Randy California

{{Infobox musical artist

| image = Randy california photo.jpg

| birth_name = Randy Craig Wolfe

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1951|02|20}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|01|02|1951|02|20}}

| death_place = Molokai, Hawaii, U.S.

| instrument = Vocals, guitar

| genre =

| years_active = 1965–1997

| past_member_of = Spirit, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Deep Purple

}}

Randy Craig Wolfe (February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997), known as Randy California, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967.

Life and career

California was born Randy Craig Wolfe to Robert Wolfe and Bernice Wolfe (née Pearl) and grew up in a musical Jewish{{cite book | last = Bernarde | first = Scott | title = Stars of David: Rock'n'roll's Jewish Stories | year = 2003 | publisher = UPNE | pages = 164–169 | isbn = 9781584653035 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XI4-VnSrEcAC | access-date = December 25, 2015 }} family in Los Angeles. He spent his early years studying varied styles at the family's Los Angeles folk club, the Ash Grove, which was founded by his uncle, Ed Pearl.{{cite news | last = Skidmore | first = Mick | title = Randy California (1951–1997): A True Spirit and Guitarist Extraordinaire | year = 1997 | work = Relix Magazine | url = http://www.randycaliforniaandspirit.com/biography.html | access-date = August 9, 2008 }} He was 15 years old when his mother and new stepfather, Ed Cassidy (later to become a founding member of the band Spirit, with Randy), moved to New York City in the summer of 1966 because Cassidy had a number of jazz gigs lined up. It was there, at Manny's Music, that he met Jimi Hendrix.{{cite news | last = Roby | first = Steve | title = Randy California interview | work = Straight Ahead: The International Jimi Hendrix Fanzine | date = October–November 1994 | url = http://www.bostream.nu/johanb/spirit/blfl.htm | archive-url = https://archive.today/20030312193139/http://www.bostream.nu/johanb/spirit/blfl.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 12, 2003 | access-date = August 9, 2008 }}

He played in Hendrix's band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames that summer. California, Cassidy and Pearl lived in an apartment building in Forest Hills, Queens called the Balfour, whose other residents included future Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker, who cited California's blues-based guitar style as an influence on his own playing.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/steely-dan-return-of-the-dark-brothers-20000330|title=Steely Dan: Return of the Dark Brothers|last=Wilkinson|first=Alec|date=March 30, 2000|magazine=Rolling Stone}}

The stage name "Randy California" was given to him by Hendrix to distinguish him from another Randy in the band, Randy Palmer, whom Hendrix dubbed "Randy Texas". When Hendrix and California were invited to come to England by Chas Chandler, former bassist of British Invasion band the Animals—who became Hendrix's manager and producer—Randy's parents refused to allow him to go, insisting the 15-year-old stay and finish high school.Benarde, Scott R. Stars of David: Rock 'n' Roll's Jewish Stories Publisher: Brandeis, 2003 {{ISBN|9781584653035}} By some accounts, Chandler wanted Hendrix as the only guitarist for the band and nixed California's going to England.

Together with Cassidy, songwriter/front man Jay Ferguson, bassist Mark Andes (with whom California and Cassidy had initially formed a band called the Red Roosters) and keyboardist John Locke, California founded the band Spirit. Their first, self-titled album was released in January 1968, a month before California's 17th birthday.

He then wrote the band's biggest hit, 1968's "I Got a Line on You" for Spirit's second album, The Family That Plays Together. He also wrote the single "1984", inspired by George Orwell's novel of the same name. Released in early 1970, "the song was so pointed against the U.S. government that it was banned from many radio stations, although it was a huge hit in Germany."{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/1984-mt0034665896|title=1984 - Spirit|last=Greenwald|first=Matthew|website=AllMusic.com|access-date=August 2, 2020}} In Canada the song reached #66.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.3769.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - March 21, 1970}} California also wrote Spirit's other hit, "Nature's Way", for the band's best-selling album, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus.

Career

Spirit was invited to open for Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.{{cite AV media notes |title=Clear |others=Spirit |year=1969 }} However, band manager/producer Lou Adler—who had been one of the founders of the rock festival movement two years earlier, as a partner (with Mamas & Papas frontman John Phillips) in the Monterey Pop Festival, where Hendrix premiered in the U.S.—opposed it because the band was busy promoting their latest album, Clear.

When Ferguson and Andes left Spirit to form Jo Jo Gunne due to the slow sales of Sardonicus, and then his dear friend Hendrix died, a depressed California left Spirit. He recorded Kapt. Kopter & The Fabulous Twirly Birds, which included California and Cassidy's version of Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" plus a slew of Hendrix-inspired tracks (also featuring former Experience bassist Noel Redding, AKA 'Clit McTorius'). In 1972 the album was released at virtually the same moment as Jo Jo Gunne's first, eponymous album that featured "Run, Run Run" and a Spirit album called Feedback that was recorded by Cassidy and Locke (who were Spirit's jazz influences) and guitarist/bassist brother duo Al and John Staehely, who wrote and sang most of the material on the LP.

