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Elliot Easton
Elliot Easton
	Easton performing with the New Cars, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Elliot Steinberg
Born	December 18, 1953 (age 71); Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres	Rock; new wave; blues rock; hard rock; rockabilly;
Occupation	Guitarist
Years active	1976–present

Elliot Easton (born Steinberg,^[1] December 18, 1953)^[2] is an American musician who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the American new wave band the Cars. His melodic guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a solo artist, and has played in other bands. He is a left-handed guitarist.^[2] In 2018, Easton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.

Personal life

Born Elliott Steinberg in Brooklyn, New York, Easton attended Massapequa High School in Massapequa NY, and studied music at the Berklee College of Music. Easton has been married twice. As of 2018, he is married to Jill Easton.^[3] He has a daughter, Sydney, from his first marriage.^[4] He lives in Bell Canyon, California.^[5]

Career

Easton is a founding member of the Cars and was its lead guitarist.^[6] The band was formed in 1976.^[7] Its debut album, The Cars (1978), contained the hit single "Just What I Needed". The band went on to release five more albums over the next nine years before breaking up in 1988.^{[citation needed]} Easton was the youngest member of the band. Easton released one solo album, Change No Change (1985), featuring songs co-written with Jules Shear.^[8] One single, "(Wearing Down) Like a Wheel", was released and became a moderate hit on the rock charts. In the mid-1990s, Easton produced and played on the first two albums by Amy Rigby. He was also the lead guitarist on Jules Shear's 1994 album 'Healing Bones'.^[9] Easton was a founding member of Creedence Clearwater Revisited, a Spin-off group consisting of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival.^[10] He was in the Clearwater Revisited group from 1995 to 2004.

Easton was a member of the New Cars,^[11] along with original Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, singer/songwriter Todd Rundgren, former Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince.^[10] In June 2006, the band released a live album, It's Alive!, that includes three new studio tracks.^[12] Easton was featured and played the solo in the Click Five song "Angel to You (Devil to Me)".^[13]^[14] In 2010, Easton reunited with the surviving original members of the Cars to record their first album in 24 years, entitled Move Like This. The album was released in 2011,^[15] and the band toured in support of it. Easton next became a founding member of the Empty Hearts supergroup formed in 2014. The band also included the Chesterfield Kings bassist Andy Babiuk, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, the Romantics guitarist and vocalist Wally Palmar, and Faces pianist Ian McLagan.^[16]

Legacy

Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash has cited Easton as one of his musical influences,^[17] praising Easton's concise and melodic solos. In 2013, the Gibson Guitar Company launched the Elliot Easton "Tikibird" Firebird guitar, which is a modified version of their Firebird model.^[18] In 2018, Easton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.^[19]