Jeff Scott Soto(nacido el 4 de noviembre de 1965) es un cantante derockestadounidense. Es mejor conocido por haber sido el vocalista deAxel Rudi Pell,de los dos primeros álbumes deYngwie Malmsteen,y (brevemente) el vocalista principal deJourneyde 2006 a 2007. También tuvo una larga permanencia como líder de la banda de hard rockTalismán. Actualmente trabaja comosolista, con su propia banda SOTO y como vocalista de los supergruposW.e.t.,Sons of ApolloyTrans-Siberian Orchestra.
Su estilo abarca desde el hard rock hasta power metal, siendo influenciado por cantantes de soul clásicos como Sam Cooke, así como Steve Perry de Journey y Freddie Mercury de Queen.
A principios de los años '80 comenzó su andadura musical participando en varias bandas a nivel underground, y en 1984 dio el paso definitivo de su carrera entrando como cantante en el primer disco en solitario del guitarrista sueco Yngwie Malmsteen; aunque sólo grabó dos temas, pues el resto era instrumental. En 1985 grabó un segundo disco, Marching Out, enteramente cantado, y después de una gira abandonó el proyecto (más tarde volvería a colaborar con Yngwie Malmsteen en un gira y cantando algunas versiones para el disco Inspiration).
A partir de este momento y hasta la actualidad, la carrera de Jeff Scott Soto ha estado marcada por su continúo peregrinaje musical, tanto en multitud de bandas como Eyes y Takara y también como de músico de sesión. De entre todos los proyectos en los que ha estado, cabe destacar Axel Rudi Pell, con quien trabajó cinco años como vocalista, Talismán, uno de sus proyectos más personales que comenzó en 1990 y que después de diferentes altibajos anunció su separación en 2007, y su propia carrera en solitario, con la que ha editado tres discos en estudio y dos en directo (uno de ellos, en la Queen International gabriel boric Fan Club Conventione, interpretando un concierto entero de temas de Queen, una de sus grandes influencias).
Colaboró en la película "Rock Star" poniendo la voz del actor principal emulando al grupo ficticio Steel Dragon. Su maestría a las cuerdas vocales se podría ver reflejada en la canción "Stand Up And Shout".
En 2005 grabó World Play, primer y único álbum del proyecto Soul Sirkus, junto a Marco Mendoza, Virgil Donati y Neal Schon, guitarrista de Journey, una de las bandas favoritas de Jeff Scott Soto y con quienes estuvo girando durante 2007 como sustituto de Steve Augeri, siendo despedido en junio de la banda.
A partir del momento de su inesperada salida de Journey, Jeff se centró en seguir con su carrera en solitario, editando en el año 2008 una nueva grabación bajo el nombre de Beautiful Mess, posteriormente realizaría coros en el nuevo disco de la agrupación norteamericana de hard rock Dokken.
En el 2009, Jeff ha estado trabajando conjuntamente con Marcel Jacob en un nuevo proyecto llamado WET, patrocinado por el sello discográfico italiano Frontiers Records con miembros de dos bandas suecas Work Of Art y Eclipse. Adicionalmente está grabando material que formaría parte de un nuevo disco con Talismán.
También realizaría giras durante la temporada de Invierno por territorio americano con la Trans-Siberian Orchestra en los años 2008, 2009, 2010 y 2011, teniendo un rol más protagónico durante la gira de verano del disco Beethoven's Last Night en el 2010.
Soto estuvo también participó en la gira de la QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA, The Queen Official Tribute band, producida por Roger Taylor durante una buena parte del año 2012, incluyendo la presentación en el programa de TV, American Idol.
Actualmente, Jeff Scott Soto es considerado como uno de los mejores y más respetados cantantes del panorama del Glam Metal, el rock duro y heavy metal.
Olsen Brothers(hermanos Olsen) son un dúo musicaldanéscompuesto porJørgen(nacido el 15 de marzo de 1950) y su hermano"Noller"(Niels, nacido el 13 de abril de 1954).
