Sonny Vincent

Native New Yorker and lifelong rocker Sonny Vincent is a testament to the spirit of music. Living illegally at age 13 in a girls' dormitory, playing guitar and singing by age 14, and in and out of reform schools not soon after, Vincent rocked harder before he was 18 than most people do in a lifetime. Sonny Vincent founded the Testors in 1976, a group which served as an incubator for his burgeoning talent. A two-guitar outfit featuring a drummer without cymbals, the trio made up for their lack of seasoning with a surplus of attitude. Eventually, they added a bass player, wrote songs with three chords, and embarked on an American tour with punk stalwarts the Dead Boys. In 1980, after an intense period of performing and violence -- often at the same time -- Vincent was committed to New York State's Windale mental hospital. But soon he was back in the Big Apple, dabbling in filmmaking and multimedia art. Vincent left the city in 1981 and relocated to Minneapolis, where he promptly started a band. Sonny Vincent & the Extreme released a few singles and did some touring; they also suspended action for a few months so their fearless leader could serve an eight-month term in the gray bar hotel. By 1985, Vincent was active again in filmmaking and visual art. His film Mannequin World debuted on the art house/museum circuit. A few years later, Vincent formed Model Prisoner with infamous ex-Replacement Bob Stinson; the hard-living band fizzled after just one album on Twin/Tone. But Vincent was undaunted. He formed Shotgun Rationale, which over the next six years would involve collaborations and/or tours with Moe Tucker, ex-Dead Boy Cheetah Chrome, Bob Stinson, and Half Japanese. The band released two albums and an EP with a rotating lineup; Vincent even found time to contribute to...