Born on this day ...

[Inna Selez]

Paul Mark Oakenfold was born 30 August 1963. An English record producer and trance DJ. He was voted the No. 1 DJ in the World twice in 1998 and 1999 by DJ Magazine. Paul has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Massive Attack, New Order, The Rolling Stones, The Stone Roses etc. He released 4 full studio albums and took part in 8 films.
[video=youtube;VJcdAuomeZA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJcdAuomeZA[/video]

[Ruby]

Rick Roberts was born on this day in 1949, in Florida, USA. Singer/songwriter and guitarist - this is from the bio on his website –

“Rick Roberts is a 40-year veteran of the rock’n’roll wars. He began his recording career in 1970 with the Flying Burrito Brothers and was a major contributor to their last two albums. He went on to do two solo albums and then form the well-known band Firefall in 1974, with whom he played for seven years during their heyday. He has also been a member of Stephen Stills’ band and Linda Ronstadt’s band during his career, and has been awarded two platinum and four gold albums for his efforts.

He has had over 60 of his compositions recorded and performed by such artists as The Burritos, Firefall, Stephen Stills, Linda Ronstadt, Barry Manilow, The Dirt Band, and numerous others. He is the composer of the hit songs “Just Remember I Love You”, “You Are The Woman”, “Strange Way”, “Colorado”, and several more that graced the Top 40 at one time or another.

After suffering a debilitating brain injury in 2006 which left him in jeopardy of never walking again, it took him nearly four years of intense physical therapy to walk again without crutches or other aids. Rick currently lives and works in Longmont, Colorado with his wife, Mary, and their two dogs (Donovan and Maggie) and two cats (Bean and Minky). Rick is currently playing with his new band, Winter Rose.”

All the following both written and sung by RR -

This track is from his solo album, Windmills, (the credits of which read like a who’s who of country rock royalty, members of Poco, the Eagles and Leland Sklar, David Crosby and Jackson Browne!) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilr22N6WgyI

From Firefall’s Undertow – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PTiY3M6xwg

And the song that first comes to my mind whenever I think of Firefall, from Luna Sea -

[video=youtube;GXmkRTu05YI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXmkRTu05YI[/video]

[Ruby]

And another Happy Birthday – on a slightly different note ... this one is to Itzhak Perlman, virtuoso violinist extraordinaire. He was born on this day in 1945, in Tel Aviv, a child prodigy who started playing a toy violin at the age of three, a toy it had to be as he wasn’t big enough to hold a full sized instrument; he also contracted polio at the age of four and must walk with the aid of crutches - he plays while seated. He is, quite simply, a remarkable player with the ability to combine both technical brilliance and feeling.

He has won16 Grammy’s and a fistful of Emmy Awards along with all sorts of other honours that have quite deservedly been heaped upon him.

Of course, he’s primarily a classical violinist, but these are all excerpts from movie soundtracks –

From Cinema Paradiso - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Aqj6u_7kFM

From Memoirs of a Geisha – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sVqGYXBVG0

And most memorably, and movingly, from Schindler’s List –

[video=youtube;0yYikshdLcw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yYikshdLcw[/video]

[Ruby]

Steve Porcaro was born on this day in 1957, in Hartford, Connecticut. He is the sole remaining Porcaro brother, Jeff and Mike having gone to the big gig in the sky - much too early, I might add.

He played an important but reticent role in Toto as he never considered his voice good enough to appear at the forefront, which was probably a wise and honest call - his skills are evident elsewhere. On the rare occasions he did sing (twice that I can find), it was because he’d written the song and felt that he could best do it justice on the basis of his style, this being a case in point - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79B8vlEfTXk. He’s a composer, keyboard wiz and well respected synth specialist which was his main contribution to the band. He left Toto in 1987 although staying involved (and credited) through the years.

He also worked/works as a session musician and producer for other artists - Thriller with Michael Jackson, for example ... he wrote the music for “Human Nature” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y3dsAY_a_I, and he played keys and synthesizer on “Stranger in Moscow” … from MJ’s HIStory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEEMi2j6lYE

This year, in June, he released his first ever solo album, Someday/Somehow which falls firmly into the pop category, the area that certainly seems to be his strength; on that score – it’s all good, IMHO. He has guest artists singing lead on some of the tracks, notably Michael McDonald, Michael Sherwood and Jamie Kimmett who sings two songs on which he sounds remarkably similar to HRH Jackson - no blasphemy intended!! “She’s So Shy” is a one of ‘em – can’t find a YT link, unfortunately.

The title track which has grown on me – Steve singing ….

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

[Ruby]

Mel Collins was born on this day in 1947, on the Isle of Man. He’s a famed saxophonist and flute player whose credits are quite alarmingly extensive; I found 410 for playing/performance alone on Discogs. Allmusic has this to say about him – “For most of the '70s, it seemed like every sax, clarinet, or flute that turned up on an art-rock album was played by Mel Collins.”