Ambos formaron su primera banda llamada "The Kids" en 1965. Más tarde, en 1967 sacarían su primer sencillo. Tras participar en un musical, publicaron su primer álbum en 1972. Desde entonces, han llegado a publicar hasta 12 trabajos. Tras ganar la preselección danesa (Dansk Melodi Grand Prix) en 2000 en Copenhague, representaron a su país en el Festival de la Canción de Eurovisión 2000 celebrado en Estocolmo (Suecia), donde consiguieron alzarse con la victoria con la canción "Fly on the wings of love", una de las canciones más populares del festival. Fueron los ganadores de Eurovisión de mayor edad en el momento de su victoria. Dicha canción fue nominada como una de las 14 finalistas de la gala Congratulations, conmemorativa del 50 aniversario de Eurovisión (celebrado en Copenhague en 2005) y que estaba destinado a escoger la mejor canción de la historia del festival. Participaron también en el 60 Aniversario del festival en Londres. Su carrera ha estado centrada mayormente en su país natal.
Americais a British-Americanrockband formed in London in 1970 byDewey Bunnell,Dan Peek, andGerry Beckley, all Americans. The trio met as sons ofUS Air Forcepersonnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. Achieving significant popularity in the 1970s, the trio was famous for its close vocal harmonies and light acousticfolk rocksound. The band released a string of hit albums and singles, many of which found airplay on pop/soft rock stations.
The band came together shortly after the members' graduation from high school in the late 1960s. In 1970, Peek joined the band, and they signed a record deal with Warner Bros. The following year, they released their self-titled debut album, which included the transatlantic hits "A Horse with No Name" and "I Need You". Their second album, Homecoming (1972), included the single "Ventura Highway". Over the next several years, the band continued to release hit songs, including "Muskrat Love" on Hat Trick (1973), "Tin Man" and "Lonely People" on Holiday (1974), and "Sister Golden Hair" and "Daisy Jane" on their 1975 record Hearts. It was also in 1975 when America released History: America's Greatest Hits, a compilation of hit singles, which was certified multi-platinum in the United States and Australia. Peek left the group in 1977 and their commercial fortunes declined, though they returned to the top 10 in 1982 with the single "You Can Do Magic". The band's final Top 40 hit was "The Border", which reached no. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. The group continues to record material and tour regularly. Its 2007 album Here & Now was a collaboration with a new generation of musicians who have credited the band as an influence.
Wet Wet Wetare a Scottishsoft rockband formed in 1982. They scored a number of hits in the UK charts and around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. The band is composed ofGraeme Clark(bass, vocals),Tommy Cunningham(drums, vocals),Neil Mitchell(keyboards, piano, vocals) and, since 2018, lead vocalist and formerLiberty XsingerKevin Simm, who replaced founding memberMarti Pellowafter he left during the previous year. A fifth, unofficial member,Graeme Duffin(lead guitar, vocals), has been with them since 1983. The band were named Best British Newcomer at the 1988Brit Awards.
They are best known for their 1994 cover of The Troggs' 1960s hit "Love Is All Around", which was used on the soundtrack to the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was a huge international success and spent 15 weeks atop the British charts. One week before potentially equalling the record for the most consecutive weeks at number 1 on the UK singles chart, held by Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", it dropped to number two.
The quartet formed at Clydebank High School in Clydebank, Scotland, in 1982, under the name "Vortex Motion", mostly playing covers of The Clash and Magazine. "It was either crime, the dole, football, or music — and we chose music," said Tommy Cunningham. The original line-up consisted of: Neil Mitchell (keyboards), Tommy Cunningham (drums), Graeme Clark (bass), Mark McLachlan (a.k.a. Marti Pellow) vocals and original guitarist Lindsey McCauley.
