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Liner Notes
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Rediscovered
Talent:
Joe Lynn Turner: The Pavarotti of Rock
Each month, MusicBizAdvice.com profiles an artist from the past. Some you may have
heard of, some not, but we hope you'll take time to check out their music...especially if
it's something different than you usually listen to. This month, we rediscover vocalist
Joe Lynn Turner.
New Jerseyite Joe Lynn Turner is one of the most respected vocalists you probably haven't
heard of. But most likely you have heard his voice. From 1977 to 2000 he sang on more than
50 albums, both as a background vocalist and on his own projects. And in commercial
jingles circles, he's every bit as well-known as certain other singers who hail from New
Jersey.
From 1980-84 Joe Lynn Turner fronted Rainbow. With Joe, Rainbow had their most
commercially successful recordings, "Street of Dreams" and "Stone Cold"
(which JLT co-wrote). Some AOR stations in the early 80's also played "Spotlight
Kid," "Can't Happen Here," and the live version of "All Night
Long"--revered at the time amongst rock vocalists for sporting one of the longest,
most powerful screams in rock and roll. He'd joined Rainbow when Deep Purple's Ritchie
Blackmore, having heard JLT's New Jersey-based band, Fandango, called him up personally to
ask him to audition for Rainbow. Blackmore was already famous, and JLT at first thought it
was a joke and took a bit of convincing. But he went, and nailed the audition--and jumped
right into recording without even going back home to get clothes, necessitating the
purchase of "new" ones at a Salvation Army store.
Soon JLT was thrust into the Rainbow spotlight, as the band enjoyed a loyal following
throughout Europe and Japan, along with all the trappings that the jet-set life brought
with it. During this time Joe Lynn Turner's classically-trained voice (via Pavarotti's
vocal coach) brought critical acclaim and started a trend of future rock stars running for
coaching to learn how to sing properly. "Can't Let You Go," from (1983's Bent
out of Shape), is one good example of this vocal prowess.
In 1984, on the plane coming back from a tour of Japan, Ritchie Blackmore announced he was
disbanding Rainbow to re-form Deep Purple. Joe Lynn Turner had seen it coming--after all,
he'd been the 16th member of Rainbow in 5 years--and without skipping a beat released his
first solo album, Rescue You, on Elektra Records. Produced by
Roy Thomas Baker, Rescue You boasted some of JLT's best vocal
performances up to that time (notably on "Losing You"). The album highlighted
the soulful sound he'd developed in his youth, having grown up with pal J.T. Taylor, who
would later join Kool and the Gang. (A very young JLT and very young J.T. Taylor were, at
one point, in a band together called Filet of Soul.) "Endlessly," a haunting
ballad on Rescue You, received mainstream airplay, and nearly 20
years later, the album doesn't sound dated.
From 1988 to 1990 Joe Lynn Turner was the voice of Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. JLT's
classical technique and rich vibrato suited the "dungeons and dragons" lyrics
well, as evidenced on "Riot In the Dungeon". The Odyssey
album enjoyed mainstream radio and MTV airplay, with the single, "Heaven
Tonight". The Malmsteen period culminated in a series of concerts in the Soviet
Union, as well as an album called Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad.
The time with Malmsteen can only be described diplomatically as dramatic, due at least in
part to Malmsteen's legendary ego.
A stint as the vocalist for a re-vamped Deep Purple in 1990 followed, with Slaves
and Masters receiving airplay with the single, "King of Dreams."
But internal drama reared its ugly head again, and soon JLT was off to work on another
solo album, as well as to continue his lucrative jingles work, which he'd discovered at
the suggestion of Michael Bolton. (JLT sang background vocals on a number of Michael
Bolton's hits.) During this period he also joined Mother's Army with Carmine Appice
(Vanilla Fudge / Blue Murder), Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne), and Jeff Watson (Night
Ranger). JLT was also by now a well-renowned backup vocalist, with many album credits
under his belt.
Since 1997, Joe Lynn Turner has released 8 solo albums. The most recent, JLT,
will be released in November 2003 on Shrapnel. He is also one of the owners of Voices of
Classic Rock, an ensemble of members of various bands from the 80's classic rock era,
including himself. Voices of Rock has a very lucrative business playing private and
corporate events, with occasional public tours.
In 2002, Joe Lynn Turner teamed up with Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath to
form the Hughes-Turner Project (HTP). HTP has released two albums thus far and enjoys a
following in Europe and Japan, where fans familiar with JLT's work in Rainbow remain
loyal. As we go to press, HTP will tour Japan and Europe in 2004, with the European shows
tentatively scheduled for March or April.
And on the jingles front? That's Joe Lynn Turner singing the Foreigner classic,
"Feels Like the First Time" in the Folger's coffee commercials.
Joe Lynn Turner is married and resides in New Jersey when he's not on tour. He has a
teenage daughter. Discography
Rediscovered Talent
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