Biography

Randy Hansen

Born December 8, 1954 in Seattle, Washington Randy is a U.S. guitarist, best known for his emulation of Jimi Hendrix. He clearly has a bit of physical resemblance to Hendrix in his facial features, and carries that resemblance further by emulating such signatures of Hendrix's style as playing a guitar with his teeth or behind his back. His music appeared in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, and his debut album was released in 1980 on Capitol Records.Hansen's high energy guitar work has earned praise from fellow Dutch-American, legendary guitarist, Eddie Van Halen (in Guitar Player magazine), among others. He also was a good friend of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan (writing a song about him called "Texas Twister" from his Old Dogs New Tricks CD). He has toured and played with literally hundreds of famous musicians and groups.
Hansen's Hendrix act first came to prominence with Randy Hansen's Machine Gun (1977–80), with Larry Epperly on bass guitar and Tim Kelliher on drums (Kelliher later did sessions for guitarist Daniel Jones in his band 7th Order, whose session personnel also included British guitarist Martin Pugh and veteran American rock guitarist Geoff Thorpe). All three had previously been in a band called Kid Chrysler and the Cruisers. Hansen's Machine Gun performed on bills with Heart, The Kinks, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and others, and were written up by Rolling Stone and Guitar Player. There are now videos out with Buddy Miles covering Hendrix tunes such as "All Along the Watchtower", with incredible playing by Hansen from 1997.
After his debut album, his emphasis continued to be on original releases emulating the Jimi Hendrix style of composition, in addition to including large numbers of Hendrix compositions in his live shows. He had a brief stint in the 1980s with a band that played a more contemporary style but, failing to gain a record contract of note, quickly returned to his main source of success as a Hendrix imitator. One of the high points of Hansen's career was when he played a short series of concerts with a band that included the original Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer, Mitch Mitchell. In the 1990s and into the 2000s, Hansen has increasingly turned to Europe for his live show tour dates due to greater interest from that market. He headlined a July 26, 2008 bill in Mannheim, Germany, with Love Street (Doors tribute) and Buried Alive Band (Janis Joplin tribute) as openers . He continues also to play locally in Seattle and around the U.S
Hansen has three self-released CDs of original music in print, none of them well-distributed but all available online: Old Dogs New Tricks, Good Intentions and Tower of Love. He continues to live in Seattle. There are some excellent on-line videos of Hansen and Uli Roth doing some Hendrix tunes showing great talent by both artists.

Jimi Hendrix Tribute


THE MUSIC OF JIMI HENDRIX LIVES ON
IN RANDY HANSEN'S TRIBUTE


Forty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix is still leaving an impact on the music world. The recent release of Valleys of Neptune -- a collection of previously unreleased studio recordings -- rocketed Jimi to #4 on the Billboard 200 Chart, making it the highest-charting album of his career. While the legend of this true "guitar hero" lives on, no one celebrates it more than the remarkable Randy Hansen.

Hansen has acquired himself quite a reputation as one of the best Hendrix impersonators on the 3rd stone from the sun. He is one of the few players officially recognized by the Hendrix family. He has been successfully doing his "Hendrix trip" for years and has toured / played with Uli Jon Roth, Jack Bruce, and Paul Rodgers. Randy channels the spirit of Jimi through his Fender strat on the awesome "Hendrix By Hansen" disc.
Today Hansen’s’ audience is worldwide, through persistent demand by the fans in America and Europe, whether with The Randy Hansen Band or working with other entertainer’s. Steve Miller, Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company, The Firm, Queen), Buddy Miles, Don Wilson (The Ventures), Alan White (YES, John Lennon), Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Cray, Roger Fisher (Heart), Bob Segar and Hendrix alumni Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, are just a few of the many musicians he’s performed with. 

Discography

Randy Hansen (Capitol Records, 1980)
Monster, Herbie Hancock (Columbia Records, 1980)
Astral Projection (Shrapnel Records, 1983)
Metal Classics no.2 Want to Take You Higher 1990
Classics Live- "A tribute to Jimi Hendrix" (Ananaz Records, 1992)
 Hendrix by Hansen (Fillo K / Affengeil Records, 1993)
Old Dogs New Tricks (Fillo K / Green Tree Records, 1997)
Egg Lake Shake US Bootleg (Fillo K, 1999)
War & Peace - The Flesh and Blood Sessions (Radio Mafia Records, 1999)
Tower Of Love (Fillo K / Manni v. Bohr, 2000)
Good Intentions (Fillo K / Manni v. Bohr, 2003)
Alter Ego (Fillo K, 2004)
Live in Berlin DVD (Fillo K, 2005)
European Tour 2008 "Hendrix Live" CD (Fillo K, 2008)
Randy Hansen Band "LIVE 2008" DVD (Fillo K, 2008)

Randy Hansen - "Substage Live: (Fillo K, 2012)