Clark and Cunningham met on the school bus and became close friends. Mutual friend Neil Mitchell, prompted by his pals' positive attitude, promised to supply keyboards when he could scrape together enough money from his paper round. To complete the quartet, Clark approached Mark McLachlan, who at the time was training to be a painter and decorator. He said, "At break we all went behind the kitchen for a fly smoke, and there in the corner was this quiet kid who said very little, but when he sang, everyone listened." It was sometime in 1983 that Graeme Duffin joined Wet Wet Wet, after the departure of co-founder Lindsey McCauley. Duffin had previously been in a Glasgow-based band called New Celeste and recorded two albums with them High Sands and the Liquid Lake (1977) in Holland (with sleeve notes by Billy Connolly) on the Universe label and On the Line (1979) in Berlin on the Hansa Records label. The band combined folk, rock and jazz players.
With the line-up complete, rehearsals took place in Mrs. Clark's kitchen. They rehearsed for about two years, working on song producing and writing skills. They eventually made their live debut at Glasgow's Nightmoves venue. At this gig they met Elliot Davis, who would become the band's manager. The band name Wet Wet Wet was chosen from a line in the 1982 Scritti Politti song "Gettin' Havin' & Holdin'" ("it's tired of joking... wet, wet with tears"), and McLachlan changed his name to stage name "Marti Pellow". Their first professional gig was a New Year's Eve show at Glasgow's Barrowlands.
David Bates signed the band to PolyGram in 1985. One of the first demo songs they did was "Wishing I Was Lucky". When the band took the demo to Bates in late 1986, he discarded it as a poor effort. The band decided at this point that they could no longer work with him. Six months later, the band and their new A&R Manager, Nick Angel, released the single, and it reached number six in the UK singles chart. "I was in a queue in a fish and chip shop in Glasgow when it came on Radio Clyde," Cunningham remembers. "I felt like shouting to everybody, 'That's me and my mates!' It was an incredible feeling I've not forgotten." The parent album, Popped In Souled Out, also became a hit and produced three more hit singles, namely "Sweet Little Mystery", "Temptation", and "Angel Eyes". They supported Lionel Richie on his UK tour.
The following year the band released their third album, Holding Back the River, which was also a success and produced the hit single "Sweet Surrender". The album was well-received, relying more on strings and other classical arrangements. At the end of 1989, the band appeared on the Band Aid II charity single.
In 1992, the band released a fourth studio album, entitled High on the Happy Side, which spawned the Number 1 hit single "Goodnight Girl" – the only self-penned chart-topping single they have had to date. The song proved something of a saviour, as the previous two single releases from the album had failed in the singles charts, although the album reached the top of the UK Albums Chart. In total, five singles were released from it. The following day saw the release of a special-edition album, Cloak & Dagger, released under the alias "Maggie Pie & The Impostors". "Maggie Pie" was Marti Pellow, and the "impostors" were (on album cover, clockwise from top left) Neil Mitchell, Graeme Duffin, Tommy Cunningham, and Graeme Clark.
The band's first greatest-hits package, End of Part One, was released towards the end of 1993. The eighteen-song selection included "Shed a Tear" and "Cold Cold Heart", which were recorded with Nile Rodgers in New York City especially for the album and released as singles.
In 1994, Wet Wet Wet had their biggest hit, a cover version of The Troggs' single "Love Is All Around", which was used on the soundtrack to the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was a huge international success and spent 15 weeks atop the British charts. The week before it could have equalled the record for the longest-standing number-one single, held by Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", Pellow insisted on its deletion because he wanted to focus on getting their next album, Picture This, finished.[11] However, even after its deletion, there were still enough copies in the shops to get the song to number 2 in its 16th week, finally knocked off the top spot by Whigfield's debut single "Saturday Night". In any event, it remained in the Top 40 for the remainder of the year. In the official UK best-selling singles list issued in 2002 (the 50th anniversary of the chart), it was placed 12th. "Love Is All Around" also featured on the 1995 album Picture This, their sixth, which also spawned the hit single "Julia Says" and "Don't Want to Forgive Me Now". The album, although well received by critics, would ultimately live in the shadow of "Love Is All Around".
