NOVI NOVOG
BIOGRAPHY
Novi Novog, born in North Hollywood, California is an American viola player. She is sometimes simply credited as “Novi” and is the cousin of Lauren Wood (also known as “Chunky”).
TAJ MAHAL
BIOGRAPHY
As sturdy and iconic as the monument in India that bears the same name, Taj Mahal is a multi-faceted giant in the Americana and World Music communities, with a nearly 50-year recording legacy. Mahal (born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks in Harlem) formed the Rising Songs with Ry Cooder during the mid-60s and also worked with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and Lightnin’ Hopkins before starting his solo career in 1968. He’s led the Phantom Blues Band, the Hula Blues Band and the Taj Mahal Trio and has also collaborated with Eric Clapton, Etta James, the Rolling Stones, Ali Farka Toure and many more, scored the 1972 movie “Sounder” and was part of the “Largo” all-star project in 1998. Mahal has won two Grammy Awards, received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Wofford College in South Carolina and was named the official Blues Artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2006.
SHAWN MULLINS
BIOGRAPHY
Shawn Mullins is a singer-songwriter best-known for his Grammy Award-nominated 1998 hit “Lullaby.” The Atlanta native was mentored by Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray and served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army Reserve before beginning his music career. Mullins has recorded eight studio albums and was also part of the group The Thorns with Matthew Sweet and Pete Droge. His song “All in my Head” was used in the television sitcom “Scrubs,” while “Shimmer” was part of a promotional campaign for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Mullins recently appeared on “DAVE FM Live: Volume 3,” a charity compilation benefiting the environmental organization EarthShare of Florida.
MOSES MO
BIOGRAPHY
Gary “Moses Mo” Moore is a member of two long-running bands – the decade-old Carl Carlton and the Songdogs, a rock band with an international lineup, and Mother’s Finest, a pioneering funk-rock band that formed in 1970. Known for his flashy style that extends to the color of his bright red guitar, Mo has recorded extensively with both groups and released a solo album, “Cartoon You,” in 2002. Mo has been a significant influence on contemporary guitarplayers from the Souther States as Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow) and the Georgia Satellites among others.
MOGUAI
BIOGRAPHY
“Moguai is a German music producer and DJ from Marl. In the early 1990s, Moguai began organising his own club nights and parties in Ruhrgebiet and Münsterland. He became one of the very first techno DJs in Germany, sharing a platform with the likes of Paul van Dyk, Westbam and Sven Väth. In more recent years, however, Moguai’s sound has developed to include a combination of tech-house, progressive house, big beat and electro house. He has also worked in more mainstream areas of the music industry, producing for the likes of the Sugababes, Girls Aloud and 2Raumwohnung, which earned him double platinum and gold disc awards.” (c) Wikipedia
STAAGES collaborated with Moguai on the production of the track “Rain”, a musical project created specially for GROHE’s “AquaSymphony” series, released on March 13th 2017.
MAX BUSKOHL
BIOGRAPHY
After establishing himself with the German band Empty Trash in 2005, Max Buskohl burst onto the European scene as a contestant on season 4 of German TV’s hit talent search “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”. He was part of the album, “[Klaus] Voorman & Friends,” performing alongside Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens). The excellent singer songwriter continued with “Confessions”, a smash album with his band Empty Trash in 2009. His long awaited first solo album “Sidewalk Conversation” was out in May 2012 including the hit singles “No more bad days” and “Never Fall In Love Again”.
MAHALIA BARNES
BIOGRAPHY
Mahalia Barnes is an Australian soul singer/songwriter and the daughter of Aussie rock legend Jimmy Barnes. As a child, she teamed with her siblings Eliza-Jane, Elly-May and Jackie to form the kiddie-pop group the Tin Lids. Later, she sang backup for her father and other performers before striking out on her own with her band the Soul Mates. Her recordings include the digital EP “Live at the Basement” (2006), another EP, “Mahalia Barnes & the Soul Mates” (2007) and her debut full-length album “Volume 1″ (2008).
