Renaissance (band)
Renaissance are an English progressive rock band, best known for their 1978 UK top 10 hit "Northern Lights" and progressive rock classics like "Carpet of the Sun", "Mother Russia", and "Ashes Are Burning". They developed a unique sound, combining a female lead vocal with a fusion of classical, folk, rock, and jazz influences.[1] Characteristic elements of the Renaissance sound are Annie Haslam's wide vocal range, prominent piano accompaniment, orchestral arrangements and vocal harmonies.
Renaissance
London, United Kingdom
- 1969–1987
- 1998–2002
- 2009–present
- Island
- Sire (US)
- Warner Bros.
- Elektra (US)
- BTM Records
- I.R.S.
- Giant Electric Pea
- Illegal Records
- Repertoire Records
- HTD Records
- Friday Music
- Annie Haslam
- Rave Tesar
- Mark Lambert
- Frank Pagano
- Leo Traversa
- Geoffrey Langley
The band was founded by vocalist Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty, formerly of the Yardbirds; along with John Hawken, Louis Cennamo and Relf's sister Jane. They intended to put "something together with more of a classical influence".[2] Renaissance released their self-titled debut album in 1969, but fell apart during the sessions for their follow-up, Illusion (1971). New musicians were brought in to complete the record, and Renaissance was kept active through a period of fluctuating personnel until none of the original lineup remained, although McCarty continued providing compositions for the band to record for several more years. By 1972, a stable lineup consisting of Annie Haslam, Michael Dunford, John Tout, Jon Camp, and Terry Sullivan solidified. Aside from McCarty, they were assisted with lyrics on many songs from Cornish poet Betty Thatcher-Newsinger. From 1972 to 1979 Renaissance released seven studio albums, toured extensively, and sold out three nights in a row at Carnegie Hall with Tony Cox conducting the New York Philharmonic.[1] The band's success was largely concentrated in the United States, where they built a cult following.
Renaissance struggled through the 1980s with personnel changes and two relatively unsuccessful studio albums, leading to disbandment in 1987. Two different offshoots of the band existed at the same time at one period in the mid-1990s. The band re-formed in 1998 to record Tuscany, which was eventually released in 2001; however, they broke up again the next year. A new iteration of Renaissance, led by Haslam and Dunford, debuted in 2009, and since then the band has continued to record and tour. Dunford died in November 2012. Later, Haslam stated that the band would continue touring. In 2013, they released the studio album Grandine il Vento, re-released the following year under the title Symphony of Light.
Original incarnation (1969–1970)[edit]
As the Yardbirds were transforming into the New Yardbirds (with Jimmy Page) in 1968 and then Led Zeppelin, the departing founding members of the Yardbirds, Keith Relf and Jim McCarty, formed an acoustic duo called Together.
[3] They released "Henry's Coming Home" b/w "Love Mum and Dad" as a single on Columbia Records in November 1968 without chart success.[4]
In January 1969, Relf and McCarty organized a new group devoted to experimentation with rock, folk, and classical forms. In his book Mountains Come Out of the Sky: An Illustrated History of Prog Rock, Will Romano quoted McCarty: "Toward the end of the Yardbirds we wanted to do something a bit more poetic, if you like, not so heavy. A bit more folky... We had had enough of heavy rock."[2] This quintet—Relf on guitar and vocals, McCarty on drums and vocals, plus bassist Louis Cennamo, pianist John Hawken, and Relf's sister Jane as an additional vocalist—released a pair of albums on Elektra (US) and Island (UK-ILPS 9114), the first one, titled simply Renaissance (1969), being produced by fellow ex-Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith.[5]
The band had begun performing in May 1969, before recording had commenced for the debut LP, mostly in the UK, but with occasional forays abroad, including festivals in Belgium (Amougies, October 1969) and France (Operation 666 at the Olympia in January 1970, and Le Bourget in March 1970, both in Paris). In February 1970, they embarked on a North American tour, but that month-long trek proved only marginally successful. Because of their Yardbirds credentials, they found themselves paired with bands such as the Kinks and their new classically-oriented direction did not always go down well because audiences were expecting rock/blues-based material.
Beginning in the late spring of 1970 as touring began to grind on them, the original band gradually dissolved. Keith Relf and McCarty decided to quit performing, and Cennamo joined Colosseum.[2] Hawken organized a new line-up to fulfill contractual obligations to Island Records and complete the band's second album, Illusion (1971) which had been left unfinished.
Transition (1970–71)[edit]
Apart from Jane Relf, the new band consisted mostly of former members of Hawken's previous band, the Nashville Teens – guitarist Michael Dunford, bassist Neil Korner and singer Terry Crowe, plus drummer Terry Slade.[2] This line-up recorded one track, "Mr Pine", a Dunford composition, and played a few gigs during the summer of 1970. Meanwhile, a final recording session brought together the original line-up minus Hawken, with Don Shin sitting in on keyboards, and produced the album's closing track "Past Orbits of Dust". The now completed Illusion was released in Germany in 1971, although it was not released in the UK until 1976 (Island HELP 27). The album marked the beginning of Renaissance's long-standing collaboration with poet Betty Thatcher-Newsinger as lyricist when she co-wrote two songs with Relf and McCarty.
