When asked if it seemed like fifty years that he has been in the business, Greg Douglas simply replied, “No, it really doesn’t and I know that that’s a cliché people say, well it just went by in the blink of an eye. It went bye in a blink of an eye!” Fifty years is a long time to be doing anything but doing it in an industry that takes a toll on all those who journey in, is an eternity.

Rock n’ Rock Hall of Fame inductee, Greg Douglass and his extremely talented musicians assembled for this evenings performance took the stage at the Belly Up and the time went by in the blink of an eye! The show exemplified Greg’s musical genius and underscored the reason that some of the most well-known artists in the music world have sought him out to have him complement their bands. The choice of music for the evening was in fact a trip through Greg’s musical legacy.

Hailing out of the Bay area, Greg credits some of his influences to Jeff Beck, The Beatles, Leo Kottke and Dick Dale. While these may have been his influences, my guess is that he honed his peculiar golden sound to the time he spent with some of the following bands:

• VAN MORRISON, singer for Them and writer of “Gloria”, “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Wild Nights”, “Domino”, and many more masterpieces. When Van took a hiatus, Greg got a phone call and started touring with…
• HOT TUNA, the spin-off band from the Jefferson Airplane featuring guitarist Jorma Kaukonen & bassist Jack Cassidy. When Greg & Hot Tuna parted company, he became a founding member of…
• TERRY & THE PIRATES , a loose-knit aggregation of San Francisco musicians featuring singer Terry Dolan and Greg’s longtime friend and musical partner, Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cippolina. While working with this band, Greg met Steve Miller’s bassist Lonnie Turner and became a member of …
• THE STEVE MILLER BAND. Greg had co-written the song “Jungle Love” with  bassist Lonnie Turner while in Terry and the Pirates. The song was a smash hit and Greg stayed with Steve for four years, touring, recording, earning 5 platinum albums designating sales of 12 million units and a BMI award for over one million radio & television performances of “Jungle Love”. (That’s Lennon/McCartney territory!) When Steve took a break, Greg went to Europe to play “electric bluegrass” with….
• PETER ROWAN.  Peter was a great bluegrass player who wanted to experiment in other areas. When that tour was over, Greg got a call to join…
• THE GREG KIHN BAND. The first song he recorded with them was “Jeopardy”, which became a number one single on both the pop and black/dance charts. The video to the song was one of the first MTV videos. Again, Greg toured and recorded for four years with The Greg Kihn band.

Greg has also toured, recorded or written songs for:

• TOM JOHNSTON (Doobie Brothers) Greg Played guitar on Tom’s second solo album for Warner Bros. , “Still Feels Good”. Co-wrote a song with Tom, toured for two years as his co-guitarist.
• EDDIE MONEY Greg co-wrote and played guitar on “Trinidad” from Eddie’s “Playing for Keeps” album.
• TOM FOGERTY (Creedence Clearwater Revival) Greg played on Tom’s solo album on Fantasy Records, “Deal it Out” and toured with Tom in his All-Star Guitar Band.
• THE ELECTRIC FLAG , a great blues-based band that made its debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The band was founded by the late great guitarist Michael Bloomfield. Greg was honored when founding members Nick Gravenites and Barry Goldberg asked him to step into the guitar chair in this historic group.
• BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY, the backing band for the great Janis Joplin who also made a huge splash at the Monterey festival. Greg has toured with the band and played one of their last shows with founding guitarist Sam Andrew in Catanzaro, Italy in September of 2014.
• THE MONSTERS OF CLASSIC ROCK, a band put together for large corporate events. Members have included Chris Slade (drums,AC/DC, The Firm), Simon Wright (drums, also AC/DC), Mario Cippolina (bassist for Huey Lewis), Rick Derringer (guitarist for The McCoys and Edgar Winter), Carmine Appice (drummer for Vanilla Fudge and Rod Stewart), Carmine Rojas (bassist for David Bowie and Rod Stewart, and….you get the picture.)

Artists appearing onstage to help celebrate Greg’s 50 years of Music were members, past present of:

The Greg Douglass Band (Classic Rock covers),

Greg Douglass and The Accomplices (original album project with Michael Muldoon)

The Pompatus Of Love (Steve Miller Tribute)

Greg Douglass…Guitar

Mark Knoll…Keyboards/Vocals

James East…Bass

Joe Hastings…Bass

Tyler Buckley…Vocals/Drums

Hector Toro…Drums Vocals

Michael Muldoon…Vocals

Caroline Martin-Garrett…Vocals

Rose Gill-Cox aka Wild Rose…Vocals

The performance of this hastily arranged band performed each and every song flawlessly and should be credited for having their professionalism make it seem that they have all been together for many years as a band. So you might be thinking right now that you weren’t that familiar with the name Greg Douglass, but it’s kinda ironic how well you know him.

Source: Siege / Backstage360 / Rose Gill Cox

Watch our interview with Greg Below: