Sky (band)
Encyclopedia
Sky was a British instrumental group that specialised in fusing a variety of musical styles including light rock, progressive rock, classical and jazz. The group's best known members were classical guitar
ist John Williams
, bass player Herbie Flowers
(a former member of Blue Mink
and T. Rex
), and Francis Monkman
, a founder member of progressive rock
band Curved Air
.
- already a world-famous classical guitarist - released Changes, his first recording of non-classical music (and the first on which he played electric guitar). Among the musicians working on the album were Herbie Flowers
and Tristan Fry
(the latter an established session drummer who was also the timpani
st for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
). The three musicians became friends, kept in touch and continued working together on various projects. Fry and Flowers (along with Francis Monkman
, a harpsichord
player best known for being a founder member of the progressive rock
/fusion band Curved Air
) were performers on Williams' 1978 album Travelling, another cross-genre recording which was a substantial commercial success.
The success of Travelling inspired Williams and Flowers to set up their own long-term cross-genre band. Fry and Monkman were swiftly recruited, and the first Sky lineup was completed with the addition of the versatile Australian session guitarist Kevin Peek. Peek was equally adept at classical guitar and pop/rock styles, having built up a reputation both as a chamber musician and as a long-standing member of Cliff Richard
's band (as well as for Manfred Mann
, Lulu
, Tom Jones
, Jeff Wayne
, Shirley Bassey
and Gary Glitter
). The band began writing and recording instrumental music drawing on their collective experience of classical, light pop, progressive rock
, light entertainment
and jazz
. After a protracted search for a record company, Sky eventually signed with the small European label Ariola Records
.
First two albums; Sky
Sky's self-titled debut album
(released in 1979) was highly successful in Britain and Australia
, quickly reaching gold record status and eventually topping out as a platinum record. Although the band was run democratically, and all members contributed music and/or arrangements, the presence of John Williams in the lineup was regarded as the band's biggest selling point (and was emphasised in publicity). Williams' concurrent solo instrumental hit - "Cavatina
- Theme from The Deer Hunter
" - also helped to raise the band's profile. However, this was counterbalanced by some negative reviews from critics accustomed to Williams' classical performances, who remained unimpressed by his new direction with Sky. The band toured the UK in summer and autumn 1979, particular triumphs being sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall
and the Dominion Theatre
in London
(the latter a five-night sellout).
In 1980, Sky recorded and released their second album, Sky 2
- a double album which repeated on and built upon its predecessor's success (becoming the tenth highest selling album in Britain that year). The album included Monkman's side-long rock suite "FIFO" (a piece inspired by computer processing, on which Monkman played electric guitar
in addition to keyboards) and four classical pieces including three established chamber music
pieces (played entirely straight) and the band's souped-up electric treatment of Bach
's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
". The latter was released as a single (under the name of "Toccata") and reached number 5 in the national pop charts, giving the band the opportunity of performing on Top Of The Pops
.
and the UK, Francis Monkman left the band in 1980 to concentrate on his own projects (having scored a great success with his soundtrack to the film The Long Good Friday
). The split was entirely amicable and the band had no doubts about carrying on, despite the fact that Monkman had been Sky's most prominent original composer and arranger. The keyboard player's role was quickly filled by Steve Gray
, another established session musician and a former member of Back Door and Wasp. Gray was also able to take the band towards a more jazz
-influenced sound (drawing on his further experience as a piano player with Quincy Jones
, Henry Mancini
, Michel Legrand
, Lalo Schifrin
, Peggy Lee
, Sammy Davis Jr and John Barry
).
Gray joined the band in time for their first European tour, followed by another UK tour and (on 24 February 1981) the "Sky at Westminster Abbey
" concert. This had been conceived by the British producer Martin Lewis and was the first-ever rock concert held at the Abbey. It was videotaped for a BBC
TV special and subsequently released on home video and laserdisc. The concert was a benefit for the human rights
organization Amnesty International
and commemorated the organization's 20th anniversary. The landmark event resulted in Sky receiving considerable positive media coverage. The Westminster Abbey
concert was also the launch event for the band's third album, Sky3, a generally brighter and breezier album than its predecessors. The band toured Australia
, Europe
and the UK in support of the release.
compositions (with the exception of a version of Hoagy Carmichael
's "Skylark" and a band-composed variation on Adam de la Halle
's ballet score for "My Giselle") and was marketed under the slogan "Genius Past, Genius Forthcoming". Music on the album included Sky treatments of pieces such as Berlioz
's "March To The Scaffold" and Wagner
's "Ride Of The Valkyries" (the latter was later dismissed by Flowers as having been an in-joke). Once again, the band toured the UK and Australia
to promote the album (and followed this up with trips to Europe and Japan). The Australian autumn tour featured the debut of plenty of new material, much of which was included on the live double album Sky Five Live released in January 1983.
