Les Dudek

Les Dudek was born in a Naval air station hospital on the coast of Quonset Point, Rhode Island. His father Harold, from Campbell, Nebraska, was a radioman in the Navy. Les' mother, Alma, from Brooklyn, New York, was a PBX operator and also danced for the world famous "Rockettes" at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Two years after Les was born, his father retired from the Navy and the family moved to Florida where he grew up.

Les became interested in music by listening to his sister Sandi's new records through their adjacent bedroom wall. She played records by Elvis, Ricky Nelson, Fabian, Connie Francis and The Beach Boys, to name a few. One night that all changed when Sandi played The Beatles. By the end of the night - Les was "hooked". Les decided to ask his parents for a guitar and an acoustic silver-tone from Sears and Roebuck was presented to him on Christmas Day 1964. Sandi didn't realize it at the time, but she had created a "guitar bandito" and for the next few years all she could hear through the adjacent wall was Les practicing his guitar.

Les had caught the guitar bug and was determined to master it. By the age of 14, Les was already playing all over Florida with bands like The Steppin' Stones, The United Sounds, Blue Truth and Power. With the latter two, he went to Nashville, and Richmond, Virginia to record demos with hopes of a record deal. Then, on October 29th, 1971, the unthinkable occurred - a fellow Florida musician, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. At the time, Les was playing with bandmate Peter Schless, a keyboard player from Venice, Florida in their band Power. Peter knew Dickey Betts from The Allman Brothers Band and had heard he was looking for players. So Les and Peter drove to Macon, Georgia to jam with Dickey. A few weeks after returning to Florida, Les was invited back to Georgia to record with The Allman Brothers Band. That's Les you hear playing guitar harmonies with Dickey Betts on "Ramblin' Man" and the intro acoustic guitar on "Jessica", their two biggest hits from the 'Brothers and Sisters' album (Capricorn Records).

News spread quickly about Les Dudek and he was offered a guitar spot with Boz Scaggs. He accepted and commuted back and forth from Macon, Georgia to San Francisco touring with Boz and later appeared on 'Silk Degrees' (Columbia Records). Les also appeared in Boz's "Low Down" and "Lido Shuffle" videos. In 1974, Les was a special guest on the Joker Tour with The Steve Miller Band. Also on the bill was James Cotton. At the end of Miller's set, Steve would invite Boz, James Cotton and Les out on stage to finish the show. As the tour concluded, Miller invited Les up to Seattle to record some tunes that turned into classic hits on Steve Miller's 'Fly Like An Eagle' and 'Book Of Dreams' (Capital Records), from which Les co-wrote "Sacrifice". On Miller's 'Living In The 20th Century' (Capital Records), Les appears on the record as well as in the movie of the same name and on 'Wide River' (PolyGram Label Group), Les co-wrote "Blue Eyes". Another memorable show Les did with Miller was the second Knebworth Park outside of London, with Pink Floyd, Captain Beefheart and members from Monty Python.

Miller invited Les to join his band, so he moved to California. After which, Les formed a side band in the San Francisco Bay Area with members of Scaggs and Miller called Polar Bear. The members were Les, Gerald Johnson, Joachiem Young and Billy Meeker. Polar Bear was asked to record a demo for Columbia Records. At the same time, a manager called Les and asked him to come to a rehearsal hall in San Francisco to hear this new band he was nurturing. The manager wanted "the two guitar heroes" of the Bay area to be in the same band, "and we're going to call it Journey". The same day Les was invited to the first Journey rehearsal, he was offered a solo recording deal from Columbia records. Les decided to be a solo artist for Columbia.

During the next six years Les released four critically acclaimed solo albums, ('Les Dudek', 'Say No More', 'Ghost Town Parade' and 'Gypsy Ride') scoring two FM radio hits - "City Magic" and "Old Judge Jones". He then collaborated with two other Columbia artists, Mike Finnigan, who played organ on "Rainy Day", a song from Jimi Hendrix's 'Electric Lady Land'(Reprise Records) and Jim Krueger, who wrote "We Just Disagree" for Dave Mason. DFK (Dudek, Finnigan & Krueger) released one album on Columbia Records and toured most of 1978 with Kansas.

After a hiatus from DFK, Cher asked Les to participate on a recording project, which became 'Black Rose' (Casablanca Records), performing concerts with Hall & Oates in New York's Central Park, "The Merv Griffin Show" and "The Midnight Special" hosted by Wolfman Jack.

In 1984, Les made an appearance and authored a few songs in Peter Bogdanovich's Universal Studios movie "Mask", staring Cher, Sam Elliott, Eric Stoltz and Laura Dern. Les also appeared in Christopher Crowe's "Streets of Justice", a Movie Of The Week from Universal Studios in 1985.

Les teamed up with Stevie Nicks and co-wrote "Sister Honey", a collaboration which appears on her 'Rock A Little' album (Modern/Atlantic Records) and "Freestyle", the title track to Les' 'Freestyle' CD (E Flat Productions). Les also toured with Stevie on her 1991 Whole Lotta Trouble tour.

Throughout the '90's Les toured the U.S. and Europe. He also released a rock 'n blues album titled 'Deeper Shades Of Blues' and 'Freestyle 2002' (E Flat Productions). Additionally, Les wrote and performed instrumental library music for television. This music can be heard on NBC, ABC, ESPN, FOX SPORTS and E channel. These instrumentals are featured on such programs as "Friends", "Extra", "Wild On", "Search Party", and "Access Hollywood".

In 2007, Les hit the road again with Bryan Hawkins on drums, Don Walters on bass and Mike Kindred on keyboards.