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Leslie West (born Leslie Weinstein; October 22, 1945) is an American rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of the hard rock and heavy metal band Mountain. ==Life and career== West was born in New York City, to a Jewish family. He grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, New York, Forest Hills, New York and Lawrence, New York.〔Fischler, Marcelle S. ("Nascent Hall of Fame to Welcome First Honorees" )., ''The New York Times'' , October 15, 2006. Accessed November 26, 2007. "Dee Snider of Stony Brook, the shock-rocker from the 1980s heavy metal band Twisted Sister, known for his defiant metal anthem ''We're Not Gonna Take It,'' and Leslie West of the band Mountain, who grew up in East Meadow, Lawrence and Forest Hills, are also being inducted..."〕 After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West. His musical career began with The Vagrants, an R&B/Blue-eyed soul-rock band influenced by the likes of The Rascals that was one of the few teenage garage rock acts to come out of the New York metropolitan area itself (as opposed to the Bohemian Greenwich Village scene of artists, poets and affiliates of the Beat Generation, which produced bands like The Fugs and The Velvet Underground). The Vagrants had two minor hits in the Eastern US: 1966's "I Can't Make a Friend" and a cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" the following year. Some of the Vagrants' recordings were produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream on their album ''Disraeli Gears''. In 1969, West and Pappalardi formed the pioneering hard rock act Mountain, which was also the title of West's debut solo album. ''Rolling Stone'' identified the band as a "louder version of Cream".〔''Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll'', p674, Mountain, Rolling Stone Press, U.S., 2001. The group's name is widely believed to have been inspired by West's then-considerable physical bulk, although he subsequently lost a lot of weight. Initially the group did not feature a keyboardist, but one was later added to the band to keep them from seeming like a Cream imitation.〕 With Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. D. Smart, the band appeared on the second day of the Woodstock Festival on Saturday, August 16, 1969 starting an 11-song set at 9 pm. The band's original incarnation saw West and Pappalardi sharing vocal duties and playing guitar and bass, respectively. New drummer Corky Laing joined the band shortly after Woodstock. They had success with "Mississippi Queen", which reached No. 21 on the Billboard charts and No. 4 in Canada. It was followed by the Jack Bruce-penned "Theme For an Imaginary Western". Mountain is one of the bands considered to be forerunners of heavy metal music. After Pappalardi left Mountain to concentrate on various production projects, West and Laing produced two studio albums and a live release with Cream bassist Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce and Laing. Mountain reformed in 1973 only to break up again in late 1974. But since 1981 it has continued to reform, tour and record on a regular basis. West, along with keyboard player Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, recorded with The Who during the March 1971 ''Who's Next'' New York sessions. Tracks included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Baby Don't You Do It," and early versions of "Love Ain't For Keepin'" and The Who's signature track "Won't Get Fooled Again". Though the tracks were not originally included on the album (recording restarted in England a few months later without West or Kooper), they appear as bonus tracks on the 1995 and 2003 reissues of ''Who's Next'' and on the 1998 reissue of ''Odds & Sods''. West also played guitar for the track "Bo Diddley Jam" on Bo Diddley's 1976 ''20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll'' all-star album. Leslie West teamed up with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame, to co-write and play guitar on the song "Hang Me Out To Dry" from the Gillan album "ToolBox," released in Europe in 1991. Leslie West and Joe Bonamassa recorded Warren Haynes' "If Heartaches Were Nickels" together. West released it on ''Guitarded'' (2005), and Bonamassa on ''A New Day Yesterday'' (2000). West contributed the music and co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Immortal" on Clutch's 2001 album ''Pure Rock Fury'', which was a reworked cover of the song "Baby I'm Down" on Leslie West's first album. In 2005 he contributed to Ozzy Osbourne's ''Under Cover'' album, performing guitar on a remake of "Mississippi Queen" In addition to fronting Mountain, West continues to record and perform on his own. His latest solo album, entitled ''Blue Me'', was released in 2006 on the Blues Bureau International label. In 2007 Mountain released ''Masters of War'' on Big Rack Records, an album featuring 12 Bob Dylan covers that sees Ozzy Osbourne providing guest vocals on a rendition of the title track. West was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.〔(Home of the L.I. Music Hall of Fame )〕 West married his fiancée Jenni Maurer on stage after Mountain's performance at the Woodstock 40th anniversary concert in Bethel, New York (August 15, 2009). Over 15,000 people were present and the couple walked through a bridge of guitars held by Levon Helm, Larry Taylor and Corky Laing among others. West now lives in New Jersey.〔(Leslie West to get married onstage at Woodstock Newsday July 16, 2009 ).〕 Johnny Ramone, a fan of West, has called him, "one of the top five guitar players of his era". West continues to make occasional appearances on radio, notably on Howard Stern's radio show.〔 In May 1987, West played the band leader in a series of late night pilot shows for Howard Stern on the FOX network. He taped a total of five shows with Stern, which never aired. Stern went on to form a new show dubbed the Channel 9 show without Leslie. West was affectionately nicknamed "The King of Tone" by his legions of fans, referring to his influential and world-renowned guitar tone. West was also nicknamed "The Fattest Fingers in Rock N' Roll", due to his large build. On June 20, 2011 West had his lower right leg amputated as a result of complications from diabetes. Leslie made his first public appearance after his surgery on August 13, 2011 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leslie West」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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