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This page was last updated on: September 1, 2008
Bio
It's funny how you can grow up poor but still be rich with love and culture. Lionel spend his formative years running and playing in the gaps of New Orleans, Barbados. He felt blessed to be exposed to professional musicians at an early age. Barbadian recording artist, Richard Stoute, lived and rehearsed four gaps down and the very popular vocal group "De Opels" practiced one gap up from the 6th Avenue where he lived.
He learned the importance of rehearsal by listening to Richard Stoute's voice crooning from an amplified system, as Lionel played with friends on Murphy's Pasture. In the evening, he would also go to the corner of the Fifth Avenue and Wharton Gap, get a good seat on the steps and listen to Midge and the other members of "De Opels" as they rehearsed for up coming shows. He paid attention to every little detail; The drummer, the guitarist, bass player, keyboardist, the vocalists, the harmonies, the constructive arguments, the cramped close quarters and the love that each and everyone of them had for the music.
He listened intently to Stories told by Richard Stoute, Midge and Lew Drayton under the Breadfruit tree by Westbury school, about their experiences as entertainers doing shows in Barbados and abroad. His musical education did not stop there. It was clear from an early age that music was deep rooted in his soul's garden and circumstances kept watering that garden with musical opportunities.
He moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1970, and as fate would have it, moved right into a house where the "Standing Ovations" a teenage R&B /Funk band rehearsed in the basement. According to Lionel, "Bassist, Mike Foy allowed me to join the band because of my love for music, and to get me out of the house, so he asked my mother if I could play with the group. She surprisingly, told him yes, just as long as he watched out for me and I didn't get into any trouble." Lionel signed on as percussionist, and 2nd chair drummer behind drummer/vocalist Berry Green.
Lionel quickly gravitated to the guitar and Sam Carr, who played guitar with the band, showed him his first chords. "I think it was a D9th chord and would wear out my fingers and James Brown records, trying to get it right," according to Lionel. Rhythm was at the forefront of his guitar style of playing due in part to his early calypso influences like Sparrow and the Merrymen, so he developed a very rhythmical strumming style.
He worked with several Hartford groups including the Stunning Generation, before Joining the Funk band Pok' Chop. The leader of the band, Earl Calloway, gave Lionel an opportunity to play with one of the best R&B/Funk bands in the area, which played the New England College and club circuit. Pok' Chop's name was changed to Pressure Point and Lionel honed his performing, arranging, songwriting and music production skills with them, playing dances, weddings, concerts and doing studio work.
During the period from 1976 to 1980, he attended the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree while studying with Sculptor Wolfgang Beal, Figure modeling and drawing with Lloyd Glasson and painting with Paul Zimmerman and Rudolph Zallinger. An accomplished artist, he has exhibited art in the US and abroad.
While attending the University of Hartford, Lionel found his way into world renouned Jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean's Afro American Music studies class. It was because of Jackie that he was able to hear stories of jazz musicians, told in their own words, as part of the Afro-American Music Studies (Visiting Musicians) Program.
He wrote and arranged the first recording by Presasure Point, "I'll Make It Worth Your while" which featured Pat Thompson and appeared on the WHCN homegrown Album in 1977. He also wrote, arranged and produced "Come Inside" for Pressure Point in 1981. After Pressure Point disbanded, Lionel released his first solo recording, the Soca song "Crop Over" in 1984, under the name Teecha. "Take Control" followed in 1992. The single, "It's A Family Thing", released in 1995, featured Pat Thompson and gave Lionel the opportunity to work with Pat once again.
In 1996, Lionel released his first solo album entitled "Bridge In The Gap" on which he wrote, arranged produced and performed all the material except for a few voice samples. His guitar work can be heard throughout the album, but his solo work on the cuts "Bridge In The Gap" and "Big Money" are indicative of his emotional playing style.
Lionel has also performed with the groups, People of Goodwill, Tony Harrington & Touch, Tamaca, Kolateral Kontak, and Seth Sharp.
In 2000, he embrassed the opportunity to work with Barbadian recording artist Lew Drayton from the Draytons Two by arranging and producing several songs including "Evelyn" and "Kadooment Morning" for Mr. Drayton.
Lionel continues to create, produce and perform music and can also be heard on Trinity College Radio WRTC 89.3FM Sundays from 1:30pm to 3:30pm on the Love International / Caribbean Togetherness show hosted by Teecha, DJ Spin Doctor, Steve Love, DJ Big O and DJ Wasine.
"Music has been a stabilizing force in my life as long as I can remember. To me it is equivalent to breathing air or drinking water. In short, it is essential to my life."
Lionel
L I O N E L C R A W F O R D. C O M
Bio
