Without a doubt, Joe Lynn Turner is one of the greatest vocalists to ever live. His voice is perfectly suited to singing those heartbreaking ballads, that leave a listening audience spellbound, in the power of the vocalist. Every song he does is sung with such powerful emotion, that you just have to take notice. Joe Lynn Turner is an unforgettable vocalist, I still remember the first time I heard his voice....it was with Yngwie Malmsteen on his greatest hits cd, the Collection. From that time on, I was addicted, and this vocalist from New Jersey quickly soared up my top 10 list to land at the number 1 spot, and no one I have ever heard has even begun to compare yet.
Joe Lynn has worked with many different bands, including Yngwie Malmsteen, Rainbow, Deep Purple, and most recently Brazen Abbot and Mother's Army, plus has had a great solo career. He first began to gain attention while in the band Fandango, and he contributed his vocals to four albums, and then in 1980 was recruited to fill up the lead vocal spot in the legendary band Rainbow. This is when people really started to take notice, when this relatively unknown singer was chosen to take Graham Bonnet's place, in guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's band. Joe Lynn teamed up with Ritchie Blackmore, and bass player/producer Roger Glover (Deep Purple) to write most of the songs for a first release with Joe Lynn in the vocal position. The first album, released in 1981, was called Difficult to Cure and featured several notable songs, mainly Magic and I Surrender. The superb Straight Between the Eyes came out the following year (82), and remains to be one of my favorite cd's of all time. From start to finish, it was simply perfection. The song that stands out the most is Stone Cold, definately. Its a really bluesy sounding ballad, and with Joe Lynn Turner's emotionally packed vocals, it is something rare to behold.
1983 saw the release of another truly excellent Rainbow disc, this go round with the all-time classic song, Street of Dreams, another Joe Lynn ballad, and the lyrics from this song are of special note, and the beauty of this treasured classic. Another thing Joe Lynn does well is the power packed energetic songs, and Desperate Heart is just an example. Can't Let You Go, another emotional ballad, with a more rocking edge is also worth mentioning, but all of his songs are.
Ritchie Blackmore broke up the band Rainbow, probably from sheer boredom, and also because Ian Gillian and the rest of the mediocre Deep Purple band were ready to reform the band. So Joe Lynn and the other members of Rainbow were dropped pretty quickly. Instead of disappearing from the music world, he started work on another cd, this time to be released under his own name. He put together a stellar band, including Bobby Messano (guitarist, bassist), and Chuck Burgi (drums). Joe Lynn composed most of the music for this album, and the result was a super release, one of Joe Lynn's finest works to date, the cd was called Rescue You. Some people have said that it was just horrible, but it really is excellent. Turner does several beautiful ballads, including Endlessly which in my opinion is one of the best songs ever recorded. Other cuts include Young Hearts (another slow song) and the title track, which has all the energy and fire one would expect from a hard rock song. Plus a beat to die for.
After a tour with the Rescue You band, they all filed back into the studio and recorded a second cd, under the Joe Lynn Turner name, but it was never released, unfortunately. Turner fans to this day are still quite unhappy about that. In 1988, Yngwie Malmsteen (who happens to be a Ritchie Blackmore/Rainbow fan) picked up Joe Lynn Turner to replace Mark Boals in his band. The combination of Malmsteen's signature neo-classical guitar sound, with its intricately fluid beauty, and Joe Lynn Turner's soaring vocals, with a slightly bluesy stamp, were a dream come true. Odyssey, the only studio recording made by the Malmsteen/Turner dream team, was a gem, and the greatest cd to
ever be released. Some songs worth mentioning (again, they all are...), include the radio friendly Heaven Tonight that has a hook that is so evident in most of Joe Lynn's work. Crystal Ball, a gorgeously composed and performed song, with mystical lyrics, and Hold On, easily one of the greatest songs of all time. It is a ballad that reminds me of Turner era-Rainbow's Stone Cold simply because its a ballad with a bluesy, yet hard edge to it. Joe Lynn went on a very successful tour with Malmsteen, and even released a live video and cd, both from the same Leningrad concert, and it was called Trial By Fire. His vocals held up well, even through difficult songs such as the ballad Dreamin' (Tell Me) which requires a lot of vocal power, and he even attempted several Mark Boals (cd-Trilogy) songs, and even outdid himself on the absolutely superbly breathtaking, heartstopping performance on You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget which actually sounded better than Boal's studio version. (by the way, the studio Boals version of that song, was the first Yng song I ever heard....). The guitar solo in the center of this song was awesome too (thanks Yngwie, you will always be THE guitar god, as far as I'm concerned).
