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Mercury Records
Parent company	Universal Music Group
Founded	1945
Founder	Irving Green Berle Adams Arthur Talmadge
Status	Active
Distributor(s)	Mercury Music Group (UK) The Island Def Jam Music Group (US) Universal Music Australia (Australia)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States
Location	United States United Kingdom
Official Website	Official website of Mercury Records US Official website of Mercury Records UK

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the The Island Def Jam Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal Music Australia. In the United States, Universal Music Group Nashville administers the Mercury Records Nashville label.

Beginnings[link]

Mercury Record Corporation was founded in the American city of Chicago in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge.^[1] They were a major force in jazz and blues, classical music, rock and roll, and country music recordings. Early in the label's history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri. With the use of automatic presses and providing 24-hour turnaround, they went into direct competition with major recording labels such as Columbia, Decca, and RCA Victor.

By hiring two promoters, Tiny Hill and Jimmy Hilliard, they penetrated the pop market with names such as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, Tony Fontane and Patti Page.

Rather than rely on radio airplay, Mercury initially relied to jukeboxes to promote their music.^[2]

In 1946, Mercury hired midget Eddie Gaedel to portray the "Mercury man", complete with a winged hat similar to its logo, to promote Mercury recordings.^[3][4] Some early Mercury recordings featured a caricature of him as its logo.^[5][6]

In 1947 Jack Rael, a musician and publicist/manager, persuaded Mercury to let Patti Page (whom he managed) record a song that had been planned to be done by Vic Damone, "Confess". The budget was too small for them to hire a second singer to provide the "answer" parts to Page, so at Rael's suggestion she did both voices. Though "overdubbing" had been used occasionally on 78 discs in the 1930s, for Enrico Caruso and Elisabeth Schumann recordings among others, this became the first documented example of "overdubbing" using tape, and Patti Page, along with rival Capitol Records artists Les Paul & Mary Ford, became one of the artists best known for the use of this technique.

The company released an enormous number of recordings under the Mercury label as well as its subsidiaries (Blue Rock Records, Cumberland Records, EmArcy Records, Fontana Records, Limelight Records, Philips Records, Smash Records and Wing Records). In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels and redistributed them.

Under their own label, Mercury released a variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock. However, its subsidiaries focused on their own specialized categories of music.

Mercury's jazz division[link]

Mercury's jazz division had two distinct and important fathers. John Henry Hammond, Jr. brought his expertise and connections when Mercury bought Keynote Records in the late 1940s. And Mercury was the issuing company and distributor for Norman Granz's pre-Norgran/Verve recordings. Although both Hammond and Granz had departed Mercury by the mid-'50s, they established the company in the jazz world. Mercury, under its EmArcy label, released LPs by many important post-swing and bebop artists including Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Clark Terry, Dinah Washington, Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Ernestine Anderson, Sarah Vaughn, Maynard Ferguson, Jimmy Cleveland, Herb Geller and others. By the early 1960s, Mercury was releasing jazz under the flagship label and was an early leader in the new stereo sound releases. Highlights of the early and mid-'60s included albums by Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich, Cannonball Adderley, Charles (then called Charlie) Mingus, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, Max Roach and others. In the early 1950s, Norman Granz started his own record company, Norgran, which later became Verve. In an ironic twist, both Mercury and Verve are now owned by Universal Music Group and Mercury's jazz library falls under the Verve division. Since the early 1990s, Verve has reissued many Mercury jazz titles on CD, often taking care to use original master tapes and including session material not included on the original LPs. In addition, Mosaic Records in Stamford CT has issued several box sets spotlighting the Mercury and Verve recordings of various artists including Max Roach, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie and Buddy Rich.

Mercury Living Presence series[link]

In 1951, under the direction of recording engineer C. Robert (Bob) Fine and recording director David Hall, Mercury Records initiated a recording technique using a single microphone to record symphony orchestras. Fine had for several years used a single microphone for various Mercury small-ensemble classical recordings produced by John Hammond and later Mitch Miller (indeed, Miller, using his full name of Mitchell Miller, made several recordings as a featured oboe player in the late '40s for Mercury). The first record in this new Mercury Olympian Series was Pictures at an Exhibition performed by Rafael Kubelík and the Chicago Symphony. The group that became the most famous using this technique was the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, which, under the leadership of conductor Antal Doráti, made a series of classical albums that were well reviewed and sold briskly, including the first-ever complete recordings of Tchaikovsky's ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. Dorati's 1954 one-mic monaural recording (Mercury MG 50054) and 1958 three-mic stereo rerecording (Mercury MG 50054) of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" ^[7] included dramatic overdub recordings of 1812-era artillery and the giant bell tower at Yale University. Besides Mercury's mono and stereo versions of the 1812, only one other classical album rang up Gold Record sales in the 1950s in the U.S.^[8] The recording of the 1812 Overture is considered by many to be one of the best performances of that work and is still in reissue in 2011, nearly 60 years after its first release.

