Divine Mother or Mother Divine may refer to

• Adi parashakti, a goddess of Hindu Mythology
• Blessed Virgin Mary, of Roman Catholicism religion
• Father Divine, an American religious leader active in the 1930s, and either of his wives:
  • Edna Rose Ritchings
  • Peninniah
• Hindu mother goddess
• Lady Master Venus, a goddess in Ascended Master Teachings
• Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, which claims this term as a trademark of own
• Mirra Alfassa, known as "The Mother" in Hindu or Neo-Hindu context
• Mother goddess, a term used to refer to certain genre of goddess

See also[link]

• Goddess worship (disambiguation)
• Magna Mater (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Craig Pruess (born 1950) is an American composer, musician, arranger and gold & platinum record producer who has been living in Britain since 1973. His career has covered diverse areas including: record production for international stars such as Anu Malik, Sir Cliff Richard, Sarah Brightman, Sheila Walsh (whose first album, "War of Love" was produced and arranged by Craig and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1983); musical arrangements for Massive Attack, Def Leppard, Bond; feature film soundtrack music (Bride & Prejudice, Bend It Like Beckham, It's a Wonderful Afterlife, What's Cooking?, Bhaji on the Beach); world music producing, performing (sitar, keyboards and African percussion) and arranging for international acts such as Massive Attack, Katie Melua, Manic Street Preachers, Def Leppard and Pascal Obispo; television music ("Peak Practice", Sue Lawley Show, Rich Deceiver, ZigZag Kenya, Samson Superslug) and also arranging, sitar and sound design work (for such well known composers as Danny Elfman, Gabriel Yared, Patrick Doyle, Carl Davis, John Altman, Rachel Portman, and George Fenton); television and film advertising/corporate music (over 300 commercials to date); lecturing and teaching; concert performing (solo and with his own ensembles but also with Mike Oldfield for the world premiere of "Tubular Bells II", September 1992, at the Edinburgh Castle); sound engineering, synthesizer and computer music programming, sound design and music technology innovations.

Craig has composed the original music score for a string of major films by Gurinder Chadha's , including her two number one UK box office smash hit films, Bend It Like Beckham" (top ten in the USA box office, number 1 in India), and Bride & Prejudice". Craig scored her previous films, including "Bhaji on the Beach" (1993) and "What's Cooking?", which opened the big US Sundance Film Festival, January 2000 and released throughout the USA in October 2000, to critical acclaim (UK release was September 2001). Gurinder Chadha's big romantic Bollywood influenced feature film, "Bride and Prejudice", starring the big names of Aishwarya Rai, Anupam Kher and Martin Henderson, was released by Miramax (USA) and Pathé (Europe) in October 2003, and again was number one in the UK, India and South Africa, settling for number 15 for 3 weeks in the USA. Aishwarya Rai was again the big star in Craig's further film score project, "The Mistress of Spices",^[1] directed by Paul Mayeda Berges, which was released in the UK and India early 2006. Craig has scored Gurinder's latest feature film, "It's a Wonderful Afterlife", April 2010 box office release, the film reaching number 7 in the UK.

In 2009, Craig was nominated for Best Soundtrack at the RTS Awards (Royal Television Society) for his music for the acclaimed BBC-TV drama series, "Moses Jones", which also garnered Craig a British Academy Award nomination for Best Original Music in May 2010. Since the series, he has teamed up with talented Ugandan musicians, Denis Mugagga and Daniel Sewagudde (formerly of DaTwinz fame in Africa), to create the group the [[Ganda Boys]], with an album "The War of Love" released in 2009, and live shows in UK and Germany, and with the release of their second album, "Africa", extensive radio play and media coverage in Uganda. Craig is a core performing member and band leader of the group and co-writes the songs and arranges and produces all the recordings. Craig scored the high profile BBC-TV drama series, "Five Days II", broadcast in Jan 2010. Between 2007 and present, Craig has formed another world fusion ambient music band, At-Ma, with seasoned professional singer, Russell Stone, and complete with tabla maestro, Tom Simenauer, they give concerts in the UK and Europe, headlining the Warsaw Philharmonic in Nov 2010. Craig performs on sitar, harmonium, trumpet and percussion in a totally spontaneous and fluid musical output which delights audiences with its freshness and evocative colours.

