82 Facts About John Beland

John Edward Beland was born on July 24,1949 and is an American songwriter, session guitarist, recording artist, producer and author.

John Beland helped Ronstadt put together her first serious solo band, Swampwater.

John Beland became the last artist to sign with The Beatles' record company Apple Records in 1973.

John Beland was instrumental in the comeback of Rick Nelson in the late 1970s, arranging and playing on Nelson's last hit single "Dream Lover", as well as Nelson's album, The Memphis Sessions.

John Beland toured and appeared with him on Saturday Night Live in 1979.

John Beland has received awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers during his career.

John Beland was born and raised in Hometown, Illinois, and was the eldest son of Clarence and Celine John Beland.

John Beland was inspired by the music from a young age and began to play the guitar, predominantly rock and roll.

John Beland stated that he had never heard music like it and inspired him as a guitarist.

John Beland became more involved in local music over the coming years as a teenager.

John Beland took little interest in school, instead, he focused on practicing blues and jazz tracks that were popular at the time, including Mose Allison, Ramsey Lewis and Bo Diddley.

John Beland formed a small jazz trio in his hometown and regularly played small gigs.

John Beland recalled hearing The Byrds' single "Mr Tambourine Man" for the first time and being instantly connected and inspired by the Bob Dylan written track.

John Beland's life changed in 1967 when his father secured a new job, meaning the family would be moving to Los Angeles.

John Beland didn't attend his new school in Southern California and instead spent his days sneaking into movie studios and record companies to learn more about passions of filmmaking and music.

John Beland lived on the streets for a couple of weeks after leaving home, speaking to publishing companies and record labels on a daily basis and showing them his homemade demo tape.

John Beland became well known by performers and regulars at the club, before host, Larry Murray decided to showcase Beland at the primetime slot in front of numerous record label executives.

John Beland had set up their own music production group and she offered to help Beland in any way she could.

John Beland spent much of his early career living with Dan and Lois Dalton and their family.

John Beland started on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, playing to the studio audience between set changes at a rate of $250 a week.

Engelbert Humperdinck recorded one of John Beland's tracks, titled Nashville Lady, which secured John Beland more income.

John Beland joined them playing on gigs as they reminded him of the Everly Brothers.

John Beland's luck changed over the next couple of months as he and Lois Dalton sang the theme song for the popular sitcom and ABC's hit show, The Brady Bunch.

John Beland continued to attend Troubadour, where he was introduced to Kris Kristofferson, a musician from Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1969, John Beland answered an ad in The Hollywood Reporter calling for lead guitarists who could sing harmony.

John Beland took the decision to stay with One Man's Family, as they had given him the opportunity to perform.

John Beland immediately phoned Linda Ronstadt, who told him she had a guitar gig for him if he wanted it.

John Beland moved back to Los Angeles and joined Linda Ronstadt's first solo band.

John Beland met a band there called The Flying Burrito Brothers.

John Beland subbed in for Clarence White on numerous recordings for The Byrds, due to his similar sound and style when White was unavailable.

In later interviews, John Beland stated that at this time he had become disillusioned with the direction of the band.

John Beland was hired by Arlo Guthrie to play in a house band along with Ry Cooder, Gib Guilbeau and The Flying Burrito Brothers bassist Chris Ethridge, for the Tribute to Woody Guthrie concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

Guthrie and Swampwater played Carnegie Hall that year, but John Beland grew tired of Swampwater's lack of commercial chart progress and quit the band in 1972 to pursue a solo career and concentrate on playing for other acts.

Tillotson and John Beland traveled the world together, performing throughout the United States, as well as Germany and the United Kingdom.

John Beland forwarded on a tape of Beland's recordings to Ringo Starr, who approved Beland to be signed as a solo artist to Apple Records.

John Beland returned to Los Angeles to work on his new solo album.

John Beland did not complete the solo album under Apple Records, due to The Beatles' pending litigation against their manager Allen Klein.

John Beland remained focused on the project and eventually finished the solo album in 1973 with Scepter Records.

John Beland toured the country with Kristofferson and his wife Rita Coolidge, meaning Beland had to end touring with Tillotson.

John Beland became a featured part of Kristofferson's show, as well as playing on their albums, in concerts and television appearances.

In 1975, John Beland left the band, citing Kristofferson's drinking issues as the main reason.

Not long afterward, John Beland was hired by emerging singer-songwriter, Kim Carnes.

