2010 Inductees
Jon Paris
A native of Milwaukee, singer/songwriter and guitarist Jon Paris began his career on drums playing with fellow inductee Jerry Harrison and longtime Leonard Cohen guitarist Bob Metzger in Milwaukee-based band, The Walkers. Paris was also a member of the critically acclaimed power trio, OX in the late 1960s.
Based in New York City since moving there in 1974, Paris is the consummate rock n roll blues side man. He has played with everybody from Bo Diddley to Les Paul and has toured nationally and internationally with an impressive list of artists that includes Johnny Winter and former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor. Jon has also maintained his own New York City-based rock n blues band. They perform regularly at the B.B. King Blues Club in Times Square and at clubs, casinos and concerts on the East Coast, in the Midwest and in Canada. Jon has headlined in Norway, Sweden, Israel and South Africa. He’s opened concerts for many performers including Little Richard, Buddy Guy, Brian Setzer, Jonny Lang and Cheap Trick. He performed at Harley-Davidson’s 90th, 95th and 100th Anniversary celebrations. He was the special guest band leader for the grand finale at Les Paul’s 90th birthday tribute at Carnegie Hall.
Jon Paris’ recording credits include sessions with Bob Dylan, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Ron Wood and John Hiatt. He launched his career as a solo artist with Rock the Universe in 1996 and Blue Planet in 2004.
Jerry Harrison
The multi-talented instrumentalist, songwriter and producer was born in Milwaukee in 1949. After a stint in a high school band, The Walkers, he left Milwaukee to attend college at Harvard. By 1970, Jerry had met Ernie Brooks and Jonathan Richman and together they formed a band called The Modern Lovers, which had some influence on the New York underground music scene.
In April 1976, Jerry saw the Talking Heads as a trio in Boston and knew instinctively that he could add something. He joined the Talking Heads in September of that year as their keyboard player and guitarist. As a four-piece band, Talking Heads’ popularity expanded to an international scale, particularly with the release of their debut album: Talking Heads: 77 and the single, Psycho Killer.
Jerry broke from the band in 1981 and recorded his first solo album, which was followed by several others. During the 80s, Harrison launched his career as a record producer, which has since earned him much recognition.
Production credits for Harrison can be found on recordings for The BoDeans, Violent Femmes, Verve Pipe, Foo Fighters, No Doubt, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Fine Young Cannibals.
A brief reunion of the full Talking Heads took place during their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Harrison has since continued to focus on his career as a producer in addition to maintaining his role as chairman of the board for garageband.com, the internet music resource he co-founded in 1999.
