From Dallas to Singapore, Brett Tuggle's career has taken him across the globe thanks to his keyboard, guitar and vocal skills. When Brett was just a first-grader living in Denver, Colorado, his mom brought home a piano, and he was hooked. During his childhood he took classical piano lessons, begged his grandfather for his first guitar, which he taught himself how to play, and worked all summer on a farm to buy his first organ. It all led to him playing with various local bands throughout his teenage years, and after that, to a full-blown musical career. Brett's is a story of hard work, talent and a little bit of fate.
At the age of 19, Brett was opening for a band called Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. One of the headlining band's crew members heard Brett's band play and went to his buddies and said, "Hey, you should hear the kid on guitar and organ in the opening band." Needless to say, the band came back the next night to hear Brett play. As fate would have it, they were on their way to Vancouver to play a gig and work with their producer Bob Ezrin, and they needed a guitar player. And just like that, Brett was off with his first real touring band to make a record.
Years of touring followed. Brett moved to Texas for a couple of years, where he was introduced to the Texas blues shuffles. Eventually he moved back to Colorado to start a band called Head First with some old friends. In 1979 producer Keith Olsen saw the band and asked Brett to go out to Los Angeles to meet a guitar player who needed a singer/keyboardist. Brett packed up his keyboards, and with $2,000 in his pocket, he drove out to California, where he's been ever since.
In L.A., Brett ended up playing and touring with Rick Springfield for four years after Rick hit it big with Jesse's Girl. The '80s also brought Rick together with David Lee Roth after he had split from Van Halen. During this period in his career Brett was able to stretch his songwriting legs, and he and David ended up with a top 10 hit single in 1988 called Just Like Paradise.
In 1992, Brett's assertion landed him another great opportunity with Mick Fleetwood. Brett met him and heard he was looking for a keyboard player for his new band, The Zoo, so he made a phone call to Billy Thorpe, the singer/songwriter, and he was invited into the band. The Zoo put out an album called Shakin' The Cage, which had mediocre success. But more importantly Brett had made a new friend in Mick, which would later be a key factor in his career.
After touring with some other artists, such as Steve Lukather from Toto, and spending time in the studio, Brett found himself in the Dallas airport getting one of the biggest phone calls of his life. It was Mick, and he was putting Fleetwood Mac back together and wanted to know if Brett would be a part of the band. Within a month, Brett was in rehearsals with Stevie, Lindsey, Christine, Mick and John, preparing for what Brett describes as one of the highlights of his career. The reunion album and tour The Dance was a huge success and led to even more opportunities for Brett.
Soon after the tour, Stevie asked Brett to be in her band, and he accompanied her on a worldwide tour in 2001. Brett has also played with Chris Isaak and Whitesnake, and he does studio work when not on tour.
