By Ralph Greco, Jr.
Annie Haslam has one of the most distinctive and melodic voices in all of rock and roll. Four decades in the business, and she still boasts one of the strongest. With her band Renaissance, the lady burst onto the U.K. progressive rock scene, fronting a band of stalwart musicians set on lush orchestrations. Hits like “Carpet of The Sun” and perennial FM favorites like “Ashes Are Burning” — when you heard Annie Haslam’s vocals, you were not too soon to forget it.
In 2013, with some startling changes behind her — notably her battle with breast cancer and the passing of Renaissance guitarist and songwriter Michael Dunford — Annie Haslam and Renaissance released Grandine il Vento. Adding more songs, the album was reissued in 2014 with a new title: Symphony Of Light. The band (Haslam on vocals, Rave Tesar on keyboards, David J. Keyes on bass, Jason Hart on keyboards, Ryche Chlanda on guitar, and Frank Pagano on drums — will play dates behind the release in the Fall of 2014 (for exact dates and tickets, seeRenaissance Touring).
Prior to the tour, Haslam will be exhibiting her unique art at Celt Iberia Traders in New Hope, Pennsylvania, from August 2nd through September 1st, 2014. I had the great honor of sitting down with the truly welcoming, down-to-earth creative woman with the angelic voice and chatting about it all.
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First of all, congratulations on Symphony Of Light. It’s a wonderful CD with that classic Renaissance sound.
Thank you. Mickey (Michael Dunford) wrote the music and arrangements, and Rave and Jason had a hand in arranging too. I wrote all the lyrics and I contributed to arrangement ideas. Tom Brislin and Jann Klose who were friends and colleagues of ours had both had successful results with crowdfunding. This is what spurred us on to create our own campaign to raise funds for a new studio album. We released Grandine il Vento in 2013 (and) unfortunately not a lot of people knew about the release until we firmed up a deal with a worldwide distributor Red River Entertainment out of NYC. With this new drive behind the album, it will bring us closer to fans around the world. The album was re-titled Symphony Of Light with three added bonus tracks.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
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