's "Sleigh Ride" (from the "Lieutenant Kijé Suite
"), alongside seven original compositions and the first examples of commissioned compositions from contemporary writers from outside the band (in this case, Kevin Peek's old friend and fellow Cliff Richard
collaborator Alan Tarney, who provided two original tunes for the band to interpret). Two concerts at the Theatre Royal, London were filmed and broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1983, with songwriter and singer-songwriter Patrick Ros as special guest. Ros provided three seasonal compositions of his own on which he was backed by the band.
In February 1984, John Williams parted company with Sky, returning to a full-time classical career. As with Monkman, the split was amicable and all musicians remained friends. Williams had previously hinted that his work with Sky had been intended as a five-year stint. Regardless of the circumstances of the split, Williams' departure damaged Sky's profile, as he had remained the band's biggest star and live draw despite their efforts to present themselves as a partnership of equals.
keyboard player Rick Wakeman
, who joined the band on their Australian tour of early 1984. Guests for the 1984 summer tour of the UK were woodwind player Ron Aspery (Steve Gray's former mentor in Back Door and the Middlesbrough Municipal Junior Orchestra) and session guitarist Lee Fothergill. 1984 also saw the release of a stopgap "greatest hits" compilation called Masterpieces, released on mass-media label Telstar (and featuring a previously-unreleased live version of the Beatles
song "Fool On The Hill", performed as a classical guitar
duet by Williams and Peek).
In September 1984, Sky began recording their seventh album - The Great Balloon Race - in Kevin Peek's Tracks Studio in Western Australia. This album was the first Sky album to feature entirely original material without any classical content (although two pieces, "Allegro" and "Caldando" were strongly classically-inspired). Guest included Ron Aspery, Lee Fothergill, pan-pipe player Adrian Brett and former Jeff Beck
Band keyboard player Tony Hymas
(who contributed the unusual semi-spoken album opener "Desperate For Your Love").
The band were dropped by Ariola Records while The Great Balloon Race was being mixed. The album was eventually released on Epic Records (who were also the label releasing John Williams' albums). Despite some favourable reviews, the album sales were significantly lower than on previous occasions. Sky toured the UK - this time with Rolling Stones keyboard player Nicky Hopkins
and multi-instrumentalist Paul Hart (a former composer for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra
who'd also played bass guitar for John Dankworth
and both violin and piano for Cleo Laine
). Significantly, the band found themselves playing to smaller audiences than on previous tours.
) and the band took another two years off before returning again.
In 1991, Kevin Peek became the next member of the band to depart. A full-time resident of Australia since 1982 and busy with multiple recording projects at Tracks Studio (all of which inhibited his practical ability to spend time in the UK working with Sky), he no longer believed that he had enough time to commit to the band. Peek was replaced by classical/cross-discipline guitarist Richard Durrant (an associate of Herbie Flowers), who joined the band in 1992. The band relaunched themselves with a comeback concert in September 1992 at the Barbican, London.
Sky toured the UK again during spring 1993, playing notably smaller venues than they had in the 1980s. The last performance by Sky was at an RAF tribute concert in May 1995. Although Sky never formally disbanded (and a 2003 concert programme still listed Tristan Fry as being an ongoing Sky member), the band has not returned to active recording and performance.
continues to work as a high-profile session musician and has collaborated with Jools Holland
, Clannad, Mike Hatchard and Paul McCartney
. He has also branched out as a light entertainment raconteur.
Tristan Fry
still works with the Orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, as well as the Tristan Fry Percussion Ensemble.
Since leaving Sky in 1980, Francis Monkman
has divided his time between experimental rock music and classical music recordings of solo keyboard work (generally harpsichord or church organ).
Following his own departure from Sky in 1984, John Williams
has continued his career as one of the world's leading classical guitarists.
