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Patrick O'Hearn
O'Hearn performing inHBO seriesTreme, 2011
Background information
Born	Patrick John O'Hearn (1954-09-06)September 6, 1954 (age 71) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	New age jazz rock new wave
Occupations	Musician composer
Years active	1970–present
Labels	Columbia Capitol Private Music BMG Deep Cave Patrick O'Hearn Music
Website	patrickohearn.com

Patrick John O'Hearn (born September 6, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist.

Known primarily as abass guitarist and keyboardist, O'Hearn came to prominence withFrank Zappa and co-founded the early 1980snew wave bandMissing Persons with several other veterans from Zappa's bands. O'Hearn's musical repertoire spans a diverse range includingnew-age. In addition to solo albums, he has composed soundtracks for movies and television.

Born inLos Angeles, California and raised in thePacific Northwest, O'Hearn began his professional music career at age 15 when he joined theMusicians Union and began playing night clubs inPortland, Oregon. Upon graduating fromSunset High School in 1972, he moved toSeattle, Washington. There, he briefly attendedCornish College of the Arts, and as well, studied privately with bassistGary Peacock.

In 1973, he moved toSan Francisco, California and soon became involved in theBay Area jazz scene of that time, playing bass for established artistsCharles Lloyd,Joe Henderson,Dexter Gordon,Joe Pass,Woody Shaw, Eddie Henderson, and Bobby Hutcherson. He also collaborated with musicians his own age, includingTerry Bozzio,Mark Isham and Peter Maunu.

While on tour in Los Angeles in 1976, O'Hearn met musicianFrank Zappa, who offered him a job as bass player in his band—a position he held for over two years. During this period, O’Hearn shifted from the acoustic bass to the electric bass guitar, and also became increasingly interested in electronic music. Zappa encouraged O’Hearn to explore his collection of synthesizers, and also introduced him to the technical aspects of music production, audio engineering, and home studio audio recording equipment.

In 1979, O'Hearn teamed with trumpet player Mark Isham and guitarist Peter Maunu to form Group 87. Group 87 only produced two LPs—Group 87 in 1980, andA Career in Dada Processing in 1984, but Patrick O'Hearn was a member of the band only on the first album, as he would soon thereafter joinMissing Persons. Isham and Maunu would appear as collaborators on several of O'Hearn's later solo releases.

In 1981, drummer and former Zappa bandmateTerry Bozzio invited O’Hearn to join his emerging new wave band,Missing Persons along with guitarist and fellow Zappa alumnusWarren Cuccurullo andDale Bozzio, who had performed vocals in several Zappa productions and recently married Terry. O'Hearn shifted from electric bass to synthesizers. Missing Persons recorded three albums for Capitol Records:Spring Session M (1982),Rhyme & Reason (1984), andColor In Your Life (1986). The band dissolved in early 1986; subsequently, O'Hearn joined with formerDuran Duran guitaristAndy Taylor and formerSex Pistols guitaristSteve Jones for one album,Thunder (1987), and a brief tour.

O'Hearn's solo career was spurred in large part by formerTangerine Dream memberPeter Baumann, who had been conceiving of a new music label that would showcase progressive instrumental music—a niche earlier explored by Group 87. Baumann formed thePrivate Music label in late 1984, and produced O'Hearn's debut solo album,Ancient Dreams (1985).

O'Hearn followedAncient Dreams with two more albums—Between Two Worlds (1987), which earned the artist his firstGrammy nomination, andRivers Gonna Rise (1988). O'Hearn began to receive greater airplay on jazz and new-age radio stations. O'Hearn also co-produced several tracks for guitaristColin Chin'sIntruding on a Silence, featuring Mark Isham on trumpet. O'Hearn released his fourth solo albumEldorado in 1989, which blended elements of World Music with warm keyboard textures.

The next O'Hearn release wasIndigo in 1991. Winding up their contract, Private Music assembled a compilation album in 1992 titledThe Private Music of Patrick O'Hearn. This album included three previously unreleased tracks titled "Down Hill Racer", "Irene", and "Step".

In 1992, O'Hearn composed and performed the music score forWhite Sands, a crime thriller starringWillem Dafoe andSamuel L. Jackson. The film was directed byRoger Donaldson. Later that year he composed the score toSilent Tongue, written and directed bySam Shepard and starringAlan Bates,Richard Harris,River Phoenix andDermot Mulroney.

