Parthenon Huxley

Parthenon Huxley is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer who is known for his solo albums and for his involvement in ELO Part II and The Orchestra, both of which are latter-day offshoots of the 1970s-80s orchestral rock band Electric Light Orchestra. He has also made several cameo appearances in several films including The Flintstones.

Biography

Huxley was born and grew up in North Carolina, but spent some time in Greece as a child. His stage name combines two of his varied interests - the civilization of Ancient Greece, and the British writer Aldous Huxley. He began his music career as a member of the Chapel Hill, NC rock band The Blazers, which consisted of Huxley (credited under his real name), Sherman Tate (lead & harmony vocals, rhythm guitar), Ronnie Taylor (drums & percussion) and Lee Gildersleeve (bass). The band recorded one album, How To Rock: Ten Easy Lessons (Moonlight Records, 1980).

His first solo recording (released under the pseudonym "Rick Rock") was the self-financed single "Buddha, Buddha" / "Sputnik" (Big Groovy, 1983), which cost US$400 to produce. During this period Huxley also toured as guitarist with Don Dixon, who had co-produced the Rick Rock single with Mitch Easter. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1987 and signed with Columbia Records; the following year he recorded his first solo album, Sunny Nights (Columbia 1988), produced by David Kahne. Three of its tracks ("Double Our Numbers", "Compromise" and "Chance to be Loved") were released as singles during that year. Although the album received favourable reviews, it did not sell well and this ended his association with Columbia.

It was five years before Huxley's next album; in the intervening period he co-produced the two solo albums by Eels frontman E, 1992's A Man Called E and 1994's Broken Toy Shop, and two albums by power pop singer Kyle Vincent.

Huxley's next album was credited to P.Hux, a power-pop trio comprising Huxley, Gordon Townsend (drums, vocals) and Rob Miller (bass, vocals). The album Deluxe (1995) was released in the US on the Black Olive label, and was also released in Japan, Australia and France (where it was retitled Every Minute). The songs on the album were largely inspired by Huxley's recent marriage to screenwriter Janet Heaney. The album was well received by critics and was voted as 1995 Album of the Year by Audites Magazine.

Huxley's next recording was the self-titled album recorded by Huxley's side-project VeG (1997), another three-piece group with Winston Watson (drums, lap steel) and Paul Martinez (bass, background vocals).

In January 1997 Huxley's wife Janet died from cancer, aged only 39, and it was several years before he resumed his solo career. In the meantime, he joined Electric Light Orchestra Part II in January 1999, replacing singer-guitarist Phil Bates, and he toured with them through the year. In November that year Bev Bevan played his last show with the band; in early 2000 he issued a press statement announcing that the group had dissolved, and he then sold his 50% share of the rights to the ELO name back to the group's founder, Jeff Lynne. The remaining members then recruited drummer Gordon Townsend and the group continued under the name The Orchestra. They continued to tour with this lineup until January 2009, when bassist Kelly Grocutt died suddenly from a heart attack. He was replaced by Glen Burtnik, (ex Styx) and this version of the band (with Huxley) has continued to the present.

Huxley re-started his solo career in 2001 with two albums. The second P.Hux studio album, Purgatory Falls, was a deeply personal and sometimes harrowing song-cycle that chronicled the devastating experience of his wife's untimely death. This was followed by a solo live album, Live In Your Living Room. Later that year he recorded with The Orchestra for their album No Rewind, which featured three songs written or co-written by Huxley.