Daryl Stuermer

Recently off the road with long-time musical colleague Phil Collins, guitarist Daryl Stuermer thrives on integrating his solo career with the demanding schedule of Collins’ tours.

A former lead guitarist with fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty (1975-1978) and Genesis (1978-1992) as well as an essential part of Phil Collins' band since 1982, Stuermer's latest recording as a solo artist, the aptly-named Go, combines aspects of his own musical past, from the aggressive abandon that marked his fiery fretboard work in the '70s with Ponty to the more accessible, melodic strain of writing that defined Phil Collins' pop hits through the '80s and '90s.

Stuermer's seventh solo recording and sixth since launching his own Urban Island label in 1998, Go follows a few years after 2003's Sweetbottom Live: The Reunion. Recording, a CD that captured a 25th anniversary reunion concert with Sweetbottom, the original jazz fusion band that Stuermer formed in 1973, and the project that ultimately motivated the guitarist to write the material for Go As he explained, "When Sweetbottom started, we were playing five nights a week, at a time when you didn't have to play to a format and people were open to new material.”

Born in Milwaukee on November 27, 1952, Daryl started out playing trumpet and continued to play through grade school before switching to guitar at age 11. He began to get more serious with guitar at age 14 and joined various R&B groups. "When I started playing I was mainly into rock 'n' roll, doing things by Elvis and The Ventures. Then later The Animals, The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds. My biggest guitar influences then were Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop. I was learning all of Bloomfield's licks along with B.B. King's, copying their solos note for note. Then I began listening to Howard Roberts, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and George Benson, and later I became heavily influenced by great fusion players like Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin."

Daryl formed his first solo band, Sweetbottom, in 1973 and began writing original music for the group that was on the cutting edge of the fusion movement. In 1975, after hearing Sweetbottom in a Milwaukee nightclub following a gig with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, keyboardist George Duke recommended Daryl to former Mahavishnu Orchestra and Zappa violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, who was auditioning guitarists for his own band. Stuermer was 22 when he got the gig with Ponty and he remained in the band for three years, appearing on 1975's Aurora, 1976's Imaginary Voyage and 1977's Enigmatic Ocean. During his tenure with Ponty, he also appeared on two recordings by George Duke (1975's I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry and 1976's Liberated Fantasies).

Daryl joined the British supergroup Genesis on its 1978 tour and remained a regular member of the touring band through 1992, appearing on two live albums -- 1983's Three Sides Live and 1992's The Way We Walk (Volume 1 and 2.)

In 1981 Stuermer played on Phil Collins' debut solo album, Face Value, where his soaring guitar sound echoes the haunting vocal on the hit song, "In the Air Tonight." Stuermer has been a key player on all of Collins' world tours and most of his recordings throughout the years, appearing on 1982's Hello, I Must Be Going, 1985's No Jacket Required, 1989's But Seriously, 1996's Dance into the Light, 1999’s A Hot Night In Paris, a live big band recording which Daryl also co-produced with engineer and six time Grammy nominee, Don Murray, and 2002's Testify. During his long association with Collins he has also co-written six songs with Phil, the most popular being the two-time ASCAP awarding-winning tune "Something Happened On the Way To Heaven.”

Stuermer's solo debut came in 1987 with Steppin' Out on GRP Records, which he managed to record and produce in the midst of back to back touring with Genesis and Collins. After founding his own Urban Island Music label in 1998, he released Live and Learn, an eclectic collection of his original compositions. Subsequent Stuermer releases on Urban Island include 2000's Another Side of Genesis, 2001's Waiting in the Wings, 2003's Live: The Reunion by Sweetbottom, 2004’s Retrofit, 2005’s The Nylon String Sampler, 2006’s Rewired: The Electric Collection. In 2007 Daryl’s new label, InsideOut Music (GMBH) will be releasing Go.

Now that the Genesis Reunion Tour has been announced, 2007 will be filled with European and North American dates. Promotional support of the InsideOut Music release of Daryl Stuermer’s Go will occur in tandem with the Genesis Reunion Tour. With a career that spans decades, Stuermer continues to evolve musically, comfortable balancing the role of the solo artist and essential/ultimate sideman.

Check out Daryl's website