Leslie West bio

Leslie West (born October 22, 1945) is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was born Leslie Weinstein and raised in New York City, and grew up in Manhattan. After his parents divorced, he changed his name to West. His musical career began with The Vagrants, one of the few teenage garage rock acts to come out of Manhattan itself (as opposed to the Greenwich Village scene of artists, bohemians, and Beat Generation types, which produced bands like The Fugs and The Velvet Underground). They had a minor local hit with a cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" in 1967. The Vagrants' recordings were produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream. West and Pappalardi would form the pioneering hard rock act Mountain in 1969. The original album was actually (and still is) credited to Leslie West, and named Mountain - supposedly an allusion to West's large size. They made up one of the bands considered to be part of early heavy metal. They had a massive hit with "Mississippi Queen", which would go on to be a Classic Rock radio staple. It was followed by a mid-chart hit with a cover of Jack Bruce's "Theme For An Imaginary Western". The original line-up on the solo album did not have a keyboardist, but one was added to keep the band from seeming like a Cream imitation (who Pappalardi had produced). After the breakup of Mountain, West and drummer Corky Laing would form West, Bruce and Laing with Jack Bruce. Mountain reformed in 1973 to indifferent reactions. West also recorded with The Who on a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Baby Don't You Do It" in 1971. This track was not originally included on Who's Next, but has appeared on recent CD reissues. He also appears on demos for what became the group's signature rocker, "Won't Get Fooled Again" . West continues to record and perform. His latest solo album entitled Blue Me was released in 2006 on the independent Blues Bureau label. He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on Oct 15, 2006

Source: Wikipedia