Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Toy Caldwell was best known as the lead guitarist and main songwriter in the Marshall Tucker Band. A unique personality as well as a formidable musician, he was a peer of both Dickey Betts and Charlie Daniels, and his best work crossed effortlessly between country, blues, and rock & roll. A few years after the breakup of the Marshall Tucker Band in the late '80s, he re-emerged as leader of the Toy Caldwell Band, which played small-scale shows of the kind that the Marshall Tucker Band couldn't do. He also recorded one solo album before his death in early 1993. Although most of his fame inevitably rests with the Marshall Tucker Band, Caldwell left behind a small but glorious body of solo material.
Wikipedia:
Toy Talmadge Caldwell Jr. (November 13, 1947 - February 25, 1993) was the lead guitar player, main songwriter and a founding member of the 1970s Southern Rock group The Marshall Tucker Band. He was a member of the band from 1973 to 1983.
Early life
Caldwell was born November 13, 1947 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Mr. and Mrs. Toy Talmadge Caldwell Sr. He began playing guitar before his teen years with his younger brother Tommy Caldwell. Toy played basketball and football in high school with friends George McCorkle, Jerry Eubanks, and Doug Gray. While very involved in sports, the boys eventually became interested in music including jazz and blues. By age sixteen, Toy was passionate about music, sports, and his other obsession, motorcycles. He also enjoyed hunting and fishing. Caldwell decided to serve his country and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. In 1966, Toy was in Parris Island, and was wounded September 1968, he was evacuated for 2 weeks, then sent back to the front lines. Caldwell was discharged in 1969 and once again began playing music with his high school buddies. The Spartanburg chapter of the Marine Corps League is named the Hutchings-Caldwells Detachment in honor of Toy, his brother Tommy and another Marine.
Career
The Marshall Tucker Band
Later career
He later formed the Toy Caldwell Band and released an eponymous CD in 1992; the record was later renamed Son of the South by Southern rocker and Caldwell's personal friend, Charlie Daniels. The album was digitally re-released in 2009 through Hopesong Digital / GMV Nashville. As guitarist for Marshall Tucker, Caldwell wrote almost all of their songs.
Caldwell died on February 25, 1993, at his home in Moore, South Carolina. The cause of death was reported as respiratory failure.
Personal life
Caldwell married his wife Abbie on September 12, 1969. They remained married until his death.
He was the brother of Marshall Tucker co-founder and bass guitarist Tommy Caldwell.