Stairway to Heaven copyright dispute

In writing Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", Jimmy Page allegedly lifted California's guitar riff from "Taurus", an instrumental song from the first Spirit album. Led Zeppelin was on the same bill as Spirit on two American music festival dates in 1969.Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. {{ISBN|0-7119-5307-4}}, p. 15 In the liner notes for the 1996 reissue of Spirit's first album, California stated: "people always ask me why 'Stairway to Heaven' sounds exactly like 'Taurus,' which was released two years earlier. I know Led Zeppelin also played 'Fresh Garbage' in their live set. They opened up for us on their first American tour". The fact that "Fresh Garbage" was a track from the same album that includes the song "Taurus" further suggested that Led Zeppelin was likely aware of the song enough to lead to a belated 2014 copyright infringement and injunction lawsuit against the reissue of Led Zeppelin IV, with the lawyer stating, "The idea behind this is to make sure that Randy California is given a writing credit on 'Stairway to Heaven'."{{cite web|author=Sean Michaels |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/19/led-zeppelin-accused-stealing-stairway-to-heaven-opening |title=Led Zeppelin accused of stealing Stairway to Heaven opening|work=The Guardian|date=May 19, 2014|access-date=July 15, 2014}}Michael Skidmore for Randy Craig Wolfe Trust v. Led Zeppelin Case 2:14-cv-03089-JS, Document 1, U.S. District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania, filed May 31, 2014.

In June 2016, after a trial that included audio recordings of several versions of both songs but not the Spirit and Led Zeppelin recordings, and also featured testimony from Page and bandmate Robert Plant explaining the songwriting process for "Stairway", a jury ruled that Page and Plant had not copied "Taurus". The decision came under appeal because the judge did not permit the two sound recordings to be played and instead allowed only sheet music. Copyright law had been expanded to include sound recordings in 1974. In September 2018, this decision was overturned. A new trial was unanimously ordered by a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on the basis that U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave jurors erroneous information about copyright law.{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/led-zeppelin-faces-retrial-in-stairway-to-heaven-copyright-lawsuit|title=Led Zeppelin faces retrial in 'Stairway to Heaven' copyright lawsuit|first=Stephen|last=Sorace|date=September 29, 2018|website=Fox News}} The panel's decision was subsequently vacated when the Ninth Circuit voted to rehear the case en banc.{{Cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/16-56057/16-56057-2019-06-10.html|title=Michael Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin, No. 16-56057 (9th Cir. 2019)|website=Justia Law}} In September 2019 the appeals court heard introductory arguments and began deliberations as to whether a new trial is in fact warranted. The main issue is that the recording of "Stairway to Heaven" resembles "Taurus" much more than does the printed sheet music, and comments by the court have indicated a possible inclination to hold that only the sheet music pertains to the copyright.{{cite web|author=Gil Kaufman|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/legal-and-management/8530841/led-zeppelin-stairway-to-heaven-copyright-dispute-appeal-judges-question-new-trial|title=Judges Unsure if 'Stairway to Heaven' Copyright Dispute Needs New Trial|publisher=Billboard|date=September 24, 2019|access-date=October 28, 2019}} On March 9, 2020, the Ninth Circuit ruled against California's estate and re-instated the June 2016 jury verdict. This ruling effectively eliminated the "inverse ratio" rule and could have tremendous impact on future copyright law in the recording industry.{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEI1KSnaXQkv2M9XB2UFaUYwqGAgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzww86qmBg?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen|title=Led Zeppelin Prevails in "Stairway to Heaven" Appeal|language=en-US}} In October 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear the case, leaving the Ninth Circuit's decision in place and effectively ending the dispute.{{cite news|date=October 5, 2020|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/arts/music/stairway-to-heaven-led-zeppelin-lawsuit.html|title=Led Zeppelin Wins Long 'Stairway to Heaven' Copyright Case|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=November 15, 2020}}

Death

California drowned in the Pacific Ocean on January 2, 1997 at the age of 45 while rescuing his 12-year-old son Quinn from a rip current near his mother's home at Molokai, Hawaii. He managed to push Quinn (who survived) toward the shore.{{cite news | work = The Independent | title = Obituary: Randy California | date = January 17, 1997 | last = Perrone | first = Pierre | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-randy-california-1283572.html | access-date = January 28, 2012 }}

The Randy Craig Wolfe Trust was established after his death and, using royalties from California's recording contracts, financially supports the Randy California Project, an after-school music education program for underprivileged elementary school children in Ventura County.{{cite web|author=Jean Cowden Moore |url=http://www.vcstar.com/news/education/elementary-school-band-is-rock-musicians-legacy |title=Elementary school band is rock musician's legacy |publisher=vcstar.com |date=June 13, 2012 |access-date=August 1, 2015}}

Solo albums

Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds (1972)
Euro-American (1982)
Restless (1985)
Shattered Dreams (1986)
The Euro-American Years, 1979–1983 (2007) 4-CD set

Videotaped performances

Night of the Guitar, Hammersmith Odeon, London, November 26, 1988, CD: (IRSD-83000)
Live at La Paloma Theatre, Encinitas, CA, MTV Video for the song "Hey Joe"

References

Other sources

Gregory, Hugh. 1000 Great Guitarists. Rock, Jazz, Country, Funk ..., Balafon Books, 1994.
Larkin, Colin. The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 3rd edition, Macmillan, 1998.
Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness Publishing, 1992.
The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1984.