Brazilian music featured in Craig's 2006 soundtrack: 90 minute Discovery Channel docu-drama "Gold Diggers - The Biggest Bank Robbery in History". An edgy, fast paced expose of the 2005 massive bank robbery in Fortelesa, Brazil, directed by British director James Erskine. Featuring energetic Brazilian rhythms and tribal percussion layers, along with a filmic, hard-hitting music score, the program itself has become part of the police investigation in Brazil! In 2007, Craig composed the soundtrack for Turner Prize nominated artist Zarina Bhimji's film Waiting), which became part of the prestigious Turner Prize exhibition in Liverpool during October 2007. In late 2011, Craig completed his third art film soundtrack for her, "Yellow Patch", charting the origins of the migration of the Gujurati people from Kutch, India, to East Africa. Zarina was born in Uganda and has so poetically captured images from her African experience.

As a songwriter, Craig has penned the Christmas No. 1 UK chart single (December 1999/January 2000), one of the double A sides ("Two Worlds"), part of Sir Cliff Richard's chart hit, "Millennium Prayer" (sales over one million). Craig also wrote the title track to Sir Cliff's 1983 album, "Silver" and David Van Day's chart hit, "Young American's Talking". In November 1999, Craig was nominated to be the composer for the most successful independent television drama series in British history, "Peak Practice", completing the very last four series (13 episodes each) for Carlton Television until its conclusion in 2003.

In 2000, Craig contributed keyboards and sounds for composer John Altman on the US television film, "RKO 281 - the Making of Citizen Kane", which received 13 nominations for the Emmy Awards, winning the Emmy for best music soundtrack for 2000. Craig worked in his home studio with the director of the film, Ben Ross, to record and perform the initial music sketches, and then also played keyboards with the orchestra for the final recordings of the soundtrack in London.

Craig is the director/founder of the UK record label [[Heaven on Earth Music]]. His "Sacred Chants" series of series is known globally and used by many leaders of the human development movement in their motivational and inspiration work. Craig has performed sitar concerts for Prince Charles (at his home at Highgrove for a personal concert), the Dalai Lama (large event at the Houses of Parliament, London), Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (founder of the Art of Living Foundation, in Copenhagen, Denmark and then Zagreb, Croatia, and then at the huge World Culture Festival, Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany in July 2011). Yoga and spiritual teachers/leaders around the world use his music CDs for sessions, videos and workshops — these include: "Language of Love", "Welcome Home", "108 Sacred Names of Mother Divine", "Sacred Chants of Shiva", "Angel of the Earth" and "Sacred Chants of Buddha".

Craig is an active Art of Living teacher for many years, helping to be one of the first teachers to bring the Art of Living stress management courses into high security prisons in the UK. He has taught these valuable programmes at the headquarters of British aerospace and introduced the Art of Living knowledge to many musicians, film directors, thinkers and teachers. His home environment includes a fully equipped recording studio and composing suite of instruments and gadgets. He is married with four children, and lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. He is also a painter, photographer, graphic designer and published poet. He originally studied physics and philosophy at MIT in Boston, and after leaving the USA, lived in Kenya, where he was a full time member of the teaching staff at the East African Conservatoire of Music in Nairobi. He is founder and director of the humanitarian organisation, the Ganda Foundation, started by the Ganda Boys, involved with fundraising concerts and activities to bring First World awareness to dire conditions in the Third World. Creating films and documentaries and holding fundraising concerts in Europe have so far directly benefited hospitals and schools in Uganda.

Discography[link]

(as artist/producer/arranger/musician/performer)

• CAIN!! (1976)
• VISITOR 2035 (1978)
• Widor's Tocatta (1978)
• Tocatta & Fugue in D minor (1978)
• Happy Together (1979)
• Too Beautiful to Cry (1983)
• The Eye of Jupiter (1988)
• Through the Ages (1992)
• Welcome Home (1994)
• Terracotta (1996)
• Sacred Chants of Shiva (1997)
• Earth Dancer (1999)
• Sacred Chants of Buddha (2000)
• Sacred Chants of Rama (2001)
• Temple of Spice (2002)
• 108 Sacred Names of Mother Divine (2003)
• Language of Love (2003)
• Jupiter/Pictures (2003)
• Tribal Drums at Avebury (2006)
• Guided Meditation (2007)
• At-Ma - City in the Sky (2007)
• Angel of the Earth (2008)
• Ganda Boys - the War of Love (2009)
• Sacred Chants Of Shakti (2012)

