Artist Biography
by Chris Woodstra
Though he's never been able to record a hit of his own, singer/songwriter
Jules Shear
has recorded several albums of highly accessible, hit-worthy material,
and as a testament to his abilities, he's penned hits for others,
including "All Through the Night" for
Cyndi Lauper and "If She Knew What She Wants" for
the Bangles. Born in Pittsburgh,
Shear
began writing songs as a teenager. He relocated to Los Angeles in the
mid-'70s, joining his first band, a typically laid-back combo called
the Funky Kings. The band released one album for Arista in 1976. While "Slow Dancing" from the album (written by
Jack Tempchin) would later be a hit for
Johnny Rivers, the three
Shear songs were clearly the highlights of the album.
Shear left the following year to form his own group,
Jules & the Polar Bears,
who released two critically acclaimed, though commercially overlooked,
albums for Columbia. When a third album was rejected by the label,
Shear forged on as a solo artist.
Signing on to EMI-America, he released two solo albums, 1983's
Watch Dog and 1985's
Eternal Return; both received critical praise but few sales. Once again, he was dropped by his label and unable to secure another deal.
Shear then formed
the Reckless Sleepers with
the Cars'
Elliot Easton. In 1988, without
Easton,
the Reckless Sleepers released their sole album for IRS,
Big Boss Sounds; it failed to make much impact, though "If We Never Meet Again" from the album was later covered by
Roger McGuinn. In contrast to
the Reckless Sleepers' hard rock tendencies,
Shear teamed up with
the Church's
Marty Willson-Piper for an all-acoustic,
Dylanesque album,
The Third Party,
in 1989. The album ultimately led to a spot on MTV, where he hosted the
first 13 episodes of Unplugged -- he left when the show switched to the
single-artist format.
Shear followed with two critically acclaimed, more or less pop-oriented albums -- 1992's
The Great Puzzle and 1994's
Healing Bones -- two of his finest albums to date.
In 1998, he released
Between Us, an album of duets for High Street Records.
Shear moved to Rounder Records subsidiary Zoe Records for his April 2000 release,
Allow Me, and to Valley in 2004 for
Sayin' Hello to the Folks.
Dreams Don't Count was released on the Mad Dragon label in 2006, followed by
More, billed to
Jules Mark Shear rather than
Jules Shear, on Funzalo Records in 2008. He was back to identifying himself as
Jules Shear on the independently released 2013 album
Longer to Get to Yesterday. In 2017,
Shear delivered
One More Crooked Dance, which included a guest appearance by
Lovin' Spoonful founder
John Sebastian on harmonica.
