1. Gordon Giltrap, MBE was born on 6 April 1948 and is an English guitarist and composer.
75 Facts About Gordon Giltrap
1. 2.
Gordon Giltrap has been described as "one of the most revered guitarists of his generation", and has drawn praise from fellow musicians including Steve Rothery, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page.
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Gordon Giltrap began to play the guitar at the age of 12 and received no formal tuition, choosing to develop his own style and technique.
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Gordon Giltrap's career began in the 1960s performing in the folk music scene in London alongside contemporaries such as Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Mike Oldfield.
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In 1969, Gordon Giltrap was featured in Transatlantic's guitar showcase album The Contemporary Guitar Sampler, Volume 1.
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Gordon Giltrap was featured on the second volume released in 1970, and both increased his profile.
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Shortly after the release of his first album, Gordon Giltrap joined The Buskers' Tour of the UK, headlined by Don Partridge.
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Gordon Giltrap played lead guitar in the band and penned several compositions.
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In 1970, Gordon Giltrap signed to MCA Records and released his next album, Testament of Time, which was again a mixture of songs and instrumental pieces.
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Hand and Edwards, having listened to demos of some of the material for Visionary, decided that it was time for Gordon Giltrap to be dragged, initially reluctantly, into the realm of rock music.
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Once the demos for Visionary were finished, Gordon Giltrap found himself with a three-album record contract with Electric Records.
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Gordon Giltrap was then offered a UK tour supporting the English progressive rock band Renaissance.
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Gordon Giltrap was invited to appear on BBC's The Old Grey Whistle Test hosted by Bob Harris.
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Unfortunately, upon arriving in Zurich Gordon Giltrap was hit by a car and broke his collarbone.
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Such was the case with Gordon Giltrap who released his next album, Fear of the Dark, in 1978.
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At this stage, after the success of his previous two albums, Gordon Giltrap was riding on a high.
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Gordon Giltrap was now becoming far more familiar with the latter instrument and at this stage really enjoyed playing his Gibson Les Paul.
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Gordon Giltrap's electric guitar playing is a feature on this album but he was always first and foremost an acoustic guitarist and before too long the electric guitar featured less and less in his work.
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In 1979, Gordon Giltrap toured the Fear of the Dark album with a band that consisted of John Gustafson on bass, who was active in the early Mersey scene and a top session player, and Ian Mosley on drums, who went on to work with Steve Hackett and latterly became a full-time member of Marillion.
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Gordon Giltrap decided to move away from playing with a band and move back towards solo work.
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The tracks are shorter in length and, ironically, feature Gordon Giltrap playing more electric guitar than previous albums.
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Gordon Giltrap gradually began to get his life back to some sort of order.
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Gordon Giltrap was gigging through this entire time and had joined up with Ric Sanders, the violinist of Fairport Convention.
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Shergold later commissioned Gordon Giltrap to write music for several further productions.
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Later in 1987, Gordon Giltrap released A Midnight Clear, featuring instrumental renditions of well-known and lesser-known Christmas carols.
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Gordon Giltrap enlisted the support of Ric Sanders and his old friend Bimbo Acock.
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In 1992, Gordon Giltrap performed at the Warwick Folk Festival when he performed, arguably, his finest live session.
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Unbeknownst to Gordon Giltrap, this was recorded and later released as an album.
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In 1993, Gordon Giltrap was able to complete a project he had contemplated for some time.
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Later that year, Gordon Giltrap joined Midge Ure on his Out Alone solo tour.
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Gordon Giltrap co-wrote a song with him entitled "Feel So Good" which was eventually released on the 2001 album Little Orphans.
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Gordon Giltrap undertook a tour with a guitarist he greatly admired, Albert Lee, along with his band Hogan's Heroes.
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Gordon Giltrap was disappointed that his name did not appear on any advertising poster, nor was he actually remunerated for his performances.
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Gordon Giltrap had used a Fylde guitar on "Heartsong" which had been greatly admired by Cliff Richard.
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Whilst interviewing many musicians for Guitarist magazine, Gordon Giltrap met Cliff Richard for the first time since the 1970s when he had originally loaned Richard the Fylde.
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In 1995, Gordon Giltrap released the album Music for the Small Screen.
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In 1995, Gordon Giltrap was invited by Cliff Richard to take part in his West End musical Heathcliff, which was based upon the Wuthering Heights novel by Charlotte Bronte.