In 1995, they became the shirt sponsors of their hometown football club, Clydebank F.C.
During the rest of the 1990s the band maintained a strong UK following, although success in the singles charts became more sporadic. Their seventh studio album, 1997's Ten, celebrated the group's decade at the top.
After the tour in support of 10, things turned sour over a dispute about royalty-sharing. Revenue from the group's songwriting had been a four-way equal split. Cunningham turned up for a routine band meeting, only to discover that the other three members wanted to revise the policy, paying the drummer a lesser amount. Cunningham instantly quit the group saying that the band had run its course and that the band was no longer a healthy place to be.
In 1999 Pellow also quit the band, to focus on getting himself healthy again after succumbing to a debilitating alcohol and drug addiction. Pellow succeeded in kicking his habits, and returned to the public eye in 2001 with his debut solo album, Smile.
In March 2004, the band cautiously reformed in order to work on an eighth album. A single entitled "All I Want" was released in November 2004 from the band's second Greatest Hits, released a week later. They undertook a successful tour of the UK the following month.
In July 2005, Wet Wet Wet played at the Summer Weekender festival in England, and were one of the headline acts at Live 8 Edinburgh in Scotland. On 31 December 2006, Wet Wet Wet were the headline act for Aberdeen's Hogmanay celebrations when the celebrations in all other Scottish cities was held off because of strong winds and heavy rain. They performed thirteen songs in an hour-long set.
A single, "Too Many People", was released on 5 November 2007, and its parent album, Timeless, on 12 November. These preceded a sold-out December tour, a taste of which was given at their Newmarket concert in August. In preparation for the tour, the band also announced that they will be playing two intimate dates at zavvi stores in Glasgow and London in November. "Weightless", the second single from the album, was released on 4 February and charted at Number 10, giving them their first top-ten hit in eleven years.
In March 2012, it was announced that the band would perform its first concert in over five years, at Glasgow Green on 20 July, to celebrate their 25th anniversary of the release of their debut album, Popped In, Souled Out.
In May 2013, UK music promoter Stuart Galbraith of Kilimanjaro Live confirmed a ten date UK tour for Wet Wet Wet commencing in December 2013.
On 8 October 2013, Wet Wet Wet announced via their Twitter page that they would be releasing a new Greatest Hits album, Step by Step: The Greatest Hits, on 25 November 2013. The album features three new tracks as well as songs from their back catalogue.
On 28 July 2017, it was announced that Pellow had quit Wet Wet Wet to focus on his solo career.
On 25 September 2018, the band announced that Kevin Simm (formerly of Liberty X) was their new singer. Simm started singing with the band at two shows: St Lukes in Calton, Glasgow, and 229 The Venue in London in November 2018. Following on from their sold-out shows, they announced a nationwide 18-date tour, starting in April 2019.
In November 2020, the band announced the 2021 release of new album The Journey, their first studio album since 2007 and the first including vocals from former The Voice UK winner Kevin Simm, who also re-recorded the vocals on a number of their hits for the bonus CD (which comes with the 2CD/DVD version of album).
In May 2022, drummer Tommy Cunningham announced that he quit the band due to his hearing problem, and keyboard player Niel Mitchell also left the band.
Philip Eugene Perry (born January 12, 1952) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group, The Montclairs, from 1971 to 1975. He was also known for performing the opening song to Disney’s sitcom, Goof Troop.
Discovered by Catholic nuns while singing high masses in his Catholic Church (St. Elizabeth in East St. Louis), and a high-school talent show favorite, Phil Perry wrote and recorded his first single "Hey You" with The Montclairs, who were also based in East St. Louis. They were signed to the Archway Records label just before Perry turned 17 years old in 1969. The song is considered to be the first of a classic soul collection of Perry 'Old School' singles popular in the 1970s.
