Willie “Loco” Alexander

Although relatively unfamiliar outdoors Boston, Willie “Loco” Alexander is familiar to rock trivia professionals as the response to the brain-teaser: Who took Lou Reed’s put in place the Velvet Underground? He was created in Philadelphia in 1943, but emigrated to Boston within the ’60s, where he created the folk duo Baba & Willie Loco. Alexander founded the Shed in 1964, among Boston’s most widely used garage rings of the time, and documented for Capitol through the middle-’60s. By 1967, he was playing in Cup Menagerie with Doug Yule (who became a member of the Velvets twelve months later, changing John Cale); in 1970, Alexander was asked to join probably one of the most important bands from the ’60s following its innovator departed. He performed keyboards and sang until Yule and all of those other skeleton crew known as it quits in 1972, following the recording Squeeze. Alexander documented three single singles from 1975, and created the punk-oriented Growth Boom Band the next 12 months. The group documented two albums for MCA, but split up in 1978. He released Single Loco in 1982, and created the Confessions, who also documented two albums, A WOMAN AS IF YOU and Autre Chose. Alexander continuing in his single status through the entire ’80s, but created the Persistence of Memory space Orchestra in 1991. Many best-of compilations can be found, detailing his single and group function.