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Jason Falkner (born June 2, 1968) is an American pop and rock musican. He has performed with several bands, as well as a solo artist.
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After graduating high school in 1982, Falkner started a band The Salvation Army, along with members Michael Quercio (lead vocals, bass), Mike Mariano (keyboards), and Danny Benair (drums). Threatened with a lawsuit by the Salvation Army, the group changed their name to The Three O'Clock. The group released three EPs and three full-length albums on independent labels, before being signed by Prince's Paisley Park label. The Three O'Clock released Vermillion in 1988 as their major-label debut. The band broke up shortly afterwards.
Falkner spent the next several months living in Europe, and returned to the United States. He spent another year in college, working odd jobs, before meeting up with an old friend, Roger Manning Jr., who convinced him to to move to San Francisco, California to join his new band, Jellyfish. The band proved to be popular, and its 1990 debut album, Bellybutton was fairly successful. Falkner, however, had a number of disputes with other band members, primarily concerning his lack of songwriting opportunities, and what he considered the band's over-relience on its influences instead of cultivating its own image. He left the band shortly after Bellybutton's release, vowing never to join another band.
In 1993, Falkner worked with Fabulon as a guest musician. This led to jobs as a session player for several other bands, and he worked in this capacity when he met Jon Brion. Breaking his vow against joining another band, he formed The Grays with Brion. The group released only one album, 1994's Ro Sham Bo, before disbanding.
Afterwards, he continued recording in his home studio, with the intention of releasing an all-covers album; however this album, and most of its songs, was left unreleased until 2001, when, titled Everyone Says It's On, it was issued by Air Mail Recordings.
In 1995 he worked with Eric Matthews on his album It's Heavy in Here, which led to a recording contract as a solo artist with Elektra.
In 1996, he released the album Jason Falkner Presents Author Unknown, which was produced, written, and performed entirely by Falkner. Although it received strong critical reviews, it was not a commercial success. During that same year, he wrote several songs on Brendan Benson's album One Mississippi, and played various instruments on a 1996 Susannah Hoffs release. In 1997, he worked with Eric Matthews' on a second album, The Lateness of the Hour, co-producing and assisting on five tracks.
In 1999, Falkner released Can You Still Feel?, another album written and performed as an entire solo effort, it was produced with Nigel Godrich. In 2000 Jason kept very busy, touring and contributing to various projects. He recorded a song for a tribute album, and played backup on Roger Manning and Brian Reitzell's album Logan's Sanctuary.
In 2001, he worked with Air's 10,000 Hz Legend, and toured alongside that band during the summer and fall as its bassist. During that time, spinART Records released Necessity: The 4-Track Years, a disc comprised of old 4-track demos. Falkner's projects that year included a instrumental album of Beatles songs, and he contributed a track to a Jeff Lynne tribute album. While in France with Air, he worked with Roger Manning and Brian Reitzell again, this time performing under the band name, TV Eyes.
Falkner spent the summer of 2002 touring with Air, and contributed on albums for other artists, including Beck, Aimee Mann, and Travis. He began working on his third studio album in June 2003, and worked on albums for Beck and Air. In early 2004, he joined Travis on tour, as their opening act, to debut his Bliss Descending EP. Recently, he has also contributed guitar parts to two songs on Paul McCartney's acclaimed new solo album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. His third solo album is due in late 2005.