The New York Times music critic Howard Taubman described the Mercury sound on Pictures at an Exhibition as "being in the living presence of the orchestra"^[9] and Mercury eventually began releasing their classical recordings under the 'Living Presence' series' name. The recordings were produced by Mercury vice president Wilma Cozart, who later married Bob Fine. Cozart took over recording director duties in 1953 and also produced the CD reissues of more than half of the Mercury Living Presence catalog in the 1990s. By the late '50s, the Mercury Living Presence crew included session musical supervisors Harold Lawrence and Clair van Ausdall and associate engineer Robert Eberenz. When Cozart retired in 1964, Lawrence took over the Mercury classical division and continued producing Mercury Living Presence records into 1967.

Besides the recordings with the Chicago and Minneapolis orchestras, Mercury also recorded Howard Hanson with the Eastman Rochester Orchestra, Frederick Fennell with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and Paul Paray with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Dorati made some recordings in the United Kingdom with the London Symphony Orchestra for Mercury during the 1960s.

In late 1955, Mercury began using 3 omni-directional microphones to make stereo recordings on 3-track tape. The technique was an expansion on the mono process—center was still paramount. Once the center, single microphone was set, the sides were set to provide the depth and width heard in the stereo recordings. The center mike still fed the mono LP releases, which accompanied stereo LPs into the 1960s. In 1961, Mercury enhanced the three-microphone stereo technique by using 35 mm magnetic film instead of half-inch tape for recording. The greater emulsion thickness, track width and speed (90 feet per min or 18 ips) of 35 mm magnetic film increased prevention of tape layer print-through and pre-echo and gained in addition extended frequency range and transient response. The Mercury 'Living Presence' stereo records were mastered directly from the 3-track tapes or films, with a 3-2 mix occurring in the mastering room. The same technique—and restored vintage equipment of the same type—was used during the CD reissues. Specifically, 3-track tapes were recorded on Ampex 300-3½" machines at 15 IPS. 35 mm magnetic film recordings were made on 3-track Westrex film recorders. The 3-2 mixdown was done on a modified Westrex mixer. For the original LPs, the mixer directly fed the custom cutting chain. At Fine Recording in NY, the Westrex cutter head on a Scully lathe was fed by modified McIntosh 200W tube amplifiers with very little feedback in the system. Older mono records were made with a Miller cutter head. For the CD reissues, the output of the Westrex mixer directly fed a DCS analog-to-digital converter and the CDs were mastered on Sony 1630 tapes. No digital enhancement or noise reduction was used.

The original LP releases of the classical recordings continued through 1968. The Mercury classical music catalogue (including the Living Presence catalogue) is currently managed by Decca Label Group through Philips Records, which reissued the recordings on LP and then CD. In turn, Mercury now manages the pop/rock catalog of Philips Records.

In 2003 Speakers Corner Records began issuing 180-gram audiophile-quality LP reissues. The LPs are mastered from 2-track tapes made at the time of the original LP mastering, thus one generation removed from the edited session master used to produce the original LP master and the CD master.

In 2012, Decca Classics, the current owner of the Mercury Living Presence label, issued a value-priced 51-CD box that included 50 of the 1990s CD titles (remastered by Wilma Cozart Fine) as well as a bonus CD containing an interview with Wilma Cozart Fine, and a deluxe booklet detailing the history of Mercury Living Presence. The CD was issued worldwide and was sold by Amazon and other major retailers. A limited-edition 6-LP box set was also issued. The CD set brings back into print dozens of titles that had not been available as manufactured CD's since the early 2000s.

