Asha Puthli
Encyclopedia
Asha Puthli is an Indian
-born singer-songwriter, producer and actress.
Best recognized for her daredevil vocals on the "Science Fiction" album by jazz iconoclast Ornette Coleman
, Asha Puthli has recorded ten solo albums for labels like EMI
, CBS
/Sony
, and RCA
. She is a 'world music
' pioneer and an intrepid cosmopolite.
Her recordings, which span styles like blues
, pop
, rock
, soul
, funk
, disco
, and techno
, have been produced by the likes of Del Newman (who has produced Elton John
and Cat Stevens
), and Teo Macero
(who has produced Miles Davis
and Vernon Reid
)
.
and Nat King Cole
, and she became acculturated to British and American pop singers like Dusty Springfield
and Cliff Richard
through Sri Lanka's Radio Ceylon.
She won a competition at thirteen singing "Malaguena," which gave her the encouragement some years later to begin improvising with a jazz band at local tea dances. This nascent scene was chronicled in Ved Mehta
's chapter "Jazz in Bombay" from his classic book Portrait of India. Asha's sultry, four-octave soprano that has been described by scholar Niranjan Jhaveri in the following manner: "The ability to manipulate her voice and to introduce certain glissando
effects embellishments and textures descend directly from Asha's training in the Indian classical idiom. Her improvisations are the envy of the best instrumental technicians in jazz". Music journalist Ann Powers
, writing for the New York Times, called her a "fusion pioneer".
. As luck would have it, Columbia Records
impresario John H. Hammond
, who had forged a career discovering acts like Billie Holiday
, Bob Dylan
and Bruce Springsteen
, became intrigued by Ved Mehta's portrait of Asha in Jazz in Bombay. After hearing a rough demo, Hammond championed her as a genius and vigorously recruited her for CBS Records
. Unable to find a place for the jazz singer at his increasingly rock-oriented label, Hammond nonetheless used his connections to get her top-flight session work. She sang lead vocals on the Peter Ivers
Blues Band's cover of "Ain't That Peculiar" which made a critical splash in magazines like Cashbox, Rolling Stone
, and Billboard - sadly, the band's full album featuring her, Take It Out On Me was shelved for nearly four decades before finally seeing the light of day in 2009. The sensuality of the music and seeing Ivers stripped to his underwear in the next booth prompted Puthli to undress and sing the session nearly naked. Photographers soon followed, but interrupted nothing as they snapped away.
Hammond fortuitously sent her to audition for avant-garde jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman
, who'd been searching to no avail for a unique singer for his Science Fiction project (1971). A quick study, Asha learned and recorded two of Coleman's songs, "What Reason Could I Give" and "All My Life," in mere hours. Historian Robert Palmer
gushed about Asha's sound in the following manner: "A sound like Raga
meeting Aretha Franklin
, Miss Puthli's singing is equally extraordinary. There is just enough Indian training left in her style to give it an indescribable fluid quality. Her alternation of timbre from the breathiest of sighs to gospel derived moans is unique. She improvises off an impressive range and generally walks through the album with the assurance of a master performer."[New York Times - Pop Life by Robert Palmer "Mardi Gras Indians-And a Sound Like Raga Meeting Aretha Franklin", July 30, 1976] For her work on Science Fiction, Asha shared the Downbeat Critics' Poll award for "best female jazz vocalist," alongside Ella Fitzgerald
and Dee Dee Bridgewater
. Despite the shower of accolades, avant-garde jazz is not a genre known for vocalists, and recording opportunities did not materialize for Asha in the United States.
and T-Rex. Her self-titled debut was produced by Del Newman, famous for his glitter rock treatment of Elton John
's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and it featured languorous pop soul covers of tunes by J. J. Cale, Bill Withers
, and others. She also recruited Pierre LaRoche, David Bowie
and Freddie Mercury
's makeup artist, and glam photographer Mick Rock
to shoot the cover.
