Spirit
Spirit was founded in the mid 1960s. Practically every musician of the time cited The Beatles and their music as an influence, and Ferguson was no exception. Reuniting with longtime musician friends Randy California and California's stepfather Ed Cassidy, Ferguson joined with them to form a jazz influenced rock group that was originally called Spirits Rebellious, after a Khalil Gibran passage. With the general consensus that the moniker was too long, they later shortened the name to Spirit. Ferguson was the last member to actually join the band and found himself in the position of lead vocalist and percussionist.
Ferguson shared singing and songwriting duties with California, writing most of the songs on their first album. Spirit began playing at various nightclubs and concerts in the Los Angeles area, especially the ones along the Sunset Strip, including the Whiskey-a-Go-Go. At one of these shows, French film producer Jacques Demy saw Spirit perform and decided he wanted them in his next film. This led to a cameo role for the band and a short speaking part in which Ferguson played a character based loosely on himself in the film Model Shop. Spirit also provided much of the instrumental soundtrack. Spirit went on to tour and recorded several albums.
Read more about this topic: Jay Ferguson (American Musician)
Famous quotes containing the word spirit:
“Yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect, and sacrifice the greater to the less. They love the soil which makes their graves, but have no sympathy for the spirit which may still animate their clay. Patriotism is a maggot in their heads.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is easy—terribly easy—to shake a man’s faith in himself. To take advantage of that to break a man’s spirit is devil’s work.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Heaven must be an awfully dull place if the poor in spirit live there.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)