Biography
Tommy Emmanuel, CGP (born May 31, 1955) is an Australian guitarist, best known for his fingerpicking style. Throughout his career he has played with many notable artists including: Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin and John Denver.
Tommy was born in the New South Wales town of Muswellbrook. He began to play guitar at the age of 4 years and by the age of 6 was a working professional musician, as much of his childhood was spent touring Australia with his family band, playing rhythm guitar.
In 1966 when his father died, he started to give guitar lessons at the age of 12. He first came to be noticed nationally when he won a string of talent contests in his teen years, and by the late 1970s, he was playing with his brother Phil in the group Goldrush. During the early 1980s, he joined the reformed lineup of leading '70s rock group Dragon, touring widely with them, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner, before leaving to embark on a solo career.
While Tommy doesn't read music and has never had formal music training, his natural musicianship and prodigious playing ability has won him thousands of fans from all over the world. As well as being a guitar master, he is also a professional percussionist, and has been known to play percussion parts on the body of his guitar.
1994 saw Tommy as a member of the John Farnham Band. Australian music veteran John Farnham invited him to play guitar next to Stuart Fraser from Noiseworks for the Concert For Rwanda.
In July 1999, at the 15th Annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention, Chet presented Tommy with the honorary Certified Guitar Player degree, an honor bestowed on only two other guitarists (besides Atkins himself) - "In Recognition Of His Contributions To The Art Of Fingerpicking".
One of his career highlights was his live performance at Sydney when he played on the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in 2000. 1 Billion people watched this event which was shown worldwide.
Emmanuel is a committed Christian since beating substance abuse two decades ago.
Tommy's latest album, "The Mystery," was released August 22, 2006.
感谢晓月寒冰提供的资料：
大师Tommy Emmanuel的职业生涯已经超过四十五年了，而且不断与世界各地的顶尖乐手有所交流。在澳大利亚他是一个国宝级的人物,Tommy在五大洲已经拥有超过几万个忠实的乐迷.
Tommy独到的演奏风格--他个人只简单称为"手指技法(finger style)"--相当于是钢琴家在弹钢琴时来弹吉他.
吉他传奇人物Chet Aktins是第一个鼓舞他学习这个乐器的人.几十年过去了,Atkins本人也变成了Emmanuel最重量级的乐迷.Chet和Tommy在1996 年共同完成了录音"The Day the Finger Pickers Took Over the World",本专辑荣获葛莱美奖提名.不幸的是这成为Chet在2001年去世前的最后录音.
1999年,Chet以极为难得的头衔" 被认证的吉他手"(Certified Guitar Player)来称誉Tommy Emmanuel,为表彰他终生对figerstyle吉他的贡献,这样的荣誉在世界上只被另外两个人共享(Jerry Reed和 John Knowles)
在Emmanuel的传奇生涯里,他已经创造了一个尚未被人打破的销售纪录,曾与数以百计的传奇乐人合作,包括像 Chet Aktins , Eric Clapton , Sir George Martin ,Hank Marvin , Joe Walsh , Stevie Wonder ,Nokie Edwards ,Les Paul , Keith Urban ,Lexington交响乐团,Dortmund交响乐团,与西澳大利亚管弦乐团.
Tommy Emmanuel不只是一个非常成熟的吉他手,同时能打鼓(能在鼓与吉他上打击)及歌唱.这位厉害的音乐人曾被澳洲滚石杂志连两年被推举为"最受欢迎的吉他手",创下过四张白金与金唱片.
在澳洲,Emmanuel的音乐与生活是一种传奇.他在四岁的时候就开始弹吉他,靠着耳朵学着怎么弹,而没有接受任何正规训练.Emmanuel与他的哥哥Phil都是神童,在1960年便开始他们的职业生涯.大约在六岁时,Tommy已经是一个职业乐手了.
在1966年他父亲死后不久,Emmanuel一家便跟着澳洲乡村音乐明星Buddy Williams旅行,直到他们被澳洲儿童福利部门阻挡下来.Emmanuel一家的小孩随即被送往正规学校.
在这些年里,Tommy在周末与他们兄弟姐妹:打鼓的Chris和弹滑音吉他的Virginia组成Traiblazers.他也开始一个礼拜两个晚上教吉他,同时在电视上各种不同的竞赛露面.当他们组成的Traiblazers在电视才艺竞赛中拿下两次冠军并发行一张EP后,Emmanuel家便开始走红了.
Emmanuel十几岁时怀揣着成为一个专业吉他手的梦想搬到悉尼.他在城市各俱乐部里表演,Emmanuel的吉他技巧开始在公众场合显露,不久后便受到唱片公司的注意.
他马上为自己立下对现今大多着名吉他手都显得严格苛刻的舞台表演高标准.从70年代中晚期一直到80年代早期,他加入了这十年间举足轻重的团体Dragon,也为Air Supply和其他许多着名艺人伴奏.
1987年,Dragon随着Tina Turner进行"Break Every Rule"之旅.在他以往的十五张专辑中,Emmanuel无穷的天赋与从不服输的技巧一再的加深了乐评与乐迷们的喜爱.
2005年,Tommy第一次在韩国,波兰与克罗地亚演出.此外,他还在2006年第一次在斯洛文尼亚与比利时演出,随后到美国,欧洲与亚洲等地.他那令人眼花乱的表演,毫无瑕疵的吉他技巧与长篇的曲目一定会引起他所到之处观众的惊叹。
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