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[vivfox]

Dudek's solo work yielded a couple of FM radio hits, "City Magic" and "Old Judge Jones." But problems bogged down his career.

Columbia teamed Dudek with label mates Mike Finnigan and Jim Krueger for a "DFK" tour, then an album. Then Cher asked Dudek to play on her "Black Rose" album.

"It was a pretty decent rock 'n' roll album," he said. "But Neil Bogart, owner of the record company, Casablanca, died right after we put it out. That sealed its fate. The push behind it stopped. Cher swept it under the rug after that."

Dudek lived with Cher for three years. "We were in the shower one day and she says, 'What do you think we're doing together, Les?' I said, 'We're just two lonely people hanging out with each other until something better comes along.' She goes, 'Good answer!'"

After they split up, Cher helped him land a role in "Mask."

Other opportunities popped up, but the timing was never right. "Anytime a guitar player dies, they call me. When the guy from Chicago blew his head off, who gets the call? Les Dudek. When Lowell George died, who got the call? Yeah, I could have been in Little Feat, too.

"It would have been really neat playing for Chicago, though I hear it's kind of a boring gig. But Little Feat, that would have been fun."

In 1988, during another lull, Dudek contemplated becoming a sheriff. "Then I got yanked back into the business by John Kay of Steppenwolf. He wanted me to go on tour with him, which ended up being a big fiasco.

"There were times when I just felt like, 'To hell with it.' But something always pulled me back. Stevie Nicks pulled me back in. I ended up writing some songs with her. I did a tour with her in '91. That was short-lived. I broke my arm. I was riding a Harley between rehearsals and a cab pulled out in front of me."

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_13174731