SUNY Fredonia tribute to British musician Denny Laine
Denny Laine, playing guitar on the right, performs his musical, “Arctic Song,” in Rosch Recital Hall.
“Hopefully I won't tear up. Denny was a very close friend.”
That’s the cautionary alert Music Industry Lecturer Armand Petri gave when asked to reflect on the passing last week of Denny Laine, at age 79, and the affiliation the British musician had with him and SUNY Fredonia.
A founding member of the then-R&B influenced Moody Blues, Mr. Laine went on to achieve his greatest career success as a longtime sideman and lead guitarist of Wings, a solo group Paul McCartney formed after the breakup of The Beatles. In fact, Laine’s death on Dec. 5, fell close to 50 years after the release of Wings’ most successful album, “Band on the Run.”
The singer/guitarist/songwriter was closely connected to SUNY Fredonia, specifically to its Music Industry program. Mr. Petri brought Laine to campus in 2014 to participate in a joint lecture that explored the birth of the British Invasion in the United States in the early 1960s.
Fellow panelists were Joey Molland, the lone survivor of Badfinger, and Terry Sylvester, a veteran of the Hollies. Both were leading British rock bands in the 1960s and early ʼ70s.
Laine returned to campus to participate in a songwriter’s program with 10,000 Maniacs members John Lombardo and SUNY Fredonia alumna Mary Ramsey in 2016. Laine’s third and final visit was to premiere his environmental musical, “Arctic Song,” on the Rosch Recital Hall stage, also in 2016.
It was such a pleasure to get to know one of my heroes so well. One of the very first records I ever purchased was ‘Go Now!’ by the Moody Blues.” - Armand Petri
That debut was close to an all-SUNY Fredonia performance.
School of Music faculty Dr. Sarah Hamilton and Kieran Hanlon brought School of Music students together to form a small orchestra. Another group of students formed a HAIL! Fredonia Records choir.
Joining Laine, on lead guitar, as the core musicians were Petri, percussion; John Caruso, ’81, of the Sound Recording Technology program, bass; and alumnus Joe Rozler, ’08, keyboards. Two guest singers, Ken Hardley and Chris Panfill, also joined the production.
“He was very connected to this piece, and I personally think it’s one of the best collections of songs ever written. And he wrote all of these songs after Wings broke up.” Petri said.
In the four decades after Wings disbanded in 1981, Laine embarked on a solo career and continued to record and tour.
What sort of an impression did Laine have on SUNY Fredonia students?
“They were very surprised at his importance in music history and the influence he had over it. He’s literally friends with just about everybody, starting with Paul (McCartney) and going from there. He was friends with everyone in the industry and everybody who ran into him loved him,” Petri said.
Performers that include Eric Clapton and Spencer Davis, among many others, became not just friends with Laine but were also frequent collaborators with him, according to The New York Times.
Petri met Laine through a mutual friend, Mr. Molland, about 15 years ago. From there, Petri put together the British Invasion presentation in Rosch.
“It was such a pleasure to get to know one of my heroes so well,” Petri recalled. “One of the very first records I ever purchased was ‘Go Now!’ by the Moody Blues.” Laine sang lead on “Go Now!,” a No. 1 hit that slotted the Moody Blues on a series of high-profile tours, opening for The Beatles and other groups, according to The New York Times.
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee wanted to come back to Fredonia to perform “Arctic Song” again, according to Petri, “and we were discussing it pretty intensely. I still have the last text that I had with him, and it was he was ‘just going into the hospital for some tests; it’s no big deal,’” Petri recalled from that correspondence earlier this fall.
Petri plans to carry on and compile all the pieces of “Arctic Song” into a package that includes a different story for each song, and ultimately place it on his website. “Every song had a story behind it,” Petri said. “We were planning to do a whole, 24-track production of it. Our plan was to do it big time.”
There is only one recorded version of “Arctic Song,” Petri said, “and Fredonia has it.”
