Craig Michael Talmadge was born on March 13, 1963 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Sadly, Craig passed away unexpectedley on January 19, 2005 in Costa Mesa, California. The world had lost a true rock Legend on that sad day! He left behind a loving family back East, many friends across the United States, as well as many fans and students of his musicianship. As his brother, it is my wish to share his music with you. Unfortunately, Craig did not leave us much . . . mainly demo recordings of 4-track cassettes. We hope to add these recordings to the site as well as writings, lyrics and pictures of Craig throughout the years for us all to remember him by. How he would have loved sharing music with musicians across the world! Enjoy~The Craig Talmadge Memorial
"In Heaven, there must be One Heck of a band!!!"
Craig Talmadge- bass, acoustic and electric guitars, drum programs. John Bonham- Drums and percussion, Jimi Hendrix- Lead guitar, Stevie Ray Vaughn- 12 string and 6 string electric guitars, Randy Rhoads- Acoustic and electric guitars, Eddie Wise- Lead guitar, Leon Wilkeson and John Entwhistle- Bass guitar, Jim Morrison- Lead Vocals, Ronnie Van Zandt- Lead and backing vocals.
BIOGRAPHY AND INFLUENCES:
EARLY INFLUENCES INCLUDE: Led Zeppelin, Rush, Boston, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ozzy.
At a young age Craig learned to play bass guitar on our Dad's Framus acoustic with the last two strings pulled off! While living in Arkansas, Craig befriended Mike Heavner who was a local guitar virtuoso and Eddie Wise, ending up with a silver Kay SG-copy electric bass guitar. He had an incredible knack for staying up all night playing along to his favorite bands and by morning would have entire albums memorized note-for-note! Craig played bass with Eddie Wise and Kieth Dacus in FULL FORCE, a RUSH cover band, as Geddy Lee was one of his favorite bass players back then. Craig left Arkansas for the Army, however was crushed to learn that Eddie Wise had committed suicide while he was away. That was also around the time that Randy Rhoads was killed in a plane crash. Not long after, I would come home to hear Craig playing MY electric guitar (and stealing my original songs). He had switched over to Lead Guitar.
>>>>>>Craig moves to the east coast of Florida, then to west coast L.A. to pursue his music dream.
GUITAR INFLUENCES INCLUDE: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads and Stevie Ray Vaughn (but not necessarily in that order), Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Tony MacAlpine, Pantera, Rage Against the Machine, Tool and Deftones (just to name a few).
While living in L.A., North Hollywood and Orange County, etc. Craig was well known as a guitar teacher who had influenced others and had many, many friends, mostly whom had shared the same passion and styles of music as he. Craig was fluid in Rock, Blues, Funk, Metal and Classical (Yes, all at the same time).
Music was always at the Core of Craig's life . . although not opposed to working his fingers to the bone to try and earn a decent living, he would have preferred the Rock Star's Life of meditation, relaxation, good food, good friends, leisure and practice, practice, practice until his fingers bled. Anyway, he had worked as a welder, woodworker, landscaper, cable technician (U.S. Army- Signal Battalion), mover, limo driver, pipefitter and ceramic tile installer.
Many who knew Craig would say that his life was a struggle between addiction and recovery. We would like to state for the record that his life on Earth, though way too short was one of Life, Love and an undying will to Live. In many ways, he was too much for this world . . . and this world was not ready for him. Not at all.
Peace and God Bless,
Freinds and Family of Craig T.
