Biography
Born on January 23, 1954, in St. Louis, Missouri, singer and songwriter Greg Guidry began performing gospel music during childhood. Music remained central to his life, leading him to join bands throughout high school and college, several of which also featured future Doobie Brother and fellow St. Louis native Michael McDonald. In 1977 he secured a publishing contract and devoted the following years to composing material for other performers, while also providing backing vocals for the Allman Brothers Band in 1981. Columbia Records signed him to a recording contract in 1982, resulting in the release of his debut album, Over the Line. The project’s adult-pop orientation yielded immediate success through its opening single, “Goin’ Down,” which climbed to number 17 on the pop chart during spring 1982 and achieved Top Ten placement on the adult-contemporary survey. Its successor, a duet with his sister Sandy Guidry, could not match that performance and remained on the charts for only two weeks. Although Guidry persisted in writing songs for fellow artists, nearly two decades passed before he offered new recordings, issuing the self-released Soul’d Out and Private Session in 2000. On July 28, 2003, at age 49, he died at his residence in Fairview, Tennessee; authorities discovered his burned body inside a vehicle parked in the garage and ruled the death a suicide.