Paul Westerberg

Paul Harold Westerberg (born December 31, 1959) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for The Replacements.

Following the breakup of The Replacements, Westerberg launched a solo career that saw him release three albums on two major record labels.

Following the release of his third solo album, Westerberg has been mostly releasing music that he has self-produced and recorded in his basement home studio.

He has also released two albums and an EP under the pseudonym Grandpaboy.

In the late 1970s, Westerberg was working as a janitor for U.S. Senator David Durenberger, and one day while walking home from work, he heard a band practicing Yes's "Roundabout" in a basement.

He talked his way into the band by convincing the singer that the other band members — Bob Stinson, Chris Mars and Tommy Stinson — were going to fire the singer.

The singer quit, and Westerberg joined the group.

The band was originally called The Impediments, and they played their first gig in the basement of a church, playing to members of a nearby halfway house who did not appreciate their drunken shenanigans.

They soon changed their name to The Replacements after several venues declined to advertise the band under their original name.

The Replacements began performing in the Twin Cities punk scene, showcasing Westerberg's songs in a classic rock–friendly punk style.

The band made three albums and an EP for local label Twin/Tone before signing to Sire Records in 1985.

They made four albums for Sire, each with a different lineup.

Despite the jump to Sire, The Replacements never translated their critical success into commercial sales.

Even though The Replacements had been banned for life from Saturday Night Live after a notoriously chaotic 1986 performance, Westerberg was invited back in 1993 as a solo artist while touring in support of the album.

Ironically, one of his two featured songs on SNL was the Replacements tune "Can't Hardly Wait."

The band broke up in 1991.

Their final album, All Shook Down, was mainly a Westerberg solo project; there were a number of guest performers and the other three members of the band (including Slim Dunlap, who had replaced Bob Stinson three years earlier to tour in support of Pleased to Meet Me), made minimal contributions.

Mars left the band soon after the album was released.

After touring for the album (which was critically well-received) with replacement Replacements, Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson went their separate ways.

Westerberg co-wrote the song "Backlash" with Joan Jett for her 1991 album Notorious and played guitar with her on the song's video.

Westerberg's first solo releases were two songs, "Waiting for Somebody" and "Dyslexic Heart", for the soundtrack to the 1992 Cameron Crowe film Singles, for which he is also credited with composing and performing the score.

The following year, Reprise Records released his first solo album, 14 Songs.

During the interim between solo albums, Westerberg's songs appeared on Melrose Place ("A Star Is Bored") and Friends (his cover of Jonathan Edwards' "Sunshine" and "Stain Yer Blood") television soundtracks, in 1994 and 1995 respectively.

He also recorded a duet with Jett ("Let's Do It") for the Tank Girl soundtrack (1994).

In 1996, he released his second solo album, titled Eventually. which was tepidly received by critics and had modest sales.

It yielded the alternative radio hit "Love Untold."

Westerberg parted ways with Reprise Records, and the following year chose to release songs that were more blues-influenced and less slickly produced under the name Grandpaboy.

An EP and single were released by indie label Soundproof/Monolyth Records.

The episode first aired on February 26, 1997.

Westerberg also performed the song that same year on The Tonight Show hosted by Jay Leno.

His third album, Suicaine Gratifaction, is a piano-driven, melancholy, and highly personal work that was released on Capitol Records in 1999.

The label was undergoing reorganization and the album was given minimal promotion.

Westerberg appeared on a fifth-season episode of The Larry Sanders Show (entitled "Larry's New Love") performing "Ain't Got Me" from Eventually.

Westerberg quit the major-label circuit for three years before staging a comeback in 2002.

With new management and a new independent label, Vagrant Records, he released two records simultaneously, Stereo and Mono (Mono being released under his alter ego Grandpaboy).

Stereo and Mono were recorded in Westerberg's basement studio.

Westerberg became increasingly prolific, releasing Dead Man Shake (as Grandpaboy), Come Feel Me Tremble, and Folker all within the next two years.

Westerberg contributed a cover of the Beatles' "Nowhere Man" for the 2002 soundtrack to the 2001 film I Am Sam.

Additionally, "Lookin' Up in Heaven" appears on the Starbucks sampler Hear Music, Vol. 10: Reveal, "Outta My System" can be found on Hot Stove, Cool Music, Vol. 1, and the Vagrant Records sampler Another Year on the Streets, Vol. 3 features "As Far As I Know."

In 2017, Westerberg released songs on SoundCloud as User 964848511 and on Bandcamp as Dry Wood Garage.