This week on our Masters in Business podcast, we do something a little different – instead of a guest from the world of finance or investing, today we explore goings on in the world of music: We speak with Laurence Juber (better known as “LJ”), a 2-time Grammy award winning recording artist, and former lead guitarist for Paul McCartney and Wings. Juber was voted “Guitarist of the Year” by readers of Fingerstyle Guitar magazine, one of the top acoustic players of all time by Acoustic Guitar magazine. He has recorded 23 solo albums since 1982, many released to critically acclaim and has won 2 Grammys.
By his own account, he began playing guitar the week that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles was released. He was earning money playing guitar at the age of 13, and began to study classical guitar at 15.
LJ is not only a renowned guitarist – no less than Pete Townsend has called him “A master!” – but he is also a musicologist. We discuss some of the copyright issues now in courts, including Spirit vs Led Zeppelin litigation about Stairway to Heaven. Juber, guitar in hand, plays both, and shows how they each lifted most of the melody form a piece written in 1609.
His first work as a session guitarist upon graduation from University was working with famed Beatles producer George Martin. He was invited to join Paul McCartney’s band Wings in 1978 for their world tour.
If you are at all interested in either music, copyright law, guitars, The Beatles or Paul McCartney & Wings, then you must check out the conversation I had last week with Laurence Juber. Be sure to stick around until the end of the podcast, where he demonstrates his unique style playing 3 magical songs.
You can stream the full podcast below, or download it on iTunes, Soundcloud or Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts are at iTunes, Soundcloud and Bloomberg.
Next week, we speak with Wes Gray of Alpha Architect.
Full run of videos from podcast here
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