Everything about James William Guercio totally explained
James William Guercio (born in
1945 in
Chicago, Illinois) is an
American music producer, musician and
songwriter (occasionally credited as
Jim Guercio), and is probably best known for his work as the producer of
Chicago's early albums. He also has worked briefly in the motion picture industry as a producer and director.
Music industry accomplishments
Guercio moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s and began working as a
session musician and songwriter. He played on several recordings, wrote
Chad and Jeremy's
1966 Top 30 pop hit "Distant Shores," and is listed as a "contributor" to
Frank Zappa's 1966 debut album
Freak Out!. Hired by
CBS Records as a staff producer, Guercio began working with
The Buckinghams and helped them create four Top 10 records in
1967: "Don't You Care," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," "Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song)," and "Susan."
During his college years in Chicago, Guercio had become friends with a saxophonist named
Walter Parazaider. Parazaider invited Guercio to hear his new band, "The Big Thing," and Guercio was impressed enough to offer to manage and produce them. He relocated the band to Los Angeles in
1968, convinced them to change their name to "The Chicago Transit Authority," and arranged for them to appear in local clubs where they quickly became popular. While recording their first album for CBS/Columbia, Guercio was also approached about producing a second album for
Blood, Sweat & Tears. Both of these highly-successful albums were released in
1969), and
Blood, Sweat & Tears won Guercio an Album of the Year
Grammy Award.
In
1970, threatened with legal action by the
"real" Chicago Transit Authority, Guercio shortened the band's name to
Chicago and worked with them on a second album,
Chicago II. Both this album and the original
The Chicago Transit Authority featured long recordings which were moderately popular on FM stations, but when Guercio edited several tracks down to a radio-friendly 3-minute length -- including single versions of "
Make Me Smile," "
25 or 6 to 4," and "
Beginnings" -- Chicago became a huge commercial success. Guercio would ultimately produce a total of eleven albums for the band (including five straight number 1 pop albums, starting with
Chicago V) and 17 Top 25 singles. The
Chicago X album yielded the band's first number 1 single, "
If You Leave Me Now," which also earned two Grammy Awards (best pop performance for the band, and
best arrangement for Guercio). However, Guercio and the band members found themselves increasingly at odds over creative decisions, tour schedules, and finances, and they parted ways soon after completing an eleventh album in late
1977.
Guercio's attention wasn't only on the big-time artists. In
1969 he encountered street poet and musician
Moondog, going on to produce two albums with the eccentric character; on the second he performed vocals with Moondog and the artist's daughter. Guercio produced the
Firesign Theatre's single "Station Break," which was released in March of
1969 (and later appeared on the
Forward Into The Past anthology), and in April
1970, Guercio produced the "Shoes for Industry" segment of their classic LP
Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers. In addition, both
Dwarf and Firesign's earlier
How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All were labelled with "Poseidon Productions: A Division of James William Guercio Enterprises Inc."
Other accomplishments
Guercio became interested in motion picture production, and he was given the opportunity to produce and direct the
1973 film
Electra Glide in Blue; he also wrote and produced the film's musical soundtrack. The film starred
Robert Blake and featured
Peter Cetera and other members of Chicago in bit parts. Although the film was well received by critics and has subsequently become a cult classic, it saw only modest commercial success. Guercio produced one other Robert Blake film,
Second-Hand Hearts, which was released in
1981.
Guercio was the founder of
Caribou Ranch, a popular recording studio in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. The first music recorded at Caribou was
Joe Walsh's "
Rocky Mountain Way". In addition to Chicago (starting with
Chicago VI), the studio has been used by numerous other artists:
Elton John (for his
Caribou album),
Billy Joel,
Rod Stewart,
Carole King,
Stephen Stills,
Waylon Jennings and
Supertramp. Unfortunately, the studio complex was shut down and never used again after a March
1985 fire destroyed the control room and caused about $3 million in damage.
After the split-up with Chicago and the Caribou Ranch fire, Guercio became disenchanted with the recording industry and shifted gears, pursuing a successful career in large-scale cattle ranching, property development, and oil and gas exploration, drilling and production, particularly coalbed methane wells. In the late
1980s, Guercio formed the
Country Music Television (CMT) channel. In one of his more well-publicized transactions, in the early
1990s he sold CMT to media tycoon Ed Gaylord and
Westinghouse Broadcasting.
Further Information
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