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Tommy Emmanuel

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Tommy Emmanuel

Background information
Born	May 31 1955 (1955-05-31) (age 52) Muswellbrook, New South Wales
Genre(s)	acoustic/world
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1962 - present
Website	Official website
Notable instrument(s)
Maton TE Signature model

Tommy Emmanuel, CGP (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist, best known for his fingerpicking style. Throughout his career he has played with many notable artists including: Chet Atkins; Sir George Martin; Air Supply; and John Denver.

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 References
4 External links

Biography

Tommy was born in the Upper Hunter in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia. He began to play guitar in 1959 at the age of 4, inspired after hearing Chet Atkins on the car radio. By the age of 6, in 1961, he was a working professional musician, with much of his childhood spent touring Australia with his family band, playing rhythm guitar, and rarely going to school. After his father died in 1966, the family settled in Parkes. Tommy started going to high school and first made contact with his hero Chet Atkins in Nashville. He started to give guitar lessons at the age of 12. Several years later he moved to Sydney. 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 as well doing session work on countless albums and jingles. 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 has never had formal music training, his prodigious playing ability has won him fans from all over the world. As well as being a renowned professional guitar player, he is also a professional percussionist, and has been known to play percussion parts on the body of his guitar. As a solo performer he never plays to a set list and uses a minimum of effects. His main guitar is a smaller bodied Maton EBG808 that is fitted with a pickup and a microphone. While many guitarists may work and practice on many songs at the same time, Tommy's approach was to work on one song exclusively. 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 a Certified Guitar Player award, an honour bestowed on only two other guitarists (besides Atkins himself) - "In Recognition Of His Contributions To The Art Of Fingerpicking". One of Tommy's career highlights was his live performance at Sydney when he played with his brother Phil at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in 2000. 1 billion people watched this event, which was shown worldwide. Tommy tours around the world, frequently playing in small venues. His concerts are extremely popular with his dedicated fans, much due to his powerful and energetic stage presence, involving significant physical movement and facial expressions. Some feel that certain aspects of his performance seem to be disproportionate to his playing itself, but that might simply be indicative of his enthusiasm for the material. Tommy released the DVD "Live At Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, Australia" on 11 July 2006. Tommy's latest album, "The Mystery", was released on August 22 2006. His song "Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag" from this CD won "Instrumental of the Year" at the 35th Country Music Awards held at the Tamworth Country Music Festival on Saturday, 27 January 2007, and also was nominated that year for a Grammy for "Best Country Instrumental Performance". Emmanuel is a committed Christian since beating substance addiction two decades ago. He is engaged to fellow singer/songwriter Lizzie Watkins, with whom he tours. The couple make their home in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.