Buzzy Beano/William Langford
endorsed by
The 1960's British Invasion and The
Beatles were quite influential to young Buzzy Beano/William Langford.
This was the beginning of his musical journey. In fact Buzzy and his
friends would strum on brooms and mops, singing to Beatle records
pretending that they were the Fab Four.
At the age of ten Buzzy moved from
New Orleans to Tucson, Arizona. He was so unhappy about leaving his friends,
his Dad thought a trip to the music store would cheer him up. William
Langford purchased a guitar for his eleven year old son shortly after
that visit. "It was all I could do just to have some peace
around the house. Buzzy's eyes glazed over when he saw a royal blue
sparkle guitar from Germany. It was love at first sight", recalls
Buzzy's dad.
Buzzy began formal training, learned
to read music, and studied classical guitar, all at an early age. At the
age of thirteen Buzzy started his first band, "The Attic
Rafters", and began playing professionally at parties. In 1966, The
Attic Rafters, who dressed much like the Beatles, won "The Battle of
The Bands" contest in Metairie, La.
The first time Buzzy stepped into a
recording studio was as a session guitarist for an Allen Toussaint project.
He was only 14 at the time. While still in his teens, Buzzy organized and
played in two local, innovative groups, "Armadillo" and "
The Rhythm Aces". Both groups wrote and performed original music.
While in these bands, Buzzy spent time playing clubs on infamous Bourbon
Street before he was of legal drinking age.
In 1973, while playing in a Bourbon
Street club, some friends of Buzzy's, who were members of "Vince
Vance and The Valiants", paid him a visit and asked him to join
"The Valiants". As a member of The Valiants, a hugely popular
50's show band, twenty year old Buzzy started touring from coast to
coast playing to sold out crowds. He played clubs and college venues where
crowds of 500 to 1000 people were a common sight.
In 1974,Buzzy decided to leave Vince
Vance and The Valiants to start his own band, "Buzzy Beano and The B
Notes". This group, headed by "Beano", was off to a good
start and was a local success, but Buzzy contracted a bad case of
laryngitis which lasted three months. After only a year, the budding group
fell apart.
Shortly after the breakup, Buzzy was
at a dinner party when he got a call from Vince Vance and The Valiants
asking if he could play bass for a couple of months for a member who was
injured in a motorcycle accident. Soon the original bass player returned,
and Buzzy decided to stay on with the Valiants once again. At this time
The Valiants were moving into an artistic direction. The band continued to
tour across the country and made three more recordings, which were produced
by Langford. Two of the recordings were released to the public.
In 1979, after four and a half years,
Buzzy grew tired of the road. Some friends, who were members of T.Q. and
The Topcats, asked Buzzy to join the group, and he accepted. This popular
50's show band was looking to make some changes. It was in August when
Buzzy agreed to meet the band in Memphis, Tenn. The group was making
changes in it's line up as well as format. Buzzy's joining was not well
received by T.Q. and The Topcats fans, and die hard T.Q. fans blamed Beano
for the breakup of the original T.Q. and The Topcats. Buzzy even received
hate mail, but luckily, Buzzy was not discouraged and has been a Topcat
since that day in August, 1979.
While working with the Topcats, Buzzy
has helped to develop the group while evolving his own guitar and vocal
styles. During the 1980's Buzzy owned and operated "The Music
Stop", a local music store in Metairie, La., and has owned numerous
recording studios over the years. Even though The Topcats work an average
of five days a week , Buzzy has always found the time to sharpen his
developing, producing, and engineering skills.
Buzzy's latest studio, "Radionic
Studio (formerly the Apartment)", is located in his home that he shares with his wife, Paris.
It is also the home of Four Cats / Radionic LLC. When not playing with
The Topcats, or producing and engineering artists on his
label, Buzzy plays guitar in various original projects around the New
Orleans area. Buzzy and Paris also have a successful business in buying,
selling, and trading vintage toys & collectibles!
Winner of the 2003 Best Producer Award from Offbeat Magazine
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