John Bundrick

Rabbit, Hyde Park, London, 1974

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John Douglas "Rabbit" Bundrick (born November 21, 1948) is a prominent American-born rock keyboardist, pianist, and organist, having played on albums by The Who, Eric Burdon, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Roger Waters, Free, and Crawler, among several others. Bundrick is noted as the principal musician for the cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and also composes and records solo albums.

Biography

Bundrick was born in Houston, Texas in 1948 and for many years toured and recorded with fellow Texan, vocalist Johnny Nash. Bundrick played on Nash's hit single and album "I Can See Clearly Now".

Bob Marley

Bundrick met Bob Marley while in Sweden, while working on the soundtrack to the Swedish film Vill så gärna tro . Marley, Bundrick, and fellow Texan Johnny Nash became roommates there during the stay. Sometime after their return to London, Bundrick was brought in to collaborate on arrangements for Marley's legendary Catch a Fire album, adding keyboards to the original Jamaican recordings to make the record more accessible to listeners. Around this time, Bundrick was popular with producer/Island records chief Chris Blackwell, who hired him to play on numerous recordings.

Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit

In 1971, Bundrick made the Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit album with guitarist Paul Kossoff, drummer Simon Kirke, and bassist Tetsu Yamauchi. He wrote five tracks for the album.

Free

In 1972 the members of Free reformed, now including Rabbit and Tetsu on keyboards and bass. They recorded Free's final album Heartbreaker, which included compositions by Bundrick "Muddy Water" and "Common Mortal Man", as well as two group compositions. After a brief bit of touring, Free broke up permanently.

The Who

Bundrick first worked with Pete Townshend in 1977 when he performed on Rough Mix, Townshend's solo collaboration with Ronnie Lane, former bass player for Small Faces and Faces. He was invited to play on the Who Are You album, but broke his arm falling out of a taxi at the studio door and was unable to participate in the recording. Bundrick toured with The Who in 1979-1981, with another former member of the Faces, drummer Kenney Jones, and played on their album Face Dances. Though briefly alienated from the band during the recording of It's Hard (and the subsequent tour) in favour of keyboardist Tim Gorman, apparently due to disagreements with Townshend about Bundrick's drinking, Bundrick later rejoined the band (he performed with them at Live Aid in 1985) and has played live with them for over 20 years (though he was notably absent from The Who's well-reviewed performance at The Concert for New York City, the keyboardist spot having been filled by occasional Who keyboardist Jon Carin). Bundrick played on the Who's 2004 recordings "Real Good Looking Boy" and "Old Red Wine," and their 2006 album Endless Wire and the 2006 summer and fall portions of The Who Tour 2006-2007.

John sat out the start of the second leg of the North American portion of the tour due to the illness of his wife Sue. According to Pete Townshend, Sue was "very close to the end, and [Rabbit] will be back with us when she's gone." Sue died on 9 April 2007, and her funeral was held on 19 April, in the West Country. Until his return, his keyboard tech, Brian Kehew, took over keyboard duties for the tour.

John performed at the VH1 Honors The Who taping in Los Angeles on 12 July 2008.

John married Canadian-born Jody Ahern in the Spring of 2008.

John is currently working with English alternative folk band Small Engine Repair and has recently played on their track 'This Whole Setup Is A Lie.'

Selective discography

• 1971 Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit
• 1972 Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now
• 1972 Sandy Denny - Sandy
• 1973 Free - Heartbreaker
• 1973 Paul Kossoff - Backstreet Crawler
• 1973 John Martyn - Solid Air
• 1974 Bryn Haworth - Let The Days Go By
• 1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• 1977 Eric Burdon - Survivor
• 1977 Townshend & Lane - Rough Mix
• 1979 The Only Ones - Special View
• 1981 The Who - Face Dances
• 1985 Deep End - Deep End Live!
• 1988 Dream Jungle
• 1992 Roger Waters - Amused to Death
• 1998 Fairport Convention - Cropredy 98
• 2004 Andy Fairweather Low - Wide-Eyed and Legless
• 2006 The Who - Endless Wire
• 2007 Mick Jagger - The Very Best of Mick Jagger (Deluxe Edition)

Sources

• www.rabbitwho.com - John Rabbit Bundrick official website
• John "Rabbit" Bundrick gives students music lessons at Somerset school
• Video interview in which Rabbit talks about working with Pete Townsend and Paul Kossoff.
• Roger Waters discography: Amused to Death
• John "Rabbit" Bundrick profile on allmusic
• Bob Marley discography: Catch a Fire
• The Who History on thewho.net
• It's Hard liner notes on thewho.net
• The Who Concert Guide: see sections on 1979-2005
• ASCAP.com lists his songwriting credits