Paul Hardcastle
Paul Hardcastle ( born December 10, 1957 in London ) is a British keyboardist, songwriter and producer. The focus of his work are in jazz, but he achieved his greatest notoriety about electronic music.
Biography
First chart successes celebrated Hardcastle between 1981 and 1983 with the group Direct Drive and his duo First Light. In 1984, the sound wizard his first own record company. Reception from the critics he received for his first releases as a solo artist in late 1983, including particularly the single Rainforest (1984). The Rainforest EP appeared in early 1985 in the U.S. only.
His breakthrough came in mid-1985 with the song 19, which was written by him, Mike Oldfield, William Coutourie and Jonas McCord. The song was used in many countries to a number -one hit.
End of the year 1985, Hardcastle's manager and friend Simon Fuller, the " 19 Management Ltd. " And " 19 Entertainment Ltd.. ". It was followed by several other hits in the UK, including Do not Waste My Time ( prod. 1985, UK # 8 in 1986), for its admission, he was able to win Carol Kenyon as a singer. In 1986, under the title The Wizard, the new opening theme of the BBC music show Top of the Pops ( theme song to the end of 1991 ).
After 1986, Hardcastle focused on the composition of soundtracks for TV movies. In the German -speaking area known was the theme music of the BBC's Holiday titled The Voyager.
In 1988, he devoted himself with the album No Winners the sole issue of nuclear war. The album, which is a photo of his weeping daughter Maxine was on the cover, contains on the Innensleeve an extensive personal opinion of Paul Hardcastle to nuclear weapons, and in which most of the pieces pass without breaks into each other, begins with the emergence of nuclear weapons, the first test and inserts and ends with the disarmament conferences in the late 1980s. The typical Hardcastle synthesizer sound that time is in this case accompanied by numerous sound samples from news broadcasts and other reporting.
Published in 1990 Hardcastle under the pseudonym " Deff Boyz " the title of which swing across Europe and in the U.S. to hit. The pseudonym he chose his own name since he was not allowed to use this for contractual reasons.
From 1993, Hardcastle took on the projects Jazz Masters (I- VI), Hardcastle (IV ) & Kiss the Sky ( I-II) more positively received by critics synth jazz albums ( " Smooth Jazz "). Special mention is due to the well-known singer Helen Rogers, which can be heard on numerous songs. It started as a singer of the band Direct Drive, which also Hardcastle 1981 boarding.
On 12 July 2005 his project album Hardcastle appeared 4 The first single Serene occupied in September and October 2005 for 6 weeks at No. 1 in the "R & R Smooth Jazz ® National Airplay © charts " of the United States. His daughter Maxine Hardcastle wrote the first time as a co -author of three songs. On 25 July 2006, the album The Jazz Masters V. appeared with the instrumental song Free as the Wind, he came in the "R & R Smooth Jazz ® National Airplay © charts " of the United States back to front ranks. On 5 February 2008 he released his new album Hardcastle 5 in the USA. The album came in at number 176 on the Billboard charts. The second single marimba placed on June 25 at number 26 and rose to # 3 in the "R & R Smooth Jazz ® National Airplay © charts " of the United States.
In mid-December 2008, he was honored as "Best Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year 2008" by Billboard magazine.
Private life
Hardcastle has been married since October 1985. With his wife he had a daughter ( born 1986 ), singer, and two sons (* 1992 and * 1997).