Bruce Hornsby (1954)

Williamsburg
Pop/Rock

This Williamsburg native was embraced by Hampton Roads audiences long before he gained national attention in 1986.

During the late 1970s, the Bruce Hornsby Band performed in venues ranging from the Virginia Beach oceanfront to Williamsburg's Green Leaf Café. A reviewer for the late Metro Magazine praised the "astonishing quality" of the band's music: "The jazz oriented rock music which the band is playing represents the synthesis of rock, jazz and rhythm and blues, which may form the basis for much of the contemporary music of the 1980s."

Hornsby's first album, The Way It Is, released in 1986, went double-platinum and earned the singer his first Grammy, for Best New Artist. The album also topped the charts in England, Germany, Canada and Australia. Of six other Grammy nominations, he took the award for Best Bluegrass Recording for "The Valley Road," recorded with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; and Best Pop Instrumental for "Barcelona Mona," with Branford Marsalis.

Hornsby's style is eclectic, but always features the piano at the center. Entertainer Elton John credited Hornsby with reviving the piano sound in rock music.

In addition to recording and performing as a headliner, Hornsby has toured with other well-known artists, such as Sheena Easton and The Grateful Dead. He has played piano on albums by Bonnie Raitt and Bob Dylan; and has invited such artists as Raitt, Garcia, Marsalis and Phil Collins to share the track on his own albums.

Hornsby tours extensively, but maintains a home in Williamsburg.