American vocalist
Born: 20th September 1945 Oberlin, Ohio, USA
Died: 5th May 2020 Los Angeles, California, USA
Came to prominence as one of the vocalists for the band Was (Not Was). In 1982, shortly after the release of the first Was (Not Was) album, he recorded and released his first solo album, Don’t Walk Away. The album was co-produced by Was (Not Was) members David Weiss and Donald Fagenson, also known as the Was Brothers. In 1997, along with Kris Kristofferson, Atkinson starred in a 15-minute short film included on Don Was’ album Forever’s a Long, Long Time, which Was released under the alias Orquestra Was. Atkinson also performed as lead vocalist on most of the songs on the album, on which Was interprets songs by Hank Williams.
Atkinson later joined forces with Blues guitarist Randy Jacobs - also a longtime Was (Not Was) session guitarist who co-wrote the band’s most successful hit, Walk the Dinosaur - in a band called the Boneshakers; together they released three albums. Two of those were studio recordings: Book of Spells in 1997 on Point Blank Records, and Shake the Planet in 1999, also on Point Blank Records. The third album that they cut together is a live album, Live in Seattle, with the groovy saxophonist Mindi Abair. It was released on Concord Records. Two more albums were credited to Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers: The EastWest Sessions (2017) and All I Got for Christmas Is the Blues (2018).