(as record producer/arranger for other artists)

• Sir Cliff Richard - "Now You See Me", "Silver", "Only Way Out", "Where Do We Go From Here", "Little Town", "Ocean Deep", "Under the Influence", "Drifting" (with Sheila Walsh)
• Sheila Walsh - "War of Love", "Triumph in the Air", "Don't Hide Your Heart", "Turn, Turn, Turn"
• Marietta Parfitt - "Do You Wanna Dance" (with Rick Parfitt)
• Aleksander Mecek - "Silent Witness"
• Anu Malik - "Eyes"
• Paul Sylvan - "Silent Witness", "Love Always Listens"
• Deepa Nair - "Into the Light"
• Alycia Lang - "She Do That"

(as arranger for other artists)

• Sylvia Love - "Instant Love" and "Extraterrestrial Lover" (1979), "Ultralife" (2012)* (synthesizer, keyboards, arranger) (*record producer/engineer/mixer)
• Massive Attack - "100th Window" (strings, orchestral conductor, plays sitar)
• Def Leppard - "Turn to Dust" from the album "Slang" (strings, conductor, Indian percussion)
• Bond - "Shine", "Fuego" from the album "Shine" (strings, conductor, plays sitar, swaramandala)

(as musician/performer for other artists)

• Katie Melua - "Halfway Up the Hindu Kush" from the album "Piece by Piece" (sitar)
• Manic Street Preachers - "Tsunami" from the album "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours"
• Joe Cocker - "Let It Be" (keyboard solo)
• Sarah Brightman - "I Fell in Love with a Starship Trooper" (keyboards and electronics)
• Mike Oldfield - "Tubular Bells II" (world premier concert DVD)
• Gareth Gates - "Spirit in the Sky" (sitar solo)
• A Little Princess - film and CD sound track (sitar)
• The Guru - film and CD sound track (sitar)
• The Next Best Thing - film and CD sound track (sitar)
• Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - film and CD sound track (sitar, swaramandala, tambura)
• Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire - film and CD sound track (sitar solo)

(as film composer - soundtrack albums released)

• Bhaji on the Beach
• What's Cooking?
• Bend It Like Beckham
• Bride & Prejudice
• It's a Wonderful Afterlife

(as songwriter/composer for other artists)

• "Two Worlds" double A side of number 1 million selling UK chart single "Millennium Prayer" - Sir Cliff Richard
• "Young Americans Talking" - David Van Day
• "Superhero" - David Reilly
• "Red Desert", "Nataraj Express" - James Asher
• "Earth Tribe Transmission" - Ben Waters/World Chill Boogie project
• "When We Search For Beauty", "These Words", "There's a Book" - Alycia Lang
• "The Rules Don't Apply to You" - Relaxed Willy

Filmography[link]

• Bhaji on the Beach (1993)
• Bombay Brownwash (1993)
• What Do You Call an Indian Woman Who's Funny (1994)
• Samson Superslug (1994) ITV series
• Zigzag Kenya (1994) BBC-TV
• Rich Deceiver (1995) (BBC-TV drama series, 2 parts)
• Blue Funnel (1997) (short film)
• What's Cooking? (2000)
• Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
• Peak Practice (52 episodes, 1999–2003)
• The Calligrapher (2004)
• Out of Blue (2003) - installation film
• Bride & Prejudice (2004)
• The Mistress of Spices (2005)
• Jane Hall (2006) - ITV
• Scream of the Ants (2006) film
• Gold Diggers (2007) Discovery Channel documentary
• Waiting (2007) - installation film for the Turner Prize
• Moses Jones (2008) - BBC-TV drama series
• It's a Wonderful Afterlife - (2009) feature film
• Five Days II - (2010) BBC-TV drama series
• Yellow Patch (2012) - installation film

References[link]

• Craig Pruess at last.fm

External links[link]

• Craig Pruess at the Internet Movie Database
• Heaven on Earth Music, Official website

Benjamin Lee
Ben Lee at the 2008 Australia Day Live Concert in Canberra
Background information
Birth name	Benjamin Michael Lee
Born	(1978-09-11) 11 September 1978 (age 33)
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Indie pop
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Labels	Ten Fingers/Inertia Dangerbird Records Modular Recordings New West Records Lojinx
Associated acts	Noise Addict The Bens Gerling
Website	Official website

Benjamin Michael "Ben" Lee (born 11 September 1978 in Sydney) is an ARIA Award winning musician and actor. Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict, but focused on his solo career when the band broke up in 1995. He appeared as the protagonist in the Australian film The Rage in Placid Lake (2003). Lee has released eight solo studio albums.

