Robert Hart (musician)
Encyclopedia
Robert Hart is an English
rock
vocalist
and songwriter. He is the lead singer of Manfred Mann's Earth Band
. He has performed as a solo
artist
, and with The Distance and also with former Whitesnake
members in the band
called Company of Snakes
and with Bad Company
. He also fronted The Jones Gang
, a rock group formed by Robert, Rick Wills and Kenney Jones
. He now performs as a solo artist as well as touring with his own band XBad Company, with Dave "Bucket" Colwell and Garry "Harry" James (all of them being ex-members of Bad Company). He was the first English writer to be signed to Disney owned Hollywood Records. He has also written multiple number 1 hits, and written a number of songs for film soundtracks whilst being signed to Roy Orbison's Still Working Music, Disney's Hollwood Records, and Island records.
signed Hart to his Island Records
label
in the 1980s and teamed him with Bernard Edwards
. The two men produced collaborated on several projects, including the soundtrack
for the Whoopi Goldberg
film
, The Burglar
.
The Distance gained success in a worldwide market with particularly high sales in Japan
. After leaving the band Hart moved to Atlantic Records as a solo artist, with Stewart Levine producing his first album, Cries and Whispers.
He then became the first English artist to be signed by Disney-owned Hollywood Records
, and worked with Russ Ballard
on Hart's self-titled album, Robert Hart, which charted in more than 18 countries.
It was while touring following the release of the album in 1992 that Hart was approached by Mick Ralphs
of Bad Company
and asked whether he would be interested in fronting the band. For the next seven years Hart toured with them. He also co-wrote two of the band's albums, Company of Strangers and Stories Told & Untold
, three live albums.
Over the years Hart has also been involved in projects with Andy Taylor
of Duran Duran
, Peter Maffay
, members of Chic
and Go West
. His association with Kenney Jones
came via Boz Burrell
, who played with Hart in Bad Company.
Jones insists Hart is one of the best singers in the business. “He’s got one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard,” he says. “I’ve been in bands with the likes of Steve Marriott
, Rod Stewart
, Roger Daltrey
and Paul Rodgers
and Robert has a voice right up there with them.”
and Brian Howe
. Hart performed with Bad Company and became very popular with both the band and public alike especially in the USA and Canada. In July 1994 a contract was drawn up by Alliance Artists and Legend Management and signed by the then Bad Company line up, Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke, Robert Hart, Dave Colwell and Rick Wills, giving Robert the right to perform write and record songs and albums and receive royalty payments as a full Bad Company member. In 1995 Robert co wrote the album Company of Strangers and in 1996 another album Stories Told & Untold
plus three live albums between 1994 and 2001 Robert did seven world tours and played at all of the great venues like Madison Square Garden.
, Gary Granger, Ronnie Wood, and Rick Wills. It was from this Wills was to join Hart and Jones to complete the Trio. The Band recorded an album titled Any Day Now which Hart co-wrote all of the tracks and sole wrote most of the tracks. The album was released in the U.S on the 9 August 2005. The debut single "Angel" written by Hart, and Russ Ballard
went to number 1 on the ACQB Top 40 charts, staying there for a further 11 weeks. The album overall was well received giving Hart another two songs that have been claimed to have reached no. 1 slots on some USA charts http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Aggressive+Cross-Promotional+Marketing+Blitz+for+The+Jones+Gang%27s...-a0137429612. Recent debate has been posted on Wikipedia about the song not charting in Billboard, as that site and its official reference book show no such chart accomplishments other than a #30 placement on their Adult Contemporary chart for the song 'Angel'. (To view this statistic, go to http://www.billboard.com/#/album/jones-gang/any-day-now/728215 and click on the bar graph next to the song's title.) Wikipedia's own archived Billboard references show a complete absence of The Jones Gang from any number one charts in Billboard tabulated during 2005.
The airline company USA 3000 commissioned 14 planes to have The Jones Gang album cover art work on as drawn by Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones. These made the headlines as these planes were the first sent in the rescue operation of people affected by the Hurricane wilma disaster http://www.allbusiness.com/travel-hospitality-tourism/travel-tourism-overview/5113044-1.html.
announced Robert Hart as the new singer for his formation Manfred Mann's Earth Band
.