In 1972, The Montclairs recorded for Paula Records with minor soul ballads that included "Dreaming's out of Season," "Prelude to a Heartbreak," and "Begging's Hard to Do." The Montclairs left Paula Records and disbanded in 1975. Perry then moved to California with former Montclair Kevin Sanlin, recording as a duo, resulting in two albums at Capitol Records in the early 1980s that were produced by Chuck Jackson and Dr. Cecil Hale. One song, "Just to Make You Happy," had a respectable level of success in radio.
In the 1990s, Perry scored his first number-one R&B hit "Call Me" (previously recorded and written by Aretha Franklin), a remake of the 1970 hit, as well as the top-forty R&B singles "Amazing Love" and "Forever" (written by Brenda Russell), all from the album The Heart of the Man (1991), his first solo release. Perry is also featured on many GRP Records projects, and is considered to be a GRP all-star, featured with such smooth-jazz icons as guitarists Lee Ritenour and Russ Freeman, and pianist Don Grusin.
In 1991 he released his first solo album on Capitol Records, and toured with labelmate Dave Koz for the next several years, going on to record 4 more albums.
On September 11, 2001, Perry was scheduled to perform at the World Trade Center's lunch-hour jazz concert series between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. As fate would have it, he was spared from the devastation of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. However, for the next few years, he sank into an artistic depression, and did not record again until invited by longtime friend Don Grusin, who he joined in September 2003 for a collaborative venture titled "The Hang." This CD/DVD project was nominated for a Grammy Award, and included Dave Grusin, Harvey Mason, Patti Austin, Natali Renee, Abraham Laboriel, Alex Acuna, Ernie Watts, Lee Ritenour, and others.
In 2006, former co-producer of the Magic album, Chris "Big Dog" Davis, urged Perry to record a collection of R&B hits titled Classic Love Songs as an independent one-off project for Shanachie Records. Since that time, Perry has recorded four projects for that label with Davis, including a project with Melba Moore. In 2007 he reunited with Dave Koz and toured the country. The same year, he released the album "Mighty Love," for which he was voted the 2007 Male Vocalist of the Year in the SoulTracks Readers' Choice Awards. In 2008, Perry recorded a duet album with Tony Award-winning vocalist Melba Moore titled "The Gift of Love." It was awarded the Duo Album of the Year Award in the SoulTracks Readers Choice Awards.
After returning from a South African trip, Perry became ill during a performance with Pieces of a Dream, in October 2009, at Southern Connecticut State University. Unsubstantiated rumors began to circulate that he had died. While there is no definitive medical diagnosis for the collapse, he was treated at a local New Haven hospital and released with the strong recommendation that he take some time off and rest. In 2010, "Ready for Love" was released by Shanachie. Inspired to continue writing after his health scare, this effort featured more Phil Perry originals than in any of his earlier releases, which was said to be of great satisfaction to him.
March 2013 saw the release of Say Yes, his 10th solo album, and the 5th on Shanachie. It charted in the Top Ten on Billboard and A.C. Smooth jazz charts, as well as receiving Smooth Jazz top vocal credits. Two years after its release, Say Yes continued its steady climb to become one of Billboard's 2014 top smooth-jazz singles, featuring Perry in a classic duet cover of Where Is the Love? with Chanté Moore.
The 11th solo release from Perry on the Shanachie label—"A Better Man"—was #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart in the first week of its release.
Mary Vesta Williams (December 1, 1957 – September 22, 2011) was an American singer-songwriter, who performed across genres such as pop, jazz, adult contemporary and R&B. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was simply known as Vesta beginning in the 1990s. She was known for her four–octave vocal range. She once sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Los Angeles Lakers game opener using all four of those octaves. Although Williams never had any albums certified gold nor any Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, she scored six Top 10 hits on the United States BillboardR&Bchart from the mid–1980s to the early–1990s that included "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" (1986), "Sweet Sweet Love" (1988), "Special" (1991), and her 1989 single and signature song, "Congratulations".