After leaving Sky in 1991, Kevin Peek continued to work as a musician and producer in Australia, despite financial misfortunes (since his departure from the band he has suffered two bankruptcies, the first of which resulted in a three-year prison sentence). In 2010 he was linked to a 'Ponzi' style investment scheme. In November 2011 he was bailed on 227 charges of gaining benefit by fraud with the trial date scheduled for 27 January 2012.
Following Sky's retirement in 1995, Steve Gray continued his career as a respected composer (which he had been carrying out in parallel to his work with Sky). His compositions include two operas, a requiem mass for jazz big band and choir, a guitar concerto and a piano concerto written for French jazz pianist Martial Solal
. He also provided a full orchestration of the works of Brian Eno
(in collaboration with the original composer). From 1991, he worked closely with the North German Radio (NDR) Big Band in Hamburg (at the invitation of singer and composer Norma Winstone
) and from 1998 he worked as guest professor of composition and arrangement in the Hanns Eisler jazz department of Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Steve Gray died (aged 64) on 20 September 2008.
Paul Hart went on to a career in film, television and commercial music and has written concert music for the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and The King’s Singers. His Concerto for Classical Guitar and Jazz Orchestra was revived for performance in 2008 by the Towson University Jazz Orchestra and guitarist Michael Decker.
Richard Durrant has continued to develop his career as a classical guitarist, as well as composing film and television music and working as a record producer (notably for the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain). He is the founder of the acoustic record label LongMan Records.
drummer Malcolm Mortimore
.
In 1988, John Williams
and the London Symphony Orchestra
commissioned and performed a guitar concerto by Steve Gray.
In 2001, the band began a reissue programme of their back catalogue on Sanctuary Records.
In 2005, Quantum Leap released the Sky Live in Bremen DVD, a live recording of the band's first (unofficial) concert.
"Dies Irae" was included on the Music Club Edition of the Sky album. "March To The Scaffold" is an earlier recording than the version which appeared on Sky 4 Forthcoming.
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
ist John Williams
John Williams (guitarist)
John Christopher Williams is an Australian classical guitarist, and a long-term resident of the United Kingdom. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award win in the 'Best Chamber Music Performance' category with Julian Bream for Julian and John .-Biography:John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in...
, bass player Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
(a former member of Blue Mink
Blue Mink
Blue Mink was a British five-piece pop group, that existed from 1969 to 1974. Over that period they had six Top 20 hit singles in the UK Singles Chart, and released five studio based albums...
and T. Rex
T. Rex (band)
T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
), and Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Curved Air.-Career:...
, a founder member of progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Curved Air
Curved Air
Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
.
Formation
The seeds of what would become Sky began in 1971 when John WilliamsJohn Williams (guitarist)
John Christopher Williams is an Australian classical guitarist, and a long-term resident of the United Kingdom. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award win in the 'Best Chamber Music Performance' category with Julian Bream for Julian and John .-Biography:John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in...
- already a world-famous classical guitarist - released Changes, his first recording of non-classical music (and the first on which he played electric guitar). Among the musicians working on the album were Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
and Tristan Fry
Tristan Fry
Tristan Fry is a British drummer and percussionist. Fry began his career by joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 17. He was a founder member of a number of ensembles, such as the Nash, Fires of London and the London Sinfonietta...
(the latter an established session drummer who was also the timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
st for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields...
). The three musicians became friends, kept in touch and continued working together on various projects. Fry and Flowers (along with Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Curved Air.-Career:...
, a harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
player best known for being a founder member of the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
/fusion band Curved Air
Curved Air
Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
) were performers on Williams' 1978 album Travelling, another cross-genre recording which was a substantial commercial success.
The success of Travelling inspired Williams and Flowers to set up their own long-term cross-genre band. Fry and Monkman were swiftly recruited, and the first Sky lineup was completed with the addition of the versatile Australian session guitarist Kevin Peek. Peek was equally adept at classical guitar and pop/rock styles, having built up a reputation both as a chamber musician and as a long-standing member of 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....
's band (as well as for Manfred Mann
Manfred 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...
, Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Jeff Wayne
Jeff Wayne
Jeffry "Jeff" Wayne, born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, is a musician best known for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, his musical version of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds...
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
and Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
). The band began writing and recording instrumental music drawing on their collective experience of classical, light pop, progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, light entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. After a protracted search for a record company, Sky eventually signed with the small European label Ariola Records
Ariola Records
Ariola Records is a German record label. As of the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG which in turn has since become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment...
