Lenny Breau

• Name — Lenny Breau • Birth Name — Leonard Harold Breau • Born — 5 August 1941 • Birthplace — Auburn, Maine, U.S. • Died — 12 August 1984 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Origin — Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada • Genre — Jazz, country • Occupation — Musician • Instrument — Guitar • Years Active — 1954–1984 • Label — RCA, Sound Hole, Adelphi, Genes, Tudor • Website — lennybreau.com

Breau was born August 5, 1941, in Auburn, Maine, USA and moved with his family to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada in 1948. His parents, Harold Breau and Betty Cody, were professional country musicians who performed and recorded from the mid-1930s until the mid-1970s. From the mid to late 1940s they played summer engagements in southern New Brunswick, advertising their performances by playing free programs on radio station CKCW Moncton. Lenny began playing guitar at the age of eight. When he was twelve, he started a small band with friends, and by the age of fourteen he was the lead guitarist for his parents' band, billed as "Lone Pine Junior", playing Merle Travis and Chet Atkins instrumentals and occasionally singing. He made his first professional recordings in Westbrook, Maine at Event Records with Al Hawkes at the age of 15 while working as a studio musician. Many of these recordings were released posthumously on the album Boy Wonder. The Breau family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1957 and their new band performed around the city and province as the CKY Caravan. Their shows were radio broadcast live on Winnipeg's CKY on Saturday mornings from remote locations.

Around 1959 Breau left his parents' country band after his father slapped him in the face for incorporating jazz improvisation into his playing with the group. He sought out local jazz musicians, performing at Winnipeg venues Rando Manor and the Stage Door. He met pianist Bob Erlendson, who began teaching him more of the foundations of jazz. In 1961, Breau had his first professionally recorded jazz session at the age of twenty at Hallmark Studios in Toronto, where he was accompanied by future members of The Band bassist Rick Danko and drummer Levon Helm. The recording would remain unreleased until 2003. In 1962, Breau briefly performed in the Toronto-based jazz group Three with singer and actor Don Francks, and Eon Henstridge on acoustic bass. Three performed in Toronto, Ottawa, and New York City. Their music was featured in the 1962 National Film Board documentary Toronto Jazz. They recorded a live album at the Village Vanguard in New York City and appeared on the Jackie Gleason and Joey Bishop television shows. Returning to Winnipeg a few months later, Breau became a session guitarist, recording for CBC Radio and CBC Television, and contributed to CBC-TV's Teenbeat, Music Hop, and his own The Lenny Breau Show filmed in Winnipeg. During this period, he met his partner Judi Singh, with whom he had a daughter. In 1963 and 1964, Breau appeared at David Ingram's Fourth Dimension at 2000 Pembina Highway in Fort Garry, a suburb of Winnipeg. Every Sunday night was a party open to all. Other regulars at the club on Sunday nights included Neil Young and his band The Squires, and Randy Bachman, who was heavily influenced by Breau, particularly evident in the jazz guitar style of his The Guess Who hit "Undun". In 1967, recordings of Breau's playing from The Lenny Breau Show found their way to Chet Atkins. The ensuing friendship resulted in Breau's first two mature solo albums, Guitar Sounds from Lenny Breau and The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau – Live! on RCA, accompanied by fellow Winnipeggers Ron Halldorson and Reg Kelln. Breau did not record again for nearly 10 years, though he continued to do session work in Winnipeg. Breau left Winnipeg in 1976 and spent the last few years of his life in the United States, living in Maine, Nashville, Stockton, California, and New York City, eventually settling in Los Angeles in 1983. These years he spent performing, teaching, and writing for Guitar Player magazine. A few more solo albums were issued during his lifetime, in addition to albums recorded with fiddler Buddy Spicher and pedal steel guitarist Buddy Emmons. Breau had problems with drugs and alcohol beginning in the 1960s, which he managed to control during the last years of his life.

On August 12, 1984, his body was found in the swimming pool at his apartment complex in Los Angeles, California. The coroner reported that Breau had been strangled. Breau's wife, Jewel, was the chief suspect, but she was not charged. He is interred in an unmarked grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.