Later history[link]

In 1961, Philips, a Dutch electronics company and owner of Philips Records, which lost its distribution deal with Columbia Records outside North America, signed an exchange agreement with Mercury.^[10] A year later, Philips' U.S. affiliate Consolidated Electronics Industries Corp. (a.k.a. Conelco), bought Mercury and its subsidiary labels. In 1963, Mercury switched British distribution from EMI to Philips.

In 1962, Mercury began marketing a line of phonographs made by Philips bearing the Mercury brand name.^[11]

In July 1967, Mercury Records became the first U.S. record company to release cassette music tapes (Musicassettes).^[12]

In 1969, Mercury changed its corporate name to Mercury Record Productions Inc. while its former parent Conelco became North American Philips Corp (N.A.P.C.) after Philips brought control of the company.

In the 1970s, the company began using the photo of Chicago's Marina City twin towers on the face of its records.

In 1972, Philips along with German Electronics giant Siemens merged their record operations with Deutsche Grammophon to become PolyGram. That year PolyGram brought Mercury from N.A.P.C. Mercury's corporate name was changed to Phonogram Inc. to match a related company in the UK that operated the Mercury label there.

In 1981, Mercury, along with other U.S. PolyGram-owned labels, which included Polydor, RSO, and Casablanca, consolidated under the new name PolyGram Records Inc. Around this time, Mercury moved its headquarters to New York City.

Under PolyGram, Mercury absorbed the artists and catalogue of Casablanca Records (also home to the 20th Century Records back catalogue), which consisted of heavy metalers Kiss and disco stars Donna Summer and Village People, and primarily became a rock/pop label with Kiss, Scorpions, Rush, John Cougar Mellencamp, Kurtis Blow, Tears for Fears, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Treat, Candy, and Def Leppard.

Mercury, by having Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Kiss, and Scorpions on their roster, was a premiere label for glam metal. Most of these bands were on Vertigo Records in Europe (that label specialized in progressive rock and hard rock including sub-genres like glam metal).

In late 1998, PolyGram was bought by Seagram, which then absorbed the company into its Universal Music Group unit. Under the reorganization, Mercury Records was folded into the newly formed The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG). Mercury's pop roster was predominantly taken over by Island Records, while its hip hop artists found a new home at Def Jam Recordings, which in turn formed an imprint, Def Soul Records, that absorbed some of Mercury's R&B acts. Mercury's former country unit became Mercury Nashville Records. IDJMG revived the Mercury imprint in the US in 2007.

Major Mercury Records labels and operations worldwide[link]

Current[link]

Mercury Records was relaunched in 2007 as a label under the Island Def Jam Music Group, appointing record executive David Massey as the President and CEO of the new venture.

This division of Mercury handles US distribution of most pre-1998 Polydor Records pop/rock releases currently under UMG control. There are some exceptions, however. Some artists based outside the US did not have their releases on Polydor in North America, signing to various other labels instead. Some of these bands, such as The Who, did sign to a label that also is now part of the UMG family (or later absorbed by such a label), hence those labels control US rights to these works (in the case of the Who, they had been on US Decca Records and MCA Records in the past, their pre-breakup catalogue is now on Geffen Records in North America).

Mercury Nashville[link]

Mercury's Nashville unit dates back to 1957, when Mercury formed a joint venture with Starday Records specifically for releasing artists performing country music. Mercury bought out Starday's half in 1958.

In 1997, PolyGram, looking to cut costs in anticipation of a merger with a competitor, consolidated all of its Nashville operations under the Mercury name. Mercury Nashville took over management of all of PolyGram's country back catalog from sister labels such as Polydor (including releases once issued by MGM Records), A&M, and the small country back catalog of Motown Records (Motown released these albums under subsidiary labels). All country artists under contract to other PolyGram labels either moved to Mercury or were dropped altogether.

After PolyGram was absorbed into the Universal Music Group, Mercury's pop/rock unit was dissolved, but its country unit remained. Today it continues to be an active imprint under Universal Music Group Nashville, where it continues to manage the country back catalog that once belonged to PolyGram (MCA Nashville manages what Universal had already owned at the time of the PolyGram merger).

Mercury Records (UK)[link]

Mercury also continues to operate as an imprint in the UK under the Mercury Records Group of Universal Music UK.

