 Wolfgang P. Oehry, also known as “Wolf”, “Wolfie” or “Long tall Wolfie”, is originally from the Principality of Liechtenstein. In 1987, he moved to Florida, USA, where he lives ever since. During his long musical career, Wolf has worked in a number of different bands and has also formed a few of his own. Here are some of them:
THE CURLY LEAD
In 1970, Wolf put together a great night club band, consisting of Adriana, an attractive young lady with a unique and unmistakable voice, Rolf on the drums and also one of the lead vocalists, two horns, keyboards, bass, rhythm guitar and Wolf as the lead singer and guitarist. The band became well known in the European night club scene and was active for several years, before Wolf decided to do something new and formed…
THE NEW CURLY LEADS
After dissolving the original Curly Leads, Wolf found four great musicians and formed "The new Curly Leads". They established a new repertoire with more up-to-date songs (at least at that time), like Santana tunes, |
Disco, Funk, etc.
S W A N
When Wolf’s old high school buddy, Norby Glausen, a superb 4-finger guitar picker and his girlfriend Sue returned from Australia, they formed the Folk Song group "SWAN". The name “SWAN” derived from the initials of Sue, Wolf, Adriana (she quit the group) and Norby. The three sounded great, a mix of Eagles, Peter, Paul & Mary, Mamas & Papas, etc.). SWAN appeared at a number of Folk Song festivals and similar events. They recorded one album by the name of... you guessed it, “SWAN”.
ATLANTA
This time, it was Rock and Blues-Rock straight up! Yet another 180 degree change in Wolf’s musical style! Atlanta played tunes of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Hendrix, Little Feet, even a Queen tune (Sleeping on the Sidewalk). Atlanta was a fun band with little or no ambition for fame and fortune. Their motto was, "Straight ahead, just like a tank!". Never the less, Atlanta performed with great success at a number of open air concerts.
THE four WINDOWS
This band began as yet another “just-for-fun” project in 1981. Wolf and three other musicians met once a week in a rehearsal room to play their favorite 50's guitar instrumentals, like "Apache", “FBI”, "Run don't walk", Wipe Out", and many others with Wolf as the soloist. While the four guys had no ambition to take this any further, fate had other plans for them!
After about six months in the rehearsal room, they decided to accept an invitation to play at the "Red Factory"(Rote Fabrik), a Youth & Art center in Zurich, Switzerland. After their performance, the whole thing took on a life of its own and became an incredible ride for the four Windows!
In a very short time, "The four Windows" became a well known musical act in Europe. Dressed in original black suits from the 50's, ties and boots from some thrift shop, they kept everything authentic, right down to the Ludwig drum with only one tom. However, what made the four Windows really authentic was Wolf’s brilliant guitar sound, which he had learned and adapted as a young teenager from Hank B. Marvin, lead guitarist of Cliff Richard's band, the "Shadows". During the recording of a TV show in Baden Baden, Hank actually complimented Wolf personally for "the best copy of his own music he’s ever heard!" What a great compliment for “Long tall Wolfie”, as he was nick-named at the time!
"The four Windows" performed hundreds of concerts of every size. From countless night club stages to open air concerts to concert halls and even a sports stadium. On stage, The four Windows played mostly guitar tunes of the Shadows, but on their records, they strictly played originals, mostly Wolf’s compositions. After winning one of the monthly "Jumping Board" (Sprungbrett) contests and also winning the "Best of Jumping Board" later that same year, Radio and TV stations became very interested in Wolf and the four Windows. Several prime-time TV gigs and many radio interviews followed. Record contract offers came from several labels to produce and publish "The four Windows". They chose EMI, one of the largest and most renowned record companies world wide.
EMI produced a number of singles and one album with Wolf and “The four Windows”. The album "Identity" received raving reviews and the German equivalent to the famous Rolling Stones magazine, “Das Fachblatt”, wrote a full-page article with sentences like, “the best guitar instrumental album in decades!” EMI singled out one of Wolf’s tunes, "Lonely Seagull" and it became the instrumental summer hit in 1982! This tune was played by every radio station over and over again for weeks. A second album was planned, but due to differences in the band and a feeling of stagnation, Wolf left the band in 1985 and went on a trip around the world.
Yep, it was a dream-come-true for four humble musicians who wanted nothing more than to play some old tunes, once a week, just for fun… |
