Doug Osborne

Doug Osborne is a dynamic singer-songwriter who creates intense, heartfelt music. Passionate pop. Streams of human music - Folk, Rock, Jazz, Country, Classical, Soul, Blues, Reggae, and more - flow together in new ways.

“I try to take a wide range of musical influences and and use them to express my emotions so you can see your life in them. Whether the lyrics are dense or light as a feather, tell a story that’s new to you, or seem down, I hope they can uplift you.”

Doug played cello when he was young, growing up in a small city in Indiana, and was very, very good. Universities were scouting him when he was in Junior High, but when the school system cut funding for music education he was left without a teacher. He did what any adolescent male would do - he picked up the guitar his brother, a drummer, had laying around the house. Within a year, he was playing for small occasions and at coffeehouses and school functions.

He wrote songs early on, influenced by James Taylor, John Sebastian, Robbie Robertson, etc., but Doug’s earliest songs don’t seem to have survived. After studying music more seriously at Berklee College of Music, he took his music to the streets, clubs, and halls of Boston. Solo and with a folk duo with Jim Kilian, he played The Sword in the Stone, The Cask ‘n Flagon, Brothers’ Four, and anywhere that would have him. Later, cover bands such as Buzzards Bay, Waites Corner Road, X-Dreams, and the White Mountain Express would school him in the music of the day and take him all around New England and the Northeast.

Doug continued to compose new songs like Cambridge Nights, Arrest My Heart and Pasted on Pout, that would be played in these and subsequent bands. Doug played lead guitar with Count Viglione’s Love and Flame, and the band chose his song You Can Cry to feature in shows at The Paradise, Cantones, The Rat, and all of the Boston rock clubs. When Love and Flame was recording an album at Downtown Recorders, You Can Cry was included. This recording made it into rotation on WBCN, WERS and WFNX.

Doug was subsequently invited to join a band called This Big by his friend, bass player Stephen Wild. This was a project for another talented singer/keyboardist and another guitar player, but slowly the attention turned to Doug and his songs. With the addition of powerhouse drummer Liz DeSessa, this band turned into Serious Fun.

Serious Fun took to stages at Jumpin’ Jack Flash on Queensbury, Bunrattys, Chet’s Last Call, and the whole circuit of Boston rock clubs. Earning enough money playing originals in clubs (imagine that, today) to finance the recording of an album, Serious Fun recorded seven songs at Baker Street Studios in Watertown, MA, recorded and mixed by Andy Mendelson (multi-platinum recording artist Andy Pratt, etc.). Two of these songs were released on Varulven Records’ Boston Rock ‘n Roll Anthology 8, and Pasted on Pout became a minor national hit, high on the CMJ charts.

By the time this record hit the shelves and airwaves, Serious Fun had played their last shows at The Paradise (opening for Dwight Twilley) and The Rat, with Rick Martin (drums) and Carl Jordan (bass and vocals) from Boston favorites Pastiche backing him. Doug moved to Los Angeles, where he played with the Apaches of Paris and many other artists. Continuing to record and develop his music, first on 4-Track Cassette, then 8-24 Track tape, and finally computers!

Doug’s first release will be three singles consisting of the three songs from the Serious Fun tapes mixed in 1983, remastered, and an EP with the finished recordings of all seven songs from these sessions. This will soon be followed by a full length album of new recordings of songs from that period, tentatively titled Love Takes a Long Time. Many more albums are in the queue.