In 2005 Jason ILey was appointed the new Managing Director of Mercury. He joined the company from Island Records where he was General Manager.^[13] In July 2005 ILey appointed Paul Adam to senior A&R director of the label – the two had previously worked together at Island Records.^[14]

In October 2006 U2 decided to leave Island Records (which had been their label since the start of their career twenty seven years previously) and moved to Mercury Records, reportedly to rejoin ILey who they had worked with previously at Island Records.^[15]

Recent signings on Mercury include Pixie Lott, Wonderland, Arcade Fire, Amy Macdonald, Noah and the Whale, Chase & Status and Jake Bugg.^[16] In 2011 the company announced that they had sold 10 million records by Rihanna in the UK.^[17]

In March 2011, the label announced it was stopping the production of CD and vinyl singles and would only release them physically as "rare exceptions".^[18]

Mercury Records (Australia)[link]

Launched in 2007 by Universal Music Australia exclusively as a full-service local (Australian) A&R operation. Mercury Records had been used for some Australian artists in the 80s and 90s, but was put into hibernation in 1999 in favour of the Universal label until 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Mercury Records (France)[link]

A division of Universal Music France engaged in international Universal Music Group repertoire distribution, as well as local French A&R operations.

Various other national Universal Music Group companies are known to actively use the Mercury Records trademark as an imprint for their local artist and repertoire operations, but no other Universal Music Group companies use the label as a key marketing differentiator, nor do they operate frontline divisions based on the Mercury label.

Former[link]

Mercury Music Entertainment (Japan)[link]

Launched in 1993 as a division of Nippon PolyGram (now Universal Music Japan), it was later relaunched in 2000 as a joint venture with Kitty Films under the name Kitty MME. It was merged into the Universal J label in 2002.

Its artist roster included Seiko Matsuda, Yūji Oda, ZIGGY, Kinniku Shōjo Tai and Takashi Sorimachi.

Artists[link]

• List of Mercury Records artists

See also[link]

• Universal Music Group Nashville
• List of record labels
• Chicago Record Labels

References[link]

External links[link]

Main sites[link]

• Mercury Records – US site
• Mercury Records – UK site
• Mercury Records – Australian site
• Mercury Records discography at Discogs
• Mercury Nashville – official site

Other sites[link]

• Microgroove.jp – a site devoted to the label's history
• Mercury US & UK A&R team contact list
• Wilma Cozart Fine and 50 Years Living Presence - Rudolf Bruil - Soundfountain
• Jay & The Techniques article in The Standard Report
• Interview with Wilma Cozart Fine by Bruce Duffie

v t e Philips Divisions and subsidiaries Current Philips Consumer Lifestyle Gaggia Saeco Philips Healthcare Philips AVENT Respironics Shenzhen Goldway Industrial Philips Lighting Philips Lumileds Lighting Company Corporate Technologies Former and defunct Liquavista Magnavox NXP Semiconductors Philips Analytical Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium PolyGram (Fontana Records Mercury Records Philips Classics Records Philips Records PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Vertigo Records) Joint ventures and shareholdings Current NXP Semiconductors (19.9%) Philips-Neusoft Medical Systems (51%) TCL Corporation (6.3%) Former and defunct ASML Holding Broadcast Television Systems Inc. LG Philips Display NEC Philips Unified Systems Philips Consumer Communications Brands, products and standards Current Ambilight Norelco Philips Cinema 21:9 TV Philips Entertaible Philips GoGear Philips Intimate Massagers Senseo ShoqBox Sonicare Streamium Trimension Video Content Protection System Defunct Philips Nino Philips Velo Philips :YES Philishave SpeechMagic Video 2000 People Cor Boonstra President and Chief Executive Officer Gerard Kleisterlee Co-founders Anton Philips and Gerard Philips Frits Philips Places High Tech Campus Eindhoven Philips Arena Philips Stadion Other Carousel HDMI Licensing Philips Sports Manager of the Year Phoebus cartel Category Commons

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Roni Size (born Ryan Owen Granville Williams, 29 October 1969, Bristol)^[1] is a British record producer and DJ, who came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and leader of Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. That year they won the Mercury Prize for their album New Forms.

He resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of New Forms on Universal.

