After binge reading Jack Reacher, Longmire and Will Trent books, I just finished reading a biography about Ted Templeman that I had been given for my birthday. I had seen his name on many of the record albums I loved, so I had a feeling the book would be interesting.
He started as an artist in a group that I really don't remember. They had hits. At one point, his group performs for the first anniversary of Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow's wedding. He describes what that was like.
Among many other things, he talks about meeting Elvis and watching him record, his favorite guitar riff by any guitarist, working with Van Halen and watching them come undone, the David Lee Roth song he considers a highlight of his career, going to AA with the Aerosmith guys, Warner management and he includes an apology to Van Morrison.
As he talks about songs and recording them, I often went on music sites to listen to what he was talking about. I bought some songs because I read about them. I didn't know, for example, that Carly Simon had recorded a version of the Doobie Brothers song, "It Keeps Me Running". I bought her version.
He tells a pretty hilarious story about accordionist Spooner Oldham. He also recounts being caught up in a hijacking that changed his life.
He obviously made a ton of money.
Ted Templeman is pretty frank about the music superstars and executives he's worked with, so you learn a lot of interesting things about the people.
As a musician who loves going into the recording studio but can't always afford it, overall, I really enjoyed this book.