Some specifics; he was a member of King Crimson, Camel, and The Alan Parsons Project, and he has also collaborated with 10cc, Alexis Korner, Clannad, Eric Clapton, Bad Company, Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry, Roger Chapman, Marianne Faithfull, The Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Gerry Rafferty, Tears For Fears, Joan Armatrading, etc., etc., ad nauseam – and that’s really just the miniscule tip of a giant iceberg – the mind boggles!

Difficult to know where to start, and time is fleeting - so going with what I know best – the title track of Gerry Rafferty’s North and South - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDi4e9hsWTI

From Camel’s Stationary Traveller (yet again) – and just because it’s marvellous - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jel79uIdWU

The intro to Mike Batt’s Tarot Suite – (Rory Gallagher giving it stick here too) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bt9hR0tQPw

… and not least, with Pete Bardens –

[video=youtube;rLMGzu8Zop0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLMGzu8Zop0[/video]

[Inna Selez]

Dolores O'Riordan was born 6 September 1971. She is the youngest in family of seven children. Dolores is an Irish musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She led the rock band The Cranberries to worldwide success. The band took a break starting in 2003 - 2009. During this time she made 2 solo albums.
[video=youtube;6Ejga4kJUts]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts[/video]

[Inna Selez]

September 7th 1977 year in Utrecht was born house DJ and producer Fedde Le Grand. He is a frequent headliner at mainstream EDM events like Ultra Music Festival and Tomorrowland. Le Grand is also known for his remixes of varying popular artists such as Coldplay, Michael Jackson, Shakira, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Timeflies, Naughty Boy and Martin Solveig. In recent years he has intensified his commitment to discovering new talents in the EDM world.
[video=youtube;19WUwZYM7bM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19WUwZYM7bM[/video]

[Ruby]

Mark Isham was born on this day in 1951, in New York City. He is a trumpeter, synth guy and composer in the primarily jazz and electronic fields who has contributed to over 100 film soundtracks among other projects and collaborations; his general discography is quite eclectic and he’s another one of those musos whose name pops up unexpectedly all over the place. His solo albums were first distributed on the Windham Hill label, which is something of an endorsement, in my view, at least.

I have his second album, Film Music – this is from that …. lovely stuff … instrumental … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tec4hi6b3F0

And I love this version of “Blue Moon” with Tanita Tikaram. It’s in Celestial Bodies, but worth repeating here, IMHO …

[video=youtube;5dBRvC-gqiI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dBRvC-gqiI[/video]

[Inna Selez]

Alecia Beth Moore, known professionally as P!nk, was born September 8, 1979. She is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. Pink was signed to her first record label with R&B girl group in 1995 but label saw potential only in Pink and offered her a solo deal. Her voice has been described as "raspy", "husky", and "distinctive." For today she has sold over 135 million records worldwide and got three Grammy Awards, a Brit Award, a Daytime Emmy Award and six MTV Video Music Awards.
[video=youtube;Jdjtqu3XK4U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdjtqu3XK4U[/video]

[Ruby]

Ian David McGeachy, much better known as John Martyn was born on this day in 1948, in Surrey, England. He died in 2009, from a severe case of pneumonia having been plagued with health issues for some time.

The word that seems to surface most regularly when describing John Martyn is idiosyncratic, and he was certainly all that! He started out in a more or less folk vein, and soon developed his own unique fusion of blues, folk and a bit o’ jazz together with a distinct vocal style that refuses to fit into any particular category - think Joe Cocker meets Ray LaMontagne, for want of a better description! Also (courtesy of wiki) – “By 1970 Martyn had developed a wholly original and idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase shifter and Echoplex.”

Martyn was contemporary of Nick Drake and over the years had close associations with Phil Collins, David Gilmour and the very fab bassist Danny Thompson. He is possibly best known for his album, Solid Air, but there is so much more. I’ve been cruising through his discog fairly randomly for the past while, and finding that his stuff becomes quite addictive!

He released an album in 1993 titled No Little Boy which is a reworking of songs he’d not previously been too happy with and it’s probably a good release to go to for an overview of his work. Lo and behold – here’s one from said album with Levon Helm (who’d drummed for him on his 1970 release Stormbringer!) … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQvu4fY6Dg0

A live clip – the title track from One World with David Gilmour …. should be issued with a warning label - it’s super trippy!! … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmdKT4SShDY – Nice album too – the album version … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dZh34N1-yw.

“Ways to Cry” with Phil Collins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M60UYZAgAM

I hadn’t known that it was he who originally wrote this song – “May You Never” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOi_wxypeGc

And I love this – the title track from Bless the Weather …

[video=youtube;qs8z1XZu2Nc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs8z1XZu2Nc[/video]