42: Corky Laing

Corky Laing started his life in 1948 as the youngest of five
siblings in Montreal, Canada. His early bands enjoyed a good
local following, opened for many of the popular British invasion
acts and, ultimately, got a record deal with Atlantic Records in
New York. Through the teenage summers, his band was a regular on
the Island of Nantucket, Massachusetts and frequented clubs in
New York City. In September 1969, his life changed for good when
Mountain happened. There started a few crazy years of rock
mayhem. Mountain was followed by West, Bruce and Laing – a super
group featuring Leslie West, Jack Bruce and Corky that was
destined for greatness, but brought to an untimely end by the
darker forces of the music scene. After West, Bruce and Laing,
Mountain continued to tour and record on and off. The months and
years off left Corky with plenty of time for his own musical
explorations and other careers. He released a solo album, almost
set up another super group, worked in a driving service and in
real estate, had a senior position at Chappell Music and became a
vice president of A&R at Polygram, Canada.


During his career, Corky has played, written and toured with the
who’s who of rock. Keith Moon was a close pal, and Levon Helm, a
mentor and friend. Eric Clapton played on his solo album and Tony
Williams recommended to Jack Bruce that Corky should be included
in West, Bruce and Laing. Corky Laing All Star Show Band included
Mick Taylor, Lester Chambers and Meatloaf. Corky has written,
among others, with Peter Frampton, Mick Jagger, Ian Hunter, Mick
Ronson, and obviously, with Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi and
Jack Bruce. At the Lone Star Café in New York, he partied with
the likes of Robin Williams and John Belushi.


However, Letters to Sarah (Polite Bystander Productions, 2019) is
a rock autobiography with a difference. In addition to the
exceptionally honest and endearing voice of Corky chronicling the
ups and downs of his life, there are excerpts from dozens of
letters (out of the c. 200) that Corky wrote to his mother,
Sarah, between the years 1963 and 1997. She had saved them all.
The letters were a way for Corky, away on the road for years on
end, to keep in touch with his roots and also, to make sense of
his life. This continues in Letters to Sarah, as Corky relives
the first 50 years of his life, up until his mother’s passing in
1998.


The book opens with a Foreword by the incomparable Kinky
Friedman. It was written together with Corky’s manager and
partner, Tuija Takala, PhD, who is a widely published academic
author and who, initially discovered the letters to Sarah tucked
away in a box at Corky’s rehearsal studio.


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