19 Facts About Jerry Harrison

Jeremiah Griffin Harrison was born on February 21,1949 and is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur.

Jerry Harrison began his professional music career as a member of the band the Modern Lovers, before becoming keyboardist and guitarist for the new wave group Talking Heads.

In 2002, Jerry Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.

Jerry Harrison has released three albums of solo music and has participated in a number of partial reunions of Talking Heads.

Jerry Harrison 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.

In 1971, Jerry Harrison met Jonathan Richman, and they formed the Modern Lovers.

Jerry Harrison was introduced to Richman by mutual friend and journalist Danny Fields and the pair bonded over their shared love of the Velvet Underground.

Jerry Harrison joined The Modern Lovers in early 1971, playing on their debut album in 1972 in California, and left in February 1974, when Richman wished to perform his songs more quietly.

Jerry Harrison was offered a spot in the band in 1976, while he was still studying at Harvard.

Tina Weymouth phoned Jerry 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.

In September 1976, Jerry 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.

Jerry Harrison 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.

Jerry Harrison designed the cover for the band's third album in 1979, Fear of Music, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package.

Between tours, Jerry Harrison started producing records, working with a group called the Escalators in New York and New Wave soul singer Nona Hendryx.

In 1980, Remain In Light caused a dispute in the band due to the credits when Jerry Harrison was given additional writing credit for "The Overload" and "Houses in Motion" alongside Brian Eno and David Byrne.

From this time, Jerry Harrison remembered a pamphlet that Guy Debord created named "The Red and The Black" and he "just really liked" the title.

The single "Rev It Up" reached a high-point of number seven on the US Mainstream Charts in April 1988; In an interview, Jerry Harrison recounts taping the music video with a room full of babies.

In 2021, Jerry 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.

Also during the Talking Heads era, Jerry Harrison made cameo appearances as Billy Idol, Kid Creole and Prince look-alike lip-synchers in David Byrne's 1986 film True Stories.