.
First two albums; SkySky (Sky album)Sky is the debut album by British classical/progressive rock band Sky, released in 1979.-Side one:# "Westway" - 3:37# "Carillon" - 3:27# "La Danza" - 2:57# "Gymnopedie No...
and Sky 2Sky 2 (album)Sky 2 is the second album by British classical/progressive rock band Sky, released in 1980. Despite being a double album it peaked at number one in the British Album charts, while the instrumental single "Toccata" peaked at 5 in the British Singles Chart....
: 1978-1980
Sky's self-titled debut albumSky (Sky album)
Sky is the debut album by British classical/progressive rock band Sky, released in 1979.-Side one:# "Westway" - 3:37# "Carillon" - 3:27# "La Danza" - 2:57# "Gymnopedie No...
(released in 1979) was highly successful in Britain and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, quickly reaching gold record status and eventually topping out as a platinum record. Although the band was run democratically, and all members contributed music and/or arrangements, the presence of John Williams in the lineup was regarded as the band's biggest selling point (and was emphasised in publicity). Williams' concurrent solo instrumental hit - "Cavatina
Cavatina (song)
"Cavatina" is a classical guitar piece by Stanley Myers and the theme from The Deer Hunter.The piece had been recorded by classical guitarist John Williams, long before the film that made it famous. It had originally been written for piano but at Williams' invitation, Myers re-wrote it for guitar...
- Theme from The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...
" - also helped to raise the band's profile. However, this was counterbalanced by some negative reviews from critics accustomed to Williams' classical performances, who remained unimpressed by his new direction with Sky. The band toured the UK in summer and autumn 1979, particular triumphs being sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
and the Dominion Theatre
Dominion Theatre
The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre on Tottenham Court Road close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point Tower, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(the latter a five-night sellout).
In 1980, Sky recorded and released their second album, Sky 2
Sky 2 (album)
Sky 2 is the second album by British classical/progressive rock band Sky, released in 1980. Despite being a double album it peaked at number one in the British Album charts, while the instrumental single "Toccata" peaked at 5 in the British Singles Chart....
- a double album which repeated on and built upon its predecessor's success (becoming the tenth highest selling album in Britain that year). The album included Monkman's side-long rock suite "FIFO" (a piece inspired by computer processing, on which Monkman played electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
in addition to keyboards) and four classical pieces including three established chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
pieces (played entirely straight) and the band's souped-up electric treatment of Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. It is one of the most famous works in the organ repertoire, and has been used in a variety of popular media ranging from film, video games, to rock music, and ringtones...
". The latter was released as a single (under the name of "Toccata") and reached number 5 in the national pop charts, giving the band the opportunity of performing on Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
.
First lineup change and Sky 3: 1980-1981
Following further tours of AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the UK, Francis Monkman left the band in 1980 to concentrate on his own projects (having scored a great success with his soundtrack to the film The Long Good Friday
The Long Good Friday
The Long Good Friday is a British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. It was completed in 1979 but, because of release delays, it is generally credited as a 1980 film...
). The split was entirely amicable and the band had no doubts about carrying on, despite the fact that Monkman had been Sky's most prominent original composer and arranger. The keyboard player's role was quickly filled by Steve Gray
Steve Gray (musician)
Steve Gray was a pianist, composer, and arranger.Gray was born in Middlesbrough, England. At ten, he began teaching himself to play the piano. He joined the Middlesbrough Junior Orchestra, at first playing the bassoon, but later switching to the saxophone...
, another established session musician and a former member of Back Door and Wasp. Gray was also able to take the band towards a more jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
-influenced sound (drawing on his further experience as a piano player with Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
, Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
, Sammy Davis Jr and John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...
).
Gray joined the band in time for their first European tour, followed by another UK tour and (on 24 February 1981) the "Sky at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
" concert. This had been conceived by the British producer Martin Lewis and was the first-ever rock concert held at the Abbey. It was videotaped for a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV special and subsequently released on home video and laserdisc. The concert was a benefit for the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organization Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and commemorated the organization's 20th anniversary. The landmark event resulted in Sky receiving considerable positive media coverage. The Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
concert was also the launch event for the band's third album, Sky3, a generally brighter and breezier album than its predecessors. The band toured Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the UK in support of the release.
