Garland Jeffreys

Garland Jeffreys (born 1943) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He emerged as part of a distinct, mid-1970s New York rock sound that included artists like Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and Willie Nile. Hallmarks of Jeffreys's music are autobiographical songwriting and an eclectic, hard-to-categorize style that embraces rock-and-roll, reggae, soul, doo-wop, blues, jazz and folk. Rock writer Kurt Loder described Jeffreys as "a unique voice in American music—a racial and cultural outsider with a first-hand, hard-knocks knowledge of all the various Big City scenes and scams, and a striking ability to render even the grittiest incidents concisely into songs."

Jeffreys sustained a following in New York from the 1970s forward, however his broader fan base grew more strongly in Europe than in the United States. in Europe, he is also known for the album American Boy & Girl (1979) and hit single "Matador." In 2023, a documentary on Jeffreys's life and career came out, Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between.

Early life and career Jeffreys was born William Garland Jeffreys in 1943 and grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, a child of black, white and Puerto Rican heritage. While there he befriended fellow students and music fans Lou Reed and Felix Cavaliere His performances then—and later at Reno Sweeney —often combined cabaret with racial themes, employing props, makeup, blackface masks and a rag doll persona he called "Ramon."

In 1969, Jeffreys played guitar and contributed the song "Fairweather Friend" to John Cale's 1969 debut solo album, Vintage Violence.

Solo musical career Jeffreys's solo music fuses diverse styles, personal songwriting and lyrics that can be confrontational, observational or elliptical, within albums often focused around a topic. Recurrent subjects include race, identity, his struggle to find a place in the white world of 1970s–1980s rock, troubled youth, and in later work, hard-won wisdom and mortality. Rock critic Jay Cocks wrote: "A Jeffreys record is like a fast cruise across the radio band. Reggae, jazz and full-tilt rock all blend with casual finesse. This is big-city soul music born of tough beginnings and hard realities. Soul music for sole survivors."

Solo career, 1973–1983

Despite the commercial failure of the Grinder's Switch record, Jeffreys landed a solo contract with Atlantic Records, which yielded the folk- and jazz-flavored album Garland Jeffreys (1973), with guests Dr. John, David Bromberg and David Newman. It more fully introduced his writing in songs that critics characterized as witty, mordant observations of urban blight and bittersweet experience—among them, "Harlem Bound," the identity-themed "Ballad of Me," and the early reggae tune, "Bound to Get Ahead Someday!" PBS Soundstage—declared Jeffreys poised for breakout stardom. Robert Hilburn likened the album "to a cross-town bus ride" with "social dissection reminiscent at times to James Baldwin's Another Country or Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets"; Stephen Holden called it possibly "the quintessential New York rock record." Dedicated to his boyhood idol, Jackie Robinson, the album presented a tonal contrast. Side one offered brighter, optimistic pop-oriented tracks focused on the search for love, like the soul-disco-flavored "She Didn't Lie." Jeffreys balanced those songs with soothing, emotive tunes of hope and inspiration, such as "Shoot the Moonlight Out" and "Matador," With backing by the UK group The Rumour, Roy Bittan and Danny Federici of the E Street Band, and guests including David Johansen, Lou Reed, G.E. Smith, Adrian Belew and Nona Hendryx, the album was a harder rocking set.

With expectations high, Jeffreys put out Guts for Love (1983), a departure album with its more polished sound and thematic shift from social concern to love (e.g., the title track, "Fidelity," "Loneliness" and "Real Man"). It received a mixed reception, with some reviewers deeming it a cohesive, personal effort with a "snappy, live feel" and others finding the more radio-friendly production slick and less edgy than previous work.

Solo career, 1990s After taking a hiatus from recording, Jeffreys released two new albums in the 1990s, Don't Call Me Buckwheat (1992) and Wildlife Dictionary (1997), and a collection of previous releases, Matador & More... (1992).

Don't Call Me Buckwheat was a concept album that channeled reflections and frustrations about the complexities of race in America while also expressing a sense of inner satisfaction and acceptance.

On Wildlife Dictionary (1997, released only in Europe), Jeffreys shifted back to love and sex in songs like "Afrodiziak," "Love Jones," "Original Lust" and "Temptation." The album featured a polished production with a 1970s soul influence in its beats, grooves and riffs. One of the tracks, "Sexuality," was featured in an Armani ad campaign. I'm Alive (2007) was an 18-song retrospective spanning three decades and multiple genres throughout his career. It featured three new songs: "Return of the Matador," "Proud Highway" and the anthemic title track. Rolling Stone, Its songs paired serious, signature themes—New York City, autobiography and a new motif of mortality ("I'm Alive," "In God's Waiting Room")—with exuberant music ranging across roots rock, stripped-down soul, blues, and reggae/ska. For the album, he put together a band including guitarist Larry Campbell, drummer Steve Jordan and keyboardist Brian Mitchell and recorded each song in one take. Jeffreys also covered the song "Philadelphia" for the charity CD Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen. He appeared in The Soul of a Man episode of Martin Scorsese's documentary film series The Blues (2003), which explored bluesmen Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. He was featured as a character performing "96 Tears" in blackface in season one of the HBO period drama, The Deuce (2017).

In 2016, Jeffreys was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. He announced his retirement from performing in 2019, opening for Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul at the Olympia in Montreal in his final concert in July 2019.

"Wild in the Streets" The rock-and-roll anthem "Wild in the Streets" is perhaps Jeffreys's best known song. It received significant airplay and underground hit status on progressive FM radio stations upon its release in 1977 and has been covered numerous times. Jeffreys wrote the song after hearing about a horrific rape and murder of a preteen girl in the Bronx by two teenage boys.

A cover version of the song by The Circle Jerks that inverted the song's emotional tone was featured in the 1986 skateboarder film Thrashin' and became a theme song for the California skate community. In 2018, Jeffreys began showing signs of dementia, a condition that has since progressed.

"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Appearances and contributions 1970 John Cale Vintage Violence (Columbia) 1976 Lou Reed Rock and Roll Heart (Arista) 1998 Diamond Cuts: Turning Two (Vol. II) (Hungry For Music) 2003 Johnny's Blues: A Tribute To Johnny Cash (Northern Blues) 2003 Light of Day Tribute To Bruce Springsteen (Schoolhouse Records) 2003 Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: The Soul Of A Man (Sony) 2005 Elliott Murphy: Live Hot Point (Last Call Records) 2011 Occupy This Album: 99 Songs for the 99 Percent (Music for Occupy)

Discography notes