1949
●
Adrian is born
Robert Steven Belew,
in Covington, KY on December 23rd.
1960
●
Adrian joins the
Ludlow High School marching band as a drummer.
Later,
he forms cover bands with fellow classmates; most notably,
The Denems.
The Denems were a local, well known
Beatles cover band.
1970
●
Adrian changes his name from
Robert Steven to 'Adrian' - a name he'd always liked.
●
Adrian is discovered by
Frank Zappa while playing in a
cover band named
Sweetheart at the infamous
Fanny's in
Nashville.
Frank gets Adrian's name from his chauffeur and later invites Adrian to Los
Angeles to audition for his band.
●
Adrian tours with
Frank Zappa. while on tour,
Adrian meets
David Bowie.
Bowie is
so impressed with Adrian, he asks him to join his band. The Zappa tour
comes to an end and Adrian records on the Bowie classics,
Stage and
Lodger.
1979
●
While touring with
Bowie, Adrian meets talking heads and performs on 'Remain
In Light' and
'
...The Name Of This Band Is..."
he later tours with them.
1980
●
On the first day of the
tour with
Talking Heads,
Adrian meets
Robert Fripp.
Fripp asks Adrian
to join the soon to be reformed,
King Crimson.
1981
●
Adrian joins
King Crimson.
●
Adrian joins
Talking Heads'
Chris Franz and
Tina Weymouth to record as
Tom Tom Club.
Adrian co-writes
their hit "Genius
Of Love"
which appears on the self titled release,
Tom Tom Club.
1982
●
Adrian
signs with
Island Records and releases his debut solo record, 'The
Lone Rhino'
featuring the song and video, Big Electric Cat.
1983
●
Adrian releases his second solo lp,
Twang Bar King.
●
Adrian produces
The Raisins'
debut album and appears on
Laurie Anderson's"Mr.
Heartbreak".
1984
●
Adrian finishes his stint
with
King Crimson.
Adrian records "Zoolook"
with
Jean-Michel Jarre and also produces
The Elvis Brothers.
1985
●
Adrian joins members of
The Raisins
to become
The Bears.
They tour the U.S. and end their tour
with a sold out show at
the Ritz
in New York.
●
Adrian later appears
on Laurie
Anderson's video, 'Home of the
Brave' and on
Paul Simon's
Grammy
winning, "Graceland".
1986
●
The Bears
tour Israel and later sign to
PMRC
- a division of
I.R.S. Records.
●
Adrian releases his 3rd
solo album, 'Desire
Caught By The Tail'.
1987
●
The Bears release their
debut CD,
"The Bears". The cover
is by MAD Magazine's
Mort Drucker,
and features the singles/videos "Fear
Is Never Boring"
and "Trust".
Touring resumes throughout the southeast U.S.
1988
●
The Bears
release their 2nd album, "Rise and
Shine"
which features the single & video, "Aches
And Pains". the bears take to
the highway and tour the U.S.
1989
●
Adrian releases Mr Music Head on
Atlantic Records and follows the release
by hosting
Post Modern MTV
for an entire week. Other appearances include an acoustic performance on
VH1's
1-to-1
and
Night Music
with
David Sanborn.
●
The video for Oh Daddy features
Adrian and his 11 year old daughter,
Audie.
●
Adrian appears on
Mike Oldfield's 'Earth
Moving'
release.
●
Adrian lends his rendition
of "We
Three Kings" to a compilation of
Christmas songs performed
on guitar for
Green Linnet Records', "Christmas
Guitars".
1990
●
Adrian tours with
David Bowie
as David's musical director and band leader, with bassist
Erdal Kizilcay, keyboardist
Rick Fox, and drummer
Mike Hodges.
●
Adrian appears in David Bowie's video for his remix of
Fame in "Fame '90".
●
During the
tour,
Atlantic Records releases
Adrian's 5th solo record, 'Young
Lions'. Young
Lions features the
Bowie/Belew collaboration, 'Pretty Pink Rose'.
