the Talking Heads era, Harrison made cameo appearances as Billy Idol, Kid Creole and Prince look-alike lip-synchers in David Byrne's 1986 film True Stories. Harrison also had a small part in the 2006 film The Darwin Awards as "Guy in Bar No. 1" alongside John Doe of the band X.{{Cite news|last=Dunne|first=Susan|date=August 31, 2007|title='DARWIN AWARDS' A STUPIDITY PRIZE WINNER|work=Hartford Courant|url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2007-08-31-0708310164-story.html|url-status=live|access-date=October 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009023715/https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2007-08-31-0708310164-story.html|archive-date=October 9, 2020}}

{{Main|Talking Heads discography}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/jerry-harrison-0 Jerry Harrison Interview] at NAMM Oral History Collection (2016)

{{Talking Heads}}

{{2002 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}

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Category:1949 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American guitarists

Category:20th-century American keyboardists

Category:American male guitarists

Category:American new wave musicians

Category:Record producers from Wisconsin

Category:American rock guitarists

Category:Guitarists from Wisconsin

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:The Modern Lovers members

Category:Musicians from Milwaukee

Category:Sire Records artists

Category:Talking Heads members

Category:Shorewood High School (Wisconsin) alumni

Category:Gods and Monsters (band) members