West was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006. In 2007 Mountain released Masters of War on Big Rack Records, an album featuring 12 Bob Dylan covers that sees Ozzy Osbourne providing guest vocals on a rendition of the title track. His latest solo album, entitled Blue Me, was released in 2006 on the Blues Bureau International label. In addition to fronting Mountain, West continues to record and perform on his own. In 2005 he contributed to Ozzy Osbourne‘s Under Cover album, performing guitar on a remake of “Mississippi Queen” West contributed the music and co-wrote the lyrics to the song “Immortal” on Clutch’s 2001 album Pure Rock Fury, which was a reworked cover of the song “Baby I’m Down” on Leslie West’s first album. West released it on Guitarded (2005), and Bonamassa on A New Day Yesterday (2000). Leslie West and Joe Bonamassa recorded Warren Haynes‘ “If Heartaches Were Nickels” together. Leslie West teamed up with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame, to co-write and play guitar on the song “Hang Me Out To Dry” from the Gillan album “ToolBox,” released in Europe in 1991. West also played guitar for the track “Bo Diddley Jam” on Bo Diddley‘s 1976 20th Anniversary of Rock ‘n’ Roll all-star album. Though the tracks were not originally included on the album (recording restarted in England a few months later without West or Kooper), they appear as bonus tracks on the 19 reissues of Who’s Next and on the 1998 reissue of Odds & Sods. Tracks included a cover of Marvin Gaye‘s “Baby Don’t You Do It,” and early versions of “Love Ain’t For Keepin'” and The Who’s signature track “ Won’t Get Fooled Again“. West, along with keyboard player Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, recorded with The Who during the March 1971 Who’s Next New York sessions. But since 1981 it has continued to reform, tour and record on a regular basis. Mountain reformed in 1973 only to break up again in late 1974. Īfter Pappalardi left Mountain to concentrate on various production projects, West and Laing produced two studio albums and a live release with Cream bassist Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce and Laing. Mountain is one of the bands considered to be forerunners of heavy metal music. It was followed by the Jack Bruce-penned “Theme For an Imaginary Western”.
They had success with “ Mississippi Queen“, which reached No. New drummer Corky Laing joined the band shortly after Woodstock. The band’s original incarnation saw West and Pappalardi sharing vocal duties and playing guitar and bass, respectively. Smart, the band appeared on the second day of the Woodstock Festival on Saturday, Augstarting an 11-song set at 9 pm. With Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. Rolling Stone identified the band as a “louder version of Cream”. In 1969, West and Pappalardi formed the pioneering hard rock act Mountain, which was also the title of West’s debut solo album. Some of the Vagrants’ recordings were produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream on their album Disraeli Gears. The Vagrants had two minor hits in the Eastern US: 1966’s “I Can’t Make a Friend” and a cover of Otis Redding‘s “ Respect” the following year.
His musical career began with The Vagrants, an R&B/ Blue-eyed soul-rock band influenced by the likes of The Rascals that was one of the few teenage garage rock acts to come out of the New York metropolitan area itself (as opposed to the Bohemian Greenwich Village scene of artists, poets and affiliates of the Beat Generation, which produced bands like The Fugs and The Velvet Underground). After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West.
He grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, New York, Forest Hills, New York and Lawrence, New York. West was born in New York City, to a Jewish family.