Born on this day ...

[Inna Selez]

Chad Robert Kroeger was born in 1974, he is a Canadian musician and lead vocalist of rock band Nickelback, which was formed in 1995 in Alberta. Nickelback released 8 studio albums.

[video=youtube;CD8nrL8ttNI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD8nrL8ttNI[/video]

[Ruby]

William Ackerman was born on this day in 1949, in Palo Alto, California. He is a composer and guitarist with around fifteen albums to his credit and was the co-founder of Windham Hill Records (along with his then girlfriend, Anne Robinson), an independent label specializing in acoustic instrumental music. This seems to have been something that happened to him purely as a result of his passion for what he was doing, and was not planned at all; it began with a group of friends clubbing together to finance him and persuading him to put an album together, and therein lies a universal truth which is played out time and time again.

He does not like the ‘new age’ moniker and has been known to threaten physical assault on those who suggest that that is what he does – in jest, I suspect, especially since he won a Grammy in that category for his Returning: Pieces for Guitar 1970 – 2004, although I am inclined to agree with him to some degree; just because something is gentle, acoustic and melodic, it shouldn’t necessarily be defined as ‘new-age’! Don’t we just love labels?!! Can’t understand things otherwise.

He was responsible for discovering Michael Hedges and himself adopts very similar timings in his own work. I know, that when I find something with the Windham Hill label, it’s probably going to be worth listening to. Look out for it, anyone who might be interested – it’s quite distinctive. The label was bought out by Sony Music Entertainment in the early 90s and now falls under their Legacy Recordings sector, no new music being released.



Will, as he is known, is still producing music, now as the proprietor of Imaginary Road Studios, all of which seems to be going along swimmingly.

Here’s “Lago de Montañas (Mountain Lake)” from his now out of print album Conferring With The Moon chosen from that album because I like it, and because La Luna is so very prevalent right now …

[video=youtube;qapIOptxV_E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapIOptxV_E[/video]

[Ruby]

Tab Benoit was born on this day in 1967, in Houma, Louisiana. The music of the bayou is in his blood – a swamp and soul blues singer/songwriter who cut his musical teeth hanging out with some of the luminaries at the Blue Box, Baton Rouge. He’s won the BB King Entertainer of the Year award several times, along with a number of other indigo accolades, and been inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He’s passionate about his place on the planet and also runs a project called Voice of the Wetlands which actively supports the conservation of the natural landscape of the area.

I seldom listen to the blues, and when I do, I want them done well. I think I could get my head around his most recent album …

[video=youtube;i31bbKvCLIg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31bbKvCLIg[/video]

[Ruby]

Gail Ann Dorsey was born on this day in 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She has been an in-demand touring and recording session singing bass player since 1985. She toured and recorded with David Bowie and his band from the early nineties until he stopped touring, pretty much, and last appears on The Next Day. It’s quite plain to see that they had an incredibly close personal rapport and seemed to suit one another very well musically. He had noticed her in a promo interview she’d given for her solo album and filed away his interest for future reference; he sought her out something like eight years later! Talk about a master strategist!!

Prior to Bowie, she had toured with Tears for Fears as well as recorded and written songs with Roland Orzabal, and she has also played for Bryan Ferry, Boy George, Jane Siberry, The The, Gwen Stefani, Charlie Watts, Seal, Gang of Four, Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco among others.

She released her debut solo album in 1988 (she’s made three altogether) which received a great deal of critical acclaim but which wasn’t very successful commercially … sometimes that’s a clear indication that something is actually a gem, IMHO, and that there’s just too much other fluff floating around at the time, which is what might conceivably have happened in this instance; the late eighties were crammed to the brim with allsorts. Incidentally, Eric Clapton contributes guitar on the album and it was produced by jazz bassist Nathan East.

The title track from said debut The Corporate World … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO9wYcPks6A

A tribute to Bowie and her time with him, from her most recent album, I Used To Be (2003) – “Magical” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hAgYXP3Icc – the video is a montage of clips of her performing with him.

… and something she did regularly with Bowie on tour – his and Queen’s “Under Pressure” …

[video=youtube;NS_ZlDVMpWk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS_ZlDVMpWk[/video]

[Inna Selez]

Björk is an Icelandic singer, songwriter and actress. Today she turns 50! During the career she played in different styles - electronic, pop, experimental, trip hop, IDM, classical and avant-garde. Björk has won five BRIT Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, one MOJO Award, three UK Music Video Awards, 21 Icelandic Music Awards and, in 2010, the Polar Music Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in recognition of her "deeply personal music and lyrics, her precise arrangements and her unique voice." She won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in the film Dancer in the Dark. In 2015 she released 9th studio album Vulnicura.


