Biography
Though Mick Ronson typically surfaces first whenever conversations turn to guitarists who accompanied David Bowie, Reeves Gabrels actually logged the longest tenure alongside the Thin White Duke. Born June 4, 1956, in Staten Island, New York, Gabrels received his initial guitar from his father during childhood and promptly began copying the sounds he encountered on Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton albums. An abbreviated attempt to earn an art degree ended without success, after which he entered the Berklee School of Music in Boston; that enrollment also proved brief. He nevertheless stayed in the Northeast and performed with several ensembles, one of them the Dark. Through that connection he met journalist and publicist Sara Terry, whom he later married, and subsequently took a post handling publicity for Bowie’s expansive Glass Spider Tour in 1987. Bowie encountered Gabrels during the run, and the two formed a friendship. After listening to a tape of the guitarist’s work, Bowie arranged session opportunities for him with Deaf School, Nick Lowe, and Sandie Shaw before inviting him to join the experimental rock band Tin Machine. Completing the lineup were bassist Tony Sales and drummer Hunt Sales, already known for their late-1970s association with Iggy Pop. The quartet released its self-titled debut album in 1989; longtime Bowie listeners found the rawer, more confrontational sound jarring. Their second and final studio effort, Tin Machine II, arrived in 1991 and met with still cooler reception. Even after the group disbanded, Gabrels continued appearing on Bowie’s 1990s recordings—Black Tie White Noise in 1993, Outside in 1995, Earthling in 1997, and Hours in 1999—plus a re-recorded version of “Look Back in Anger” included on Rykodisc’s early-1990s reissue of the 1979 album Lodger, and he participated in the accompanying tours. During the same decade he issued his own star-studded solo projects: The Sacred Squall of Now in 1995, featuring Bowie, Frank Black, Jeffrey Gaines, and Gary Oldman, and Ulysses (Della Notte) in 1999, which again included Bowie and Black along with Robert Smith and Dave Grohl. At the start of the twenty-first century Gabrels elected to end the long partnership and pursue an independent career. Beyond his Bowie and solo work, his guitar has appeared on recordings by the Cure, the Mission UK, Public Enemy, Natalie Imbruglia, the Rolling Stones, Jeffrey Gaines, Ozzy Osbourne, and Sister Machine Gun, among others. He remains active with additional solo releases such as live late loud, continued touring, and the introduction of his signature Fernandes model, the RG 13.
Albums