Sky 4 Forthcoming and Sky Five Live: 1982-83
The fourth Sky album - Sky 4 Forthcoming - was released in March 1982. This was Sky's first album to feature no original material. It consisted predominantly of arrangements of classicalClassical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
compositions (with the exception of a version of Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagy Carmichael
Howard Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
's "Skylark" and a band-composed variation on Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle, also known as Adam le Bossu was a French-born trouvère, poet and musician, whose literary and musical works include chansons and jeux-partis in the style of the trouveres, polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony, and a musical play, "The Play of...
's ballet score for "My Giselle") and was marketed under the slogan "Genius Past, Genius Forthcoming". Music on the album included Sky treatments of pieces such as Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's "March To The Scaffold" and Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's "Ride Of The Valkyries" (the latter was later dismissed by Flowers as having been an in-joke). Once again, the band toured the UK and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to promote the album (and followed this up with trips to Europe and Japan). The Australian autumn tour featured the debut of plenty of new material, much of which was included on the live double album Sky Five Live released in January 1983.
Cadmium and departure of John Williams: 1983-1984
Sky released their sixth album Cadmium in December 1983. The album contents were a mixture of Sky traditions and new elements - it contained a classical-rock arrangement of ProkofievSergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's "Sleigh Ride" (from the "Lieutenant Kijé Suite
Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev)
Lieutenant Kijé is the score composed by Sergei Prokofiev for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer based on the novel of the same title by Yury Tynyanov.-Suite from Lieutenant Kijé:...
"), alongside seven original compositions and the first examples of commissioned compositions from contemporary writers from outside the band (in this case, Kevin Peek's old friend and fellow 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....
collaborator Alan Tarney, who provided two original tunes for the band to interpret). Two concerts at the Theatre Royal, London were filmed and broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1983, with songwriter and singer-songwriter Patrick Ros as special guest. Ros provided three seasonal compositions of his own on which he was backed by the band.
In February 1984, John Williams parted company with Sky, returning to a full-time classical career. As with Monkman, the split was amicable and all musicians remained friends. Williams had previously hinted that his work with Sky had been intended as a five-year stint. Regardless of the circumstances of the split, Williams' departure damaged Sky's profile, as he had remained the band's biggest star and live draw despite their efforts to present themselves as a partnership of equals.
Sky "plus guests" and The Great Balloon Race: 1984
Sky opted not to recruit a permanent replacement for Williams. Instead, the band remained as a quartet, working with a succession of guest musicians. The first of these was former YesYes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
keyboard player Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, who joined the band on their Australian tour of early 1984. Guests for the 1984 summer tour of the UK were woodwind player Ron Aspery (Steve Gray's former mentor in Back Door and the Middlesbrough Municipal Junior Orchestra) and session guitarist Lee Fothergill. 1984 also saw the release of a stopgap "greatest hits" compilation called Masterpieces, released on mass-media label Telstar (and featuring a previously-unreleased live version of the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
song "Fool On The Hill", performed as a classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
duet by Williams and Peek).
In September 1984, Sky began recording their seventh album - The Great Balloon Race - in Kevin Peek's Tracks Studio in Western Australia. This album was the first Sky album to feature entirely original material without any classical content (although two pieces, "Allegro" and "Caldando" were strongly classically-inspired). Guest included Ron Aspery, Lee Fothergill, pan-pipe player Adrian Brett and former Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
Band keyboard player Tony Hymas
Tony Hymas
Anthony 'Tony' Hymas is an English keyboard player, pianist, composer and is well known for being a founding member of Ph.D. He is a very versatile musician and contributes in different styles of music....
(who contributed the unusual semi-spoken album opener "Desperate For Your Love").
The band were dropped by Ariola Records while The Great Balloon Race was being mixed. The album was eventually released on Epic Records (who were also the label releasing John Williams' albums). Despite some favourable reviews, the album sales were significantly lower than on previous occasions. Sky toured the UK - this time with Rolling Stones keyboard player Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
and multi-instrumentalist Paul Hart (a former composer for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra
National Youth Jazz Orchestra
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra is a British jazz orchestra founded in 1963 by Bill Ashton.Based in Westminster, London, NYJO started life as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra and evolved into becoming the national orchestra...
who'd also played bass guitar for John Dankworth
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
and both violin and piano for Cleo Laine
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
). Significantly, the band found themselves playing to smaller audiences than on previous tours.
