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Bruce Hornsby music biography continued...

go on to attend the Berklee College of Music and the University of Miami, from which he graduated in 1977. He moved to Los Angeles to try to make it in the music business in 1980 with his brother, and spent five long years performing at clubs and making demos until RCA took noticed and signed Hornsby and his backing band, The Range, to a recording contract in 1985. Hornsby's recording career started with the biggest hit he has had to date, a socially conscious tune entitled "The Way It Is". The song topped the American music charts in 1986, and along with another hit track, "Mandolin Rain," paved the way for his debut album to go multiplatinum. Capping off his early triumph, Hornsby earned the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1986. Hornsby's second album, Scenes from the Southside, was not as successful as his debut, though it sold a million copies and produced the Top Ten single "The Valley Road." Hornsby also began to make his mark as a songwriter for others: Huey Lewis had a hit with his "Jacob's Ladder," as did Don Henley with "The End of the Innocence." He also played piano on Bonnie Raitt's popular 1991 hit "I Can't Make You Love Me" and regularly played with The Grateful Dead until Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, making himself an integral part of almost every facet of the music business



While playing with The Dead, Hornsby recorded a few solo albums that were well received critically for the artist's willingness to experiment with sounds ranging from jazz to bluegrass. He re-incorporated a backing band at the turn of the new millennium and came out with one of his most adventurous album's to date in Here Come the Noisemakers. ```I wanted to try to create a document that shows all the different sides of the band, from the really quiet, stately songs... to the wide-open, jam things," Hornsby said of the album. Since that time, he has released a handful of albums including Big Swing Face in 2002, Halcyon Days in 2004, and the jazz-oriented Camp Meeting in 2007, which have showcased his innovative musical spirit and converted a new generation of listeners into devoted fans.