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“If you want a happy life, tie it to
a goal, not to people or things.”
—Albert Einstein
When Fremont John performs, he generates enough
electricity to light up a whole town. He has
created quite a famous reputation around the
Southern Florida communities where he is known
for playing his heavenly sounding Taylor guitar
along with his haunting melodies and poignant
lyrics. There is a powerful message in Fremont
John’s music that is an inspiration to
all that hear it. We can re-live our life experiences
and realize that Fremont John’s songs are
the soundtracks for our lives.
Fremont John Ashton’s rich musical background
comes from almost 20 years of classical piano
training and nearly as many years on trombone.
He continued studies on both instruments while
majoring in Theory and Composition at Michigan
State University school of Music. He began teaching
himself guitar at age 14. Throughout high school
and college, John played in several bands, including
a “Chicago-Style” horn band for which
he wrote and arranged the horn charts. Other
performing experience includes marching bands,
the world famous Scottville Clown band, a drum
and bugle corps, a big 17 piece dance band and
numerous three to four piece rock bands.
Upon completion of his “formal schooling”,
Fremont John went on the road playing lead guitar,
keyboards and singing with rock band, InnerVision.
The group toured the Midwest and surrounding
areas for several years playing large college
bars and opening concerts for Rush, Iron Butterfly
and Styx. At that time, InnerVision was under
the management of Paul Stanley from Detroit,
who also promoted acts, such as Kiss, Aerosmith,
George Carlin, Fleetwood Mac, REO Speedwagon
and many others.
Marriage and family then prompted the “age
of reason and responsibility” to set in.
He sporadically spent his weekends gigging and
writing music while juggling a banking career
and later a career in the environmental industry.
More specifically, he became a bank Vice President
while in the Lansing, Michigan area. After a
move north to Ludington, he started and grew
his own environmental remediation business working
directly for the major oil companies, the military
and various other government bodies.
However . . . you can’t extract music from
the soul of a true musician, and Fremont John
is a true musician.
Fast-forward to the 1990s. Fremont John and
InnerVision drummer Michael Carden teamed up
again and formed the band Alias. With Fremont
John out front on electric guitar and keyboards,
Alias became the hottest classic rock band along
the West Michigan Coast. While playing a regular
schedule with the band for many years, Fremont
John also began performing solo with acoustic
guitar.
. . . The rest of the story is an ongoing trip
up-hill. Fremont John sold his business in 1999,
and moved to Key West, Florida, to revive a
sorely missed full time music career. Within
the same year, he independently released a long
overdue first CD entitled, “Acoustic Thunder”
which consists of eight original songs and four
cover tunes. As a result, Fremont John has been
a regular solo performer at many bar and restaurant
venues throughout the Florida Keys.
Spring 2001 brought a request from management
at The Bull in Key West for Fremont John to
expand his solo performance with a band. Fremont
John and Acoustic Thunder created a steady audience
building gig and became one of the island’s
premier rock/show bands. The band’s self
produced live CD entitled “Lighting Strikes
The Bull” was released in July 2002. In
addition to playing “The Bull”, Fremont
John performed both solo and with the band at
a number of South Florida venues. Fremont John
and Alphonse Subarsky, formerly of The New Jersey
based Party Dolls, gave rousing Dueling Guitar
shows weekly at The Bull. More recently he and
“Timeline” producer Larry Baeder (Carly
Simon, Alex Taylor, Temptations, James Montgomery)
have teamed up to create their own duo style.
Fremont John gives us many messages when he
bares his soul through his music. Not only are
his tunes the soundtracks of our lives, but
they also impart the inspiration for us to be
true to our own goals and dreams.
Fremont John is one of the few musical artists
that really expresses what life is like.
His music is a gift to enhance our own life
experiences.
Visit the artist's website
Purchase any of Fremont John's CD's by visiting:
http://www.fremontjohn.com/
http://www.cdbaby.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
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