Happy Birthday Stone Gossard
Stone Gossard was born July 20, 1966 in Seattle, WA. His Father Rich “Goose” Gossard was a major league relief pitcher. Gossard played for 22 seasons and was one of the greats. Goose pitched for many teams including the Padres, and the Yankees. He won a world series and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Little Stone loved music and played in many bands in Seattle including “Green River” and “Mother Love Bone”. Gossard formed Pearl Jam in 1990 with Jeff Ament and Mike McReady.
The band took off when they ordered Eddie Vedder from a mail order lead singer service. The original band name was “Mickey Rivers”, after the NY Yankees centerfielder, who was a teammate of Goose Gossard and is Stone’s godfather.
Pearl Jam went on to become one of the biggest selling, popular and influential bands of the 1990’s. Flannel was everywhere during the 1990’s. Every sleazy A&R man was trying to slap grunge on everyone, but Pearl Jam was the cream of the crop.
Gossard is the rhythm/lead guitarist for Pearl Jam as well as songwriter. He is known for his hard rhythm style of playing, and his sense of beat and groove. Stone’s style of playing was influenced by Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and Funk music.