. On 1 November 2009 Bee Gee legend Robin Gibb, Michael Bolton, Mica Paris, former Free and Queen frontman Paul Rodgers and Lee Mead, who won TV's Any Dream Will Do and dozens of others recorded it at Abbey Road Studios
in London. It is a very moving remembrance song dedicated to the memory of all the soldiers that have died in wars. The song will be released in the very near future it has been sponsored by the Sun Newspaper and the BBC it is widely expected to be a Number 1 hit and will compete with X Factor for the Christmas number 1 spot. All of the proceeds are going to charity.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
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...
vocalist
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
and songwriter. He is the lead singer of Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Manfred Mann's Earth Band is a British progressive rock group formed in 1971 by Manfred Mann.-Formation:Having started in the 1960s with a British band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "The Mighty Quinn", then moving on to Jazz Fusion with Manfred Mann's Chapter Three, Manfred's third...
. He has performed as a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
artist
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, and with The Distance and also with former Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...
members in the band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
called Company of Snakes
Company of Snakes
The Company of Snakes were an English rock band formed in 1998, by former members of the English rock band Whitesnake who were also members of The Snakes. They released two albums before morphing into M3 during 2004.- History:...
and with Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
. He also fronted The Jones Gang
The Jones Gang
The Jones Gang is a British rock band which was formed in 2001.The line-up includes:*Rick Wills, who formerly played with Peter Frampton, Foreigner, Small Faces, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry and David Gilmour.*Robert Hart of Bad Company...
, a rock group formed by Robert, Rick Wills and Kenney Jones
Kenney Jones
Kenneth Thomas "Kenney" Jones is a veteran English rock drummer best known for his work in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who.-Small Faces to the Faces:...
. He now performs as a solo artist as well as touring with his own band XBad Company, with Dave "Bucket" Colwell and Garry "Harry" James (all of them being ex-members of Bad Company). He was the first English writer to be signed to Disney owned Hollywood Records. He has also written multiple number 1 hits, and written a number of songs for film soundtracks whilst being signed to Roy Orbison's Still Working Music, Disney's Hollwood Records, and Island records.
Biography
Chris BlackwellChris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
signed Hart to his Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in the 1980s and teamed him with Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
. The two men produced collaborated on several projects, including the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for the Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, The Burglar
The Burglar
The Burglar is a 1957 crime/thriller film released by Columbia Pictures, based on the 1953 novel of the same name by David Goodis .-Production background:...
.
The Distance gained success in a worldwide market with particularly high sales in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. After leaving the band Hart moved to Atlantic Records as a solo artist, with Stewart Levine producing his first album, Cries and Whispers.
He then became the first English artist to be signed by Disney-owned Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
, and worked with Russ Ballard
Russ Ballard
Russell Glyn Ballard is an English singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Ballard was initially a guitarist with Buster Meikle & The Day Breakers in 1961, together with Roy Ballard, Russ's older brother on piano and Bob Henrit on drums...
on Hart's self-titled album, Robert Hart, which charted in more than 18 countries.
It was while touring following the release of the album in 1992 that Hart was approached by Mick Ralphs
Mick Ralphs
Michael Geoffrey "Mick" Ralphs is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was a founding member of rock bands Mott the Hoople and Bad Company.-Career:...
of Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
and asked whether he would be interested in fronting the band. For the next seven years Hart toured with them. He also co-wrote two of the band's albums, Company of Strangers and Stories Told & Untold
Stories Told & Untold
Stories Told & Untold is a reprise album by hard rock band Bad Company released in 1996. It was the last with the 1995 line-up of Bad Company including Robert Hart, who had replaced Brian Howe, on lead vocals...
, three live albums.
Over the years Hart has also been involved in projects with Andy Taylor
Andy Taylor (guitarist)
Andy Taylor is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as a member of Duran Duran and The Power Station....
of Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, Peter Maffay
Peter Maffay
Peter Alexander Makkay better known as Peter Maffay is a German musician.- Biography :Born in Brasov, Romania, the son of a German , he was 14 when his family relocated to his parents' Germany in 1963. In the same year, he started his first band, The Dukes...