Born in Coshocton, Ohio, United States, Williams' father was a disc jockey. Her family moved from Ohio to Los Angeles in the 1960s. While there, Williams and her three sisters, Margaret, Marte and Marlena, appeared on the television show Jack and Jill as "The Williams Sisters". Later, she returned to Ohio but decided to go back to Los Angeles in order to launch a solo career. Former Fifth Dimension member Ron Townson put Williams in his band Wild Honey. Following that stint, Williams found work as a backup singer, working with artists such as Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Sting, Stephanie Mills, Anita Baker and Gordon Lightfoot. Williams sang on the original version of Joe Sample's "The Survivor", and met producer David Crawford while working with his group Klique. After doing session work, she landed a recording contract with A&M Records and her debut album, Vesta, was released in 1986. The album featured her first Top 10R&B hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", which became her only UK hit and performed modestly on the US R&B charts.
Her 1988 release, Vesta 4 U, produced the Top 10 R&B hits "Sweet Sweet Love", "4 U", and "Congratulations", with the latter peaking at #55 on the Hot 100 chart and #5 on the R&B chart. "Congratulations" was Vesta's only single to enter the Hot 100 chart. The album was also her most successful, and her only album to appear on the US Billboard 200, peaking at No. 131. There were persistent rumors that the song was inspired by the dissolution of her long-time relationship with Bruce Willis and that Demi Moore was directly responsible for ending it. In 1991, Williams released her third album entitled Special, with the title track as a single. "Special" became her highest-charting song on the R&B chart at #2, but sales of the album were less than that of Vesta 4 U. Her next album, 1993's Everything-N-More, produced only a minor R&B hit, "Always".
In 1989, Polygram Records purchased A&M Records. Williams' 1998 album Relationships was released under the Polygram name, and it became a modest seller, appearing on the R&B charts. Following the release of Relationships, A&M/Polygram did not renew her contract. Williams continued to work as a session singer, landing spots on albums by such artists as Phil Perry, Howard Hewett, and George Duke. Her voice could be heard by radio listeners in jingles for advertisers that included McDonald's, Nike, Baskin-Robbins, Diet Coke, Revlon and Exxon. That same year, she performed the opening theme to the ABCminiseries, The Women of Brewster Place.
Williams portrayed a saloon singer in the 1993 film Posse, directed by Mario Van Peebles. During this time period she had a hit with the SWV song, "Rain", recorded alongside smooth jazz musician Norman Brown. Williams had a recurring role as "Monica", Jackée Harry's best friend, in the television series Sister, Sister in the 1998–99 season. Her singing voice is featured in the theme song of UPN's Malcolm and Eddie.
In 2000, Polygram released a compilation album, featuring songs from Williams and former A&M artist CeCe Peniston. In 2007, Williams released an album of R&B songs on Shanachie Records entitled Distant Lover. Produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis, Distant Lover was a cover album featuring songs originally recorded by Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Sade, and Deniece Williams. Her last recording was the song "Dedicated," released on 7 December 2010 on Stimuli Music.
By 2002, Williams had become a radio personality, and was co-hosting a morning show on KRNB in Dallas/Fort Worth. In recent years, Williams had lost 100 pounds, going from size 26 to size 6. It was at this time that Williams became an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.
Her final performance occurred on September 17, 2011 in Portsmouth, Virginia at the Autumn Jazz Explosion, just five days before her death.
She was scheduled to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!" in Los Angeles on October 22, 2011. Shanice performed "Congratulations" during the show as a tribute to Williams. There was also a tribute to the late singer Teena Marie. Williams was taping an episode of TV One's Unsung at the time of her death. It aired January 2, 2012.
On September 22, 2011, Williams was found dead in a hotel room in El Segundo, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, she was found dead at 6:15 p.m. (PDT), A spokesperson for the coroner's office stated that the autopsy did not say the cause of death. In late December 2011, the family released this statement through singer/producer Norwood Young, reporting her official cause of death: "Following three months of intensive coroner's autopsy and toxicology research, it has been definitively determined that the cause of death for our beloved Vesta was 'natural death' from 'hypertensive heart disease,'" adding: "An enlarged heart can remain undetected for many years."
