Music
Ted Nugent
born 1948 · guitarist, singer, songwriter
The “Motor City Madman,” Detroit-born hard-rock guitarist of the Amboy Dukes and “Cat Scratch Fever,” a fixture of the Grande Ballroom era.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 77- Birth name
- Theodore Anthony Nugent
- Also known as
- Motor City Madman · The Nuge · Uncle Ted
- Detroit years
- 1948–1965, late 1960s–1970s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ted Nugent was born in Detroit in 1948 and grew up in suburban Redford, where he took guitar lessons from local teacher Joe Podorsek starting in 1958. As a teenager he founded the Amboy Dukes, and although his father's job took the family to the Chicago area in 1965, the band became one of the loud, psychedelic acts of Detroit's late-1960s scene, playing regularly at the Grande Ballroom on Grand River Avenue. “Journey to the Center of the Mind” (1968) was their national hit. After the Dukes, Nugent's solo albums of the mid-1970s, including Cat Scratch Fever (1977), went multi-platinum, and later he played in the supergroup Damn Yankees. He kept close ties to Michigan: he hosted a show on Detroit rock station WWBR, owns a hunting ranch near Jackson, and played his 6,000th concert at the Pine Knob amphitheater in Clarkston on July 4, 2008. He is also known for outspoken conservative politics and gun-rights activism.
Highlights
- Founded the Amboy Dukes; “Journey to the Center of the Mind” (1968)
- Cat Scratch Fever (1977) went multi-platinum
- 6,000th concert at DTE Energy Music Theatre (Pine Knob), July 4, 2008
- Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame, 2006
- Latest album titled Detroit Muscle (2022)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1966–1970
Grande Ballroom
Closed · 1928–1972
Russ Gibb's psychedelic-era rock ballroom, where the Amboy Dukes were among the top local bands. Closed as a rock venue in 1972; the building stands empty and badly deteriorated.
Performed here · 1970s–2008
Pine Knob Music Theatre
Outdoor amphitheater north of Detroit (named DTE Energy Music Theatre 2001–2022) where he played his 6,000th concert on July 4, 2008.