1991
●
"Desire of the
Rhino King",
a long-awaited compilation of selected songs from Adrian's first three solo
albums is released by
Island Records.
●
Adrian performs, "Still
Life with a Dobro" on the compilation CD, "Guitar Speak
III".
1992
●
Adrian releases his 6th solo album, "Inner
Revolution".
●
Adrian tours for "Inner
Revolution". the tour band consists of
Rob
Fetters (guitar),
Brian Lovely (bass), and
Mike Hodges
(drums).
●
Adrian's name appears in an episode of
the Simpsons.
●
Adrian produces
Mexico's
Caifanes' "El
Silencio". It hits #1 on
Mexico's charts and goes gold!
1993
●
Adrian tours the midwest with his acoustic tour.
●
Adrian records "Blackbird"
for
the Beatles' guitar tribute, "Come
Together".
●
Adrian performs on
Sara Hickman's "Necessary
Angels" album.
●
Adrian performs on two
tracks for the
Crash Test Dummies',
"god shuffled his Feet".
1994
●
Adrian moves to
Nashville, TN.
●
Adrian releases his 7th solo album, "Here".
●
Adrian begins his "Here" tour with
former bears mates:
Rob Fetters,
Bob Nyswonger and
Chris Arduser
as his
band. This is the closest the fans get to a Bears reunion
●
Adrian signs a deal with
Caroline Records.
●
Adrian wins best
musical score for his soundtrack to "In
The Gutter and Other Places",
in Canada's "hot docs" film awards. he later wins guitar
player magazine's reader poll for the "best experimental guitarist" for the
5th year in a row.
●
Adrian
records with
Trent Reznor on
Nine Inch Nails' "Downward
Spiral".
1995
●
King Crimson returns.
the new line up consists of
Adrian Belew,
Robert Fripp,
Tony Levin,
Bill Bruford,
Trey Gunn, and
Pat Mastelotto.
●
King Crimson
releases
Vrooom,
an EP of all new songs. The full album, "Thrak" soon follows.
●
King Crimson
performs "Dinosaur" on
NBC's
Late Night With Conan Obrien.
1996
●
Adrian's official
web site hits the web.
●
King Crimson
tours Europe and North America.
●
Adrian releases his
9th solo album,
Op Zop Too Wah
on September 24th on
Passenger/Caroline Records.
●
Adrian appears on
the tribute to
Badfinger with
his own rendition of
Paul McCartney's "Come
And Get It".
1997
●
Adrian appears on the
cover of
EQ Magazine.
●
Adrian attends his class reunion reforming his old band from high school,
The Denems.
●
After a decade long
hiatus, The
Bears begin recording in the studio.
●
Adrian tours
Argentina... acoustically.
●
The Bears are inducted into
the Cincinnati Musicians Hall of Fame.
●
Peter Frampton
and Adrian record, "The
Frightened City" at
Adrian's studio for
"Twang",
a tribute album to
Hank Marvin.
●
Adrian produces 2
hits for "Jars
Of Clay". The album hits #1 on
Billboard's
Contemporary Christian charts. Their song, "Flood" crosses
over to the modern rock charts and the album goes gold. Adrian makes
a cameo appearance in their video:
●
Adrian releases his 8th solo release, "The
Experimental Guitar Series Volume 1: Guitar
As Orchestra".
1998
●
ProjeKCt Two tours the
U.S., Japan, UK, and Canada.
ProjeKCt Two
is
Robert Fripp,
Trey Gunn,
and
Adrian Belew.
●
Adrian releases his
9th solo release,
Belewprints.
●
Adrian produces
The Irresponsibles
●
Adrian joins
Artie Traum,
Tony Levin, and
Fred Wilkinson to record an
instrumental track called
Mean Low Water for
Artie's new record,
Remarkable Friends.
1999
● Thirsty Ear Records releases "Salad
Days", a
compilation of acoustic tracks.
●
Adrian tours the
U.S. promoting "Coming
Attractions".
The Adrian Belew produced, "Irresponsibles"
opens on the tour.
