A guitarist on the run: former Wings member stays busy with touring, TV, movies

By Steve Marinucci
Published April 21, 2000, San Jose (CA) Mercury News

A GUITARIST ON THE RUN
FORMER WINGS MEMBER STAYS BUSY WITH TOURING, TV, MOVIES

SEARCH for guitarist Laurence Juber's CDs in stores, and you'll find them filed in almost any rack, from ''rock'' to ''New Age.'' That gives some idea of the breadth of the English-born acoustic artist's talents and accomplishments.
The career of the 47-year-old musician, a former lead guitarist for Paul McCartney and Wings, includes working as a studio musician and scoring TV shows, as well as pursuing a solo career. His credits include TV's ''Happy Days,'' ''Home Improvement,'' ''Boy Meets World'' and ''7th Heaven'' and the movies ''Dirty Dancing,'' ''The Big Chill,'' ''Pocahontas'' and, most recently, ''Snow Day.''
Juber also has recorded with Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Clint Black, Roger Daltrey and three of the four Beatles -- McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
Juber will perform at San Jose Stage on April 29 with finger-style guitarist Duck Baker in the Downtown Arts Series. He will also make several other area appearances, including a performance April 28 in Monterey and broadcasts Thursday (7 to 9 a.m.) on the Greg Kihn show on KUFX-FM (104.9) and 11 a.m. April 28 on KAZU-FM (90.3).
Some fans know Juber's work from the Wings album ''Back to the Egg'' and the singles ''Goodnight Tonight'' and ''Coming Up.''
After Wings broke up in 1981, Juber moved with his wife and two children to the Los Angeles area to concentrate on studio work and composing.
Speaking of the time he spent with McCartney, Juber says, ''I found him very easy to work with. The job description was pretty clear. I was there to play lead guitar and to be responsive to (McCartney's) creative direction, with the freedom to be able to make my own contribution.''
He describes McCartney and his late wife, Linda McCartney, who was also in Wings, as ''easygoing.'' Juber got together with McCartney late last year in Los Angeles during the former Beatle's promotional appearances for his current album, ''Run Devil Run,'' and at a benefit concert for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. ''He's a great performer,'' says Juber.
Juber's own most recent CD, ''LJ Plays the Beatles'' (Solid Air Records), features his beautifully intricate acoustic-guitar arrangements of Beatle songs, including a few not often performed, such as ''Martha My Dear'' and ''You Won't See Me.'' In June, the disc will be in stores; until then it is available only via the Internet (at www.acousticmusicresource.com and www.laurencejuber.com).
Even though the idea of recording Beatles tunes might seem a natural for Juber, he released more than a dozen other records before getting around to that one. What made him finally do it?
''People kept asking me for it,'' he says. ''And I've been playing some of these arrangements for a long time. I've always included a Beatles tune (in my show). It's my heritage.''
Juber's wife, Hope, is the daughter of ''Brady Bunch'' and ''Gilligan's Island'' creator Sherwood Schwartz. She played various roles on several episodes of ''The Brady Bunch,'' including Greg's girlfriend, Rachel. Juber makes light of this in his own autobiography, writing that he ''married Greg Brady's girlfriend.''
''It got to the point,'' he says, ''where Hope said she wasn't going to be happy until I did the (Beatles) album. And I said, 'If I'm going to do it, you're going to produce it.' She and I had worked on the previous album (''Altered Reality''). We really enjoyed working together. Once we decided to do it, we started in September and delivered it in February.''
Juber's upcoming projects include work on an Al Stewart album, set for release in September.
His appearance at San Jose Stage is co-sponsored by Fiddling Cricket Concerts and the South Bay Guitar Society. Juber also will be making a free in-store appearance at 8 p.m. Thursday at Compact Disc Land, 477 University Ave., Palo Alto. And on April 29, he will give a guitar clinic at Palo Alto's Gryphon Stringed Instruments (2 p.m., 211 Lambert Ave., 650-493-2131, $30).