The follow-up She Loves to Hear the Music continued in the vein of her debut; and her third solo album, The Devil is Loose, was hailed as an instant classic by the New York Times. Thom Jurek of allmusic.com praises the psychedelic glam record as 'a masterpiece of snakey, spaced-out soul and pre-mainstream disco.' Asha's sensual, Eastern-influenced cooing over bass-driven grooves on original songs like Flying Fish and Space Talk provided the blueprint for spacey disco hits like "I Feel Love
" and Love to Love You Baby
by Donna Summer
and Giorgio Moroder
, and they provided the sonic template for future disco
, electronica
and femme pop hits by Blondie
, Ofra Haza
, Kylie Minogue
and others. Her disco album, "L'Indiana," produced dance floor hits like "I"m Gonna Dance." Recognized in critical circles as a fusion
pioneer [Ann Powers], Asha's distinctive, unusual recordings predate fusion of east and west celebrated today in styles like hip-hop, worldbeat
, bhangra, and electronica
by almost twenty years.
's The Gang That Sold America (Italian title:Squadra Antigangsters).
Her cosmopolitan sense of glamour rocketed her to visibility as a fashion icon: a headliner at Studio 54
, she was dressed by A-list designers from Michaele Vollbracht to Manolo Blahnik
, and photographed by iconic lensers from Richard Avedon
to Andy Warhol
.
The new millennium saw Asha re-emerge as an in-demand guest artist on the electronica circuit, appearing on funk experimentalist Bill Laswell
's Asana Vol. 3, Hey Diwani, Hey Diwani with techno-fusion group Dum Dum Project, and a variety of rare groove and yoga music collections.
In 2005 Asha hit the UK charts once again singing lead vocals on and co-writing Stratus' Looking Glass from their album Fear of Magnetism.
Recently, her underground 1970s classic Space Talk - a popular tune with David Mancuso
's The Loft crowd - has become a popular hip-hop break record, sampled by the likes of P.Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G.
, Dilated Peoples
, Governor featuring 50 Cent
, and Redman; and her cover of George Harrison
's I Dig Love was recently sampled for the chart-topping track Reloaded by UK Mobo award winner Ka-No. She has co-writer credits with Jay-Z
, P.Diddy, The Neptunes
, Jermaine Dupri
, SWV
and The Notorious B.I.G.
on the track The World is Filled from the multi-platinum album, Life After Death
.
In August 2006, she headlined Central Park Summerstage in New York City on an eclectic bill with DJ Spooky
, Talvin Singh
, Outernational and Prefuse 73 and special guests Dewey Redman
and Dres (rapper)
of the hip-hop group Black Sheep
.
Asha Puthli's album "Lost" was released in summer 2008 on European label Kyrone.
Appears on
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
-born singer-songwriter, producer and actress.
Best recognized for her daredevil vocals on the "Science Fiction" album by jazz iconoclast Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, Asha Puthli has recorded ten solo albums for labels like EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
/Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, and RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
. She is a 'world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
' pioneer and an intrepid cosmopolite.
Her recordings, which span styles like blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, and techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, have been produced by the likes of Del Newman (who has produced Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
), and Teo Macero
Teo Macero
Teo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
(who has produced Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
and Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
)
.
The early years
Born and raised in Bombay, Asha began training at an early age in Indian classical and European opera. With a dream to synthesize Indian music, Asha gravitated to western popular music emanating from her home radio. From Voice of America she consumed jazz masters like Ella FitzgeraldElla Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
and Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, and she became acculturated to British and American pop singers like Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
and Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
through Sri Lanka's Radio Ceylon.
She won a competition at thirteen singing "Malaguena," which gave her the encouragement some years later to begin improvising with a jazz band at local tea dances. This nascent scene was chronicled in Ved Mehta
Ved Mehta
Ved Parkash Mehta is a writer who was born in Lahore, British India to a Hindu family. He lost his sight at the age of four as the result of an attack of cerebrospinal meningitis...
