Wayne Perkins

Biography

Wayne Perkins (born David Wayne Perkins in 1951 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and session musician. In the early 1970s he was part of Smith Perkins Smith. Subsequently he has been in demand as a session musician, recording with many international artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers , Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Rolling Stones. At age 15, Perkins played his first gig as a session musician, in Bob Grove's Prestige Recording Studio in...

Wayne Perkins (born David Wayne Perkins in 1951 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and session musician. In the early 1970s he was part of Smith Perkins Smith. Subsequently he has been in demand as a session musician, recording with many international artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers , Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Rolling Stones.

At age 15, Perkins played his first gig as a session musician, in Bob Grove's Prestige Recording Studio in Birmingham. At 16, he left school and started performing in local bands and released singles with a band called the Vikings with Charles Nettles.

In 1968, drummer Jasper Guarino helped Perkins land a steady job as a session guitarist in a studio owned by Quin Ivy called "Quinvy's" in Muscle Shoals. Perkins was salaried at $100 a week. This led to work at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with such names as David Porter and the Soul Children, Dave Crawford and Brad Shapiro, Dee Dee Warwick, Ronnie Milsap, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Jimmy Cliff, Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood and Marlin Greene.

In the early 1970s Wayne left session work to form a band called Smith Perkins Smith which recorded two albums.

While in Kingston Jamaica at the Island Basing Street recording studios, Perkins was working on a second Smith Perkins Smith album for Island when Chris Blackwell stopped him. "He said there was a Wailer project he wanted me to play on", Perkins played with Bob Marley and the Wailers recording Concrete Jungle on the Wailers first album, which went platinum. When Perkins returned to the United States, he played with Leon Russell for two years, in the Gap Band and the Shelter People Band, and with Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Clapton arranged for Perkins to audition with the Rolling Stones - aAs a result, Perkins was hired to play lead guitar on the album "Black and Blue."

Following this, Wayne joined the Alabama Power Band (formed by his brother Dale), which became Crimson Tide and recorded two albums. In Nashville, Wayne wrote music for Catdaddy Music and co-wrote soundtracks with Emmy Award winning composer/producer/remixer Richard "Wolfie" Wolf for films including The Karate Kid, Part II and Back to School.

Perkins later formed the band Problem Child with Robert Nix and Rick Christian, and played bass with Lonnie Mack. During his long career, Perkins played session guitar with artists including the Alabama State Troupers, Ben Atkins, Michael Bolton, Angela Bofill, the Everly Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ray Reach and many others.

In 1995, Perkins recorded his first solo album, Mendo Hotel, and in 2005 he released Ramblin' Heart. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.