Ian Bairnson (August 3, 1953-April 7, 2023 (aka as John Bairnson) was a Scottish musician, best known for being one of the core members of The Alan Parsons Project. He was a multi-instrumentalist, who has played saxophone and keyboards, although he was best known as a guitarist.

He was a session guitarist before joining up in 1973 with former Bay City Rollers musicians David Paton and Billy Lyall in the band Pilot and contributed the harmony guitar parts to their hit single, "Magic."

During this time with Pilot, he first collaborated with Alan Parsons, the record producer on their debut self-titled album It was this relationship that helped incorporate most of the band's members (bassist/lead singer Paton and drummer Stuart Tosh) into the Alan Parsons Project. He played the distinctive guitar solo on the track "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" from Parsons' I Robot (1977) album. As a guitarist, he has been featured on every Alan Parsons Project album, including the 1984 side project Keats.

He played on Kate Bush's first four albums The Kick Inside (1978) (notably playing the guitar solo on "Wuthering Heights"), Lionheart (1978), Never for Ever (1980) and The Dreaming (1982).

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

142434 posts

Posted on 4/15/23 at 4:04 pm to bleeng

I have belatedly learned of the January death of rockabilly singer Johnny Powers:

Detroit Free Press obit

quote:
Johnny Powers liked to say, “They called me the northern Yankee with the southern heart.”

Powers, a singer and guitarist who emerged in the mid-1950s as one of Detroit’s early rock ‘n’ roll trailblazers, died Monday at his home in northern Michigan after a series of health issues. He was 84.

Known for his work with iconic labels such as Detroit’s Fortune Records and Memphis’ Sun Records, Powers retained an avid international cult following well into his later years. Acclaimed for songs such as “Long Blond Hair” and “Honey Let’s Go (To a Rock and Roll Show),” he continued to embrace a style and sound that harked back to a metro Detroit era of cruising, record hops and drive-in hamburger joints.

Michigan rock 'n' roll musician Johnny Powers in a 1950s photo.
Powers would go on to work at Motown Records in the 1960s before making his own business forays with a pair of Detroit studios and song-publishing interests.

Alongside Detroit peers like Jack Scott and Don Rader, Powers was among the crop of musicians who transitioned from country music to rock ‘n’ roll in the ‘50s, helping set the stage for southeastern Michigan’s rise as a rock music hotbed.

quote:
Powers is often categorized as a rockabilly artist, but he flinched at the label.

“They call it that now, but it was rock ‘n’ roll,” he said. “The term ‘rockabilly’ today is from when country music finally gave in and the artists started bouncing their music a little more. But our music was called rock ‘n’ roll.”

He was apparently the only person to record for both Sun and Motown.

"Long Blonde Hair"

"Me & My Rhythm Guitar"