Performance Rights Limited

Earl Slick joins PRL direct for Performer Rights administration!

From the spacey sounds of seventies David Bowie, to the seminal solo work of John Lennon, to the gritty resurgence of punk pioneers the New York Dolls, Earl Slick has had two hands in shaping the sounds that have come to define legends. Slick got his start in the club scene of his hometown, New York City, where he quickly gained a reputation as a unique and talented guitarist. In 1974, friend and lm composer Michael Kamen recommend Slick to David Bowie as Mick Ronson’s replacement on the Diamond Dogs tour.


Although Bowie supplied most of the guitar work on Diamond Dogs, Slick managed to duplicate and expand on the tracks
while injecting his own style into the live show, resulting in one of the greatest live rock guitar albums of all time, David Live, recorded at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia in 1974.


Slick remained with Bowie for his next two studio albums, which saw the singer transform into his “Thin White Duke” persona, resulting in the classic Young Americans (1975) and the more experimental Station to Station (1976). It was around this time that Slick met John Lennon, who would ask Slick to join him in the studio a few years later on what would turn out to be Lennon’s nal studio album, Double Fantasy.


During this time, Slick launched his solo career, resulting in the records Razor Sharp (1976) and Earl Slick Band (1976). Slick’s collaborative effort - Phantom, Rocker & Slick - formed with ex-Stray Cats Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker, also made a solid mark on the rock charts, releasing their selftitled debut in 1985, and it’s follow up Cover Girl, in 1986.


In the following years, Slick would continue to record and tour with some of the world’s most in uential artists. In 2000, Slick accepted an offer to rejoin Bowie full-time, touring steadily and appearing on Bowie’s 2002 studio effort, Heathen, and 2003’s Reality. “Earl is a legendary guitar star and a musician of great feeling,” says Bowie. “His playing is earthy, timeless and never less than stellar.” In 2003, Bowie, Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Robert Smith (The Cure), and other notables joined Slick for his solo release, Zig Zag.


In April 2016, Slick was joined by Rolling Stones backing vocalist Bernard Fowler for the Station to Station Revisited tour in the UK and Japan. Early 2017, Slick joined Bowie alumni for the "Celebrating David Bowie" world tour and collaborated with Francis Whatley & BBC to create "Rock n Roll Guns For Hire: The Story of the Sidemen " released July '17 in the UK.

Now Slick joins PRL directly for Performer Rights administration after many years as a CRI client ( CRI's roster now being admin'd by PRL since 2015).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kXeeY1bARY (404)