James "Jimmy" Crespo Jr. (born July 5, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York) is perhaps best known as the lead guitarist for the rock and roll band Aerosmith during the period 1979-1984. Crespo has also either played live or appeared on recordings with such artists as Rod Stewart, Billy Squier, Flame, Adam Bomb, Bandaloo Doctors, Meat Loaf, The Cutt, Stress, Stevie Nicks, Robert Fleischman, Ian Lloyd and Phoenix. is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the band Aerosmith. ... Roderick David Stewart, CBE (born January 10, 1945), is a British singer born and raised in London. ... Billy Squier (born May 12, 1950, in Wellesley, Massachusetts) is a rock musician. ... Emmitt Bryan Clark, Jr. ... Bandaloo Doctors was a Los Angeles “super group” - darlings of the media and a number of Hollywood celebrities. ... Michael Lee Aday (born September 27, 1947)), better known as Meat Loaf, is an American rock singer and actor of stage and screen. ... Stress is a very short-lived rock band that only released one album in the late 80s. ... Stephanie Lynn Stevie Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and a long solo career, which collectively have produced over twenty Top 40 hits. ... Robert Fleischman is an American musician. ... Ian Lloyd is the singer of the band Stories, who had the hit single Brother Louie in the USA. The song made #3 in the Billboard top 100 charts. ...

Early Life & Career

Crespo was born and raised by Puerto Rican-American parents in Brooklyn, New York. Raised within a musical family, Crespo first took up the guitar at age 14, shortly after forming his first band, The Knoms (phonetically 'Nomes'). Within his teen years Crespo became an accomplished guitarist, drawing on the stylings of such artists as The Yardbirds, Cream, The Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix. Forming the New York club band Anaconda, Crespo was to draw attention on the local scene from industry figures, leading to session work with a number of high profile artists (such as Meatloaf and Stevie Nicks) before Crespo was recruited as lead guitarist to the RCA-signed band, Flame. Not to be confused with Yard Birds. ... Cream were a 1960s British rock band, which consisted of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... This article contains a trivia section. ...

Flame was to release two albums, both their eponymous debut in 1976 and 1977's Queen of the Neighbourhood.

Aerosmith Years

Returning to session work following the breakup of Flame, Crespo was to attract the attention of Aerosmith's management following the departure of Joe Perry from the band in 1979. Invited to audition for the vacant lead guitarist position within the band, Crespo was invited to join Aerosmith in October 1979. Contributing a guitar solo to the song 3 Mile Smile for the already recorded Night in the Ruts album, Crespo commenced touring with the band soon after joining. Despite Crespo's proficiency and many lauded performances, the tour was hampered by the increasingly erratic state of the band's singer, Steven Tyler, at this stage heavily beset by drug addiction and suffering several on-stage collapses, as well as the fact that many fans missed Perry. Anthony Joseph Joe Perry (Born September 10, 1950 in Lawrence, Massachusetts), is the lead guitarist and a contributing songwriter for the rock band Aerosmith. ... Stephen Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948 in Yonkers, New York), better known as Steven Tyler (and often nicknamed The Demon of Screamin) is an American musician and songwriter. ...

Despite the singer's troubles, including an incapacitating motorbike accident in January 1981, Crespo and Tyler forged a credible songwriting and touring partnership before the departure of Brad Whitford struck the band in 1981. Crespo was to co-write the majority of songs on Aerosmith's 1982 album Rock in a Hard Place, performing almost all the guitar duties upon the album. Crespo served as the stolid musical capstan of the band during this period. The level of his work remained high even as the work ethic of his bandmates continued to deteriorate. Brad Whitford (born February 23, 1952 in Reading, Massachusetts) is a musician and guitarist for the rock and roll group Aerosmith. ... Rock in a Hard Place is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Aerosmith and was released in 1982 (see 1982 in music). ...

Charting as high as number 37 on the US Billboard chart, Rock in a Hard Place reputedly cost over $1 million in production costs, featuring a plethora of production and engineering staff amongst its credits. One of Aerosmith's hardest sounding albums (Xavier Russell said of it in Sounds: "As soon as the needle hit the wax it melted and the speaker covers blew across the living room floor - Five Stars"), and popular amongst die-hards, the album suffered both from the rejection of those loyal to former guitarist Perry, and from the lack of penetration into the newly emerging MTV video-clip market. The songs themselves were of a surprisingly strong character, many fans (as well as members of the band) to this day regarding them amongst Aerosmith's best.

Subsequent tours throughout 1982 through to early 1984 saw Crespo put in some stellar performances (with Rick Dufay filling in for the absent Brad Whitford), however commercial difficulties during pre-production of the follow-up coupled with singer Tyler's desire to reconvene with guitarist Perry saw Crespo exit the band mid 1984.

Crespo went on to add guitar work to Aerosmith's 1986 album Classics Live, his performances with the band also heard on the albums Gems, Greatest Hits 1973-1988, and upon the box set Pandora's Box. Classics Live and Classics Live II are a set of albums by Boston heavy metal band Aerosmith, released in 1986 and 1987, respectively. ... Gems is a compilation album released by Aerosmith in 1988 (see 1988 in music) under the label Columbia. ... Greatest Hits 1973-1988 is a greatest hits album by American hard rock band Aerosmith, released in 2004. ... Pandoras Box is a compilation album released in 1991 by Aerosmith. ...

Post Aerosmith

Immediately following his tenure in Aerosmith, Crespo played on releases by Stress and Adam Bomb, the guitarist spending several years with the latter-named Geffen Records signed band. Crespo contributed guitar to the Adam Bomb album "Fatal Attraction" (Geffen 1985) before settling in LA with new wife Cynthia to raise two children. His work with Stress is documented in the bonus tracks added to the CD reissue of Killing Me Night & Day on Deep Shag Records. Stress is a very short-lived rock band that only released one album in the late 80s. ... Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as one third of UMGs Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group. ... Stress is a very short-lived rock band that only released one album in the late 80s. ... Debut album from San Diego melodic rock band, Stress. ... Deep Shag Records is a CD reissue label started in 1999 in Atlanta, GA. The label has an eclectic selection of releases, including 80s new wave, spoken word, comedy, 80s metal and psychobilly cowpunk. ...

He joined bassist Danny Sheridan and Bonnie Bramlett in their new Bandaloo Doctors from 1987 to 1992. Ever on the rock journey, Crespo returned to session work as well as touring and recording with Billy Squier for several years, before joining Rod Stewart's live band as lead guitarist for a highly successful 2-year world tour from 1994-1996. Danny Sheridan is a musician, songwriter, producer, actor, radio host on 97. ... Bandaloo Doctors was a Los Angeles “super group” - darlings of the media and a number of Hollywood celebrities. ...

Continuing to play as a highly respected and successful studio musician, in more recent times Crespo has graced the stages of some of Las Vegas' biggest Casinos, whilst also engineering a rock amplifier simulator ("Rock Amp Legends by Jimmy Crespo") for Nomad Factory. Today Jimmy plays with the band Phoenix, a group of highly talented musicians who have made a strong name for themselves within the Las Vegas entertainment scene. For further information, see Las Vegas metropolitan area and Las Vegas Strip. ...

Discography

with Aerosmith

• Night in the Ruts (1979)
• Rock in a Hard Place (1982)
• Classics Live I (1986)
• Gems (1988)