's chapter "Jazz in Bombay" from his classic book Portrait of India. Asha's sultry, four-octave soprano that has been described by scholar Niranjan Jhaveri in the following manner: "The ability to manipulate her voice and to introduce certain glissando
Glissando
In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
effects embellishments and textures descend directly from Asha's training in the Indian classical idiom. Her improvisations are the envy of the best instrumental technicians in jazz". Music journalist Ann Powers
Ann Powers
Ann Powers is an American writer and pop music critic.Powers has been writing about popular music and society since the early 1980s...
, writing for the New York Times, called her a "fusion pioneer".
The New York Years
Asha made her way to New York under the auspices of a dance scholarship from Martha GrahamMartha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
. As luck would have it, Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
impresario John H. Hammond
John H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
, who had forged a career discovering acts like Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, became intrigued by Ved Mehta's portrait of Asha in Jazz in Bombay. After hearing a rough demo, Hammond championed her as a genius and vigorously recruited her for CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
. Unable to find a place for the jazz singer at his increasingly rock-oriented label, Hammond nonetheless used his connections to get her top-flight session work. She sang lead vocals on the Peter Ivers
Peter Ivers
Peter Scott Ivers was an American musician, best known as the host of New Wave Theatre.Ivers was born in Illinois, but raised in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Roxbury Latin School and then Harvard University, majoring in classical languages, but chose a career in...
Blues Band's cover of "Ain't That Peculiar" which made a critical splash in magazines like Cashbox, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, and Billboard - sadly, the band's full album featuring her, Take It Out On Me was shelved for nearly four decades before finally seeing the light of day in 2009. The sensuality of the music and seeing Ivers stripped to his underwear in the next booth prompted Puthli to undress and sing the session nearly naked. Photographers soon followed, but interrupted nothing as they snapped away.
Hammond fortuitously sent her to audition for avant-garde jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, who'd been searching to no avail for a unique singer for his Science Fiction project (1971). A quick study, Asha learned and recorded two of Coleman's songs, "What Reason Could I Give" and "All My Life," in mere hours. Historian Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer (author/producer)
Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. was a 20th century American writer, musicologist, clarinetist, saxophonist, and blues producer...
gushed about Asha's sound in the following manner: "A sound like Raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
meeting Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, Miss Puthli's singing is equally extraordinary. There is just enough Indian training left in her style to give it an indescribable fluid quality. Her alternation of timbre from the breathiest of sighs to gospel derived moans is unique. She improvises off an impressive range and generally walks through the album with the assurance of a master performer."[New York Times - Pop Life by Robert Palmer "Mardi Gras Indians-And a Sound Like Raga Meeting Aretha Franklin", July 30, 1976] For her work on Science Fiction, Asha shared the Downbeat Critics' Poll award for "best female jazz vocalist," alongside Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
and Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American Jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award - winning stage actress and host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater...
. Despite the shower of accolades, avant-garde jazz is not a genre known for vocalists, and recording opportunities did not materialize for Asha in the United States.
European Solo Albums
Asha's commercial promise was better understood in Europe, where she was signed to a record deal by CBS. Mostly unreleased in the US, Asha's series of inventive solo albums, in which she also delves into writing and producing, reflect the young singer's burgeoning interest in pop, rock, soul, funk and disco. Asha gravitated to glam, a scene populated by fashion-conscious provocateurs like Elton JohnElton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and T-Rex. Her self-titled debut was produced by Del Newman, famous for his glitter rock treatment of Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and it featured languorous pop soul covers of tunes by J. J. Cale, Bill Withers
Bill Withers
William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
, and others. She also recruited Pierre LaRoche, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
's makeup artist, and glam photographer Mick Rock
Mick Rock
Mick Rock is a British photographer best known for his iconic shots of rock and roll legends such as Queen, David Bowie, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Joan Jett, Talking Heads, Roxy Music, Crossfade, Thin Lizzy, Motley Crue, and Blondie...
to shoot the cover.
