Original Rainbow bass player Craig Gruber has died of cancer at the age of 63 today.
Original Rainbow bass player Craig Gruber has died of cancer at the age of 63 today.
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
What is your favorite rainbow's song?
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Nice track, but Gruber was long gone by the time it came out.
RIP Mr. Gruber.
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Sad news, such a great band, loved them at the time!
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
Excellent, overlooked player. RIP, sir.
Sleeping at home is killing the hotel business!
Bought this album the day it came out and gobbled it up like nobody's business. For me at the time, Blackmore could do no wrong.
RIP: Craig
RIP Mr. Gruber.
He was more a member of Elf than of Rainbow. The first Rainbow album was recorded using all of the members of Elf (including Dio) except for the guitarist and was made shortly before Blackmore officially left Deep Purple. However, Blackmore replaced everyone except for Dio when it came time to tour that album.
Gruber also could potentially have been a member of Black Sabbath. Geezer Butler left Sabbath for awhile shortly after Ozzy was fired, and Dio and Iommi brought Gruber in for the demoing sessions for what became Heaven and Hell. Geezer returned after he heard what they were working on, but Gruber claimed that his bass parts were used on the final version of the title track. Personally, I don't believe that, but there's no question that it's much different than the bass lines Geezer typically writes.
Craig also did quite a bit of session work, I believe.
What's up with all the Rainbow songs posted it in this thread that Gruber didn't play on?
Here's something he did outside Rainbow that not many people have heard probably: https://myspace.com/bibleblackband/music/songs
Bible Black was a short-lived band formed by Gruber after his brief tenure with Sabbath that also included his former Elf/Rainbow rhythm section cohort Gary Driscoll on drums, plus Jeff Fenholt on vocals (who played Jesus in the original Broadway cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, and would later be also associated with Sabbath when he worked with Tony Iommi on what would become the Seventh Star album).
His playing and sound on the first Rainbow album is excellent and I prefer that rhythm section to the later ones. More funky and finesse vs. the pummelling attack of Cozy Powell as fine as Jimmy Bain and Bob Daisley were. R.I.P. Craig.
A weird Rainbow alumni is Tony Carey, who was the keyboard player just after, on Rainbow Rising I think. By the mid 80's he was a really big mainstream pop singer in Germany, I remember seeing his albums everywhere when I visited in 85/86. I wondered if it was the same bloke, and apparently it was!
Also on Gary Moore's Live at the Marquee.
Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000
No, it's Jimmy Bain on that. Craig is on "We Want Moore!".Originally Posted by TheLoony
I wondered what had happened to him. IIRC, he left Rainbow claiming Blackmore had set his bed on fire following a seance, or something like that.
Tony had some success here in the states under the Planet P name.
I had the wrong name in my head. I think it was Gary Driscoll not Gruber. Been a long time since I listened to that one.
Not only did they put all three of those live albums out at the same time(all with different bands) but they had to omit notes from Marquee and to tell the truth I don't know if I ever figured out who the full band on that one was. I remember one of those guys from the first Rainbow but now I'm uncertain who the hell was on it. Maybe I've got it all wrong. It happens.
Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000
According to Wiki we are both wrong. I had the wrong name in my head as I was thinking of Gary Driscoll. Turns out it was Kenny Driscoll, not Gary, on vocals, and Andy Pyle from the Kinks on Bass. Who knew.
Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000
Yes, I should have checked. Tommy Aldridge on drums. I think it was a one-off lineup for that gig.
Jimmy Bain played on Dirty Fingers album with Charlie Huhn and others, must likely Don Airey on keys.
He went on No1 in my country with Planet P. Recently, he reformed that project.
Something interesting from Wiki:
In March 2009 Carey was diagnosed with a virulent form of bladder cancer. At one point he was told his odds of survival were ten percent. After twelve weeks in the hospital and five surgeries, he made a full recovery. "I tried to get my "bucket list" finished as quickly as i could; it wasn't a certainty that I'd be around much longer." notes Carey. "I'm missing some of my organs; you'll be relieved to hear that the Hammond isn't one of them."[16] Carey's former Rainbow bandmate Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer shortly after Carey's recovery. Carey said in a May 28, 2010 interview with Jason Saulnier, ""I'm very sad about his passing, especially because we got essentially the same disease, and I beat it, and he didn't."
Tony Carey had a few Top 40 hits released under his own name as well, all of which received pretty heavy rotation on MTV at the time: "I Won't Be Home Tonight", "A Fine, Fine Day" and "The First Day of Summer"
As mentioned earlier, he relocated to Germany and has had a prolific and at times ,successful, career over there with both Carey and Planet P albums. He also participated in the "Over the Rainbow" band with Blackmore's son and other Rainbow alum until he got sick and had to bow out. Recently he teamed up again with Blackmore's son and put on a series of concerts in Norway to commemorate the 40-year Anniversary of 'Rainbow Rising'.
Tony Carey has led an interesting career path, to say the VERY least. He's on what is considered by many to be the best Rainbow album, and then he's out of there and resurfaces as a solo artist several years later, both under the Planet P Project moniker and his own name, the latter being his more AOR/songwriting venture (good music, nonetheless). After two albums, Tony resurrected PPP many years later, and he also recorded and released music (in Germany) under something like four other aliases (at least). He's enjoyed most of his success in Germany, but "(I Won't Be Home) Tonight" and "A Fine, Fine Day" were hits here, too.
What is really cool is Explorer, the alias/album he recorded in 1982 that is entirely electronic. The music sounds literally like Tangerine Dream, Synergy, Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Jean-Michel Jarre got diced, liquefied, powderized and reconstituted into a new shape that is the sum of its parts. Explorer got a nice LP reissue after 25 years of relative obscurity.
That Explorer stuff is pretty darn nice! Will have to seek out that vinyl reissue...
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
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