Patrick O'Hearn

Patrick John O'Hearn (born September 6, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist.

Upon graduating from Sunset High School in 1972, he moved to Seattle, Washington.

There, he briefly attended Cornish College of the Arts and, as well, studied privately with bassist Gary Peacock.

In 1973, he moved to San Francisco, California and soon became involved in the Bay Area jazz scene of that time, playing bass for established artists Charles Lloyd, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, Joe Pass, Woody Shaw, Eddie Henderson, and Bobby Hutcherson.

He also collaborated with musicians his own age, including Terry Bozzio, Mark Isham and Peter Maunu.

While on tour in Los Angeles in 1976, O'Hearn met musician Frank Zappa, who offered him a job as bass player in his band—a position he held for over two years.

During this period, O’Hearn shifted from the acoustic bass to the electric bass guitar, and also became increasingly interested in electronic music.

Zappa encouraged O’Hearn to explore his collection of synthesizers, and also introduced him to the technical aspects of music production, audio engineering, and home studio audio recording equipment.

In 1979, O'Hearn teamed with trumpet player Mark Isham and guitarist Peter Maunu to form Group 87.

Known primarily as a bass guitarist and keyboardist, O'Hearn came to prominence with Frank Zappa and co-founded the early 1980s new wave band Missing Persons with several other veterans from Zappa's bands.

O'Hearn's musical repertoire spans a diverse range including new-age.

In addition to solo albums, he has composed soundtracks for movies and television.

Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in the Pacific Northwest, O'Hearn began his professional music career at age 15 when he joined the Musicians Union and began playing night clubs in Portland, Oregon.

They only produced two LPs—Group 87 in 1980, and A Career in Dada Processing in 1984.

Isham and Maunu would appear as collaborators on several of O'Hearn's subsequent solo releases.

In 1981, drummer and former Zappa bandmate Terry Bozzio invited O’Hearn to join his emerging new wave band, Missing Persons along with guitarist and fellow Zappa alumnus Warren Cuccurullo and Dale Bozzio, who had performed vocals in several Zappa productions and recently married Terry.

O'Hearn shifted from electric bass to synthesizers.

Missing Persons recorded three albums for Capitol Records: Spring Session M (1982), Rhyme & Reason (1984), and Color In Your Life (1986).

Baumann formed the Private Music label in late 1984, and produced O'Hearn's debut solo album, Ancient Dreams (1985).

The band dissolved in early 1986; subsequently, O'Hearn joined with former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor and former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones for one album, Thunder (1987), and a brief tour.

O'Hearn's solo career was spurred in large part by former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann, who had been conceiving of a new music label that would showcase progressive instrumental music—a niche earlier explored by Group 87.

O'Hearn followed Ancient Dreams with two more albums—Between Two Worlds (1987), which earned the artist his first Grammy nomination, and Rivers Gonna Rise (1988).

O'Hearn began to receive greater airplay on jazz and new-age radio stations.

O'Hearn also co-produced several tracks for guitarist Colin Chin's Intruding on a Silence, featuring Mark Isham on trumpet.

O'Hearn released his fourth solo album Eldorado in 1989, which blended elements of World Music with warm keyboard textures.

The next O'Hearn release was Indigo in 1991.

Winding up their contract, Private Music assembled a compilation album in 1992 titled The Private Music of Patrick O'Hearn. This album included three previously unreleased tracks titled "Down Hill Racer", "Irene", and "Step".

In 1992, O'Hearn composed and performed the music score for White Sands, a police thriller starring Willem Dafoe and Samuel L. Jackson.

The film was directed by Roger Donaldson.

Later that year he composed the score to Silent Tongue, written and directed by Sam Shepard and starring Alan Bates, Richard Harris, River Phoenix and Dermot Mulroney.

O'Hearn released Trust in 1995 under the newly formed Deep Cave record label.

Featuring contributions from David Torn and former bandmates Terry Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo, Trust earned O'Hearn his second Grammy nomination.

Shortly after the release of his next album, Metaphor (1996), the Deep Cave record label folded.

Also released in 1996 was the soundtrack to the film Crying Freeman.

There have been a few various artists albums that O'Hearn has contributed new material to.

In 1998, his 12-minute composition "35th Parallel" appeared on the five-artist album The Ambient Expanse.

In 2000, his version of a Johann Sebastian Bach piece called "Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1" appeared on the compilation A Different Prelude: A Contemporary Collection.

O'Hearn's next solo project, So Flows the Current (2001), was recorded over a three-year period from 1997 to 2000.

In 2003 his version of the Joaquín Rodrigo composition "Adagio from Fantasy for a Gentleman" appeared on the compilation Adagio: A Windham Hill Collection.

This last track can also be found on the various artists compilation Sundown: Windham Hill Piano Collection, released in 2006.