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As the lead guitarist of Living Colour
and a co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition, Vernon Reid has
done a great deal to undermine stereotypical expectations of what
music black artists ought to play; his rampant eclecticism encompasses
everything from hard rock and punk to funk, R&B and avant-garde
jazz, and his anarchic, lightning-fast solos have become something
of a hallmark as well.
Born in London, Reid and his family emigrated to Brooklyn while
he was a child; he began playing guitar at age 15, initially studying
jazz and progressing quickly. In 1980, he joined drummer Ronald
Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, a cutting-edge jazz group
with whom he appeared on six albums; over the course of the decade,
Reid went on to work with a wide variety of experimental musicians
— Defunkt, Bill Frisell, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, and Public Enemy,
among others.
Around 1983, Reid formed the first version of what was to become
Living Colour; in 1985, with journalist Greg Tate, he formed the
Black Rock Coalition, an organization devoted to opening doors
in the music business for black musicians who were not content
being confined to the roles of soul crooner or rapper. Living
Colour did not really begin to jell until their lineup stabilized
in 1986, and when Mick Jagger saw the group perform at CBGB's
and invited them to appear on his Primitive Cool album.
Jagger went even further, producing two demo tracks and helping
to convince Epic to sign the group. Living Colour debuted to massive
critical acclaim in 1988 with Vivid; the group lasted through
Time's Up (1990) and Stain (1993) before disbanding in 1995. Reid
has continued to make periodic appearances on others' recordings,
and in 1996, he issued his solo debut, Mistaken Identity. He resurfaced
in 2002 as one half of Yohimbe Brothers, a duo also featuring
DJ Logic. The two released the Front End Lifter album in September
and subsequently toured the United States throughout October.
This bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
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