THANKS FOR THE MUSIC
Hub rock icon J. Geils found dead in his Groton home
John Warren Geils Jr. — better known to the world as J. Geils, founder and lead guitarist of the J. Geils band — was the mastermind behind one of Boston's greatest bands and the blues authority who kept the flame burning through years of arena success.
Geils, whose band was best known for such chart-toppers as “Centerfold,” “FreezeFrame,” “Love Stinks” and “Musta Got Lost,” was found dead yesterday in his Groton home. He was 71.
Groton police found his body during a wellness check. They are investigating his death as part of standard procedure, but a preliminary investigation indicates that Geils died of natural causes, according to a department statement last night.
Originally called the J. Geils Blues Band, the group was inspired by such legends as Muddy Waters and James Cotton. Geils was savvy enough to know that a fasttalking hipster named Peter Wolf and, later, an untried young pianist named Seth Justman, could bring to life his vision of a blues-based band who could pack the arenas and dominate the airwaves.
The band at one time shared a house on Inman Square, where the likes of Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield would show up for late-night jams.
The spirit of those jams carried to J. Geils' live shows, where they were legendary for multiple encore marathons, not wrapping it up until the band and audience were ready to drop.
Geils' searing solo on “Give It To Me” is one good example of his mastery, while a slow blues song like “Serves You Right to Suffer” would always prompt his most heartfelt performances.
Onstage, Geils looked impeccably cool in his leather jacket, slicked-back hair and shades. Offstage, he was one of the band's resident R&B experts, coming up with buried treasures for the band to cover. Still, a later hit like “Love Stinks” proved he could pile-drive a powerchord with the best.
When the band separated in the '90s, Geils found his second love in restoring vintage cars. He also went back to his roots and formed a second band, Bluestime. Though the band lasted for only two albums, Geils sounded newly energized on the guitar. To judge from the cool swagger he displayed onstage, playing lowdown blues in the clubs was where he felt most at home.
The J. Geils band reunited in 2000, but Geils wound up falling out with the group and leaving. While Duke Levine proved a perfectly capable fill-in, fans had to notice that the band's driving wheel was missing.
This writer last saw Geils a few years ago, at a Cotton show at Scullers. Geils hung out, swapping road stories with Cotton as he signed autographs afterward. The mutual admiration was obvious.
If Geils started his career as a fan and scholar, he'd long since taken his place among the blues giants.