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When he heard that the album was going to include a version of "A Misunderstood Man", Cliff Richard approached Gordon Giltrap and volunteered to sing backing vocals on the track.
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Alongside his continued live performances, Gordon Giltrap then began conducting celebrity interviews for Guitarist magazine.
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Once employed, Gordon Giltrap found himself interviewing stars such as Albert Lee and Tony Iommi.
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For some time, Gordon Giltrap had been considering creating a tribute album to Bert Jansch, whom he greatly admired.
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Gordon Giltrap included this to show the influence Jansch had had on his own guitar style.
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Gordon Giltrap was by now working on new material for his next album, Under This Blue Sky, which was to be released the following year.
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Gordon Giltrap recruited additional musicians to play on the album, the most significant of whom was Bert Jansch himself.
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Gordon Giltrap decided to include his version of George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun".
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Gordon Giltrap used a baby Armstrong guitar for this piece and, although he never met George Harrison, he was indirectly the person who introduced him to that guitar.
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The flautist's skills were in evidence on another track, "Crossing the Border", on which the duo were joined by a second guitarist, Kevin Dempsey, with whom Gordon Giltrap had toured as a duo several years earlier.
48.
Gordon Giltrap asked somebody to look at it to see if it was any good.
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Gordon Giltrap had previously received a call from somebody who worked for music publishing company wondering if he could write a piece in the style of Django Reinhardt.
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The album had a sleeve with the lone silhouetted figure of Gordon Giltrap looking like a drifter.
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Gordon Giltrap released this and amply demonstrated the versatility of that instrument.
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Gordon Giltrap's pieces were mainly a reworking of his Brotherhood Suite and these were complemented by versions of the aforementioned "Maddie Goes West" and a piece entitled "By Angle Tarn".
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In 2012, Gordon Giltrap, reflecting upon the work he had done since Elegy, decided to change tack and produce a completely different type of album.
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Gordon Giltrap decided that this collaboration was to involve both their writing skills.
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Gordon Giltrap felt uncomfortable attempting to play all the necessary guitar parts himself which would have involved frequent changes of instrument.
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Gordon Giltrap undertook a tour with Oliver Wakeman at this time with both artists showcasing their own material.
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Alongside his performances with the Ravens band, during 2014 Gordon Giltrap continued to tour with his Four Parts Guitar ensemble.
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Gordon Giltrap was getting uncomfortable gastric symptoms and these turned out to be very serious when, in June 2015, he was diagnosed with having a GIST or gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
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Gordon Giltrap was referred eventually to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
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Gordon Giltrap is a member of the Registry of Guitar Tutors and has long been passionate about sharing guitar techniques with his students.
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On 31 January 2018, Gordon Giltrap learnt the devastating news that Jamie, his son, had passed away suddenly after a short illness.
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Gordon Giltrap was not considered to be in danger and so this was very unexpected news.
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Gordon Giltrap had begun working as a DJ with dance music using the name DJ Tango.
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Gordon Giltrap was well respected and according to one source:.
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Gordon Giltrap has always cited Townshend as being a strong influence on his guitar playing.
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Gordon Giltrap really is a towering genius within the annals of rock music and for me the Who were and still are the greatest rock band ever.
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The piece he was asked to contribute to was entitled "She Rocked My World", and Gordon Giltrap travelled to Townshend's home to record it.
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Gordon Giltrap has continued to tour the UK playing smaller, more intimate venues occasionally supported by Nick Hooper or Carrie Martin.
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Gordon Giltrap collaborated on two tracks from Martin's 2020 album Entity: "Time after Time" and "White Kites".
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Gordon Giltrap married his first wife Maureen in June 1970 and they had two children.
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Gordon Giltrap married his second wife, Hilary, on 22 May 1986.
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Gordon Giltrap cites Hank Marvin, the Beatles, Pete Townshend, Donovan, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Julian Bream, John Williams, Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams as his main musical influences.
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In 2000, Gordon Giltrap was inducted into the Grand Order of Water Rats, a celebrity charitable organisation.
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In 2019, Gordon Giltrap was awarded with an MBE for his "for services to music and to charity".
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Gordon Giltrap's award was announced in the 2018 honours list and the medal was presented to him by Prince Charles on 7 March 2019.