Early life[link]

Williams, son of Jamaican immigrants,^[2] grew up in the Bristol suburb of St. Andrews. He cites reggae as one of his early influences. He was expelled from school^[2] at the age of 16 and started attending house parties run by Bristol soundsystem The Wild Bunch (a predecessor of Massive Attack). He learned the basics about music production at his local youth club,^[2] the Sefton Park basement project, which provided record players, a mixing desk, drum machines and samplers.^[3] He worked with his brother's comprehensive collection of Studio One records and later set up a home studio, buying a sampler.^[3]

His future musical partner, Krust, had been a member of the Fresh 4, whose "Wishing On A Star" reached the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart in late 1989.^[4] Williams, Krust, Suv and DJ Die founded Full Cycle Records.

Aided by Chris Lewis, Roni Size founded the record label WTP ("Where's The Party At?") as part of Circus Warp, and in 1993 Full Cycle and Dope Dragon were established in 1993 from that.^[3] RCA Records employee Bryan Gee was an early admirer.^[3] When in 1994 he set up V Recordings, the first releases were Krust's Deceivers EP as catalogue number V001 and Agility, the debut release of Roni Size and DJ Die, as V002.

Musical style[link]

Much of the acclaim centred around Size's melding of the propulsive jungle beats accompanied by live drums and double bass. The band consists of Williams (compositions/programming), DJ Krust, Onallee (vocals), Dynamite MC and rapper Bahamadia (a former protégé of Gang Starr). As a result, Reprazent drum 'n' bass is equally informed by hip-hop, funk, soul and house.

Career[link]

In consolidation of their mainstream breakthrough, Reprazent had a series of festival appearances in summer of 1997 (including Tribal Gathering). Their New Forms LP won the Mercury Music Prize. The singles from the album all featured singer Onallee, whose call for the music in "Brown Paper Bag" is a signal ravers still respond to.^[3] The album went platinum, and Roni Size and his collaborators returned to the studio.

Williams subsequently teamed up with DJ Die and Leonie Laws in Breakbeat Era, before returning to Reprazent to record the second album, October 2000's In The Mode, which included guest vocals from Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan. In 2001, he returned to the studio and started working with Tali, who had recently arrived from New Zealand on her album Lyric On My Lip. In this time he also produced Touching Down - released in October 2002. This, his first truly solo album, included 16 tracks segued into one hour's set. He came back to 'V' in 2005 with the release of Return To V, which included vocal collaborations with artists such as Beverly Knight, Jocelyn Brown, Vikter Duplaix and Rodney P.

Roni Size resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of New Forms on Universal. The reformed band included original members Dynamite MC, Onallee and bass player Si John alongside Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing), D Product, Jay Wilcox and Pete Josef. Roni Size and Reprazent toured some of the biggest festivals in Europe, including Bestival, Glastonbury, Lovebox, EXIT and Rock Herk. As a result, they were among the nominees for Best Dance Act from the UK Festival Awards.

The band started 2009 with a tour of Australia as part of the Good Vibrations Festival.^[5] Following on from this, Roni Size and Reprazent returned to North America for the first time in seven years as one of the headliners at the 2009 Ultra Music Festival in Miami. They then went on to perform at Coachella,^[6] appearing as the final act of the festival.

In September 2009, Roni Size and Reprazent played a gig with an orchestra and choir to mark the re-opening of Bristol’s Colston Hall, collaborating with the BBC’s Nature’s Great Events composer, William Goodchild.^[7] In addition to older material, the band played material from a forthcoming Reprazent album.^[7]

Discography[link]

• Music Box (1993)
• Witchcraft (1994) ft. Krust
• Fashion (1995)
• Square Off (1996)
• New Forms (1997)
• Snapshot (1999)
• 26 Bass (1999)
• Ultra-Obscene (1999) with DJ Die under the alias "Breakbeat Era"
• Through the Eyes (2000)
• In the Mode (2000)
• Sound Advice (2002)
• Playtime (2002)
• Touching Down (2002)
• Snapshot 3 (2003)
• Out of Breath (2004)
• Return to V (2004)
• Touching Down, Vol. 2 (2005)
• Friends (2006)
• New Forms² (2008)
• Kops & Robbers (2009)
• Out of Order (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Roni Size discography at Discogs
• Roni Size at rolldabeats
• Roni Size 2008 interview on ilikemusic.com
• Roni Size Exclusive Interview
• Roni Size interview with BBC Bristol
• Roni Size interview with Remixmag

"Never Forget You" is a pop/R&B slow jam song written by American singer Mariah Carey and Babyface, produced by Carey, Babyface and Daryl Simmons for Carey's third album Music Box (1993). It was released as the third single from Music Box in the first quarter of 1994, as a double A-side with a cover of Badfinger's "Without You." There was no music video commissioned for the album version or any of the remixes, making it Carey's first commercially released single not to be accompanied by a video.

