1. Joseph Leonard Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter.
36 Facts About Joe Bonamassa
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Joe Bonamassa has played alongside many notable blues and rock artists, and has earned three Grammy Awards nominations.
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In 2020, Joe Bonamassa created Keeping the Blues Alive Records, an independent record label that promotes and supports the talent of blues musicians.
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Joe Bonamassa was born in New Hartford, New York, and grew up in Utica, New York.
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Joe Bonamassa started playing guitar at age four, encouraged by his father, who was an avid music fan and exposed him to British blues rock records by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, greatly inspiring him.
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At eleven years old, Joe Bonamassa was mentored and trained by American guitarist Danny Gatton.
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When he was twelve years old, he had his own band called Smokin' Joe Bonamassa, which gigged around western New York and Pennsylvania, including cities such as Scranton and Buffalo, only on weekends since he had school on weekdays.
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Joe Bonamassa played a crimson 1972 Fender Stratocaster he called "Rosie", given to him by his father.
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Between 2002 and 2006, Joe Bonamassa had three studio albums hit No 1 on the Billboard Blues charts, and all five of his solo studio albums made the Top 10.
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In 2009, Joe Bonamassa fulfilled one of his childhood dreams by playing at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where Eric Clapton played a duet with him.
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In March 2013, Joe Bonamassa performed four shows in London featuring three different bands, covering four different sides of his music.
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Joe Bonamassa wrote the album in Nashville with three songwriters: Jonathan Cain of Journey, James House, Dwight Yoakam, Martina McBride and Jerry Flowers.
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Joe Bonamassa sought to create serious blues rock in the project, instead of three-minute radio hits.
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On June 27,2018, Joe Bonamassa premiered at the Grand Ole Opry.
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Joe Bonamassa made a guest appearance after being introduced by Chase Bryant, and playing along with him in his final song of the set, "I Need a Cold Beer".
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Joe Bonamassa released the live album and film, Now Serving: Royal Tea Live from the Ryman, on June 11,2021.
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Joe Bonamassa stated that future Instagram posts would not be made by him.
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Joe Bonamassa was first exposed to Beth Hart's music after seeing her play several television performances.
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Joe Bonamassa floated the idea, which Hart accepted immediately, although she was at first under the impression that he was asking her to sing backup vocals on his next album.
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Hart and Joe Bonamassa released, Black Coffee, on January 26,2018.
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Joe Bonamassa is a member of the jazz-funk band Rock Candy Funk Party.
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Joe Bonamassa produced podcasts with another guitar aficionado, Matt Abramovitz, between January and July 2015.
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Joe Bonamassa serves as the guitarist and secondary lead vocalist for the hard rock supergroup Black Country Communion.
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Joe Bonamassa played lead guitar on two tracks from the 2022 album, From The New World, by Alan Parsons.
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In 2024, Joe Bonamassa contributed guitar to a re-release of Mark Knopfler's "Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero" in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
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Joe Bonamassa is known for his extensive collection of vintage amplifiers and guitars.
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Joe Bonamassa's parents owned a music shop in upstate New York, which is called Bonamassa Guitars.
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Joe Bonamassa bought guitars compulsively for a while, including many he would never play, and then sold a lot of them to focus on guitars he could actually use.
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In 2021, Fender and Joe Bonamassa announced the release of a limited edition reproduction of "The Bludgeon", by Custom Shop Master Builder Greg Fessler.
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Joe Bonamassa named the guitar Amos after the original owner Amos Arthur.
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Joe Bonamassa plays the rare and valuable guitar in concerts.
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Joe Bonamassa is a collector of Gibson Les Pauls, including nearly a dozen "bursts".
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Additionally, Joe Bonamassa has a collection of over 100 amplifiers, mostly vintage "tweed" Fender amps.
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Joe Bonamassa affectionately refers to the area of his home with vintage gear as the "Bona-seum".
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Unlike many blues rock guitarists that came before him, Joe Bonamassa's influences are British and Irish blues acts, rather than American artists.
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Joe Bonamassa noted that Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood had a big influence when Bonamassa was young.