SONNY LANDRETH
BIOGRAPHY
Slide guitar master Sonny Landreth was born in Mississippi and raised in South Louisiana. Inspired by the finger-picking approach of Chet Atkins and the sounds of Delta bluesmen like Robert Johnson, he went on to develop his unique “behind the slide” technique for slide guitar . Mentored by Zydeco patriarch Clifton Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band, he continued recording solo albums and went on to work with John Hiatt’s Goners, John Mayall, Leslie West, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Buffett, Allen Toussaint, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani and many others. He’s also appeared at all three of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festivals.
LUCA
BIOGRAPHY
Coinciding with the release of “Toast to Freedom,” Amnesty also sponsored a competition encouraging musicians all over the world to enter their own musical interpretations and arrangements of this catchy tune. Of the many entries received, “Toast to Freedom – The Berlin Mix” by the young Berlin artist Luca, was unanimously chosen by the judges as the winner. Inspired by Berlin’s own struggles against tyranny, Luca succeeded in creating a moving arrangement that captures a deep and intense yearning for freedom. Accompanied only by sister Maria on cello and by unadorned acoustic guitar and fragmentary bass, Luca’s “Toast to Freedom – The Berlin Mix” delivers equal parts reality and rapture. Appropriately, the song’s video is set on both the rooftops and the streets of the city. Luca’s version was also a clear winner for songwriter Carlton: “The message of the original, which is about each individual’s right to freedom and the protection of human rights around the world, is in Lucas’ version transformed into a very personal one. In the original, we used many musicians to create a powerful and colorful sound, and to do justice to a multicultural understanding of rights and freedoms. By contrast, Lucas’ version is fragile, sensitive, but at the same time it delivers a very concrete message. This is a young voice coming forward to make the point that the fight for freedom and human rights takes place in our very own back yards every day.” Executive producer Jochen Wilms says, “Luca’s Berlin Mix adds a new and very personal dimension to the artistic initiative. She recorded it independently in Berlin and, together with Berlin cameraman Daniel Devecioglu and co-director Tom Richter, also produced her own video – a truly impressive and moving professional production!”
PASCAL KRAVETZ
BIOGRAPHY
At the age oft ten, Pascal recorded his first single, the anti-war song „Wozu sind Kriege da“, a duet with the German artist legend Udo Lindenberg. The song remained in the German top ten for quite some time.
Since 1988 he plays keyboards, guitars and sings in the Peter Maffay Band where he also co-wrote and produced a number of songs.
Since then he worked together in the studio and on the road with artists like Jimmy Barnes, Robert Palmer, Paul Young, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Cocker, Tony Carey, Nina Hagen and many others.
Since 2001 he is also part of Carl Carlton & the Songdogs.
LIGHTS OUT IN WONDERLAND
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
BIOGRAPHY
Kris Kristofferson is a singer-songwriter and actor who’s been an integral part of the American and international music communities since the mid-60s. The Texas native composed songs such as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night, “For the Good Times” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and is a three-time Grammy Award winner – twice for duets with ex-wife Rita Coolidge. Kristofferson was also a member of the all-star group The HIghwaymen with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, and he’s been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. His key film roles include “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” “A Star is Born,” 2001′s “Planet of the Apes” and “Joyful Noise.”
KENNA RAMSEY
BIOGRAPHY
Par of David Foster’s elite band and orchestra, Kenna Ramsey has been singing support vocals for a number of recording artists on their most memorable hits. Among them are: Martina McBride, John Mayer, Donna Summer, Katharine McPhee, Dionne Warwick, Faith Hill, Rita Wilson, Kenny Loggins, Babyface, Phil Collins, Hall and Oats, Tears for Fears, Peter Cetera, Alicia Keys, Lionel Richie, Sheryl Crow, Reba McEntire, Natalie Cole, Sarah McLaughlin, Theo.
KEB MO
BIOGRAPHY
Born Kevin Moore in South Central Los Angeles, Keb Mo is a singer, songwriter, performer and activist — and occasional actor. He began his recording career with former Jefferson Airplane/Starship violinist Papa john Creach and his R&B band, then played the blues in the Whodunit Band. Mo went solo with his self-titled 1994 album. He’s won Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Blues Album for three of his 12 releases and has also appeared as a guest on albums by Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Amy Grant and Marcus Miller. He was featured in Martin Scorsese’s PBS mini series “The Blues” and on “A Prairie Home Companion,” and he’s appeared in the films “Can’t You Hear the Wind Howl?” and “Honeydripper” and in the TV series “Touched By An Angel.