, members of Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
and Go West
Go West (band)
Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist and drummer Peter Cox ; and guitarist and vocalist Richard Drummie...
. His association with Kenney Jones
Kenney Jones
Kenneth Thomas "Kenney" Jones is a veteran English rock drummer best known for his work in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who.-Small Faces to the Faces:...
came via Boz Burrell
Boz Burrell
Raymond "Boz" Burrell was an English musician. Originally a vocalist, Burrell is best known for his bass playing and work with the rock bands King Crimson and Bad Company.-Career:...
, who played with Hart in Bad Company.
Jones insists Hart is one of the best singers in the business. “He’s got one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard,” he says. “I’ve been in bands with the likes of Steve Marriott
Steve Marriott
Stephen Peter Marriott , popularly known as Steve Marriott, was an English musician, songwriter, and frontman of several notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades...
, Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
and Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers
Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English rock singer-songwriter, best known for his success in the 1970s as a member of Free and Bad Company. After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and The Law, he became a solo artist. He has recently toured and recorded with...
and Robert has a voice right up there with them.”
Bad Company
During 1992 Robert Hart was approached by Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke and asked if he would like to join them as the third lead vocalist for Bad Company, following Paul RodgersPaul Rodgers
Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English rock singer-songwriter, best known for his success in the 1970s as a member of Free and Bad Company. After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and The Law, he became a solo artist. He has recently toured and recorded with...
and Brian Howe
Brian Howe (singer)
Brian Anthony Howe is an English rock singer and songwriter, best known for replacing Paul Rodgers as the lead vocalist of Bad Company. Howe's career was jump-started in 1983 when Ted Nugent recruited him to handle lead vocals for his Penetrator album and front its subsequent world tour.-Early...
. Hart performed with Bad Company and became very popular with both the band and public alike especially in the USA and Canada. In July 1994 a contract was drawn up by Alliance Artists and Legend Management and signed by the then Bad Company line up, Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke, Robert Hart, Dave Colwell and Rick Wills, giving Robert the right to perform write and record songs and albums and receive royalty payments as a full Bad Company member. In 1995 Robert co wrote the album Company of Strangers and in 1996 another album Stories Told & Untold
Stories Told & Untold
Stories Told & Untold is a reprise album by hard rock band Bad Company released in 1996. It was the last with the 1995 line-up of Bad Company including Robert Hart, who had replaced Brian Howe, on lead vocals...
plus three live albums between 1994 and 2001 Robert did seven world tours and played at all of the great venues like Madison Square Garden.
The Jones Gang
After that success with Bad Company Hart became the frontman with the Jones Gang. Hart formed the trio with Jones in 2001. Hart wrote a charity song titled "It's All About The Children" for which Hart and Jones got a few old friends together to play on the record. They included: Paul YoungPaul Young (singer and guitarist)
Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
, Gary Granger, Ronnie Wood, and Rick Wills. It was from this Wills was to join Hart and Jones to complete the Trio. The Band recorded an album titled Any Day Now which Hart co-wrote all of the tracks and sole wrote most of the tracks. The album was released in the U.S on the 9 August 2005. The debut single "Angel" written by Hart, and Russ Ballard
Russ Ballard
Russell Glyn Ballard is an English singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Ballard was initially a guitarist with Buster Meikle & The Day Breakers in 1961, together with Roy Ballard, Russ's older brother on piano and Bob Henrit on drums...
went to number 1 on the ACQB Top 40 charts, staying there for a further 11 weeks. The album overall was well received giving Hart another two songs that have been claimed to have reached no. 1 slots on some USA charts http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Aggressive+Cross-Promotional+Marketing+Blitz+for+The+Jones+Gang%27s...-a0137429612. Recent debate has been posted on Wikipedia about the song not charting in Billboard, as that site and its official reference book show no such chart accomplishments other than a #30 placement on their Adult Contemporary chart for the song 'Angel'. (To view this statistic, go to http://www.billboard.com/#/album/jones-gang/any-day-now/728215 and click on the bar graph next to the song's title.) Wikipedia's own archived Billboard references show a complete absence of The Jones Gang from any number one charts in Billboard tabulated during 2005.
