As I’m looking forward to see what maybe my last Rush concert in about a month I was thinking, how rare is it for world class musicians to grow up as children together? Geddy Lee is usually on the list of greatest rock bass players and Alex Lifeson is one of the best in my opinion as well. They happened by chance to become friends in middle school in a Toronto suburb. They met Neil Peart later and he joined the band in 1974. They still call him “The New Guy.”
That level of musical talent is rare. It seems to me the usual pattern of bands comprised of top level musicians is that they form later, usually when members of various local bands come together to make basically a regional all-star band. They come together because of their musical talents. It’s relatively rare to have two or more little kids be friends and then grow up to be world class musicians.
As the OP I get to set the thread standards which I am sure will be promptly ignored. I am leaving out bands and musicians that bang out three chords that happen to be pleasing. I am talking about technically great musicians. I do realize that virtuosity is in the ear of the beholder. I am also looking for examples that happened before high school age.
I am also leaving out siblings or other family members. That is not random chance and there is a genetic component so that’s just cheating.
**Beck, Clapton and Page **all grew up in the same area of Surrey. They got associated with The Yardbirds because they knew each other and were friends, not the other way around.
Beck and Page met when they were close to 11 I think. It was mentioned in the DVD documentary I just saw on Jeff Beck, A Man for All Seasons. One of them had a sister that knew of them both and made the guitar connection. Clapton was a bit later.
Do family bands count? Jackson 5, Carter Family, Allman Brothers etc? I know Michael is sort of the main attraction in the Jackson family, but his brothers and sisters weren’t too shabby either.
I think you’ll find quite a bit of this. There’s a lot more bands that have their genesis in friends in school than bands that formed as adults such as the Eagles or Toto.
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were childhood friends and classmates until one of them moved away. They met again in 1960, and the rest is history. In general, I think that’s a very common occurence. I also remember that Roger Waters, Syd Barrett and David Gilmour knew each other in their youth at Cambridge.
ETA: don’t know if these examples fit your category of technical great musicians, at least they do more than bang out three chords. What’s wrong with banging out three chords, anyway?
The original four members of Black Sabbath grew up in Birmingham a year-and-a-half apart in age and knew each other, although they weren’t friends - Tony Iommi actually bullied Ozzy.
Well, the Kirkwood brothers from the Meat Puppets and the Wright brothers from NOMEANSNO obviously met very early in their lives. All four are pretty great.
