Born on this day ...

[Ruby]

Oleta Adams was born on this day in 1953, in Seattle, Washington. I know of her because of the Tears for Fears song, "Woman in Chains". She did an amazing job on that - Roland Orzabal was responsible for launching her career through that collaboration - it hadn't come to much up to that point. She has a fabulous voice and has received plaudits aplenty, but for some reason has never quite reached the dizzy heights of stardom. 

That song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzkK3ZtI9SU

And a cover she did very well with (nominated for a Grammy) "Get Here", written by Brenda Russell ... 

[James Otto Sweet Heart]

I pray that country legend Randy Travis is having himself a safe and awesome 62nd birthday today!

God bless you and him always!!!

Holly

[Ruby]

Kevin Barry Moore, aka Luka Bloom was born on this day in 1955, in County Kildare, Ireland. He is a guitarist and singer and his artist name is derived from Suzanne Vega’s song and James Joyce’s Ulysses. It’s probably safe to say he’s extremely well read! He had quite a crazily energetic strumming style at one stage, where there seems to be more than one instrument in play, and while he probably still uses it, he appears to have been through several incarnations (especially after experimenting with eastern and other world music sounds), the most recent of which is a lot more pared back. He has an older brother who is famed in the world of more traditional folk, while Luka is nothing if not eclectic; he observes life acutely, from what I can tell, and processes it all in song - not that I know all that much of his work – I own one album and have listened to another along with several isolated bits and pieces.

He’s recently released an instrumental album titled Out of the Blue which alludes to it being a surprise lockdown album that happened organically and effortlessly as a result of tinkering around - learning how to play some classic old tunes - maybe having the space and time to be still and to listen well. Nice when that happens.

I have Between the Mountain and the Moon, so this is from that … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb3Rjv-xnY8

This one is from his 2020 album Bittersweet Crimson – MH, I think you will approve - of the sentiment, at least … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HmdIXqvQDU

“I Hear You” from Out of the Blue – serene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SuRNfmL-bk

And from 2005's Innocence – good album, I think …

[CRAZY-HORSE]

no introduction needed....

cool article on the man on the WWW from the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper today:  Happy birthday Bob Dylan, the man who was true to his heart (msn.com)

[James Otto Sweet Heart]

I pray that country singer Wynonna Judd is having herself a safe and awesome 57th birthday!

God bless you and her always!!!

Holly

[Ruby]

Happy birthday to Tony Levin who was born on this day in 1946, in Boston Massachusetts, USA. He ranks right up there as one of the most prolific session musicians of our time. Raised in a musical family and environment and forsaking the tuba and double bass of his very much younger days, for a bass guitar once he got to music school, he's been active since 1970 and has played with an astonishing array of artists, also making a respectable number of solo releases, none of which I’ve heard, sorry to say! I think if I chose to listen to everything he and Dean Parks (another session guitarist who’s been on literally thousands of recordings) had put out during the course of their careers, I wouldn’t have time to listen to anything else for the remainder of my lifetime. Impossible to paraphrase it all! Sure he has a story or two to tell. Oh hang on - he has! He has a blog on his site which has been going for some time, and he's also released a coffee table book titled Images from a Life on the Road - photos he's taken over the years. I expect it's fascinating! https://tonylevin.com/

He is known for his exceptional basslines and his mastery of the Chapman Stick and upright bass as well as ably providing backing vocals and synths. He also developed a device known as Funk Fingers – modified drumsticks adapted for producing percussive effects on guitar. Very strange items those!! His most notable alliances have been with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, LTE, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and his very own Stick Men.

“Big Time" from Peter Gabriel's So ... funk fingers n all ... 

[Ruby]

Howard Leese was born on this day in 1951, in Hollywood, California. Best known for his tenure in Heart – he’s a multi-instrumentalist although I’d say the guitar is his primary focus. As both a woodworker and luthier, he founded his own guitar production company in 1994, HML guitars, in addition to playing, and was hands-on for a large part although he did have another luthier building the instruments - Jack Pimental, who now continues under his own brand. After playing their #1 for around 15 years on stage, Leese had a Paul Reed Smith guitar named after him, the "Howard Leese Limited Edition Golden Eagle", and another company he endorses named one of their guitar effects "Barracuda", in his honour, which makes total sense. 

