West, Gary

Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who played with a band called The Chesmann in the early ’70s at locations such as The Boiler Room in Kansas City. Back then he along with his brothers and bandmates went by their Christian surname of Hodgden.

They dressed like The Beatles and covered the gamut of music from The British Invasion. Perhaps this was the impetus for the stage name “West”. As fate would have it, on the night of their last concert, Gary and Ron West ran into a band playing at a street dance outside which just happened to be an embryonic version of Shooting Star.

Gary West also played bass and sang vocals for The Beckies. He and his fellow Chesmann Jim McAllister emigrated to New York City where they honed their craft and did some networking that turned out to be important later.

After several years, Gary moved back to Kansas City and joined Shooting Star soon thereafter. He helped use his New York contacts to ultimately land a record deal with Virgin Records, who were eager to exploit the American market. Gary sang lead vocals and co-wrote many of the songs from the band from their eponymous debut in 1980 through 1985’s Silent Scream. Since then, he has taken more of an interest in the production side of things, owning and operating Mid-West Radon and Studio West. (Get it?)

In recent years, he has handed most of the production over to his son Wes. Gary also tried to finally get The Chesmann stuff released onto CD.

Shooting Star recordings
Preview (Instrumental)/Straight Ahead (Van McLain/Gary West)
Straight Ahead (Van McLain/Gary West)

Sources:

West, Gary

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