About Me
Myspace Layouts " /Joey Cathcart has worked within the music business in numerous capacities for over 25 years. He began playing guitar at age 8, and was in his first band by age 10...while still a child, he was one of the most sought after studio singers in L.A. doing jingles, commercials, voice over work for films and demo work.
The son of Peggy Lennon(of Lawrence Welk fame) and trumpet virtuoso Dick Cathcart, Joey was raised in a very musical family. His first band consisted of his older brother and 3 cousins. By 13 he was playing in clubs all over L.A. and Hollywood. It was also at this time that he met Matthew and Gunnar Nelson,in his freshman year of high school. They started to jam on weekends and soon formed a band called The Strange Agents. Soon he was juggling two bands, both of which were playing the best clubs in Hollywood and the L.A. area, including the Roxy, The Whiskey, The Troubador, Gazzarri’s, and Madam Wongs West and East.
Joey’s first band, The Adults, were chosen in 1983 to provide the incidental music for the brand new Nickelodeon channel. This band was also asked to perform on the first Junior Star Search. They lost by half a star, but so did Tiffany, also on the show! The Adults were looked at by most of the major labels in town, while at the same time Joey went with Matthew and Gunnar (now called The Nelsons)in 1985 to New York to play on Saturday Night Live, Achieving a first in the show’s history by being the only unsigned band to play the show, a feat that still stands to this day. Joey left The Nelsons to concentrate on his first band, hoping for a record contract.
But fate would bring Joey back to The Nelson Brothers, helping them record demo’s that would comprise the bulk of their first album, "After The Rain". Joey also helped out and recorded guitars and vocals for the album itself, and finally gave in to the inevitable and joined the Nelson band, playing rythm, lead, acoustic, and 12 string guitars and singing backgrounds for their 1991 American and Japanese tour.
The record sold well over 2 million copies worldwide, and the band would eventually play to sold out crowds wherever they went.
At the end of the tour, Joey suffered a serious health scare when a brain tumor was discovered, after a series of seizures. However, it was operable, and not cancerous. In fact Joey would tour Japan only 2 months after major brain surgery!
While awaiting recording on the follow-up to "After The Rain", Joey started doing studio work for various friends and bands,including good friend David Issacs, a talented singer/songwriter. Joey’s collaberations with David are mostly what you hear on this site. Also, he recorded an album with Letters Home, a 3 piece group consisting of Joey’s brother Mike, and high school friend Michael Murphy. The 3 had been performing in intimate clubs and bars in and around L.A. for some time, playing original material in the vein of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and Lyle Lovett, to name just a few. Letters home recorded an album in the fall of 1994, with Joey playing bass, all percussion, guitar, and singing background vocals, along with his multi-instrumentalist brother, and the haunting voice of Murphy. The album got local radio play on KCRW, who picked up a few songs for normal rotation. Also, it was a hit with the local fans, and is now out of print and considered by some as a great find..
Recording finally commenced for Nelsons next album, to be called "imaginator". A real band effort, it was a great experience in experimentation for Joey, who played regular guitars, Dobro,electric sitar, and upright bass, among his normal vocal duties with the twins. However, the music industry had changed with the advent of Nirvana(actually label-mates with Nelson!). The album was shelved indefinitly...
Meanwhile, Joey went back to work with Letters Home and David Issacs, coming in just in time to co-write one song and play on 2 songs for Issacs debut cd, "Timebomb" (available at the itunes store kiddies!). He also joined David’s live band, playing with artists such as Matt Laug(Slash’s Snake Pit, Venice, Alaniss Morissete...), bassist Ian Mayo(Hericane Alice, Doug Aldrich Trio) and multi-instrumentalist/producer Chris Horvath(Venice, Holly Long,far too many to mention..).
Back in Nelson land, a decision was made to write and record a new album. Again Joey played a wide range of instruments, and was honored to sing backgrounds with Timothy B. Schmidt(The Eagles). The album was produced by John Boylan(Boston,Quarterflash,Linda Ronsdtat, The Association,Livingston Taylor).
After the passing of Joey’s Father, he moved to Branson, MO, to work with his family in the Lawrence Welk theatre. He also played in numerous bands,jazz, big band, country, swing, classic rock, and finally learned to read music!
In 2000, he returned to L.A. and got into live production, working with artists such as Pat Benatar and Spinal Tap, and Venice.
If your looking for the full package, look no further. Currently living in Kemah TX, Joey is available for any type of work from guitars to vocals to songwriting. No ego here, either. Been around too long for that! Travelling is no problem.