The two remaining original members left in late 1970; Jane Relf was replaced by American folk singer Anne-Marie "Binky" Cullom, then John Hawken left to join Spooky Tooth and pianist John Tout replaced him.[2] There is an extant video (released on the DVD "Kings & Queens" in 2010) of that line-up performing five songs on a German TV program (Muzik-Kanal). The plan at the time was that Relf and McCarty would remain involved as non-performing members – Relf as a producer and McCarty as a songwriter. Both were present when singer Annie Haslam successfully auditioned in January 1971[5] to replace the departing Cullom (who would later marry drummer Terry Slade and retire from the music scene). While McCarty would go on to write songs for the new band, Relf's involvement would be short-lived. Dunford soon emerged as a prolific composer, and continued the writing partnership with Thatcher, who would go on to write most of the lyrics for the band's 1970s albums.
1980–1998[edit]
After the Azure d'Or tour, Tout left the group for personal reasons, quickly followed by Sullivan. Subsequent albums Camera Camera (1981) and Time-Line (1983) brought Renaissance more into the contemporary synthpop and new wave genre, but neither garnered enough commercial interest to make a viable future for the band. Camera Camera was the band's final album to chart in the US where it reached No. 196 in late 1981.[8] In 1985 Camp left, and Haslam and Dunford led an acoustic version of the band and performed occasional shows (the last being in Georgetown, DC, until splitting up in August 1987).
In 1988, Sire issued a two-part compilation, Tales of 1001 Nights, focusing on the band's 1972–79 period. In the 1990s most of their catalogue appeared on CD from reissue record labels such as Repertoire Records (Germany). In 2006 Repertoire issued remastered versions of Ashes are Burning, Turn of the Cards and Scheherezade and Other Stories.
In the mid-1990s, both Haslam (who had released a self-titled solo album in 1989) and Dunford (who had been working on a proposed musical based on the Scheherazade storyline) formed their own bands, each using the name Renaissance and releasing albums with different line-ups.
Third incarnation[edit]
Renaissance partially re-formed in 1998 around a nucleus of Haslam, Dunford and Sullivan, plus Tout and several new musicians, most notably Roy Wood and Mickey Simmonds, to record the CD Tuscany.[12] In 1999, Haslam, Dunford and Simmonds played a one-off trio concert at London's Astoria supporting Caravan.
In March 2001, following the delayed release of Tuscany, a full band tour was organised, with a line-up of Haslam, Dunford, Sullivan, Simmonds, Rave Tesar (keyboards) and David J. Keyes (bass/vocals), who played one London concert on 9 March (again at the Astoria) and three dates in Japan – Osaka on the 13th, Nagoya on the 14th and Tokyo on the 16th. The Tokyo concert was recorded and released as In the Land of the Rising Sun: Live in Japan 2001. (Tout, although in the audience at the Astoria, did not perform on this tour.) Haslam, who had become the band's spokesperson, said that several factors made further touring and recording impractical. The band's short third incarnation was soon over.
Terry Sullivan recorded an album called South of Winter in 2004, with a studio group he named Renaissant.[13] It is evocative of Renaissance's music, with lyrics by Thatcher-Newsinger and keyboard contributions by John Tout.
On 20 September 2008, John Tout made his first public appearance in the US in over 25 years, with Annie Haslam and the Jann Klose band, at the Sellersville Theatre 1894 in Sellersville, Pennsylvania. In 2009, Tout suffered a heart attack.
In August 2009, Haslam announced that she and Dunford were commemorating the 40th anniversary of Renaissance with a re-formed band, called Renaissance 2009 (including no other members of the "classic" line-up, but with musicians from the 2001 incarnation of the band), and a concert tour.[14]
A tour in Eastern North America and Japan was undertaken in 2010, together with a three-song EP release and a new official website. Renaissance headlined the sold-out final edition of the North East Art Rock Festival, entitled NEARfest Apocalypse, on 23 June 2012.
Bassist/vocalist David J. Keyes died in July 2019 from leiomyosarcoma.[15]
Deaths of Betty Thatcher, Michael Dunford, and John Tout[edit]
Betty Thatcher (born 16 February 1944), the band's non-performing lyricist who wrote most of the lyrics for the band (mostly for the second 'classic' lineup, but starting with the original Relf-led version), died on 15 August 2011.
On 20 November 2012, Michael Dunford (born 8 July 1944) died from a cerebral hemorrhage at his home in Surrey, England.[16] A few weeks later, Haslam stated that the band would continue touring in the future,[17] despite losing "her guiding light".[18] In February 2013, it was announced that Ryche Chlanda would be the guitarist on their 2013 tour,[19] and he has established a permanent role in the band, although not appearing on their 2015 UK and European dates.
John Tout died of lung failure on 1 May 2015 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London.[20] According to ultimateclassicrock.com, the band paid tribute to their former keyboardist on their Facebook page, saying: “He was an amazing musician, highly contributing to the unique sound of the band from 1970–1980."[20]
Current members