Greg Guidry

[Bengt Isaksson]

Greg Guidry (January 23, 1954, St. Louis, Missouri- July 28, 2003, Fairview, TN) was an American singer-songwriter. Guidry played piano and sang gospel as a child, and sang in a band with future Doobie Brother, Michael McDonald as a teenager. He signed a publishing contract with CBS Records in 1977 and wrote songs for Climax Blues Band, Robbie Dupree, Exile, Johnny Taylor, Sawyer Brown, and Reba McEntire. In 1981 he sang backup for the Allman Brothers Band on their 1981 album Brothers of the Road. He signed with Columbia in 1982 and released an album, Over the Line, which produced two hits, "Goin' Down" (US #17, US AC #11) and a duet with his sister Sandy, "Into My Love" (US #92).

While he continued to do songwriting work later in the 1980s, he did not release a follow-up album until 2000, when his Soul'd Out and Private Session were released, and his debut album re-released. On July 28, 2003, Guidry died in a fire at age 49. His charred body was found in his car parked in the garage. His death was ruled a suicide.


Source: Wikipedia

[Jennifer Lucas]

He looks so sad on his album cover. . .His song "Goin' Down" was pivotal to me in 1982, and always makes my lists of favourite songs. There is another musician, Doug Stegmeyer, who played bass with Billy Joel, who committed suicide. When one looks at the photos on the album covers, one sees that Doug is NEVER smiling, usually looking down at the floor, and comes across as, like Guidry, so so sad.

[Brian Hassan]

Very sad indeed and must admit I was not aware that Greg had taken his life. Unless you have been depressed yourself you can never appreciate how serious a condition it is. Having very serious depression myself several years ago the only thing I ever looked forward to was the day coming to an end and going to bed to sleep, after three long months (and to be honest feeling awful many months before that) of being unable to work or do anything else for that matter the medication finally started to kick in and thankfully I recovered. If the medication had not been successful who knows if I would be here today.

[Tony Onstad]

This R.I.P. page is sorta depressing me--I didn't know half of these guys were even gone!I still think it's important to honor these fellas--they gave us some great music,and most of them are unknown to the general public.Guidry's death is nothing less than shocking and disturbing as all getout.

[Bobby80s]

Perhaps the contrast between his early gospel background, and then the late 70s/early 80s LA music scene was hard for him to adapt to, as well as the very long 'quiet years' post his commercial success, that so many other WC artists have also had to cruelly endure

Plus of course every track on his LP dripping with melancholy, and those deep, lived-in soulful harmonies

His record will always stand as one of the very best, 'template' West Coast style and era releases