Nelson M. Starr

BMHOF Class of 2006

On a weekly basis, millions of people all around the United States hear Nelson Starr's music. By scoring the hit Cable TV programs, "Psychic Detectives" & "Missing Persons Unit", Nelson has finally been able to reach out to a mass audience - an audience that, as a rock performer, was nearly impossible to reach.

One of the best-known and critically acclaimed musician/composers/producers in the Buffalo area, Nelson Starr brings a totally refined, yet thoroughly modern, sensibility to his musical craft. A multi-talented artist, Nelson has the ability to play just about any genre of music - from modern rock to modern jazz, country to R&B and beyond – with credibility, authenticity and heart. Hailing from three generations of professional musicians (all named Nelson!), Nelson Starr stood out early among his peers for his skill both as an instrumentalist, singer/songwriter and composer.

Forming The Tails in 1987, the band went on to become, arguably, one of the most critically praised and popularly admired band of the 90’s Buffalo scene. After honing his craft as a co-producer on four Tails releases, Nelson has been hard at work producing (and often engineering) music for the critically acclaimed rock act Floozie, Art&B/hip-hop duo Perpendicular (with whom he also plays, sings and co-writes music) and Maria Sebastian (which, again, features Nelson’s performances several instruments). A singer’s singer, Nelson is also one of WNY’s top male, first-call jingle-singers for Ad Songs (Ken Kaufman/Entercom Radio).

Through the years, Nelson’s diverse talents have seen him perform with numerous top rock and jazz musicians, including live dates with former Blue Note recording artist, Sam Noto; Bari-sax great, Bruce Johnstone and the Eric Starr Group - featuring collaborations between Nelson, his brother Eric, British saxophone giant, Iain Ballamy (Bill Bruford, Gil Evans) pianist, Andy LaVerne (Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz) and Dominic Miller (Sting’s longtime guitarist); culminating with a 2004 sold-out performance at New York’s Lincoln Center. Finally, in the rock idiom, Nelson has played sessions for Grammy winning producers, Harvey Jay Goldberg (Rolling Stones) and Jeffrey Lesser (Lou Reed); performed and recorded with renowned composer Steven Reich’s son, Ezra Reich and toured as bassist for 10,000 Maniacs.

Nelson is the recipient of the Best Original Male Vocalist Award (Buffalo Music Awards) 1994, 1995, 1997; the Best Original Keyboardist Award (BMA) 1998; Best Rock Keyboardist Award (BMA) 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 (Artvoice) 1999; and Best Male Vocalist Award (Artvoice) 1996, 1999. Nelson’s music also appeared prominently on the Fox television show, “Party of Five” as his production, Form Follows Funk (Perpendicular) was licensed to Columbia/Tri-Star Pictures.

Presently, Nelson is playing keyboards and embarking on a worldwide tour with platinum selling Canadian artist, Jeff Martin (formerly Tea Party). He also composed the soundtrack for the independent film noir, “The Falls” (recent worldwide distribution - Ardustry Home Entertainment) and has just completed scoring season 3 of the hit TV show, “Psychic Detectives” for Court TV. Nelson is a member of ASCAP and plans to pursue additional writing, scoring, performance and production opportunities throughout the year.

You can see some movies of Nelson performing with The Eric Starr Group at www.ericstarrgroup.com