Chart performance[link]

At the time of the single's release in the U.S. as "Without You & Never Forget You," Billboard magazine's rules allowed double-sided singles to chart together as one entry on the singles chart. The song that would pick up the most airplay and/or sales for the respective chart would be listed as the A-side. On the U.S. pop charts, it was listed as "Without You/Never Forget You" and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining in the top forty for 21 weeks.

The maxi-single of "Never Forget You" was only released in the United States and promoted to Urban radio audiences, charting as the A-side when it appeared on the R&B charts. As "Never Forget You/Without You," it reached the top ten on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart primarily due to sales, and the RIAA certified it gold.

Remixes and other versions[link]

Jermaine Dupri's R&B remixes of the song are included on its maxi-single release. A radio edit, an extended version and the instrumental version of the remix replace Babyface's original production with a new, pulsating synthetic R&B rhythm. The instrumental version was used on Carey's episode of MTV Cribs.

The song has been covered by a Japanese R&B singer Double and is featured on her greatest hits album 10 Years Best: We R&B.

Tracklist[link]

U.S. CD maxi-single

1. "Never Forget You" (radio edit) – 3:38
2. "Never Forget You" (extended) – 5:19
3. "Never Forget You" (album version) – 3:48
4. "Never Forget You" (instrumental) – 3:35
5. "Without You" (album version) – 3:33

Charts[link]

References[link]

Maverick Sabre (born Michael Stafford; 12 July 1990 in Hackney, London)^[1] is an Irish-English singer-songwriter and rapper.^[2] Associated with genres such as R&B and folk, Sabre is known for his eerie vocals and guitar playing. In January 2011, Sabre appeared on Professor Green's single "Jungle", which peaked at number 31 in the UK Singles Chart.^[3] His debut EP, The Lost Words was released on 7 March 2011, with the single "Look What I've Done" preceding that release the week before.^[4]

Career[link]

Early history[link]

Maverick Sabre was born in Hackney, London.^[2] At the age of four Sabre moved to Ireland, where he grew up in New Ross, County Wexford, but later - following the suggestion of UK singer/rapper Plan B - returned to London to pursue a musical career.^[2][5][6]

2010: Breakthrough[link]

His career began in 2008 when he appeared on the album Sense The Terror by Irish rappers Terawrizt and Nu-Centz. Sabre appeared on two tracks: "Lucky" and "Used To Blame".^[7] He also featured on rappers Johnnyboy and Intox's 'Propaganda EP' and released his own tracks such as "Lonely Side Of Life" and "Fade Away". Sabre furthered his career in 2009 when he featured on Jermicide & Danny Digg's album Middle Class, collaborating on three tracks: "Afraid", "Where We Go" and "Still With Me".^[8] Maverick Sabre also performed on SB.TV with the song "They Found Him A Gun"^[9] and featured in BBC 1Xtra 'Jail Tales' programme, performing "These Walls".^[10] Sabre then returned to working with his earlier cohorts, featuring on Terawrizt's album Written in Stone and Terawrizt & Nu-Centz' album Sense The Terror 2, appearing on tracks such as "Life Fly By". On 25 November 2010, Sabre released his debut mixtape, The Travelling Man, in the United Kingdom. The release was a free digital download and featured the track "Sometimes" along with a promotional video to accompany the song. On 6 January 2011, "Sometimes" was released as a promotional single without rapper Wretch 32. Sabre guested on drum and bass duo Chase & Status's second studio album No More Idols, on "Fire In Your Eyes". He also features on "Sleepless", a song regularly performed live by Chase & Status, however no studio version has been released to date. Sabre featured on Professor Green’s fourth single "Jungle", released on 1 January 2010, which was featured on the album Alive Till I'm Dead.^[11] The single debuted at number 34 on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at 31 the following week.^[3] On 28 February 2011, Maverick released his debut single "Look What I Done", taken from the extended play The Lost Words, released on 7 March 2011.^[4] On 19 April 2011, Sabre performed with a live band on BBC Two's Later… with Jools Holland.^[12] After his performance of Oasis's "Wonderwall" on Chris Moyles' BBC Radio 1 Comic Relief show, Maverick's extended play The Lost Words reached number 2 in the iTunes Store Top Ten Songs chart. In 2011, he also appeared on The Script's Science & Faith Tour supporting the Irish band, and performed his song "Let Me Go", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 16 in August 2011.

