Willie Alexander

He had been playing piano since he was a kid, but audiences didn't get a real taste of Willie Alexander until his band The Lost started gigging at The Boston Tea Party in the late 1960s, opening the room on January 20, 1967. He followed with stints in the Bagatelle and, in their waning post-Lou Reed days, the Velvet Underground. As the punk scene rolled around, Alexander became a fixture at The Rat, leading the Boom Boom Band and releasing a couple of albums on MCA. Though he built up a local fan base, it wasn't until his albums started coming out in France, where he subsequently toured many times, that he became popular … there. He since formed the "minimalist" group, the Persistence of Memory Orchestra, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the first Boston Music Awards. (by Ed Symkus)