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Autobiography
Between solo performances and band dates, I played well over 100 shows in 13 different states in 2022. For the first show of the year, I had the honor of performing as part of a tornado-relief benefit concert in Paducah, Kentucky that featured Ronnie McDowell, Buddy Jewel, Rhonda Vincent, Maggie Rose...and me. In the spring, the Carolinas continued to be very good to me. Enroute, I had the opportunity to play full concerts at The Listening Room, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in March, April, and May. Nothing sharpens one's performance chops like solo shows of original music at a world-class venue like The Listening Room. The fun continued, and a summer full of highlights featured a concert with the band at Charlevoix, Michigan's Odmark Performance Pavilion, a visually beautiful and great sounding Northern Michigan concert venue that I had been dying to play for many years. We look forward to keeping the momentum going in 2023!
Armed with rudimentary guitar skills and a rock & roll soul, I played my first professional gigs in New Orleans as a member of various bands and as a solo act while attending high school and college. I was extremely lucky to have experienced New Orleans, and the New Orleans music business, so early in my career. Simply put...the music history, vibrant music culture, and the experience of working and competing in the tourist/entertainment-based economy of New Orleans taught me the difference between a "rock star" and a "professional musician". The lesson was invaluable, because while I've never been a rock star, I have been blessed to perform music for a living for about 30 years. I still enjoy performing in New Orleans whenever I get the chance. A highlight was the opportunity of playing as part of Marriott Corporation's Select Brands Conference in 2017 for over 2,000 owners and general managers from all over the world. Marriott presented New Orleans culture as a feature of the event, and I had the honor of playing at the New Orleans Convention Center as part of their "Art of Local" presentation...not representing New Orleans music, necessarily...but "a New Orleans-bred musician." It was a wonderful full circle experience.
Following my college years and two-years traveling as a sideman and as a solo act on the Holiday Inn circuit while based in Atlanta, I abandoned music for the "real world", and spent eight years in the trade show / special events industry. With a renewed rock & roll soul and some business experience, I returned to a life in music in 1994 and have never looked back.
I put the band On the Beach together in 1995. My first CD of original music was released in 1997, but the primary focus was simple: earn a living playing music by playing as many shows as humanly possible. Between 1995-2001, we averaged over 200 shows a year by combining summers that included 2 shows a day / 7 days a week on the Lake Erie Islands circuit with a winter routine of 5 shows a week in Northern Michigan hotels and ski resorts. Although more than 70 different musicians appeared on stage as part of On the Beach over the years...a core group of players became a family of players...the band got tight, and we got good.
Following the release of the On the Beach "People & Places" CD in 2001, our repertoire included enough of my songs to support concerts of original music and the emphasis shifted from playing the island bar, casino, ski resort circuit - to featuring original music at fairs, festivals, and concert events of all shapes and sizes...including just about every single gazebo in the states of Ohio and Michigan. Between 1995-2015, Jeff Tucker & On the Beach played over 3,000 shows. We twice performed live on the Mitch Albom Show for a national ABC Radio network audience of 2.5 million listeners. In 2005, after a decades-long tradition of having the Toledo Symphony simulcast live during the City of Toledo's Fourth of July celebration, On the Beach became the first pop act to be featured during the event - performing before the fireworks for an audience of over 70,000. Over the course of the next ten years, the band was always in demand and always worked, but On the Beach eventually became more of a brand than an actual band - so, after 20 years, I retired the name in 2015. The name was retired but I still work with musicians from every phase of my career, and members of the On the Beach family are always part of "the band".
From 2013-Covid19, I served as the exclusive performer for all events east of the Colorado Rockies for Global Exchange Events, the nation's leading producer of appointment-based business-to-business events held at some of the nation's finest hotel-resort properties. Seven years of Exchange Events performances in Austin, New Orleans, Amelia Island, Naples, Boca Raton, Miami, Palm Beach, Charleston, and the Carolina Lowcountry provided invaluable exposure to an ever-growing list of corporate and private event clientele. Professionalism, integrity, and discretion are assured.
Partial list of major corporate clientele, 2015-2019:
Global Exchange Events, Darien, CT
Meeting Architects, San Diego, CA
AVNET, Phoenix, AZ
Newell Brands, Atlanta, GA
Justice Retail, New Albany, OH
Naylor Association Solutions, Gainesville, FL
USFN, Santa Ana, CA
Sysco, Houston, TX
Memorial Healthcare System, Miramar, FL
Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI
MWH Global, Broomfield, CO
Great Dane Trailers, Chicago, IL
St John, Palm Beach, FL
Keystone Asset Management, Lansdale PA
Lanxess AG Chemicals Company, Cologne DE
University of Michigan School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Ann Arbor, MI
Snap-On Tools, Kenosha, WI
Group Management Services Inc, Richfield, OH
Wadsworth Solutions, Perrysburg OH
Aquatherm Industries, Lakewood, NJ
Flat Rock Metal Inc, Flat Rock, MI
ThorWorks Industries / Sealmaster, Sandusky, OH
Marriott International, Bethesda, MD
Carhartt, Dearborn, MI
IMN Information Management Network, London, UK
Jeff Tucker
~ solo performances
~ band available from three to seven pieces
~ programs of original music, cover music, or a combination of both
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