Joe Bouchard is a very successful recording artist best known as a founding member of the band Blue Öyster Cult. The original band recorded for Columbia Records in the 1970s and 1980s, and Joe has nine gold and two platinum records to his credit. He is a multi-instrumentalist who is also a composer, producer, engineer and author. He was an active member of Blue Öyster Cult for 16 years and recorded 14 albums for Columbia Records. BÖC, as they were called, toured tirelessly all 50 states and internationally in Canada, Europe, the UK, and Japan throughout the 70s and 80s. While best known as their bass player, he also played piano, keyboards and guitar. As a songwriter he wrote many BOC songs including the very popular Astronomy which was covered by Metallica. His song Hot Rails to Hell was the second BÖC single released by Columbia Records. Even though it was not a hit it remains a very popular song to the present day. Their song Don't Fear the Reaper was a top 20 song and has been played in many movies and TV shows. They followed up that song with the ever popular Godzilla, and then the all-time classic Burnin' for You. The Reaper took on another dimension when it was used on Saturday Night Live in the “More Cowbell” sketch. It was reintroduced to a whole new generation through the power of that TV show, and the entire catalog of Blue Öyster Cult songs is constantly being reissued by Columbia/Sony. Sensing it was time to try something new, Joe retired from the Blue Öyster Cult in 1986. Since then he has dedicated much of his time to composing new music, performing and teaching. He has a bachelors degree from The Ithaca College School of Music, and a masters degree in music composition from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. He performs with several bands to the present day including The X Brothers, and most recently the all-star group called The Greatest Hits on Earth-Live! The X Brothers has been Joe's band for over 20 years and performs at many special events every year. In 2012 The X Brothers released album of classic covers based around a clothing theme called The Dedicated Followers of Fashion. Other X Brothers albums include Solid Citizens and Beyond the Valley of the X. His latest group, Blue Coupe, is a superstar combo which features his brother Albert, also a founding member of Blue Öyster Cult, and Dennis Dunaway, a founder of the Alice Cooper Group and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Blue Coupe has produced two studio albums. The first recording is called Tornado on the Tracks and features Doors guitarist Robby Krieger on several songs. Their newest CD entitled Million Miles More includes guitar solos by Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult, and a stunning vocal by the legendary Alice Cooper, plus many other guest artists. It was released in May 2013 to rave reviews. One great highlight of touring for Joe was in 2010 when Joe performed for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait. This was a tour with the classic rock all-star band called the Rock and Pop Masters. This included members of Orleans, Survivor, Santana and Kool and the Gang. The tour was a big success in spite of the blazing heat and the dangers of performing in a war zone. Joe is involved in recording sessions for many different artists in the past two decades. Sometimes his collaborations are conducted online with bands in different countries, recording different instruments and helping with song arrangements. One of his latest sessions was recording guitar on an Alice Cooper cover of “I Love the Dead” for the Mick Jagger/Martin Scorsese production for the HBO series called Vinyl. It was an amazing live session in the famed Electric Lady Studios in NYC. The song was produced by the highly-acclaimed Don Fleming and the instruments were recorded by Dennis Dunaway, who played bass on the original recording, and his brother Albert Bouchard on drums. Joe authored several books for Alfred Publishing, the world's leading publisher of educational books. Some of his titles are Rock Guitar for Beginners, Beginning Rock Keyboards, and The Total Rock Keyboardist. His latest book called Teach Yourself to Play Rock Keyboards was released in 2015. His first solo recording, Jukebox in My Head, was released in 2009. Since then he has released two more solo albums including Tales from the Island and New Solid Black which contains the single Memorial Day written by Joe's long time collaborator the artist John Elwood Cook. Both are solid collections of songs. His fourth solo album The Power of Music will be released in 2016, and already early comments have been raves. It contains 7 brand new songs and two covers. One of the covers is a BOC classic Career of Evil written by Joe's brother Albert and poet Patti Smith. Career of Evil is also the title of the best-selling book by author J.K. Rowling (written under the pen name Robert Galbraith). That book with includes many BOC references in every chapter and will be a HBO series later this year. Recently released for 2016 was his brother's holiday album called Albert and the Sleigh Riders. Joe sing and plays on two songs - Festivus and My Christmas Baby. Joe continues to record new music and tour regularly in the United States, Canada, England and Europe.