Patrick Upton

After the demise of his band the Spiral Starecase, lead vocalist and guitarist Pat Upton returned back to his hometown of Geraldine, Alabama and took stock. Soured by the vagaries of the business end of rock & roll, he put his career on hold and his life in self-imposed exile, developing his golfing habit to a major degree. After a downtime period, he eased himself back into it, doing session work and finally landing a permanent job as a backup vocalist in Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band. He stayed with Rick for several years (he can be heard on Nelson's Playing to Win album) until home and hearth beckoned again, opening up a local nightclub in Guntersville, his club being the last place Nelson worked before flying out that night to his fiery death in a plane crash in 1985. Once again, Upton eased out of music, only to be called on again when he became a mainstay of the California-based oldies show 30 Years Of Rock'n'Roll in the late 1980s. Still more than capable of stealing the show with nothing more than his magnificent tenor voice, Pat Upton remained active, writing and recording new material and performing when he "damn well feels like it". Pat Upton passed away on July 27, 2016, at the age of 75.