Career[link]

Noise Addict[link]

Lee's musical career began in 1993 with the band Noise Addict, who were signed to Steve Pavlovic's independent label Fellaheen Records, on the strength of a self-produced and distributed four-track demo recorded in Lee's bedroom. Pavlovic's connections brought the band to the attention of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Beastie Boys' Mike D, both of whom released the band's material in the US. The group put out several releases on the Beasties' Grand Royal Records. These including the acoustic Young and Jaded EP in 1994, which contained Lee's Evan Dando tribute, "I Wish I Was Him." In 1995, Grand Royal released the band's only full length, the Brad Wood produced Meet the Real You. Noise Addict made a music video for the song "16", toured with Sebadoh, but then broke up. Lee was also briefly a member of the alternative act Gerling. In 2009 Lee recorded a new Noise Addict album, "It was Never about the Audience," with a new lineup; Lou Barlow and Lara Meyerratken.

Solo career[link]

Lee's solo career started at the age of 16, while he was still in Noise Addict. He began recording his first solo album, Grandpaw Would, in both Sydney and Chicago with producer Brad Wood. This was followed by the 1997 album, Something to Remember Me By, also produced by Wood. Lee was then featured on the There's Something About Mary soundtrack, with the song "How to Survive a Broken Heart". 1998's Breathing Tornados, released on Pavlovic's new label Modular, marked a new direction for Lee as he introduced synthesisers and increased instrumentation into his sound. The album was a success in Australia, earning Lee ARIA Award nominations for Best Male Artist and Album of the Year. The album's first single, "Cigarettes Will Kill You", was also nominated for Single of the Year and finished second in that year's Triple J Hottest 100. In 2001 Lee contributed a track ("Sweet Is the Night") to a Jeff Lynne tribute album Lynne Me Your Ears.

Lee's fourth album, hey you. yes you., was released in 2002. The first single from the album, "Something Borrowed, Something Blue", reached number 67 on the ARIA Charts and number 22 on the 2002's Triple J Hottest 100. The second single, "Running with Scissors", peaked at number 82 on the ARIA charts.

In late 2004, Lee left Steve Pavlovic's Modular Recordings and started up his own record label, Ten Fingers. The first release on the label was the single, "Gamble Everything for Love", followed by the album, Awake Is the New Sleep in February 2005, which went double platinum in Australia. A defining release in his career, the album showcased a much brighter, positive side of Lee's personality, in contrast to his previous darker musings. Awake Is the New Sleep received several nominations for the 2005 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards, and Lee won Best Male Artist, Best Independent Release, and Single of the Year for "Catch My Disease", which Lee wrote with Mcgowan Southworth. "Catch My Disease" also went to #2 on the 2005 Triple J Hottest 100. In addition, the song was featured on the soundtracks to the 2005 films Just Friends and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, as well as the soundtracks to the television series, Grey's Anatomy, Hidden Palms and Scrubs. In 2006 it was used in a television commercial for Dell Computers. On 26 March 2006 Lee performed "We're All in This Together" from Awake Is the New Sleep at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The single for "We're All in This Together" was released on 8 April 2006. The CD includes cover versions of the song by Pony Up, Holidays on Ice and Gelbison. "We're All in This Together" is being used in commercials for Kohl's (2008), Coca Cola (Remixed Australian Summer Series Ads in 2007), the South Australian Government (2006), the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal (2007) and Telus Mobility's "My Faves" (2007).

Ben Lee released his sixth album, Ripe, on 18 September 2007 with Benji Madden and Mandy Moore making appearances. Mandy Moore sung a light-hearted, '50s style duet with Lee called "Birds and Bees". "Mandy was very sweet and did her best Olivia Newton-John for me. I'm really psyched about this recording," Lee says. Madden helped out with some backing vocals, along with US band Rooney and Sara Watkins from the band Nickel Creek. Benmont Tench, keyboardist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers also contributed. The song "American Television" from the album was used in a VH1 advertisement for Flavor of Love 3 and the song "Ripe" appeared in an episode of One Tree Hill (Season 5, episode 2).

