Gerry Beckley

Gerald Linford Beckley (born September 12, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, and a founding member of the band America.

Beckley was born to an American father and an English mother. He began playing the piano at the age of three and the guitar a few years later. By 1962, Beckley was playing guitar in The Vanguards (not to be confused with the Norwegian band), an instrumental surf music band in Virginia. He spent every summer in England and soon discovered British Invasion music.

In 1967, Beckley's father became the commander at the United States Air Force base at RAF West Ruislip, near London. Gerry attended London Central High School in Bushey Hall in Hertfordshire, where he played in various school bands and met his soon-to-be bandmates, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. Originally, the group played on Friday nights at the local American teen club, mostly doing acoustic covers of Crosby, Stills & Nash tunes. The original drummer was a classmate, Dave Atwood.

America signed a recording contract with the British division of Warner Bros. Records and found success in 1972 with "A Horse with No Name".

Beckley wrote and sang America's 1972 top-10 hit "I Need You" and its 1975 number-one hit "Sister Golden Hair", as well as its top-20 follow-up "Daisy Jane". He also sang their '80s top-10 hit "You Can Do Magic".

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.