[edit] 2011-present: Lonely Are the Brave

On 25 July 2011, Maverick Sabre's first single "Let Me Go" was released and entered the UK chart at number 16. He released his debut album, Lonely Are The Brave, on 6 February 2012.^[13] He then released singles "I Need", "What Have I Done To You" and "No One" Maverick Sabre also featured on a remix of his song 'I Need' with rappers Chipmunk and Benny Banks. He then featured on the track 'We'll Never Know' alongside rappers Akala and Logic. On Sunday 29th January 2012, he appeared on the Sunday Night Sessions segment of The Late Show with Joanne Good on BBC London 94.9^[14].

Discography[link]

• Lonely Are the Brave (2012)

References[link]

Kristina Train
Background information
Born	(1982-01-17) January 17, 1982 (age 30) New York City, USA
Origin	Savannah, Georgia, USA
Genres	pop, soul, jazz
Instruments	singing, violin, guitar
Years active	2001-present
Labels	Blue Note Records
Website	http://www.bluenote.com/kristinatrain/

Kristina Train is an American pop/soul singer and songwriter.

Performing in Warszawa, Poland in November 2010 with Herbie Hancock

Biography[link]

Train was born in New York City, but was raised in Savannah, Georgia from the age of nine.^[1] Her mother, Kathy Beatty, is a schoolteacher in Savannah.^[2] Train is an only child.^[2] While growing up, she sang in church and school choirs,^[3] studied classical violin,^[2] and volunteered at the Savannah Music Festival.^[2]

Train began singing and playing violin professionally in 1999 with The Looters, a band also known for backing European musicians Rosa King and Saskia Laroo on tours of the US. She also performed with "Rosa King and The Looters" for several showcases in Georgia before King's death in 2000.

In 2001 Train played a showcase in New York City for Blue Note Records. Executives Bruce Lundvall and Arif Mardin subsequently signed Train to Blue Note,^[4] but Train ultimately acquiesced in her mother's wish that she attend college. While attending school, she performed with a band in Athens, Georgia.^[2] Eventually, however, Train left school to pursue music full time, moving to New York and signing with Blue Note again.^[2]

[edit] Spilt Milk

Train's debut album, Spilt Milk, was recorded in London and released on October 20, 2009.^[5] Blue Note had initially been interested in pairing Train with Norah Jones producer Lee Alexander,^[6] but Train selected Jimmy Hogarth to produce the album. Train co-wrote eight songs on the album, collaborating with Hogarth, Eg White, and Ed Harcourt.^[7] Train also arranged and overdubbed strings on three tracks on Spilt Milk. The extended version of the release contains the Carolyn Franklin & Jimmy Radcliffe song "If You Want Me".^[4]

Other projects[link]

Train often plays with the band Scrapomatic and contributed vocals, violin, and songwriting on their 2006 album Alligator Love Cry.^[8]

Train opened for Chris Isaak in August 2009,^[9] for Susan Tedeschi in October 2009, and for Keb' Mo' from October through November 2009. She also performed at the T.J Martell Foundation 34th Annual Awards Gala alongside Willie Nelson, Dianne Reeves, and Wynton Marsalis on October 28, 2009.

Train contributed vocals to Marc Cohn's 2010 album Listening Booth, and contributed vocals and fiddle on Collin Rocker's 2010 debut album Milkbox Love, Jukebox Blood, & Other American Favorites.^[10]

Train is touring with Herbie Hancock^[11] from June 15, 2010 until September 23, 2011.

Train co-wrote the closing track "Salvation" on Robert Randolph & the Family Band's album "We Walk this Road" which was produced by T-Bone Burnett^[12]

• On 11 December 2010 Kristina Train performed together with Herbie Hancock, India.Arie and Greg Phillinganes at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway.

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.bluenote.com/kristinatrain/
• http://www.kristinatrain.com
• http://www.myspace.com/kristinatrain
• http://www.pollstar.com/resultsArtist.aspx?ID=162415&SortBy=Date&SearchBy=kristina%20train