Accidentally like a martyr warren zevon biography

There have been a handful of books already written documenting the life and career of late singer-songwriter Warren Zevon. This one is different. Souther and Jorge Calderon — to provide a vivid, warts-and-all-portrait of a multifaceted individual other legendary artists such as Dylan and Springsteen considered a peer. But not before the completion of his final statement, The Windwhich appeared a month before his death.

To write about Warren Zevon after his death, it seems, is to do the work of hagiography. Nearly every sentence written about Zevon since his fatal case of mesothelioma took him from the world drips with a sense of injustice, a sense that he never got his proper due. He may not have attained a Dylanesque stature in the annals of pop music, but the outpouring of love in his final months confirmed what was long known but infrequently acknowledged: there truly was no songwriter like him in the 20th century.

Accidentally like a martyr warren zevon biography: I had already read

There is a special corner of our tickled soul that gets Warren Zevon that is not available to other artists. He soon quit high school and, driving a sports car William won in a card game, moved from Los Angeles to New York City to become a folk singer. Bones Howe produced their first single, the minor hit "Follow Me", which was written by Zevon and Santangelo and reached number 65 on the Billboard pop charts in April A third single without Zevon and another session that included him but was not previously released were included on the compilation The First Sessions.

Zevon spent time as a session musician and jingle composer. He wrote several songs for his White Whale labelmates The Turtles "Like the Seasons" and "Outside Chance"though his participation in their recording—if any—is unknown. Zevon's debut solo album, Wanted Dead or Alivewas spearheaded by s cult figure Kim Fowley but received almost no attention and did not sell well.

Though Zevon continued to play occasional live dates as a solo artist, the next several years of his career were dominated by session work with other musicians. During the early s, Zevon toured regularly with The Everly Brothers as keyboard player, band leader, and musical coordinator. He worked particularly closely with Phil, arranging and playing keyboards on his solo albums Star Spangled Springer and Mystic Line and co-writing tracks on Phil's Diner and Mystic Line.

Zevon's song " Carmelita " was also recorded by Canadian singer Murray McLauchlan on his self-titled album of These small successes were not particularly rewarding financially, and Zevon's dissatisfaction with his career and a lack of funds led him to briefly move to Spain in the summer of He lived and played in the Dubliner Bar, a accidentally like a martyr warren zevon biography tavern in Sitgesnear Barcelonaowned by mercenary David Lindell.

Together they composed " Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner ". Zevon's first tour, inincluded guest appearances in the middle of Jackson Browne concerts, one of which is documented on a widely circulated bootleg recording of a Dutch radio program under the title The Offender Meets the Pretender. The guide's latest edition calls it Zevon's "most realized work".

Representative tracks include the junkie's lament "Carmelita"; the Copland -esque outlaw ballad "Frank and Jesse James"; "The French Inhaler", a scathing look at life and lust in the L. The title tune is about a juvenile sociopath 's murderous prom night and referred to "Little Susie", the heroine of the song " Wake Up Little Susie " made famous by his former employers The Everly Brothers.

Other songs, such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and " Lawyers, Guns and Money ", used deadpan humor to wed geopolitical subtexts to hard-boiled narratives. Dave Marsh called Zevon "one of the toughest rockers ever to come out of Southern California". The album was dedicated to Ken Millar, better known under his nom-de-plume as the detective novelist Ross Macdonaldone of Zevon's literary heroes.

Millar and Zevon first met in an intervention organized by Nelson, which helped Zevon temporarily curtail his addictions. It contained a collaboration with Springsteen on "Jeannie Needs a Shooter". The ballad "Empty-Handed Heart" featuring a descant sung by Linda Ronstadtis about Zevon's divorce from his wife, Crystal, the mother of his daughter Ariel.

Zevon's release The Envoy returned to the high standard of Excitable Boy but was not a commercial success. The album also contains the first of Zevon's writing collaborations with respected writers of fiction: "The Overdraft", co-written with Thomas McGuane. The title track was dedicated to Philip HabibU. Zevon stated that after the song came out, Habib sent him "a very nice letter of appreciation on State Department stationery".

In Zevon, who was recently divorced, became engaged to Philadelphia disc jockey Anita Gevinson and moved to the East Coast. Following these career setbacks, he relapsed into drug and alcohol abuse. Inhe voluntarily checked himself into a rehab clinic in Minnesota. His relationship with Gevinson ended shortly thereafter. The group released the non-charting single "Narrator" for IRS Records inthen went into abeyance for several years.