John Beland played on her albums, St Vincent's Court and Sailing, as well as backing her on tour as an opening act for the pop star Neil Sedaka, who was enjoying a comeback at the time.

John Beland played on their records and helped them form their first touring band.

Later that year, The Bellamy Brothers, with John Beland leading the band, joined Loggins and Messina on tour.

John Beland toured the country with Davis, primarily working Las Vegas, but lost interest in Davis' slick cabaret-style show.

John Beland then began to tour with Parton throughout the United States.

On days off with Parton, John Beland played gigs with Nelson.

John Beland had cut his teeth on Nelson's hits and was his biggest fan.

John Beland knew all the classic guitar solos left to right, just like on the records, and his style was reminiscent of Nelson's original guitarist, James Burton.

John Beland played on Nelson's latest recording project produced by Al Kooper, but from the start, he felt that the material was shoddy and far removed from Nelson's true style.

John Beland then received a call from McDonald about going to Memphis, Tennessee alone with Nelson and recording an album that captured his country rock style mixes with his love for old rock and roll.

John Beland arranged most of the material and co-wrote one of the songs with Nelson the night before the session, called "That Ain't The Way Love's Supposed To Be".

John Beland came up with a new arrangement for an old Bobby Darin song, called "Dream Lover".

The track started as a fast-driving teen anthem before John Beland slowed it down to have a James Taylor feel, reminiscent of Nelson's old version of Bob Dylan's "She Belongs To Me".

At the time of working with Ricky Nelson, John Beland received an offer to work with the legendary band, The Flying Burrito Brothers.

At first, John Beland passed on the opportunity as he felt they had lost their way and had no record deal.

However, after discussions with his publisher Bo Golsen at Atlantic Records, John Beland decided to join the band, providing he could produce and write for the group.

The band agreed, so John Beland reluctantly said goodbye to Nelson.

John Beland took the members of The Flying Burrito Brothers into the 16-track studio at Atlantic Records, where they demoed a number of country style songs John Beland had written along with fellow Burrito member Gib Guilbeau, his old bandmate from Swampwater.

John Beland agreed reluctantly to the deal and soon producer Michael Lloyd was assigned to the band.

Lloyd had produced acts like The Osmonds and The Bellamy Brothers, and although he had success with them, John Beland felt his production work was too lightweight for a band like The Flying Burrito Brothers.

John Beland objected to using any part of The Burrito Brothers' name and suggested that he and Gib Guilbeau change it completely, but the record label refused.

John Beland went right to work doing sessions, while Guilbeau concentrated on songwriting.

John Beland lobbied for a producing role but continued to be ignored by the label.

John Beland approved this development, as the two had worked together on his solo album in 1972 when Maher was an engineer at Las Vegas Sound.

Now Maher was a hot producer, and he and John Beland worked well together.

John Beland wrote the number two Gospel Record of the Year for former Grand Funk Railroad lead singer Mark Farner, called "Isn't It Amazing".

John Beland hit the road playing guitar for pop singer Nicolette Larson and toured the world many times playing guitar for country music legend, Bobby Bare.

In 1990, John Beland received a call from David and Howard Bellamy, asking if he would be interested in playing guitar for them again.

John Beland joined them, hoping to write with the act, that was now selling millions of records worldwide.

John Beland immediately went to work playing on their albums, starting with "She Don't Know That She's Perfect" and "Can I Come On Home To You".

John Beland toured the world with the Bellamy Brothers, performing three or four times a year in Europe, where the act was huge.

In 1992, John Beland finally co-wrote with David Bellamy, yielding the huge hit single, "Cowboy Beat".

John Beland received an ASCAP Award for his co-writing of "Cowboy Beat" in 1993.

John Beland said goodbye to the Bellamy Brothers in 1993.

John Beland took control and produced the band's three critically acclaimed studio albums, Eye of a Hurricane, California Jukebox, and Sons of the Golden West.

John Beland rehearsed in Beverly Hills with Thornton but eventually passed on touring with him, opting to go instead to Australia to record, produce and perform.

In 2003, John Beland toured solo through Great Britain and Ireland before returning to the United States and settling near Austin, Texas.

John Beland traveled to Norway to produce country acts and perform as a solo artist at festivals and clubs.

John Beland built up a strong following throughout Norway and continued to perform there quite often through the years.

In recent years, John Beland continues to produce artists and perform solo.