The follow-up She Loves to Hear the Music continued in the vein of her debut; and her third solo album, The Devil is Loose, was hailed as an instant classic by the New York Times. Thom Jurek of allmusic.com praises the psychedelic glam record as 'a masterpiece of snakey, spaced-out soul and pre-mainstream disco.' Asha's sensual, Eastern-influenced cooing over bass-driven grooves on original songs like Flying Fish and Space Talk provided the blueprint for spacey disco hits like "I Feel Love
I Feel Love
"I Feel Love" is a song by Donna Summer, taken from her 1977 concept album I Remember Yesterday.The song constituted the "future" segment of the album, which represented a stylistic progress through time...
" and Love to Love You Baby
Love to Love You Baby
Love to Love You Baby is the second album by Donna Summer, and her first to be released internationally and in the US. Her previous album Lady of the Night was released only in the Netherlands. Love to Love You Baby was released in the US on August 27, 1975.-History:In the summer of 1975, Summer...
by Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
and Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
, and they provided the sonic template for future disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
and femme pop hits by Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, Ofra Haza
Ofra Haza
Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer of Yemeni origin, an actress and international recording artist....
, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
and others. Her disco album, "L'Indiana," produced dance floor hits like "I"m Gonna Dance." Recognized in critical circles as a fusion
Fusion (music)
A fusion genre is music that combines two or more styles. For example, rock and roll originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music. The main characteristics of fusion genres are variations in tempo, rhythm, i a sometimes the use of long musical "journeys" that can be divided...
pioneer [Ann Powers], Asha's distinctive, unusual recordings predate fusion of east and west celebrated today in styles like hip-hop, worldbeat
Worldbeat
Worldbeat is a music genre that primarily refers to a blending of Western pop music with traditional/folk or world music influences...
, bhangra, and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
by almost twenty years.
Films, Fashion and Beyond
During the 1970s, Asha also branched out into films, starring in lead roles in Merchant Ivory's Savages (completely naked) and Bruno CorbucciBruno Corbucci
Bruno Corbucci was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He was the younger brother of Sergio Corbucci, and wrote many of his films. He was born in Rome, where he also died....
's The Gang That Sold America (Italian title:Squadra Antigangsters).
Her cosmopolitan sense of glamour rocketed her to visibility as a fashion icon: a headliner at Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
, she was dressed by A-list designers from Michaele Vollbracht to Manolo Blahnik
Manolo Blahnik
Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez CBE, , is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the self-named, high-end shoe brand.-Biography:Born to a Czech father and a Spanish mother and born and raised in the Canary Islands , Blahnik graduated from the University of Geneva in 1965 and studied art in Paris...
, and photographed by iconic lensers from Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was an American photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century."-Photography career:Avedon was born in New York City to a Jewish Russian...
to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
.
The new millennium saw Asha re-emerge as an in-demand guest artist on the electronica circuit, appearing on funk experimentalist Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
's Asana Vol. 3, Hey Diwani, Hey Diwani with techno-fusion group Dum Dum Project, and a variety of rare groove and yoga music collections.
In 2005 Asha hit the UK charts once again singing lead vocals on and co-writing Stratus' Looking Glass from their album Fear of Magnetism.
Recently, her underground 1970s classic Space Talk - a popular tune with David Mancuso
David Mancuso
David Mancuso created the popular "by invitation only" parties in New York City later known as "The Loft". The first party "Love Saves The Day" was in 1970...
's The Loft crowd - has become a popular hip-hop break record, sampled by the likes of P.Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G.
The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...
, Dilated Peoples
Dilated Peoples
Dilated Peoples is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. The group achieved notability in the underground hip hop community, although they have had little mainstream success in the US, with the exception of the song "This Way," a 2004 collaboration with Kanye West and Xzibit...
, Governor featuring 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
, and Redman; and her cover of George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
's I Dig Love was recently sampled for the chart-topping track Reloaded by UK Mobo award winner Ka-No. She has co-writer credits with Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
, P.Diddy, The Neptunes
The Neptunes
The Neptunes are a record production duo consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are credited with contributing the sound for many successful hip hop, R&B and pop artists in the late-1990s and 2000s...
, Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin , known as Jermaine Dupri or JD, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper.- Early life and career :...
, SWV
SWV
Sisters with Voices, better known as SWV, is an American female R&B trio from New York. Formed in 1990 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including "Weak", "Right Here/Human Nature", "I'm So Into You", and "You're the One"....
and The Notorious B.I.G.