● Nine Inch Nails
releases "Fragile".
This is Adrian's 2nd appearance on a Nine Inch Nails release.
2000
●
Adrian releases an mp3 of "I
Have A Dream", as a free download on his website.
● King
Crimson tours Europe
and Japan.
2001
●
Adrian receives the
Cammy
(Cincinnati's Entertainment Award) Lifetime Achievement award.
The award is presented to Adrian by
Peter Frampton.
●
Adrian performs on
Tori Amos', "Strange
Little Girls".
●
Adrian
hits the road with King Crimson to tour the U.S.
● The Bears
release their first album in 13 years, "Car
Caught Fire".
● King
Crimson
tours
2002 ● The Bears'
2002
Car Caught
Fire tour begins.
●
Adrian releases an
internet only download of a new song,
"Asleep". The song was inspired by the tragedy of September 11 and
was made available the week of the one year anniversary.
● King Crimson
releases their EP, "Happy
With What You Have To Be Happy With"
prior to the release of their new studio album, "The
Power To Believe".
● Lone
Rhino,
Twang Bar King, and
Desire Caught By The Tail are all
finally re-issued
on CD by Universal
Japan.
2003 ●
Adrian records with
Les Claypool (Primus) and
Danny Carey (Tool) for
Adrian's next solo record, at Les's studio in San Francisco.
● King Crimson tours the US in support of
"The Power To Believe".
● King Crimson releases
their "Eyes
Wide Open"
DVD.
●
Adrian and
Kevin Max
(of DC
Talk) max release 'Raven
Songs: 101'.
The
release features Adrian's music to Kevin's poetry.
● Frank Zappa's "baby
snakes" (1979) is released on dvd.
● October 10 -
Adrian records with
Ben
Folds,
Henry Rollins,
Matt Chamberlain, and
John Painter in a session for
the upcoming William Shatner record.
2004 ●
Adrian's
Inner Revolution
is reissued by
Wounded Bird Records.
● April -
The Bears release 'The
Bears Live At Club Cafe'
DVD. The DVD contains: over 90 minutes of concert footage
from the Bears' 2002 Car Caught Fire tour, 5.1 dolby surround sound, a tour
of Adrian's home
studio, how the band became "The Bears", stories behind your
favorite songs, and extensive up-close and personal interviews with Rob,
Bob, Chris, and Adrian.
● May -
Adrian's "Man
In The Moon" makes
the top 10 songs for Dads in Better Homes and Gardens' Father's Day issue.
Other artists in the top 10 include:
Eric Clapton,
Jimi Hendrix, and
John Lennon.
● June 13 -
Adrian performs
Thela Hun Ginjeet,
Tweekers, and
Lone Rhinoceros with
Primus at the
Bonnaroo Festival.
● July 22 -
Adrian joins
Al Kooper on stage in
Nashville to perform
Bob Dylan'sBlonde On Blonde in its
entirety.
Other artists involved were
Tracy Nelson,
Gary Tallent,
Bill Lloyd and scores
of others.
● July 23 -
Adrian Belew was honored at the
Star
Guitar Night during the Summer
NAMM
show in Nashville, TN. Other honorees include
Duane Eddy
and
Peter Frampton.
The show took place at the infamous Ryman and Adrian performed "purple haze".
●
August
-
Adrian performs on the new
William Shatner record alongside
Henry Rollins, and
Ben Folds.
●
August -
Talking Heads' "The
Name Of This Band Is..." is re-released on
CD.
● October 5 -William Shatner releases 'Has
Been'.
● Adrian continues
working on his art with the intentions of painting all future solo album
covers.
● Between The
Strings - the
secret lives of guitars - 100 stories about the guitar from guitarists
such as Adrian Belew, Chet Atkins,
Bob Weir,
Les Paul, and 97 more.
for more info on this book,
www.johnaugustmusic.com
●
The September 2nd issue of
Rolling Stone magazine (issue 956) reviews the re-release of
Talking Heads' "The
Name Of This Band is..." and has a nice write up on
Adrian (page 147).
