ANNIE HASLAM
bio

THE ANNIE HASLAM STORY

After growing up in the industrial town of Bolton, Lancashire in England, the daughter of Annie and George, ANNIE HASLAM developed into a singer-songwriter with credits worthy of some of the most well-known entertainers in the world. To backtrack a little, her working class roots were to give her a foundation that would serve her well later in life. As the lead singer with the five-octave soprano in the progressive rock band Renaissance and later as an equally heralded solo artist, Annie would travel the world and be introduced to many situations and nationalities far away from her homeland. A career in music was to be the biggest gift that would be bestowed on her.

With such a busy and varied life in music, Annie recently has been bestowed with an entirely new and just as important gift -- she has embarked on a whole new journey in the form of oil painting. This came as a complete surprise and wondrous discovery, both to her and her fans. On somewhat of a mission, Annie has been painting fervently for a little over a year, with colors and movement that make you want to walk right into the canvas.

Her new art is organic, yet with a dream -- like feel, it is contemporary but does not seem to be influenced by anything other than her own feelings and thoughts. A painting called ‘Whales Tale’ was used for the cover of her recent CD, ‘One Enchanted Evening’. She hopes to make people feel good with her artwork as she has done with her voice. Her main focus at this point is her artwork, but she hopes to marry music and art together sometime in the near future.

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Annie’s father was an amateur comedian/singer (with a beautiful tenor voice) and her mother a gentle quiet woman had once been a nurse while aspiring to be an acrobatic dancer. Both had encouraged Annie in whatever they saw her drawn to, this was pretty special in the days when most families wanted and needed their children to go out to work and bring money and food home to the table. This, after all, was a working class family. Clearly a strong devotion to the upbringing and the consideration of her own life needs were to help Annie on her path forward within the realms of creativity.

Annie has two brothers, both gifted in their own way. Keith is a very gifted artist and made his name for himself in Canada where he worked as a graphic designer, designing packaging for some well known products, that later became household names. He really should have pursued a career in comedy as his personality is very funny and infectious. He has been a Hare Krishna devotee for many years now and uses his talents within the structure of that religion.

Michael, also a singer with a very powerful melodic voice was signed up by Brian Epstein in the ‘60s and was fortunate enough to be included in several of the infamous Beatles Xmas Shows. At this time Annie would hear her brother practicing at home not realizing that one day she too would be singing professionally. A ballet dancer, nurse and later a dress designer were the only careers on her mind, the latter being the only one that she actually pursued with enthusiasm after attending art school in Cornwall in the late ‘60s.

In the early ’70s, Annie was to find out that not only did she have a talent for dress design, but that also she had a hidden talent for singing, which was discovered after her sister-in-law (also a singer), heard her singing along with the music at the end of the TV show in the UK called ‘The Saint’.  This encouragement led her to her first singing position at the ‘Showboat in the Strand’ (a cabaret style dinner theater). After six months here she went for an audition in Surrey with a rather unusual band called Renaissance. Annie’s unique style of singing captured the members of the band and she was immediately offered the job as lead singer, from that moment on her life would never be the same.

This was the beginning of a whole new life for Annie.  From that point on she would start her musical adventures that took her across most of the world, and which brought her to such wonderful venues as The Royal Albert Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York, performing with The Royal Philharmonic and The New York Philharmonic Orchestras, respectively. The music that was created within the band was surely something that became very unique and that would stand the test of time. During the period with the band Annie was to record her first solo album.

In 1977 ‘Annie In Wonderland’ was created, produced, performed and recorded by The Move and ELO founding member Roy Wood. This was a turning point in Annie’s career as Roy opened up new avenues and styles of singing that Annie had not tried before. This album is a joy.

Her second solo album in 1985, presented light classical pieces put to words by lyricist Betty Thatcher and with music arranged and conducted by Louis Clark. This has to be one of the highlights of Annie’s career. She recorded with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with whom she had already performed back in the Renaissance days, and so to do her own project with them was a very special achievement. The album was entitled ‘Still Life’.

In 1987 Renaissance disbanded and in the following year Annie started to make plans to form her own band and return to North America. Two of the members from that initial band are still performing with Annie, Rave Tesar on keyboards and Dave Keyes on Bass. Joe Goldberger, who played drums with Annie from 1987, sadly moved to LA in 2001 and therefore had to leave the band, Charles Descarfino was recruited as the new drummer, he had also played with Annie before in her solo shows and also in the latter days of Renaissance.

In 1989, a record deal was secured with Epic Records. This album was simply entitled Annie Haslam, and was to be her stepping stone to another major life change. The album was licensed to Virgin Records in Japan , leading to a tour of several major Japanese cities with The Annie Haslam Band.

Soon after this very successful trip, Annie moved to North America, where she is still residing.