The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...
on the track The World is Filled from the multi-platinum album, Life After Death
Life After Death
Life After Death is the second and final studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released March 25, 1997 on Bad Boy Records. A double album, it was released posthumously following his death on March 9, 1997 and serves as his final studio album...
.
In August 2006, she headlined Central Park Summerstage in New York City on an eclectic bill with DJ Spooky
DJ Spooky
Paul D. Miller , known by his stage name DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics or his fans as "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, a producer, a philosopher, and an author...
, Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh Matharoo , is a producer and composer and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass...
, Outernational and Prefuse 73 and special guests Dewey Redman
Dewey Redman
Dewey Redman was an American jazz saxophonist, known for performing free jazz as a bandleader, and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett....
and Dres (rapper)
Dres (rapper)
Dres is a rapper of the alternative hip hop duo Black Sheep. He formed the group in 1989 along with Mista Lawnge. On their 1991 debut album A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Dres has a smooth rhyme flow, with a dose of light humor....
of the hip-hop group Black Sheep
Black sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness...
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Asha Puthli's album "Lost" was released in summer 2008 on European label Kyrone.
Partial discography
Albums- Asha Puthli (CBS) 1973
- She Loves to Hear the Music (CBS) 1974
- The Devil is Loose (CBS) 1976
- Asha L'Indiana (TK Records) 1979
- 1001 Nights of Love (Polygram) 1980
- I'm Going to Kill It Tonight (Autobahn) 1981
- Only the Headaches Remain (Polygram) 1982
- Asha: The New Beat of Nostalgia (Top of the World Records) 1998
Appears on
- Science FictionScience Fiction (Ornette Coleman album)Science Fiction is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman recorded in 1971 and released on the Columbia label.-Reception:...
- Ornette Coleman (Columbia) 1971 - Mirror - Charlie Mariano (Atlantic) 1972
- Squadra Antigangsters (CinevoxCinevoxCinevox is an Italian record label specializing in the release of motion picture soundtrack albums. Founded in 1966, the label has released more than 200 titles, including numerous works by Ennio Morricone, Pino Donaggio, and various Dario Argento movie soundtracks composed by Goblin and Keith...
) 1979 - soundtrack - Easily Slip Into Another WorldEasily Slip Into Another WorldEasily Slip Into Another World is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the RCA Novus label in 1987. The album and features five of Threadgill's compositions and one by Olu Dara performed by Threadgill with Frank Lacy, Rasul Siddik, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Pheeroan akLaff and Reggie...
- Henry ThreadgillHenry ThreadgillHenry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
(Novus) 1989 - Loft Classics XII - Various Artists (Loft Classics) 1995
- Groovy Vol 1: A Collection of Rare Jazzy Club Tracks - Various Artists (Irma) 1996 - compilation
- Groovy Vol 2: A Collection of Rare Jazzy Club Tracks - Various Artists (Irma) 1997 - compilation
- Export Quality - Dum Dum Project (Times Square / Groovy) 2001
- Walking on Music - Various Artists (Corona) 2001 - compilation
- Psychedelic Jazz and Soul from the Atlantic and Warner Vaults - Various Artists (Warner UK) 2001 - compilation
- Mpath - Wanderer - Gardner Cole (Triloka) 2003
- Accerezzami - Fausto Papetti (n/a) 2003
- Chillout in Ibiza, Vol. 5 - Various Artists (Smart) 2003 - compilation
- The Karma Collection (Ministry of Sound) - Various Artists 2003 - compilation
- Asana Vol 3: Peaceful Heart - Bill Laswell (Meta) 2003
- The Trip - Tom Middleton, Various Artists (Family Recordings) 2004 - compilation
- Fear of Magnetism - Stratus (Klein) 2005
- Asana OHM Shanti - Bill Laswell (Meta) 2006
- Cosmic Dancer - Voyage Three - Various Artists (Cosmic Dancer) 2006 - compilation