John Cipollina Tribute Page

Bio:

a Fan Tribute site for the late JOHN CIPOLLINA, ELECTRIC GUITARSLINGER...from the twangy, snake like leads he played in QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE....to the stinging, gnarly blues lines he played with THUNDER & LIGHTNING....and everyone he ever played with or met, John Cipollina was a jewel of a man and a monster of the guitar....John Cipollina started playing guitar in 1955 at the age of twelve. Before that he had played piano for three years, but it was not his thing and he gave it up to pursue his first love, the guitar. By the late fifties John had formed his first group, the Penetrators. They would soon change their name to the Deacons, aka The Swinging Deacons, and at one point they even had female background singers known as the Deacons Daughters. Rob Moitoza, later to play with Cold Blood and the Sons of Champlin was also a Deacon, as were Adam Fourman, Winston Searles and Larry Biancala among others. The Deacons broke up by July of 1965 and John, along with his housemates Jim Murray and David Freiberg, would form the nucleus of what would later be known as Quicksilver Messenger Service, along with Casey Sonnabend and Skip Spence, who left to join the Jefferson Airplane in August 1965. Quicksilver Messenger Service waa born in the basement at 52 Water Street in San Francisco, where Greg Elmore and Gary Duncan had been living. John's car, with all his instruments, broke down outside. Jim and David were with him and the rest is history. John would stay with QMS until October 5, 1970, prior to the release of their fifth album What About Me. He returned in 1975 to work on their reunion album Solid Silver and toured briefly in support of its release. Although John is probably best remembered for his work with the Quicksilver Messenger Service, he also recorded, toured or performed with Copperhead, Nick Gravenites, Terry & the Pirates, Raven, Man, Rocky Sullivan, Dinosaurs, Zero, Mike Wilhelm, Kathi Mcdonald, Novato Frank Band, Healy Treece, Papa John Creach, Robert Hunter, Stu Blank, Mickey Hart, Nathan Sark, Liv with the Boys, Martine Fierro, Charles Lloyd, Pete Sears, Freelight, Brewer & Shipley, Sounds of San Francisco, Fred Neil, Eric Clapton and many others. In addition, John worked on episodes of The New Twilight Zone with Merl Saunders, as well as the soundtrack to the movie 68, the video documentary Survivors The Blues Today and on the soundtrack for the video Skiing Extreme. It was towards the end of Problem Child that John and Chris attempted to put together a side-project. The rehearsals were held in complete secrecy with John copping a "take no prisoners" attitude. However, this band never made it out of Black Dragon Studios - John's famed studio. Problem Child broke up in February 1988. John left Zero in July of 1988 and became ill following an October tour of the Dinosaurs. John would be out of commission until after Christmas of that year. Upon John's return to the stage he resumed playing gigs with Fish'n'Chip, Terry & the Pirates, Martine Fierro, Dinosaurs and topping it off with a March tour of Greece with Nick Gravenites. There were plans for Nick and John to do some Bay area appearances since they hadn't played here since November 1988, but these shows never happened. John's last public gigs were May 8 at the Chi Chi Club with Terry & the Pirates, and on May 13 at the Saloon with Fish'n'Chip. On May 28, 1989 John passed away due to respiratory failure. On June 28 a tribute concert was held at the Fillmore Auditorium. The capacity crowd filled the hall to hear the dozens of musicians pay tribute to John including Peter Albin, Greg Anton, Antonia Cipollina, Mario Cipollina, Chris Cole, Terry Dolan, Spencer Dryden, Greg Elmore, John Farey, Martine Fierro, David Freiberg, Nick Gravenites, Dan Healy, Nicky Hopkins, Robert Hunter, Doug Killmer, Steve Kimock, Paul Liberatore, Barry Melton, Merl Saunders, Pete Sears, Mark Unobsky, Al Staehely, Rocky Sullivan, David Weber and others, who rocked the roof off the Fillmore. John Cipollina spent the better part of his life doing what he knew best - playing guitar. When John played, his body, mind and guitar became as one. His style of playing was unique. John created an original sound that would become his signature trademark, making him one of the most identifiable guitarists in the history of rock'n'roll. ..

A beautiful John Cipollina Appreciation can be viewed here John Cipollina Appreciation Page!

Member Since:

May 22, 2005

Influences:

Mickey & Sylvia

Record Label:

Unknown Major