Les Fradkin

Now Seeking

Keyboard, Drums, Bass Guitar, Lead Guitar.

About

Symphonic Rock Guitarist and Keyboardist Les Fradkin is one of the original members of the hit Broadway show "Beatlemania", a Guitar Synthesizer pioneer of the 1980's in both synth Pop and Television music, a neo classical guitar trendsetter in the 1990's and is a 21st Century electronic music innovator on the Starr Labs Ztar. His ability to play multiple parts across the neck of the Ztar makes him a valuable resource that no traditional keyboardist, guitarist, or bassist can match. A classically trained musician as well as being a rock guitarist, bassist and keyboardist, he has found success as a recording artist, composer and producer with MGM Sunflower, ESP-Disk, Bell, Arista, RCA, and Laurie Records. Les has written the well known French hit "La Chansons Des Souvenirs" ("Song Of A Thousand Voices") for the famous French songstress Mireille Mathieu and the Latin Pop icon Roberto Jordan ("Donde"). He has played Mellotron, 12 and 6-string Guitar, Bass and Synthesizer on dozens of Top 40 hit records from the early 1970's thru the 1980's synth pop era, to the present Modern Rock era, scoring many US and UK chart placings throughout his career. He continues to be an in demand session musician.

He was also an original member / singer / guitarist for the pop group California on Laurie Records in the US and RCA Records in the UK for it's entire existence from 1973 through 1985. California had several chart records including the 1981 release "Summer Fun Medley"-a medley of Beach Boys hits, "Jeans On", and 1982's "He's Almost You" (charting in the United Kingdom) and an appearance on the Dick Clark American Bandstand television show.

In 1976, Les was selected over thousands of other auditioning guitarists to appear in the original cast of the smash hit Broadway musical "Beatlemania" playing lead guitar and the part of "George Harrison" in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Running for two and a half years from May 1977 thru October 1979, every show (including over 1200 in New York alone) was sold out and the musicians quickly became celebrities with magazine cover stories ("Newsweek","Time", "People", "Rolling Stone") and many major television show appearances. With his guitar-playing in the international spotlight from the show, Fradkin developed a cult following that has avidly followed his career and made him a celebrity among guitar fans.

In 1996, he founded the rock group "Get Wet" and started a new surf guitar trend with Neo Classic Surf featuring a blend of stylistic references including The Ventures, Dick Dale, Jeff Beck as well as Classical Composers such as Bach, Paganinni, Vivaldi and others. This music found immediate success on the mp3.com charts with Get Wet enjoying 230,000 downloads and 16 #1 hit singles from 1999 thru 2001. Les and the band were also featured in the first edition of "MP3 For Dummies as an example of early indie musician success stories.

New Gandy Dancer Rock Magazine named Les' CD "A Day At The Beach" it's 2004 Album Of The Year. In addition, Les has performed with The Ventures as 2nd Lead Guitarist. Nokie Edwards of The Ventures has performed with Les on several occasions and is a featured guest on his "While My Guitar Only Plays" CD. In fact, Les has been acknowledged as a guitar and keyboard virtuoso for over 30 years and he has been featured in issues of Keyboard Magazine, 20th Century Guitar Magazine, Pipeline and New Gandy Dancer Magazines.

Les has scored the theme and three additional songs for the documentary "An Accidental Icon-The True Story Of Gidget".

To date, Les has released 20 solo CD's on his RRO Entertainment Indie label and has had over 500,000 downloads bringing him several substantial hits on Apple iTunes and other download sites across the Internet.

Nowadays, Les has been developing new techniques for a revolutionary new instrument called the Starr Labs Ztar. He combines two handed tapping, finger picking and Ableton Live Clip triggering into a seamless new technique, never before seen on MIDI Guitar.

Les is available for all Session work on Ztar, Bass, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Keyboards or Guitar at reasonable rates. Fast, reliable, musical, punctual, astonishing. Available by the Song or for entire album projects. Can also work remotely with Clients on The Internet, no matter where you are in the World. Production, Mixing and Mastering services available upon request.

His current music is a mixture of various influences and signposts including Rock, Progressive, Electronica, Ambient, Metal, Guitar Instrumental and Classical.

Influences

Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, Rick Wakeman, Yes, King Crimson, The Moody Blues, Boston, Procol Harum, Bach, Vivaldi, Yngwie Malmsteen, Niccolo Paganini, Electric Light Orchestra, Renaissance, Jean Michel Jarre, The Yardbirds, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple, Cream, Led Zeppelin

Equipment List

Starr Labs Ztar Z7s-XPA MIDI Guitar w/Air Power Wireless
Mac Book Laptop
Arturia Moog Modular Synthesizer V2.5
Arturia ARP 2600 V2
Arturia Moog "Mini Moog" V2
Arturia Jupiter 8V
Arturia Brass V2
Propellerhead Reason 6.5.2
Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1
Native Instruments Reaktor 5.6
Native Instruments Massive
Native Instruments Kore 2
Native Instruments Absynth 5
Native Instruments B4 II
Native Instruments FM8
Native Instruments Pro Five
Native Instruments Essential Bass
Native Instruments "The Finger"
Native Instruments "The Mouth"
Native Instruments "North India"
Korg MonoPoly
GForce M-Tron (Virtual Mellotron)
Novation Remote Zero SLII Midi Controller
Akai APC40 Ableton Controller
Ableton Live 8.3.4
MOTU Digital Performer 8.0.1
Apple Logic 9.1
MOTU Symphonic Instrument
MOTU Ethno Instrument V2
Vienna Symphonic Library
Behringer FCB-1010 MIDI Foot Controller
Roland KC-350 Keyboard Amplifier
Roland XV-5080 Synth 128 Voice
Roland XV-2020 Synth 64 Voice
Roland VK-7 Organ
Roland VG-8EX V-Guitar System
Roland GR-1 Guitar Synthesizer
Yamaha TX-7 FM Synth
Yamaha QY-300 Sequencer
Yamaha QX-3 Sequencer
Yamaha QX-1 Sequencer
Yamaha RX-11 Drum Machine
Fender Stratocaster with Roland GK-2A Pickup
Rickenbacker 4001v63 Bass Guitar
SWR Workingman's 400 Bass Rig
Vox and Fender Amplifiers