Renaissance Biography

Overview

Biography

Songs

Similar Artists

Music

Can You Hear Me

Turn Of The Cards

Songs From Renaissance Days

Novella

Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1

Illusion [Import]

Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2

A Song For All Seasons

In 1968, former Yardbirds Jim McCarty (25 July 1943, Liverpool, England; drums) and Keith Relf (b. 22 March 1943, Richmond, Surrey, England, d. 14 May 1976; vocals/acoustic guitar) reunited as Together for two self-composed singles that in their pastoral lyricism and acoustic emphasis anticipated the more lucrative Renaissance in which they were joined by ex-Nashville Teens John Hawken (keyboards), Louis Cennamo (bass/vocals) and Relf's sister Jane (vocals). Produced by Paul Samwell-Smith (another Yardbirds veteran), their promising debut album embraced folk, classical and musique concrète reference points. However, though McCarty played and co-wrote tracks on Prologue, he and the others had abandoned Renaissance who continued with Annie Haslam (vocals), Robert Hendry (guitar/vocals), John Tout (keyboards), Jonathan Camp (bass/vocals) and Terry Slade (drums). As the last was replaced by Terence Sullivan in 1975, so Hendry was two years earlier by Mike Dunford, who provided melodies to poet Betty Thatcher's lyrics for Ashes Are Burning and later records which met with greater commercial acclaim in North America than Europe - so much so that the group found it more convenient to take up US residency. Indeed, Turn Of The Cards was not available in Britain until a year after its release in the USA, and the group's only concert recording was from Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic. An orchestra had also augmented a Renaissance interpretation of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade featuring the stunning vocal harmonies that were to enliven A Song For All Seasons which became their biggest UK seller in the wake of a Top 10 entry for its "Northern Lights' (1978). Haslam recorded the solo Annie In Wonderland but 1979"s Azur D'Or was the only other album by Renaissance or its associates to make even a minor impression in the UK. In 1980, the band weathered the departures of Sullivan and Tout as pragmatically as they had worse upheavals in the past - and, indeed, Renaissance's considerable cult following has since taken many years to dwindle. Independent prog specialists HTD Records issued albums of new material during the 90s.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.