Berry, Buck and Mills served as the core of Zevon's next studio band when he re-emerged in by signing with Virgin Records and recording the album Sentimental Hygiene. The release, hailed as his best since Excitable Boyfeatured a thicker rock sound and taut, often humorous songs like "Detox Mansion", "Bad Karma" featuring R. During the Sentimental Hygiene sessions, Zevon also participated in an all-night jam session with Berry, Buck and Mills, as they worked their way through rock and blues numbers by artists including Bo DiddleyMuddy WatersRobert Johnson and Prince.

Though the sessions were not initially intended for release, they eventually were as Hindu Love Gods' sole album. The immediate follow-up to Sentimental Hygiene was 's Transverse Citya futuristic concept album inspired by Zevon's interest in the work of cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson. Key tracks include the title song, "Splendid Isolation", "Run Straight Down" which had a promotional video that featured Zevon singing in a factory while Gilmour played guitar solosand "They Moved the Moon" one of Zevon's eerier ballads.

Transverse City was a commercial disappointment, and Zevon was dropped by Virgin Records soon after the album's release. He almost immediately contracted, however, with Irving Azoff 's new label Giant Records. The first release under Zevon's contract with his new distributor was the album Hindu Love Godsrecorded during the Sentimental Hygiene sessions.

InZevon, once again a solo artist, released Mr. Bad Example.

Accidentally like a martyr warren zevon biography: James Campion's touching, personal study

The album featured the modest pop hit "Searching for a Heart" and the rocker "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead", later used as the title of Gary Fleder 's film of the same name ; after some skirmishing over the unauthorized use of Zevon's song title, the Zevon track was licensed to play over the film's end credits. Zevon also sang lead vocals on the song "Casey Jones" from the Grateful Dead tribute album Deadicatedwith regular collaborator David Lindley.

Owing to his reduced circumstances, his performances were often true solo efforts with minimal accompaniment on piano and guitar; [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] the live album Learning to Flinch documents such a tour. Zevon often played in Colorado to allow for an opportunity to visit with his longtime friend Hunter S. A lifelong fan of hardboiled fictionZevon was friendly with several well-known writers, who also collaborated on his songwriting during this period, including Thompson, Carl Hiaasen and Mitch Albom.

Zevon also served as musical coordinator and occasional guitarist for the ad-hoc rock music group the Rock Bottom Remaindersa collection of writers performing rock-and-roll standards at book fairs and other events. From his earliest days, his personal pedigree, made Warren unique and different. Zevon was the son of Beverly and William Zevon.

William was a bookie who handled volume bets and dice games for notorious Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen.

Accidentally like a martyr warren zevon biography: Not strictly a biography,

The family moved to Fresno, California when Warren was 13 years old. His British-born mother insisted that Warren take piano lessons. So Zevon started taking his lessons at the home of Igor Stravinsky, the Russian-American composer, pianist and conductor widely considered to be one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century.

There, Warren alongside future American conductor Robert Craft, briefly studied modern classical music.

Accidentally like a martyr warren zevon biography: Warren Zevon songs are like

He left the duo citing artistic differences and spent time as a session musician and jingle composer. In the latter role Zevon became the first to recognize the talents of guitar player Lindsey Buckingham by hiring him for the band. Warren Zevon was a roommate of the famous duo in a Fairfax district apartment in Los Angeles at the time September Zevon would remain friends with both famous duos for the rest of his life maintaining neutrality during the tumultuous breakups of both the Everly Brothers and Buckingham-Nicks.

This first album, although only a modest commercial success, was later recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as a masterpiece. Rolling Stone placed Zevon alongside Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen as one of the four most important new artists to emerge in the decade of the s. InZevon released Excitable Boy to critical acclaim and popular success.

The song is considered a classic, and has been covered by artists ranging from the Grateful Dead to Bob Dylan to comedian Adam Sandler. The song has become a Halloween season staple. It was during that quarter-century that Zevon lapsed in and out of the throes of excess, obsession and addiction. To say that Warren Zevon suffered from excessive compulsion disorder would be a severe understatement.

Warren had a continuing battle with drug addiction and alcoholism and was also a sex addict obsessed with the color gray and personal fame, or lack thereof.