Full Biography of Bil ly McLaughlin

Billy McLaughlin has been changing peoples idea of what an acoustic guitar can sound like since the 1980s. He is recognized as an innovative performer and composer who embraces the advantages of acoustic guitar amplification, unorthodox techniques and altered tunings while celebrating a gift for melody. His vision of an acoustic guitar that sounds as big as a grand piano but which plays fluidly like a violin has carried him around the world, to Billboards Top-Ten Chart and most recently through a devastating medical disorder called focal dystonia. McLaughlin is in the early stages of what might be described as one of the great musical-comeback stories of all time. Billy McLaughlin grew up in a Minneapolis, Minnesota home with five brothers, three sisters and one phonograph record player with only one pair of highly fought over headphones. Still, music was a family obsession and Billy tried learning trumpet and piano before settling on guitar as a junior high student. His guitar interests ranged widely from Carlos Santana and Duane Allman to Leo Kottke and James Taylor. While studying music at the University of Southern California, he became interested in the minimalist compositions of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich. Hearing recordings by guitarists Michael Hedges and Steve Tibbets, McLaughlin launched into a period of intense exploration and began composing for his first CD released on his own record label in 1986. Many of the new pieces featured a technique using both hands on the fingerboard in which the notes are tapped in a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs creating a harp-like effect. The technique became McLaughlins stylistic signature and by the early 90s he was touring coast-to-coast, primarily on university campuses. McLaughlin found the style very useful in both settings for either solo guitar or with his nine-piece ensemble who toured with him often. In 1995, Narada/Virgin Records signed McLaughlin to a multi-album contract ending his string of seven self-released titles. Naradas first release, fingerdance, climbed to #7 on the Billboards New Age chart and was distributed world-wide. McLaughlins touring maintained a torrid pace through Naradas second release, Out of Hand in 1998. Personal issues required that McLaughlin cease touring to re-organize his family life and also deal with problems in one of his hands. The hand problems appeared to be the lingering effects of a fall he suffered on an icy sidewalk en-route to the photo shoot for Out of Hand that dislocated his ring and middle fingers. Over the next two years it became clear something much worse was threatening his career. By 2000, McLaughlin's skills on the guitar were severely degraded. He could no longer perform most of his own repertoire. Knowing he could not deliver another recording to Narada, he negotiated an end to his record contract and sought medical treatment. Several months later Billy was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder called focal dystonia. The diagnosis was confirmed at the Mayo Clinic in 2001. Choosing to go against doctors recommendations to quit music and look for other work, McLaughlin focused on his songwriting and returned to his ensemble which was less demanding for his hands. Despite releasing his ensembles best recording, Finally Live! in 2002, it was clear that focal dystonia had ended McLaughlins career as a virtuoso guitarist. Drawing upon every resource of faith, prayer, and determination, McLaughlin began the unlikely journey of teaching himself to play in his signature style, left-handed. Warned by doctors of a higher likelihood for developing focal dystonia in his remaining good hand,

McLaughlin chose to press on towards an ambitious goal he had yet to achieve to perform and record a new project with a string orchestra. In January 2007, McLaughlin published a limited release of Into the Light, a concert recording of compositions for acoustic guitar with string orchestra. This collaboration with Grammy nominated arranger, Eugenio Toussaint, is McLaughlins first as a left-handed guitarist. Into the Light will be released nationally in the Fall of 2007 accompanied by a companion concert DVD. Many people fail because they quit too soon. reads the fortune cookie saying McLaughlin taped to his dashboard in 2001 it remains there to this day.