O'Hearn releasedTrust in 1995 under the newly formed Deep Cave record label. Featuring contributions fromDavid Torn and former bandmates Terry Bozzio andWarren Cuccurullo,Trust earned O'Hearn his secondGrammy nomination.^[1] Shortly after the release of his next album,Metaphor (1996), the Deep Cave record label folded. Also released in 1996 was the soundtrack to the filmCrying Freeman.

There have been a few various artists albums that O'Hearn has contributed new material to. In 1998, his 12-minute composition "35th Parallel" appeared on the five-artist albumThe Ambient Expanse. In 2000, his version of a Johann Sebastian Bach piece called "Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1" appeared on the compilationA Different Prelude: A Contemporary Collection. In 2003 his version of theJoaquín Rodrigo composition "Adagio from Fantasy for a Gentleman" appeared on the compilationAdagio: A Windham Hill Collection. This last track can also be found on the various artists compilationSundown: Windham Hill Piano Collection, released in 2006.

O'Hearn's next solo project,So Flows the Current (2001), was recorded over a three-year period from 1997 to 2000.

In 2002, cinematographer David Fortney created a film of landscape images paired with O'Hearn music. The result wasTimeless - A National Parks Odyssey which was released on DVD in 2002. This also includes a new version of the track "Beauty In Darkness," originally from O'Hearn's debut album.

Beautiful World was O'Hearn's next release in 2003, and it was voted the No. 1 album on the nationally syndicated radio programEchoes. This was followed bySlow Time in 2005. O'Hearn dedicated the track "Music For Three Vibraphones" in memory of his mentor Frank Zappa.

In 2006, O'Hearn released three recordings via iTunes online delivery only. The first two of these are the soundtrack EP to Sean Garland's short filmThe Wheelhouse, and the soundtrack album to the Sam Shepard stage playSimpatico (originally recorded in 1994). These were followed byThe So Flows Sessions, which is a full-length album of previously unreleased material from the recording sessions in 1997–2000 that producedSo Flows The Current.

The next year in 2007 O'Hearn released the CDGlaciation, inspired by images of Earth's Arctic regions. In the summer of 2007, O'Hearn was introduced to singer-songwriterJohn Hiatt and played bass on Hiatt'sSame Old Man album. Hiatt subsequently asked him to join his band and tour in support of the album's 2008 release. O'Hearn continued to tour with Hiatt through 2010 and recorded on his following releases:The Open Road (2010),Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns (2011), andMystic Pinball (2012).

O'Hearn's 13th albumTransitions was released digitally on August 23, 2011, and on CD on October 4. It was voted No.1 album of 2011 on theEchoes Listener's Poll.

In December 2013, a various artists album titledNashville Indie Spotlight was released, which includes a new piece by Patrick O'Hearn and Peter Maunu called "Out of Reach".

His daughter, Rachel, is anelectronic musician, performing under the names Chromatiq and Black Sound Effects.^[2]

In October 2020, Patrick O’Hearn released a new track online titledRivulet, which also had a second version titledRivulet (Tranquility Mix).

In August 2024, O'Hearn released an EP titledQuattro Amici, which is four tracks from his first albumAncient Dreams that have been reworked in varying degrees.Malevolent Landscape andBeauty in Darkness have new music added to the start and end of the song.At First Light andAncient Dreams don’t have new music, but they’ve been remixed with some additional piano. The song titles on the EP have mostly been given ethnic derivatives of the original titles.

Patrick O’Hearn did the soundtrack music for these, without releasing a soundtrack album.

• Official site
• Patrick O'Hearn Discography
• Patrick O'Hearn atAllmusic
• Patrick O'Hearn atIMDb
• Patrick O'Hearn at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• 1954 births
• Living people
• American electronic musicians
• American new-age musicians
• Private Music artists
• Windham Hill Records artists
• Missing Persons (band) members
• Musicians from Los Angeles
• People from Malden, Massachusetts
• Musicians from Portland, Oregon
• American new wave musicians
• Cornish College of the Arts alumni
• American male musicians
• Sunset High School (Beaverton, Oregon) alumni
• The Tony Williams Lifetime members

• BLP articles lacking sources from September 2024
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• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts
• Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata