Recalling Neal Gladstone
Neal Gladstone grew up in a musical household where everyone in the family played the piano. He studied violin as well, and performed with his high school symphony in Stillwater, Oklahoma, but it was the era of folk music, so Neal learned to play the guitar in his junior year, and spent the next nine months copying rock and roll songs from records and getting award-winning callouses from his Sears guitar. He started writing his own music right away, with witty lyrics in what would soon become his signature style.
Playing music in rock bands helped Neal work his way through college. Though he earned his degree in psychology from the University of Chicago, he claims to have majored in the Beatles.
After graduation Neal formed a band which played his witty original music band in small Chicago clubs. Though he attracted many fans, he wanted to get out of the city. His opportunity came when he met his wife Barbara. In 1977, the two of them moved to Oregon, settling in the town of Corvallis, home to Oregon State University. Barbara found a job at OSU and then accepted a teaching position at Corvallis High School, where she worked for 22 years. Neal found work offering piano and guitar lessons, and performing in a popular touring dance band.
In 1980, the pair met vocalist Audrey Perkins, who had also found her way out west by way of Chicago. By that time, Neal was tired of playing covers at bars along Interstate, making the return drive home most nights. It didn’t take much effort for Audrey to persuade Neal to form a band which could exclusively perform his original songs.
Adding Fred Child on guitar and keyboard, Neal Gladstone and Company gave their first performance in 1982 to a crowd of about 50 people at the Corvallis Arts Center. Attendance at their concerts subsequently doubled at each performance. Over the next few years, the band toured small towns all over Oregon as featured performers for Oregon On Tour, designing original shows for each destination.
In 1987, Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio invited Neal, along with Audrey Perkins and Fred Child, to write, perform, record, and produce a weekly variety show: 13 weeks of the original music and comedy, The Neal Gladstone Radio Show ran for four years, playing on OPB, KLCC, KUOW, and Seattle Public Radio, attracting fans throughout the Northwest. Those radio shows can now be heard on the link in this website.
Over his 30-year career, Neal Gladstone released six albums of his original music, performing, recording, and engineering them in his home studio, besides writing and producing two cabaret-style shows a year in his home town. Video recordings of some of these concert performances are now available on this website.
Tragically, in 2008 Neal was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease. Though he continued writing and recording for another 10 years, his last public performance was in 2011. He was working on his 7th album in his last years. These unreleased songs will be available on his website in the months to come.
After Neal Gladstone's retirement from performing, the Benton County Cultural Coalition and the Corvallis Arts and Culture Commission awarded him with a Lifetime Contribution to Culture in 2014.
In 2017, more than 850 fans, friends and neighbors honored Gladstone with a sold-out tribute concert at the Whiteside Theatre in Corvallis.
Neal died April 5, 2024. On his birthday, July 23, his band re-united at Tyee Wine Cellars to celebrate his life and his music with a concert of his songs and comedy. Watch the 2024 Birthday concert here or on YouTube.
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