Wally Bryson

Wallace Carter Bryson (born July 18, 1949) is an American guitarist, best remembered for his time with the power-pop group Raspberries, famous for their hit "Go All The Way". After the Raspberries split in 1974, Bryson co-formed the power pop group Fotomaker and became one of the leading members of the group.

Born in North Carolina, at age four, Bryson's family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. His love for music came around as a child, upon hearing the guitar on the radio: I listened to early 1950's radio and after hearing Duane Eddy, asked my mother what that sound was, and she told me it was electric guitar. So, I got a four-string ukulele at age eight and got my first electric guitar at age 12. His first influences were James Burton of Ricky Nelson's band, Buddy Merrill, and Elvis Presley.

In 1964, at age 15, he joined the group The Mods (which was renamed the Choir in 1966); this band included future Raspberries members Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley, along with Dan Klawon and Dave Burke They had a huge local hit with It's Cold Outside, written by Klawon, which charted at 49 on the U.S. Record World, and 68 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Choir was a very popular local band and would later open for the likes of The Who, Herman's Hermits and The Blues Magoos.

The Choir had become Raspberries by 1970 and helped to reinvigorate the power pop genre of the 1960s. After experiencing plenty of chart success, the group encountered some internal problems which prompted Bryson to leave the group in 1974 at the height of their popularity and the group disbanded a year later.

For Raspberries' 1972 debut album, "Raspberries", Bryson wrote "Come Around and See Me" and "With You in My Life" and with Eric Carmen co-wrote "Go All the Way", "I Saw the Light" and "Don't Want to Say Goodbye". Bryson is best known for playing a double-neck guitar. He played a Gibson double-neck guitar on the opening riff on “Go All The Way”.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.