Born in downtown Chiswick Ian Gomm grew up in
London and cut his teeth on The Ventures, The Everly Brothers and The Beatles.
The young Gomm followed a 5-year apprenticeship in mechanical and electronic
engineering with EMI.Ltd. at Hayes in London where The Beatles first records
were manufactured. He sang and played lead/rhythm guitar in semi-pro groups in
his spare time through the late sixties. Always leading three-piece line-ups he
performed around the West London R&B circuit in clubs and pubs, as were Alexis
Korner and the embryonic Rolling Stones, his band supporting new groups such as
The Who, Pink Floyd and The Move. Gomm concentrated hard on his guitar playing
and was eventually described as quote: "Best rhythm guitarist in Britain." (NME
1971).
Deciding to become a full time musician in September 1970 Ian gave in his notice on a Friday and on the next Monday joined the cult group Brinsley Schwarz, the country rock band managed by ex-Jimi Hendrix tour manager and soon to be Managing Director and founder of Stiff Records, Dave Robinson, who advertised in the Melody Maker for "a rhythm/lead guitarist with vocal ability to sing, write and play any other instruments, interested or into country flavored music" for the group. Ian fitted the bill perfectly, as the band evolved into the solid, hardworking and professional Pub Rock outfit which packed out every venue they played in the early 70's. They also supported Dave Edmunds on tour and then Paul McCartney and Wings on his first major U.K. tour since the Beatles. During the six years the Brinsleys were together they regularly performed on radio and television and played at major U.K. venues, universities, colleges and rock festivals, topping the bill at the first Glastonbury Festival! They even appeared in the film 'Stardust' with David Essex. The band enjoyed a huge following in the U.K., Ireland, Holland, and Germany, recording 12 albums and 21 singles for United Artists.
When they finally split up in 1975 Ian moved with his wife Karen and family to Mid-Wales, UK. He built a recording studio and concentrated on his own song writing career and learned how to engineer and produce records. He recorded The Stranglers, Alexis Korner, Peter Hammill and Amon Duul as well as his own solo song demos.
His fellow band member Nick Lowe preferred the hustle of London however, and after his involvement with the newly formed Stiff record label went on to form Rockpile with Dave Edmunds and Little Village with Ry Cooder. Recently having a huge success with his song 'What's So Funny About Peace Love And Understanding' sung by Curtis Stigers, which was featured in the film 'The Body Guard', and was originally recorded with Ian's musical arrangement by the Brinsleys.
Having amassed a large catalogue of his own songs Ian was signed by the newly formed independent Albion record label based in London. His first solo album titled ‘Summer Holiday’ was released in the UK in 1978 and used superb musicians like Herbie Flowers (bass), Barry De Sousa (drums) and Raf Ravenscroft (saxophone) of 'Baker Street' fame. In 1979 the same album now called 'Gomm with the Wind' was released on Stiff/Epic Records in North America. A single from the album 'Hold On' took off on college radio and eventually climbed to number 12 in the U.S. Hot 100. For over 5 months he toured and played all the top venues in the U.S. attracting audiences of 20,000 or more. Firstly supporting Dire Straits on their 'Sultans Of Swing' tour, then quickly followed by his own sell out U.S. solo tour. Chart topping country star Glen Campbell covered Ian's song 'Hooked On Love' from this album. Nick Lowe also had his biggest hit around the same time reaching the U.S. and U.K. top ten with 'Cruel to be Kind' a song he co-wrote with Ian when they were in the Brinsleys.
A year later saw the world-wide
release of Ian's second album 'What a Blow' which was once again produced by the
legendary Martin Rushent whose other credits had by then included Shirley Bassey,
The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks and The Human League. The subtly titled Ian Gomm
Band embarked on a succession of European tours topping the bill at many major
events.
One of Ian's old Brinsley songs 'It's Been So Long' was reworked in 1981 by Dave
Edmunds on his 'Twangin' album.
U.K. recognition however still
eluded him and in 1982 his third album, 'The Village Voice' was released. Phil
Everly of Everly Brothers fame covered Ian's song 'Louise' from this album and
promptly scored his first solo hit.
It was at this time Ian co-wrote the instrumental 'Carrillon' with Herbie
Flowers the bass player who had played on most of Ian's solo recordings. Herbie
had just formed a classical 'super group' Sky with guitarist John Williams and
this track appeared on their debut album 'Sky' whose sales soon went Platinum
and still sells well to this day.
Ian’s continuing popularity in
Holland led to the Dutch release of his self-produced fourth album 'What Makes A
Man A Man?' in 1986. This was recorded in Ian’s own home studio with additional
studio re-mixing in Holland. It proved to be so successful that it was then
released throughout Europe this time re-titled ‘Images’.
Ian then spent the next few years writing new songs and finishing the building
and wiring of yet another recording studio, this time on top of a Welsh mountain
and cunningly called Mountain Sound Studio. After years of producing and
engineering there he was finally lured back into recording his songs again. It
was here he recorded his ‘Crazy For You’ album, which was released worldwide in
1997 on the Japanese MSI label.
The song ‘Cruel To Be Kind’ which he co-wrote with Nick Lowe back in their Brinsley days has been featured in three recent American film releases. 'Dead Man’s Curve’ (Mount Royal) in 1998, ‘200 Cigarettes’ (Lakeshore) and ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’ (Touchstone) in 1999. It also has been featured on numerous '70's' compilation CD's in both Europe and America.
Ian was back at Mountain Sound Studio in Mid- Wales last Summer 2000 laying down 12 new backing tracks for his latest album "Rock 'N' Roll Heart". Two Nashville musicians, Jeff 'Stick' Davis, ‘The Amazing Rhythm Aces' bass player, and Pat McInerney, drummer with 'The Blue Moon Orchestra', Nanci Griffith's band, both flew over from the States especially for the project. Ian then flew back to Nashville, Tennessee in November 2000 where the rest of the album was recorded and mixed. Russell Smith, The Amazing Rhythm Aces singer and Nanci Griffith are both featured singing with Ian whilst Clive Gregson who used to be in Any Trouble and The Richard Thompson Band for many years and who now lives in Nashville plays most of the electric guitar and keyboards. The other musicians featured are top Nashville session players like Ronnie McCoury, James Hooker (Nanci's MD), Joey Misculin, Michael Snow, Brook Langton, Chas Williams and Michael Webb. Ian’s girl backing singers were "The Chiclets" (Cathryn Craig and LeAnn Etheridge). Jack Clement’s studio in Nashville was mostly used for the project. Cowboy Jack’s is the place where Johnny Cash did a lot of his recording in the past. The engineer in charge of recording and mixing was David "Fergie" Ferguson who has worked with the ‘man in black’ for many years, and who only recently finished the recording and engineering of Johnny's latest album "Cash".
August 2002 saw Ian's first chart
topping song writing success when 'Cruel To Be Kind' was this time covered by
Spanish teen idol Naím Thomas and was number one in the Spanish singles charts.
The single was taken from Naím's album "No Tengo Prisa" which was also number
one in the Spanish album charts.
In October 2002 a UK record label, Hux Records, released Ian's first live CD
titled "24 Hour Service". This was a 1979 concert recorded in San Francisco
whilst his band were on their second US tour.
To date Ian Gomm has recorded 10 solo albums and 12 solo singles. He has also recently branched out into the lucrative British football club record market using a number of cunning pseudonyms and notching up tracks on twelve different football supporters club c.d.’s including the Scottish World Cup Anthems (also featuring Rod Stewart) and the latest Manchester United supporters club CD were he appears as Red Deville!