In 2007, Ben Lee did a cover of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Our House" for Landmarks on The DL.^[1]

On 6 February 2009, Lee released his seventh studio album, The Rebirth of Venus, which received mixed reviews.^[2]

In August 2011, it was announced that Lee's eight studio album, Deeper Into Dream, will be released on 11 October.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Lee was raised in a Jewish household but does not consider himself religious. He was educated at Moriah College in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Lee dated Claire Danes for several years; their relationship ended in 2003. Lee married actress Ione Skye on 28 December 2008, in a Hindu wedding ceremony in India. Their first child, Goldie Priya Lee, was born on 24 September 2009.^[4][5]

Lee was nominated as PETA's World's Sexiest Vegetarian^[6] in 2008. However, as Lee himself admits,^[7] he eats fish and therefore is not a vegetarian.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Grandpaw Would (1995)
• Something to Remember Me By (1997)
• Breathing Tornados (1998) #13 Australia
• hey you. yes you. (2002) #45 Australia
• Awake Is the New Sleep (22 February 2005) #5 Australia (2x Platinum)
• Ben Lee Sings Against Me! New Wave (2007)
• Ripe (18 September 2007) #11 Australia
• The Rebirth of Venus (6 February 2009 Australia and 10 February 2009 US) #21 Australia
• Deeper Into Dream (October 2011)

EPs and singles[link]

• Pop Queen (1994)
• Away with the Pixies (1995)
• From Breathing Tornados:
  • "Cigarettes Will Kill You" (1998) #46 Australia
  • "Ship My Body Home" (1998)
  • "Nothing Much Happens" (1999)
  • "Tornados" (1999)
  • "Freediving" (2000)
• From Dando Lee Petersson Schwartzman:
  • "Dead or Anything" (2002)
• From hey you. yes you.:
  • The Dirty Little Secret EP (2002)
  • "Something Borrowed, Something Blue" (2002) #67 Australia
  • "Running with Scissors" (2003) #82 Australia
• From Awake Is the New Sleep:
  • "Gamble Everything for Love" (2004) #39 Australia
  • "Catch My Disease" (2005) #27 Australia
  • Into the Dark EP (2005) #97 Australia
  • "We're All in This Together" (2006) #59 Australia
• From This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul:
  • "In My Life" (2005)
• From Ripe
  • "Love Me Like the World Is Ending" (2007) #18 Australia
  • "Numb" (2007) #54 Australia
  • "American Television" (April 2008 – radio promo)
• From The Rebirth of Venus
  • "I Love Pop Music" (2009) #86 Australia
  • "Rise Up" (2009)
  • "Song for the Divine Mother of the Universe" (2010)

Awards and nominations[link]

Awards[link]

• 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Single Of The Year – "Catch My Disease"
• 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for Awake Is the New Sleep
• 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for Awake Is the New Sleep
• 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Cover Art for Awake Is the New Sleep
• 2006 APRA Music Awards, Song of the Year – "Catch My Disease"^[8]
• 2006 APRA Music Awards, Most Performed Australian Work – "Catch My Disease"^[9]

Nominations[link]

• 2008 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for Ripe
• 2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for We're All In This Together
• 2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Pop Release for Into the Dark
• 2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for We're All In This Together
• 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Album Of The Year for Awake Is the New Sleep
• 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Pop Release for Awake Is the New Sleep
• 2005 Australian Music Prize, for Awake Is the New Sleep
• 2003 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for hey you. yes you.
• 1999 ARIA Music Awards, Album Of The Year for Breathing Tornados
• 1999 ARIA Music Awards, Single Of The Year for Cigarettes Will Kill You
• 1999 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for Breathing Tornados

Apple influence[link]

The album Awake Is the New Sleep and a selection of other tracks are a feature of the iTunes Music Store Essentials with many singles featuring as a part of the AppleCare Technical Support music on hold.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Ben Lee - Dangerbird Records
• Ben Lee on Facebook
• Ben Lee on Twitter
• Ben Lee on Myspace
• New West Records Page
• Ben Lee at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Lee discusses his favourite songs
• Concert photos by Laurent Orseau (Black Session)
• Ben Lee Interview
• Ben Lee Behind the Scenes video: Madison magazine Green Issue shoot
• Ben Lee collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Ben Lee talks about his album Ripe and life in New York City
• Interview with Ben Lee on TheWaster.com