Mister D: I found this little tidbit while researching musicians. Check out the bottom of this bio that I have highlighted..:
As the son of a concert pianist and a psychiatrist, Eric certainly had what he calls “an interesting childhood”. At the tender age of 11, he saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and his life changed forever. By 16, he was songwriting for his first band,”Evil Seed”, who played all original music.
By the mid 70’s Eric was attending college at the University Of Pennsylvania and it was here that he met Rob Hyman and Rick Chertoff, who would become his close friends and musical soulmates. Since these years, Eric has become known worldwide as a successful songwriter, musician, arranger and producer.
Eric and Rob co-founded The Hooters in 1980, extensively touring the area’s clubs and colleges. The Hooters began their rise to fame with an independent album release titled “Amore” that sold over 100,000 copies. This led to their debut major label release “Nervous Night” on Columbia in 1985. This album sold in excess of 2 million copies and included Billboard Top 40 hits such as “Day By Day” (#18), And We Danced (#21) and “Where Do The Children Go” (#38). The Hooters had continued success with 5 more albums including “Hooterization – A Retrospective” Greatest Hits album and “The Hooters – Live”. The Hooters’ albums attained Platinum and Gold status in USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway and Sweden. Touring all over the world through 1995, highlights of Eric’s career with The Hooters include the Live-Aid Concert 1985 in Philadelphia, televised across the globe, Amnesty International Concert at Giants Stadium 1986, the Tokyo Dome 1987 and Roger Waters’ extravaganza at The Wall in Berlin 1990.
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Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s Eric has worked with many well-respected artists including Mick Jagger, Santana, Johnny Clegg, Willie Nelson, Belinda Carlisle, Taj Mahal and Sophie B Hawkins.
Eric composed, produced and performed on Joan Osborne’s debut release “Relish” which was nominated for 6 Grammy Awards in 1996. He received his first solo Grammy nomination for Song Of The Year for his #3 Billboard smash hit “One Of Us”. Securing his place as a songwriting architect of high degree throughout the world in the 1990’s, Eric wrote numerous hits such as “Kiss The Rain”/Billie Meyers, “Old Before I Die”/Robbie Williams, “Believe In You”/Amanda Marshall and “Private Emotion”/Ricky Martin.
In 2000 Eric released his long awaited debut solo album “The Optimist” followed up by his sophmore effort “A Very Dull Boy”, which was realeased in May 2002.
The year 2002 has so far seen Eric working with the likes of Dar Williams, Sister Hazel and Bette Midler, co-writing and/or playing for their respective upcoming albums.
For more on Eric Bazilian check out www.ericbazilian.com.