Mozart album: 1987
Sky returned in late 1987 with the Mozart album, which united the band with the orchestra of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. The project was initiated by Tristan Fry (due to his parallel work with both band and orchestra) and was inspired by the bicentenary of Mozart's death. The album contained full orchestral performances of Mozart's work with Sky incorporated into the arrangements (most of which were written by Steve Gray). The band and orchestra (with Paul Hart returning as guest musician) promoted the album with a one-off concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 November 1987. The Mozart project was roundly panned and dismissed by the press (although the album was ultimately Sky's most successful album in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) and the band took another two years off before returning again.
Final years: 1990-1995
A second compilation album - Classic Sky - was released in 1990. The band played a one-off concert at the London Palladium in the same year (the first to feature Paul Hart as a full band member) and recorded a TV concert in early 1991. New compositions by Peek, Gray and Hart were premiered but apparently never recorded in the studio. The concert was released on DVD and later on CD as Live In Nottingham.In 1991, Kevin Peek became the next member of the band to depart. A full-time resident of Australia since 1982 and busy with multiple recording projects at Tracks Studio (all of which inhibited his practical ability to spend time in the UK working with Sky), he no longer believed that he had enough time to commit to the band. Peek was replaced by classical/cross-discipline guitarist Richard Durrant (an associate of Herbie Flowers), who joined the band in 1992. The band relaunched themselves with a comeback concert in September 1992 at the Barbican, London.
Sky toured the UK again during spring 1993, playing notably smaller venues than they had in the 1980s. The last performance by Sky was at an RAF tribute concert in May 1995. Although Sky never formally disbanded (and a 2003 concert programme still listed Tristan Fry as being an ongoing Sky member), the band has not returned to active recording and performance.
Individual work
Herbie FlowersHerbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
continues to work as a high-profile session musician and has collaborated with Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Who, David Gilmour and Bono.Holland is a...
, Clannad, Mike Hatchard and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. He has also branched out as a light entertainment raconteur.
Tristan Fry
Tristan Fry
Tristan Fry is a British drummer and percussionist. Fry began his career by joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 17. He was a founder member of a number of ensembles, such as the Nash, Fires of London and the London Sinfonietta...
still works with the Orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, as well as the Tristan Fry Percussion Ensemble.
Since leaving Sky in 1980, Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman
Francis Monkman is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Curved Air.-Career:...
has divided his time between experimental rock music and classical music recordings of solo keyboard work (generally harpsichord or church organ).
Following his own departure from Sky in 1984, John Williams
John Williams (guitarist)
John Christopher Williams is an Australian classical guitarist, and a long-term resident of the United Kingdom. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award win in the 'Best Chamber Music Performance' category with Julian Bream for Julian and John .-Biography:John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in...
has continued his career as one of the world's leading classical guitarists.
After leaving Sky in 1991, Kevin Peek continued to work as a musician and producer in Australia, despite financial misfortunes (since his departure from the band he has suffered two bankruptcies, the first of which resulted in a three-year prison sentence). In 2010 he was linked to a 'Ponzi' style investment scheme. In November 2011 he was bailed on 227 charges of gaining benefit by fraud with the trial date scheduled for 27 January 2012.
Following Sky's retirement in 1995, Steve Gray continued his career as a respected composer (which he had been carrying out in parallel to his work with Sky). His compositions include two operas, a requiem mass for jazz big band and choir, a guitar concerto and a piano concerto written for French jazz pianist Martial Solal
Martial Solal
Martial Solal is a French jazz pianist and composer, who is probably most widely known for the music he wrote for Jean-Luc Godard's debut feature film À bout de souffle .-Biography:...
. He also provided a full orchestration of the works of Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
(in collaboration with the original composer). From 1991, he worked closely with the North German Radio (NDR) Big Band in Hamburg (at the invitation of singer and composer Norma Winstone
Norma Winstone
Norma Ann Winstone MBE is a British jazz singer and lyricist. In a career spanning over forty years she is best known for her wordless improvisations....
) and from 1998 he worked as guest professor of composition and arrangement in the Hanns Eisler jazz department of Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Steve Gray died (aged 64) on 20 September 2008.
Paul Hart went on to a career in film, television and commercial music and has written concert music for the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and The King’s Singers. His Concerto for Classical Guitar and Jazz Orchestra was revived for performance in 2008 by the Towson University Jazz Orchestra and guitarist Michael Decker.
