1. Vernon Alphonsus Reid was born on 22 August 1958 and is a British-born American guitarist and songwriter best known as the founder of the rock band Living Colour.
24 Facts About Vernon Reid
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Vernon Reid was born 22 August 1958 in London, England, to parents from Montserrat.
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Vernon Reid attended Brooklyn Technical High School, then New York University.
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In 1985, Vernon Reid co-founded the Black Rock Coalition with journalist Greg Tate and producer Konda Mason.
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Vernon Reid formed Living Colour in New York City in 1984, and its lineup was solidified in 1986.
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Vernon Reid performed "Party 'Til The End of Time" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with The Roots, an end of the 2000 millennium tribute featuring the music of Prince's album 1999.
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Vernon Reid composed and performed "Bring Your Beats" a children's program for BAM.
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Vernon Reid has undertaken significant work as a record producer, including two Grammy-nominated albums: Papa by the African vocalist Salif Keita and Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions by guitarist James Blood Ulmer.
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Vernon Reid appears on Guitar Oblique with guitarists David Torn and Elliott Sharp.
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Vernon Reid composed the score for the film Paid in Full, directed by Charles Stone III and released by Miramax in the fall of 2002.
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Vernon Reid composed the score for the celebrated documentary Ghosts of Attica, which aired on Court TV in the fall of 2001 and has been featured at several film festivals.
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Vernon Reid composed the score for another documentary directed by Lichtenstein, Almost Home, which aired in 2006 on the PBS series Independent Lens.
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Vernon Reid was the music supervisor for the film Mr 3000, starring Bernie Mac and directed by Charles Stone III; the film was released in September 2004.
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Vernon Reid has a prolific session output in a variety of contexts.
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Vernon Reid played at America's Millennium Gala, New Year's Eve 31 December 1999, and 1 January 2000, at the Lincoln Memorial, performing "Fortunate Son" with John Fogerty.
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In March 2007, Reid played with Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and G Calvin Weston at Tonic in New York and Tritone in Philadelphia, which led them to record as Free Form Funky Freqs.
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In July 2008, Vernon Reid assembled a one-off solo band for his appearance at the G-TARanaki Guitar Festival in Taranaki, New Zealand, with keyboard player Jonathan Crayford, bassist Crete Haami and drummer Magesh Magesh.
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At the Puke Ariki "Midnight Session" concert, Vernon Reid performed an all-star jam with Uli Jon Roth, Gilby Clarke and Alex Skolnick.
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In 2008, Vernon Reid played a series of Blue Note Club tribute concerts to the Tony Williams Lifetime in Japan with Jack Bruce, Cindy Blackman and John Medeski.
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Vernon Reid has an album slated for release in 2019.
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In 2017, Vernon Reid debuted his semi-monthly broadcast on the streaming radio station Home.
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Vernon Reid's show, titled "An Underground Railroad of the Mind", features Reid playing vinyl records from his record collection.
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Vernon Reid resides in Staten Island with his wife Gabri Christa, a choreographer and filmmaker, and their daughter born in 2003.
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Vernon Reid has cited Miles Davis, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Fripp, John Coltrane, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Eddie Hazel, John McLaughlin, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, and Dr Know among his influences.