Yngwie and Joe Lynn supposedly never got along too well, and Yng was ready to move into another direction, so Joe Lynn leaves Yng's band, just to be picked up by Ritchie Blackmore again, this time to replace the completely crappy Ian Gillian in Deep Purple. With Joe Lynn back again co-writing with Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover, the material that resulted was top notch. Fortuneteller was a sheer classic, with lyrics very much like what Joe Lynn Turner always writes, magical, mystical, intriguing....
Time passes quickly, and soon the other members of Rainbow wanted Gillian back, so JLT was booted out of the band, which was the worst mistake they could have made. Gillian just sucks, and his screechy/whiney vocals completely RUINED DP's 1993 The Battle Rages On. Especially the ballad Anya which could have been a beautiful song, except for Gillian's cat howling vocals, which he sounds more like he is dying but anyway...
Joe Lynn Turner became super busy after that, Lita Ford recorded one of his songs, written in the 70s by Turner and Rick Blakemore, the guitarist in Fandango, and was probably a leftover from the band's recording sessions at that time. In 1993, Turner joined up with Jeff Watson (Night Ranger, guitarist), Bob Daisley (Rainbow, bassist), and Carmine Appice (drummer extraordinaire), and together they released an album in Japan under the name Mother's Army. Joe Lynn also toured the US east cost as the Joe Lynn Turner All-Star band, with two guys that later moved on to be in Rainbow, John O'Reilly and Greg Smith.
Joe Lynn also appeared on numerous tribute albums, including 1994's Smoke on the Water, DP Tribute Blues Bureau Internation Tribute to Cream in 94 as well, and Deep Purple Tribute According to New York, Black NightJoe Lynn Turner cut an album with super group Brazen Abbot, where he sang on 4 tracks, the cd called Eye of the Storm. This cd was definately one of the highlights of 1996. Goran Edman (ex-Malmsteen vocalist) and several ex-Europe members, Ian Haughland, John Leven, and Mic Michaeli helped make this cd become reality by adding their talents to it. They released another album with the same lineup in 1997 called Bad Religion (I'm hoping they are going to do another, this band is soooo good!). Joe Lynn recorded another solo album in 1995, called Nothing's Changed and he had plenty of help on that, including Savatage guitarist Al Petrelli, whose guitar work, along with Joe Lynn's gorgeous vocals made this a memorable release, a little more gentle and softer than some of his previous work. It lacked the pure thunder of the Brazen Abbot stuff, to come the year after. In 1997 he was featured on Mother's Army's Planet Earth, with the same lineup as before, and also released another solo cd, called Undercover featuring all cover songs. It was a huge hit in Japan, and later saw daylight of a US release. Joe Lynn was signed to a 2 cd deal after that . Undercover's huge success was partly because of him covering classic songs like Unchained Melody (a true masterpiece in the hands of these metal masters), and the new version of Rainbow's Street of Dreams which Joe Lynn gave a jazzy feel to this time, which just seemed to fit, and after all these years, his voice just gets better. Joe Lynn Turner truly is one of the greatest vocalists on this earth, and I hope he keeps recording music for many years to come.
Joe Lynn Turner is my favorite vocalist, and I suggest that everyone should at least give him a chance, I'm sure you will fall in love with his music, just as I have. He is a very talented person, and also a fantastic writer, his lyrics are some of the best in the music business (he had an academic degree in literature). Looking back at his past work, he just keeps getting better, and I can't wait to see what he has in store for the future for all his fanatical fans.
you are listening to Street of Dreams by Rainbow.