Bruce Hornsby

Bruce Randall Hornsby was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, to Robert Stanley Hornsby (1920–1998), an attorney, real-estate developer and former musician, and Lois (née Saunier), a piano player and church community liaison who had a local middle school named after her.

He has two brothers, Robert Saunier "Bobby" Hornsby, a realtor with Hornsby Realty and locally known musician, and John Hornsby, an engineer with whom he has collaborated in songwriting.

They are cousins of actor David Hornsby.

While raised in the church of Christian Science, Hornsby went to doctors and dentists as needed.

He had a politically liberal upbringing.

Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist.

His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions.

Hornsby graduated from James Blair High School in Williamsburg in 1973, where he played on the basketball team and was chosen by his senior class as most likely to succeed.

In 1974, Hornsby's older brother Bobby, who attended the University of Virginia, formed the band "Bobby Hi-Test and the Octane Kids" to play fraternity parties, featuring Bruce on Fender Rhodes and vocals.

The band, which is listed in Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheads, performed covers of Allman Brothers Band, The Band, and predominantly Grateful Dead songs.

He studied music at the University of Richmond for a year, at the Berklee College of Music for two semesters, and then at the University of Miami, where he graduated in 1977.

Following his graduation from the University of Miami in 1977, Hornsby returned to his hometown of Williamsburg, and played in local clubs and hotel bars.

In 1980, he and his younger brother and songwriting partner John Hornsby moved to Los Angeles, where they spent three years writing for 20th Century Fox.

Before moving back to his native Hampton Roads, he also spent time in Los Angeles as a session musician.

In 1982, Hornsby joined the band Ambrosia for their last album Road Island and can be seen in the band's video for the album's single "How Can You Love Me".

After Ambrosia disbanded, he and bassist Joe Puerta performed as members of the touring band for Sheena Easton.

In 1984, Hornsby appeared in the music video for Easton's single Strut.

In 1984, Hornsby formed Bruce Hornsby and the Range, who were signed to RCA Records in 1985.

Besides Hornsby, Range members were David Mansfield (guitar, mandolin, violin), George Marinelli (guitars and backing vocals), former Ambrosia member Joe Puerta (bass guitar and backing vocals), and John Molo (drums).

Hornsby's recording career started with the biggest hit he has had to date, "The Way It Is".

It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1986.

The song described aspects of homelessness, the American civil rights movement and institutional racism.

It has since been sampled by at least six rap artists, including Tupac Shakur, E-40, and Mase.

With the success of the single, the album The Way It Is received the RIAA certification of multi-platinum.

It included "Mandolin Rain" (co-written, as many of Hornsby's early songs were, with his brother John), another top-five hit.

Hornsby has won three Grammy Awards: a 1987 Grammy Award for Best New Artist with Bruce Hornsby and the Range, a 1990 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Recording, and a 1994 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Hornsby has worked with his touring band Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers, his bluegrass project with Ricky Skaggs, and as a session and guest musician.

"Every Little Kiss" peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1987.

Other tracks on the album helped establish what some labeled the "Virginia sound", a mixture of rock, jazz, and bluegrass.

Bruce Hornsby and the Range won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1987, beating out Glass Tiger, Nu Shooz, Simply Red, and Timbuk3.

Hornsby and the Range's sound was distinctive for its use of syncopation in Hornsby's piano solos, a bright piano sound and an extensive use of synthesizers as background for Hornsby's solos.

John Molo's drumbeats were often looped throughout the recorded versions of songs.

They are typical double-time beats, which allowed Hornsby and the rest of the band to do more with their solos.

Hornsby and the Range's second album, Scenes from the Southside (on which Peter Harris replaced Mansfield) was released in 1988.

It included "Look Out Any Window" and "The Valley Road" which many critics noted for their "more spacious" musical arrangements, allowing for "more expressive" piano solos from Hornsby.

It also included "Jacob's Ladder", which the Hornsby brothers wrote for musician friend Huey Lewis; Lewis's version became a number one hit from his album Fore!.

Scenes offered further slices of "Americana" and "small-town nostalgia", but it was the band's last album to perform well in the singles market.

He was a touring member of the Grateful Dead from September 1990 through March 1992, playing over 100 shows with the band.

His 23rd album, 'Flicted, was released in May 2022.

Bobby Hornsby's son, Robert Saunier Hornsby, was a recurring guest-guitarist with Hornsby's band and periodically toured with his uncle until his death on January 15, 2009, in a car accident near Crozet, Virginia at age 28.