In 1992, she started writing songs with renown record producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex) but was diagnosed with breast cancer soon after they started recording demos. This did not deter Annie. In fact, the music written and recorded during this period was instrumental in getting her through all the uncomfortable experiences that came with chemotherapy and radiation. Music played a big part in the recovery process.  During Annie’s recuperation, a record deal was secured in Japan for ‘Blessing in Disguise’. This CD, containing nine songs co-written by Annie, captures many of the emotions she had lived through. ‘Blessing in Disguise’ came out in the U.S and Canada in 1995 and has just been released in England on HTD Records and in Europe on Castle Records.

Back in control of her health, Annie became involved in a YES tribute CD, where she was to record ‘Turn of the Century’, which led to Annie and Steve Howe writing material for an album together. Although the album is unfinished, the project is very unique for its blend of  Steve’s incredible, melodic guitar playing with Annie’s ethereal five octave voice. Their association was to take a strange twist in 1995.  After being so moved by a program on orphans in Bosnia, Annie had been compelled to call the TV news magazine ‘Inside Edition’,  upon which a connection was made that would lead to Annie organizing a benefit concert in New York City in aid of these unfortunate children in Sarajevo. The concert was put together with the help of 20th Century Guitar Magazine, which later did a wonderful spread in their magazine to record the evening’s events. Held at Irving Plaza, it was a huge success with such names as Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), Gary Brooker (Procol Harum), Roy Wood, Cheap Trick, Steve Howe (Yes), Phoebe Snow, Steve Holley (Wings), Ian McDonald (Foreigner, King Crimson), Tony Visconti, David Biglin (Annie Haslam Band) with humorist Al Franken as the host of the evening. This was a night to remember which hopefully one day will be made into a CD.

In 1997, Annie was invited to perform in Brazil where she recorded a live CD called ‘Live’ Under Brazilian Skies’. This CD is available in the U.S and Canada on One Way Records, in England on HTD Records, Europe on Transatlantic Records, and in Japan on Mercury/Universal Records.

Annie returned to do more shows in Brazil in the fall of 1998.

In the winter of 1998, Annie started work on her next solo CD, ‘The Dawn of Ananda’. Co-writing songs with Rave Tesar (who also produced most of the CD along with Larry Fast and Tony Visconti) Michael Dunford (Renaissance), Larry Fast, David Biglin and Tony Visconti this is a collection of songs not to be missed. The songs are all Angel related in some way and it is a beautiful, calming body of work, full of emotion, soaring vocals and lush orchestral arrangements. This is available on Annie’s e-Commerce site at www.anandaangels.com and major record stores.

Annie has also been busy designing an Angel jewelry line which is also available on the e-Commerce site along with the story of how it came about. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the jewelry goes to several charities as described on the Ananda site.

A long awaited Xmas CD ‘It Snows in Heaven too’ was released on White Dove Records just in the nick of time for Xmas 2000. Annie and her band had been performing special Xmas concerts for 5 years at a very lovely church, The Upper Tinicum Lutheran church in Tinicum, Upper Black Eddy, PA and to record a CD of  Xmas songs seemed the natural progression.

The CD was received with great excitement and acclaim from all the fans that had waited so long to be able to listen to Annie in their own homes in the spirit of the season! Rave Tesar was the producer, arranger and keyboardist on the whole CD and also wrote the title track ‘It Snows in Heaven too’. This CD is also available on Annie’s e-Commerce site.

A new reunion CD from Renaissance, ‘TUSCANY,’ was released in Japan October 2000 on Toshiba/EMI, which led to a very successful tour there in March of 2001. The ‘touring’ band consisted of Annie, Michael Dunford, Terry Sullivan, Mickey Simmonds, Dave Keyes and Rave Tesar. This tour resulted in an excellent double ‘live’ CD entitled ‘In the Land of the Rising Sun’, which was released in Japan on Toshiba/EMI in 2002 and in the UK on GEP Records also in 2002.

In late September, 2001 Annie returned once again to Brazil along with keyboard player Rave Tesar. They joined up with some excellent Brazilian musicians for four shows in several different cities. They performed several Renaissance songs, some of Annie’s solo work and a piece by Tom Jobim called ‘Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars’……The audiences loved what they heard and the shows were memorable indeed!

The current Annie Haslam Band consists of Annie, Rave Tesar, David Keyes, Charles Descarfino and John and Angel Rittweger. Angel adds a new dimension to the band, as her voice is very similar to Annie’s and blends very well!

A new ‘live’ CD, ‘One Enchanted Evening’ was released in November 2002, accompanied by keyboard player, Rave Tesar. It’s a collection of songs Annie has wanted to sing since she was a little girl, a trip down memory lane for sure.

Annie says “Surviving breast cancer became another milestone in my life, awakening my senses to my reality and showing me the true meaning of what I am here to do”.....sing, paint  and make people laugh”!