Leo Lyons

Who is Leo Lyons?

Leo Lyons is an English musician, who was also the bassist of the British rock group Ten Years After.

Lyons was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. He first played with lead guitarist Alvin Lee in The Jaybirds. In 1967, there was a name change to Ten Years After. With this group, Lyons played at major rock festivals including Woodstock in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival on 29 August 1970. Ten Years After disbanded in 1976, although they later reformed several times in the 1980s and 1990s with all original members.

In 1975, he was hired as a studio manager by Chrysalis Records to re-equip and run Wessex Studios in London. He then produced UFO from 1974 to 1976. Later, he started two commercial recording studios himself.

Lyons moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-1990s, and was a staff songwriter for Hayes Street Music. He played in a reformed Ten Years After, with new frontman Joe Gooch and also with Gooch in the new blues rock power trio "Hundred Seventy Split". In Lyons' own words, he loves "playing the old songs that people still want to hear. However, that leaves no room for new material - hence the new project."