The airline company USA 3000 commissioned 14 planes to have The Jones Gang album cover art work on as drawn by Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones. These made the headlines as these planes were the first sent in the rescue operation of people affected by the Hurricane wilma disaster http://www.allbusiness.com/travel-hospitality-tourism/travel-tourism-overview/5113044-1.html.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
On March 13, 2011 Manfred MannManfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
announced Robert Hart as the new singer for his formation Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Manfred Mann's Earth Band is a British progressive rock group formed in 1971 by Manfred Mann.-Formation:Having started in the 1960s with a British band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "The Mighty Quinn", then moving on to Jazz Fusion with Manfred Mann's Chapter Three, Manfred's third...
.
XBad Company
Hart had played with Dave "Bucket" Colwell and Garry "Harry" James over many years with Bad Company and in Colwells case also the Jones Gang. They have all worked together on various albums, co-written songs and have toured the world together so it was no surprise that in 2009 they got together and decided to form their own band XBad Company They have recently written and recorded a World Cup song called "We Aint Going Home Empty Handed" and have made a video of the song with the assistance of Michael Campbell from the Arts University College Bournemouth. They are also writing a new album as well as performing in the UK and Spain throughout 2010.My Sister's Keeper
Another soundtrack featuring Robert's songs is the film My Sister's Keeper the motion picture version of the novel featuring Cameron Diaz. Jonah Johnson recorded a version of Hart's song 'With You' which can also be found on the Jones Gang album also. The song was well received managing to get over 22,000 views on YouTube within weeks of the film's release and which has now grown to over 70,000 combined.Help for Heroes
Robert Hart gave permission for his song We Will Remember Them to be recorded by various artists for the charity Help for HeroesHelp for Heroes
Help for Heroes is a British charity launched on 1 October 2007 to help provide better facilities for British servicemen and women wounded since September 11, 2001. It was founded by Bryn Parry OBE and his wife Emma Parry OBE after they visited soldiers at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham...
. On 1 November 2009 Bee Gee legend Robin Gibb, Michael Bolton, Mica Paris, former Free and Queen frontman Paul Rodgers and Lee Mead, who won TV's Any Dream Will Do and dozens of others recorded it at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
in London. It is a very moving remembrance song dedicated to the memory of all the soldiers that have died in wars. The song will be released in the very near future it has been sponsored by the Sun Newspaper and the BBC it is widely expected to be a Number 1 hit and will compete with X Factor for the Christmas number 1 spot. All of the proceeds are going to charity.
Albums
- Under The One Sky (1989) (The Distance)
- Company Of Strangers (1995) (Bad Company)
- Stories Told & UntoldStories Told & UntoldStories Told & Untold is a reprise album by hard rock band Bad Company released in 1996. It was the last with the 1995 line-up of Bad Company including Robert Hart, who had replaced Brian Howe, on lead vocals...
(1996) (Bad Company) - Live at Hampshire Beach Ballroom (1999) (Bad Company)
- All About the Children (All Star Charity Band 2002)
- Any Day Now (2005) (The Jones Gang)
Solo albums
- Cries And Whispers (1989)
- Robert Hart (1992)
- Boys On The Corner(1992)
- Fooled Around And Fell In Love(1993)
- Heart and Soul(1994)
- Angel(2005)
- A Little Love Is Overdue(1999)
- We Will Remember Them (2009)
- We Aint Going Home Empty Handed (World Cup Song) (2009)
Film Soundtracks
- The Burglar (1987)
- Ritchie Rich (1998) He also performed in this film as a mad drummer.
- My Sister's Keeper (2009)
Trivia
- Hart is obsessed by football, he started out his Career as a semi-pro for Leeds United
- Hart was also a county champion Boxer in his youth
- He has two children
- He has a passion for cooking
- Drives a Green Mercedes SL
- Owns 1 of only 3 ever made Ultra Rare Gibson Angel Guitars (Presented to him by AAO Records after Angel topped the charts in America for 12 weeks)
External links
- Robert Hart Official Web Page
- http://www.myspace.com/bcliveshowsBad Co Concerts
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoNGQs8uBcgRobert Hart TV Appearance 1989
- You Tube: The Jones Gang "Angel"