Richard Durrant has continued to develop his career as a classical guitarist, as well as composing film and television music and working as a record producer (notably for the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain). He is the founder of the acoustic record label LongMan Records.
Duos and other collaborations
Richard Durrant and Herbie Flowers are frequent collaborators on various musical projects. Their latest collaboration is a trio with former Gentle GiantGentle Giant
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
drummer Malcolm Mortimore
Malcolm Mortimore
Malcolm Paul Mortimore , is a drummer who has played with Gentle Giant, Spike Heatley, Tom Jones, Troy Tate, Ian Dury, G.T. Moore, Mick and Chris Jagger, Frankie Miller, Oliver Jones, and Barney Kessel.-External links:*...
.
In 1988, John Williams
John Williams (guitarist)
John Christopher Williams is an Australian classical guitarist, and a long-term resident of the United Kingdom. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award win in the 'Best Chamber Music Performance' category with Julian Bream for Julian and John .-Biography:John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in...
and the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
commissioned and performed a guitar concerto by Steve Gray.
Reissues
In 1993, the band's first five albums were released on CD.In 2001, the band began a reissue programme of their back catalogue on Sanctuary Records.
In 2005, Quantum Leap released the Sky Live in Bremen DVD, a live recording of the band's first (unofficial) concert.
Band members
- Herbie FlowersHerbie FlowersHerbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
- bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, double-bass, tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
(1978–1995) - Tristan FryTristan FryTristan Fry is a British drummer and percussionist. Fry began his career by joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 17. He was a founder member of a number of ensembles, such as the Nash, Fires of London and the London Sinfonietta...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussion, occasional trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
(1978–1995 - still listed as active band member in 2003) (born c 1941, in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
). - John WilliamsJohn Williams (guitarist)John Christopher Williams is an Australian classical guitarist, and a long-term resident of the United Kingdom. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award win in the 'Best Chamber Music Performance' category with Julian Bream for Julian and John .-Biography:John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in...
- acousticAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
and electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s (1978–1984) - Kevin Peek - electricElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s (1978–1991) (born in 1947, in AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
). - Francis MonkmanFrancis MonkmanFrancis Monkman is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Curved Air.-Career:...
- harpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, synthesisers, church organ, occasional electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
(1978–1980) - Steve Gray - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, occasional saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(1981–1995) - (born 10 April 1944, in MiddlesbroughMiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
, YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
died 20 September 2008). - Paul Hart - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, etc. (1984–1995) - Richard DurrantRichard DurrantRichard Durrant, Dip RCM, ARCM, FLCM is an English guitarist & multi-instrumentalist. He studied guitar, cello, and composition at the Royal College of Music and has since performed a mix of all guitar styles - classical, pop, jazz, folk. He also runs the indie acoustic LongMan Records company...
- acousticAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
and electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s (1992–1995)
Studio albums
| Released | Album | Singles |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Sky Sky (Sky album) Sky is the debut album by British classical/progressive rock band Sky, released in 1979.-Side one:# "Westway" - 3:37# "Carillon" - 3:27# "La Danza" - 2:57# "Gymnopedie No... |
|
| 1980 | Sky 2 Sky 2 (album) Sky 2 is the second album by British classical/progressive rock band Sky, released in 1980. Despite being a double album it peaked at number one in the British Album charts, while the instrumental single "Toccata" peaked at 5 in the British Singles Chart.... |
|
| 1981 | Sky 3 | |
| 1982 | Sky 4 Forthcoming |
|
| 1984 | Cadmium |
|
| 1985 | The Great Balloon Race |
|
| 1987 | Mozart |
|
Live albums
| Released | Album | Singles |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Sky Five Live |
|
| 2001 | Live In Nottingham | |
Non-album singles
| Released | A Side | B Side |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | "Dies Irae" | "March To The Scaffold" |
| 1984 | "Fool On The Hill" | "The Spirit" |
"Dies Irae" was included on the Music Club Edition of the Sky album. "March To The Scaffold" is an earlier recording than the version which appeared on Sky 4 Forthcoming.
Video releases
- Sky In Bremen - Credited as 1980 but recorded in 1979, released 2005 (Quantum)(DVD)
- Sky At Westminster Abbey - 1982 - BBC Video (BBCV 3017) (VHS, in mono) / (BBCV 3017L) (Laserdisc, in stereo)
- Live In Nottingham - Recorded 1991, released 2001 (Classic Rock Legends)(DVD)