Biography
Born on the prairies
of Manitoba, Canada,
and raised in and around
Vancouver BC, Murray Thorne (born Murray Hardacker) took interest in
music & theatre at a young age. At 16, he formed a rock band to
perform in his high school talent show. His band won, sparking a chain
of events that would eventually lead him to abandon his first career
choice as a cabinet maker to pursue his music. After graduating, he
lasted nearly a year working on an assembly line before joining another
band and hitting the road.
As a young
veteran of the late '80's
to '90s pop rock scene, he gained
experience playing small clubs across North America as a singer,
guitarist and keyboard player, often playing with musicians much his
senior. He was later picked to play with former Guess Who frontman
Henry Small, then shortly after was hired to tour with Penta/WEA
recording artist Raymond May. After some success, which included
opening for Iggy Pop and Aerosmith, the tour ended abruptly when May
was dropped from his label. Murray returned to the West coast with
mixed emotions of success and failure.
Rather than join
another club act,
Murray instead spent the following
summer writing songs while working as a deckhand on a commercial
fishing boat. He later teamed up with Mike Gillies, brother-in-law of
record producer Bob Rock. They began co-writing, the two of them
greatly influenced at the time by the sounds of American heartland
music. They recorded demos in Bob's home studio in Vancouver and formed
the band "Hardacker", with Murray returning to the position of lead
singer. The band independently released a self titled E/P and played
locally but were unable to gain tour support. Mike later moved to
Hawaii to work as a digital editor for Bob, who subsequently invited
Murray to help with the construction of his Plantation Studios home on
Maui. With nothing to lose, Murray took the gig and ended up staying on
as a groundskeeper after construction was completed, occasionally
jamming with Bob and the studio engineers in a band they formed as an
experimental songwriting project. (Rock once called Murray into the
studio, covered with rain and mud, to sing backing vocals for Our Lady
Peace's "Gravity" album). Enjoying the break from city life, Murray
stayed on Maui where he began performing solo to hone his songwriting
& performance skills, using his mother's maiden name "Thorne" while
waiting for his US residency permit to be approved. The name would
later stick.
The following
period proved to be a
very creative time in his life and
career, as he continued writing while exploring folk roots, different
lyrical styles and British invasion influences. He returned to
performing full time, his goal being to make music that is honest and
strong enough that the ideas and energy of the music could translate
through one person with an acoustic guitar. Always experimenting both
live and in the studio, he carved out a unique style for himself as a
solo performer with his intense energetic performances, which led to
many offers from local rock cover bands. Instead he joined "Celtic
Tigers", a local weekend showband, playing a mix of traditional Irish
jigs and celtic rock, which allowed him to concentrate on writing and
recording his own material, inspired by rock anthems and folk lyrics.
Collecting technical advice from friend and recording engineer Eric
Helmkamp, he went to work producing his first solo album.
In October, 2009
Murray released
"Tin Can Telephone" through indie
label PerSonal Records. It contains 11 tracks that he wrote, recorded
& produced himself, and also features him playing all instruments
on it except drums. It is currently available at most online retailers
and live shows.
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