● October - Adrian produces the
Jaguares - formerly known as
Caifanes,
in
Nashville.
●
The Top 100 greatest progressive artists have been named and
Adrian makes
the list - twice or more, depending on how you read it. #1
King Crimson,
#17
Talking Heads, #66
Adrian Belew (solo), and countless other connections.
view the list here.
2005
●
January 25 - Adrian releases
Side One, his first new
electric solo studio
album since 1996's
Op Zop Too Wah. Tracks include
Adrian,
Les Claypool, and
Danny
Carey.
●
May
- Adrian interview
appears in
Guitar Player magazine
read it here.
●
Adrian produces
Jaguares'
rendition of
John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth" John Lennon
tribute in early May. This track will appear on Amnesty International's release
of John Lennon songs,
headed up by
Peter Gabriel.
●
Adrian produces
Jaguares
for a tribute to the infamous Mexican comedian from
the 40's named,
Tin Tan.
●
June - Adrian tours
the U.S. in promotion
of
Side One,
Side Two, and - believe it or not -
1996's
Op Zop Too Wah.
The
tour consists of Adrian,
Mike Gallaher (bass) and
Mike Hodges
(drums) and performances
occur along the east and west coasts, Texas, the Southwest, and points in
between.
●
July 12 - Adrian releases
Side Two.
●
September - Adrian receives a letter of thanks from a
Louisiana fan after Hurricane Katrina:
Read it here.
●
Adrian performs at
Fuji Rock Festival
'05 in Japan with his power trio, Mike Gallaher and Mike Hodges on July 30th. Other participating acts
were: Cake,
Beach Boys,
Foo Fighters,
Coldplay,
Fat Boy Slim,
New Order,
Beck,
Moby,
the Pogues,
California Guitar Trio,Los Lobos, and many many more.
●
October - the power
trio tour comes to a close.
●
December - Adrian
is nominated for a
Grammy in the
Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for the
song, "Beat Box Guitar" from
Side One.
This category includes solo, duo, group, or collaborative performances,
without vocals. Includes Rock, Hard Rock and Metal. Singles or
Tracks only. Nominees in the Best Rock Instrumental category:
Beat Box Guitar -
Adrian Belew - Track
from: Side One [Sanctuary]
Birds Of Prey - Stewart Copeland - Track from: Orchestralli
[Ponderosa]
69 Freedom Special - Les Paul & Friends - Track from: American
Made World Played [Capitol Records]
Mercy - Joe Perry - Track from: Joe Perry [Columbia Records]
Lotus Feet - Steve Vai - Track from: Real Illusions: Reflections
[Epic/Red Ink]
2006
●
February -
Adrian performs with
Paul Green's School of
Rock
●
April/May -
Adrian tours U.S.,
Australia, and Italy. Adrian's visit to
Australia was his first since 1979. The tour was a huge
success!
●
Adrian's
Side Three is released.
●
Adrian tours Australia
and performs to sold out venues in one of his most successful tours to date.
● May
- Adrian announces his
new power trio: Siblings
Eric
and
Julie Slick.
Adrian met them in February at the
Paul Green "School of Rock"
show earlier in the year.
●
July
- Adrian's friend, sound,
and engineer,
Ken Latchney dies
suddenly at the very young age of 40.
R.I.P., Ken.
'66 - '06.
●
Adrian returns to the road with his new power
trio consisting of
Julie Slick (bass) and
Eric Slick (drums). The tour covers the East, South, & West U.S.
2007
● February - Adrian begins releasing
particles of DUST on his web site.
● February - Adrian's Elephant Blog is born
and is a major success.
●
February -
Adrian hits
the road again with his Power Trio, consisting of Eric & Julie Slick.
●Bears
record "Eureka!" is released.
●Bears "Eureka!"
mini-tour lasts from April 26 to May 4.
●June
- Adrian takes his Power Trio on the road (Eric & Julie Slick) throughout
the U.S., Canada, and Japan.
