Grady Gaines
Grady Gaines - R & B sax player / bandleader
Person from United States
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About Grady Gaines
Grady Gaines, born May 14, 1934 in Waskom, Texas, is a rock and roll, blues and R&B saxophone player. A member of Little Richard's backup band in the 1950's, Gaines went on to tour and record with major R&B artists through the 1970's. He has released two solo albums and continues to perform around Houston. He is the brother of blues guitarist Roy Gaines Louis Jordan was Grady's main influence while growing up in Houston, In particular, Gaines loved Jordan's "Caldonia". Grady was working as a studio saxophonist at Don Robey's Duke/Peacock Records, soloing on Big Walter Price's "Pack Fair and Square" and populating the reed section on Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's "Dirty Work at the Crossroads". In 1955 he received a call from Little Richard Penneman to head up his newly formed band, "The Upsetters". Gaines recorded with Richard only sparingly, on "Keep a Knockin'" and "Ooh! My Soul". Gaines is seen in Richard's films, however, usually horn-syncing Lee Allen's sax solos. The Upsetters continued to work after Richard gave up performing to join the ministry in 1957. They toured with Dee Clark (then a Richard clone himself), Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Jackie Wilson and Joe Tex. The band recorded in 1958 behind Clark and with Upsetters vocalist/saxist Wilbert Smith, who went by the name of Lee Diamond. More session work followed, including one at Little Star where they briefly reunited with Richard. After the Upsetters broke up, Gaines toured with a variety of R&B luminaries, including Millie Jackson and Curtis Mayfield, before retiring in 1980. Gaines came out of retirement in 1985, playing around Houston. In 1988, he released Full Gain with guitarist brother Roy Gaines, pianist Teddy Reynolds, guitarist Clarence Hollimon, and singer Joe Medwick as Grady Gaines & The Texas Upsetters. A second Upsetters album, Horn of Plenty, was released in 1992. Gaines continues to play in and around Houston Texas. He maintains a website at http://www.gradygaines.com/
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