[video=youtube;gQEyezu7G20]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQEyezu7G20[/video]

[Ruby]

Lawrence Henry Gowan (also known simply as Gowan) was born on this day in 1956, in Glasgow, Scotland. His parents moved to Canada when he was quite young so he grew up there and it seems he has become something of a favourite son. He had a successful solo career, scooping a couple of Juno’s among 12 nominations and receiving plenty more accolades besides.

The eighties and the then boom of the music video really loved him (and his mullet, which he now jokes about himself, so I’m not just being mean, lol!), however, I have already inflicted his highest charting single, “Moonlight Desires”, (complete with mullet) upon this board once before so will refrain from doing so again!

He’s a classically trained pianist and vocalist, and has been a member of Styx since 1999. He’d performed as a supporting act for them in 1997 and when Dennis DeYoung left the band, Tommy Shaw offered him the vacant spot and a 53 date tour. Seems as though it’s a good fit and Styx now regularly performs one of this other big solo hits, “A Criminal Mind” …

[video=youtube;mDFjaIlp74A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFjaIlp74A[/video]

[Inna Selez]

Miley Ray Cyrus (Destiny Hope Cyrus) was born in Tennessee November 23, 1992. She is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Cyrus became a teen idol for her portrayal of the starring character Miley Stewart in the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana in 2006. Cyrus has earned numerous awards and nominations. Billboard ranked her as the 4th best-selling female artist of 2009. She was ranked number 13 on Forbes' Celebrity 100 in 2010. In 2013 was declared "Artist of the Year" by MTV. She has been included on the Time 100 list of most influential people in 2008 and in 2014. She has released 5 studio albums as Hannah Montana and 5 as Miley Cyrus.
Changing from
[video=youtube;t93u0qg5q_M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t93u0qg5q_M[/video]

[Inna Selez]

to
[video=youtube;DfwJA0f0UTg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfwJA0f0UTg[/video]

[Ruby]

Ludovico Maria Enrico Einaudi was born on this day in 1955, in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He is a pianist and composer who is in demand for writing film scores and other pieces of music for TV, etc. He has also released 13 solo albums and had his music interpreted by various artists. His own instruments are the piano, keyboards, guitar and synthesizer. What he does cannot be described as classical music, nor simply as easy listening – I’m really not sure where it fits to be honest, but it’s contemporary, clean and clear. Oh wait – just discovered another label … ‘post-classical’ – that’ll do!

I love this ... “Passaggio” played here by Daniel Hope and Jacques Ammon … nice with strings rather than purely piano … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3A08K9xRpI

And from his 2015 release Elements, "Night". I like the way this piece builds up…

[video=youtube;k9NM-yK1C2I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9NM-yK1C2I[/video]

[Ruby]

Mark Lanegan was born on this day in 1964, in Ellensburg, Washington, USA. He is a singer/songwriter and guitarist who came to prominence as the lead of the Screaming Trees during what was then the emerging Seattle grunge scene. He has since been with Queens of the Stone Age, Isobel Campbell, The Gutter Twins, and collaborated with a few other artists, all the while pursuing his own relatively low-key solo career which is the facet that I’ve been dipping into from time to time, mostly because of his irresistibly gravelly, dark as pitch baritone.

Lanegan is one of the relatively few successful survivors of the early 90’s alternative tribe, not having succumbed (thus far) to hard excesses, and aside from his splits and involvement with other bands he has recorded 8 solo albums to date.

From Whiskey for the Holy Ghost - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-YF...0&spfreload=10

This is from Field Songs – interesting ‘found sounds’ on this one … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb-H4SkoBxQ

From Blues Funeral – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwkBKy-4RMQ

“I am the Wolf” from Phantom Radio - a live version - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjeUpiTZel0

And finally, some respite from desperate dirges (as much as I love that voice, and have some admiration for his songwriting, IMHO there’s a limit to how much wallowing in murkiness one can do in a single sitting without descending into a slough of despond!); this last one appears on Sandra Boynton’s CD/Book combo Frog Trouble which is geared “for ages one to older than dirt”! Phew! mile:

[video=youtube;k9KnlFShYGQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9KnlFShYGQ[/video]