Stone Gossard is best known as the lead guitarist of the band Pearl Jam, a band that he is also a founding member of. Previously, he had been associated with other bands as well. These were Green River and Mother Love Bone, both of them grunge bands. Currently, he is a member of a band named Brad and works as a solo artist. His albums are Bayleaf and Moonlander, both of which have received a significant degree of success. He also owns a recording studio and has added a record label named Loosegroove to his list of achievements.
Don't Miss: Luke Bryan
Early Life
Gossard was born as Stone Carpenter Gossard in 1966 in Seattle. His parents were both lawyers. He went to an art school where he hobnobbed with several creative minds. One of them was Steve Turner, the founder of Green River, with whom Gossard collaborated later on. The first band that Gossard was a member of was March of Crimes, in which his co-member was Ben Shepherd who later founded Soundgarden. During this period, Gossard also founded the Seattle Music Scene, and soon afterwards founded Pearl Jam with other members Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. The success of Pearl Jam put Gossard right in the top league of the music world.
Work with Pearl Jam
Gossard co-founded Pearl Jam in 1990. He played the role of assistant lead guitarist in the band. He was a major factor in the first bestselling album of the band, Ten, which had the monster hit, the Grammy-winning Jeremy. The album and the song made to the topmost lists in the music industry such as those of Rolling Stone and VH1. Their second album was Vs. which also received several Grammy nods.
However, after these two successes, Pearl Jam decided to downsize the scale of their promotions. During this time, the band, and most notably Gossard, were embroiled in a dispute with Ticketmaster over their pricing, which lasted for three years.
The band further released albums such as Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, and Binaural to various degrees of successes.
Solo Work
Stone Gossard released his first solo album titled Bayleaf in 2001. The album showcased his different talents such as a drummer, a pianist, and a guitarist, apart from being a vocalist. His second album was Moonlander. Several of these songs are available on the Pearl Jam official website as well as through social media platforms such as Twitter.
He established Loosegroove Records in 1994. The band released its debut album, Queens of the Stone Age, in 1998.
Personal Life
Stone Gossard has two sisters, Shelly and Star. Shelly looks after his record label Loosegroove. He married Liz Weber but is now divorced. He has one daughter with her. With his present wife, he has two children. Their house is in Seattle. His net worth is estimated to be $65 million.
He is also known to propagate his political views through his music. For instance, during George W. Bush’s tenure, he was involved in the Vote for Change concert tour where he represented his band Pearl Jam. Through this tour, he encouraged the ouster of Bush from his presidential tenure.
Last Modified: Apr 7, 2020
Related Biographies