JOHNNY LEE SCHELL
BIOGRAPHY
Johnny Lee Schell is an American guitarist and songwriter. In the 1970s, he premiered as a prominent member of a Texas-based southern rock band, Baby. Since his professional debut, he has played with dozens of well-known recording artists. His inclusion on albums such as Bonnie Raitt‘s Green Light (1982)[1] and Nick of Time (1989)[2] has lent him his bearing in American pop music culture. Yet, Schell’s works had already journeyed from the North America to Australia, when he worked with Australian soul singer Renée Geyer on her album So Lucky (1981). As a member of Bonnie Raitt’s road band, Schell backed the Australian Geyer while recording So Lucky (renamed Renee Geyer for international market) at Shangri La studios in Malibu, California.[3][4] Other members included Ian McLagan (formerly of The Faces) and drummer/producer extraordinaire Ricky Fataar.
JOHN LEVENTHAL
BIOGRAPHY
John Leventhal is a Grammy Award-winning musician, producer and composer whose credits include work with is wife, Rosanne Cash, and her father Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell, MIchelle Branch, Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn, Joan Osbourne and others. More than 100 songs have been recorded by assorted artists – including Colvin’s Grammy-winning “Sunny Came Home” in 1997 – and he’s played sessions for Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Bruce Hornsby and more. Leventhal also wrote the score for the 2005 film “Winter Solstice.”
JOE SUBLETT
BIOGRAPHY
Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Sublett is a member of the Phantom Blues Band, Texacali Horns, and Jim Belushi’s band, the Sacred Hearts.
JIMMY BARNES
BIOGRAPHY
The Scottish-born singer made his name out of Australia, first with the group Cold Chisel and then as a solo artist, with 13 solo albums and nine No. 1 hits down under. Barnes also worked with INXS, on its cover of the Easybeats’ “Good Times” and co-writing the original “Laying Down the Law;” after frontman Michael Hutchence’s death he also fronted the band at the Mushroom 25 Concert in 1998. Barnes has recorded with Tina Turner, Huey Lewis, Mick Fleetwood, Kim Carnes, Journey’s Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon and others, and was part of the all-star hard rock group Living Loud. Barnes was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2005.
JERRY “WYZARD” SEAY
BIOGRAPHY
Wyzard is a visionary producer, bassist, performer, arranger, programmer and songwriter whose best-known composition — the classic “Baby Love” by Mother’s Finest — helped land that band in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2011. A pioneer of funk-rock, Wyzard’s musical influence is both deep and wide: You can count both Prince and Eddie Van Halen among his acknowledged acolytes. Wyzard has toured and recorded with the likes of Stevie Nicks and Joan Jett, produced albums for Guitar Shorty and is a member of the all-star international collective, Carl Carlton and the Songdogs.
JANE BIRKIN
BIOGRAPHY
Jane Birkin is a British film actress known for her bold role choices, and she’s been equally fearless in her forays into music. A regular voice for French composer Serge Gainsbourg — and the mother of their daughter, actress-singer Charlotte Gainsbourg — Birkin’s biggest hit was the sexuality explicit “Je t’aime…moi non plus” (“I love you…me neither”) that was so controversial in 1969 it was banned on radio stations in many countries. Birkin recorded 13 albums and appeared in the films “Dust” with Trevor Howard,”Death on the Nil” and “Daddy Nostalgie/These Foolish Things” with Dirk Bogarde. She has also been active with Amnesty International fighting the death penalty and AIDS, was an activist in Sarajevo during the siege, a campaigner for democracy in Burma & Aung San Suu Kyi for the last 10 years, and currently works toward the preservation of french public hospitals.
J.P. NATAF
BIOGRAPHY
J.P. Nataf is a French singer and songwriter and a founding member of the popular French band Les Innocents, whose four albums were critically acclaimed and won the band a fan base across Europe. Nataf released his first solo album, “Plus de Sucre,” in 2004, then waited six years to release its follow-up, “Clair,” which reunited him on several tracks with former bandmate Jean-Christophe Urbain. Nataf has also written for a number of top artists, and his vocal style is often compared to that of folk-pop great Cat Stevens.