Thank you everyone for the kind welcome. It is delightful to see so many replies.

Regarding my friend, he was never famous nationally but he participated in a couple of bands who released albums and were very popular in the pacific northwest area, and also had followings in Europe. Only recently he got more specific with me about some of his band history, and one of his early and more notable projects was a band named "Striker". Circa 1976-79 out of Seattle.
Anyone recall them? I was going to post a link, but remembered reading some rules/guideline limitations about that, but a Google search should bring them up.