He can be heard on a number of recordings outside of Heart and also performs with Paul Rodgers (as well as with Bad Company) who he took up with along the way. One of his collaborations was with Randy Meisner (Eagles, Poco) and this is where one enters the rabbit hole (which although I’m not fond of that expression, seems to fit rather well in this instance!); coincidentally, the album he plays on for Meisner is also one which has Paul Buckmaster arranging the strings, and guess what? It would have been his birthday today too. The maestro sadly shuffled off this mortal coil in 2017 after a lifetime’s invaluable contribution to the biz.

I decided to listen to Randy Meisner’s Randy Meisner (the second of two eponymously titled releases which is a bit weird, not to mention confusing) but couldn’t find the album I wanted – just a couple of tracks, one of which was "Strangers" which was written by Elton John and Gary Osborne. Meisner, and wait for it, Ann Wilson of Heart, do a knockout cover of “Strangers” IMHO – both Howard Leese and Paul Buckmaster in evidence too – and that’s not all – Mr Buckmaster was on the EJ original. How’s that for a tidy little tale??! Lol!

[Ruby]

Happy Birthday to Silje Nergaard who was born on this day in 1966, in a place that’s unspellable on an English keyboard, in Norway. She’s a jazz/pop vocalist and songwriter, and I’ve listened to some of her stuff before and have liked it without wanting to be fully committed. I guess that’s fence-sitting isn’t it? She’s hugely popular in her native land and has performed and recorded with Pat Metheny (among others) so can’t be terrible – he wouldn’t waste his time. My impression of her music is that she has a lovely clean, clear voice – perfect pitch - and she doesn’t do vocal gymnastics, which she probably could, with consummate ease, if she cared to. There is nothing at all not to like – all very tasteful and pleasant, and to be fair, she does convey emotion without over-embellishing, which is quite an art - it's just not particularly scintillating stuff in my view, which of course, is subjective.  

Her breakthrough - with Mr Metheny present ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvkhnGQGbQo

And from a much more recent album ... 

[Ruby]

Well here’s a first in this thread! Patrick Moraz was born on this day in 1948, on an aeroplane! Somewhere over Switzerland presumably – or possibly not – who knows? His hometown is Morges, which is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva. 

He was musically precocious, probably as a result of being born into a family of pros. He seems to have had a very full and interesting life – especially the first half – imagine being 16 and winning a best soloist award at a major jazz festival, then swanning off to teach scuba diving while spending time with and performing for Salvador Dali and friends in one’s spare time! The mind boggles. 

He was 26 years old when he was asked to join Yes (after Grumpy Old Rick departed), having had several adventures inbetween, including traveling to the UK sans a work visa and forming his own band. He recorded Relayer with Yes and went on tour with them having learned a whole lot of their material for that purpose before being shafted due to the return of RW for the recording of Going for the One. By 1978 he’d hooked up with the Moody Blues, replacing Mike Pinder – the first album he appeared on with them being Long Distance Voyager. He played with the band for 15 years before they asked him to leave – suffice to say it didn’t end well. He’s made 13 solo albums and appears on a few more – a keys wiz for sure but his more recent stuff is not much to my taste. I listened to his Out in the Sun (1977) in honour of the occasion. The album gets a bunch of accolades and I can hear why.

[Ruby]

Carly Simon is 76 today – born in 1945, in the Bronx, NYC. Sure there’s no need for elaboration – she’s well known for those clouds in her coffee, and nobody did it better for the Bond franchise! She was married to big brother James, but she and Livingston Taylor are better friends and musical collaborators. There are also the famed Mick Jagger and Warren Beatty connections of course. Singing and songwriting was a way of processing trauma for her – starting sadly young. She was the first artist ever to win a Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe Award for a song composed, written and performed entirely by themselves – that was for “Let The River Run”, from Working Girl.  She’s also written several children’s books and tried her hand at acting. 

I’m choosing something obscure – a cameo appearance on an early Lee Clayton number … 1973 …