Alan Parsons is 66 years old. Parsons is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyds The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor. Parsons own group, the Alan Parsons Project, as well as his subsequent solo recordings, have also been successful commercially. In October 1967, at the age of 18, Parsons went to work as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios, where he earned his first credit on the LP Abbey Road. He became a regular there, engineering such projects as Paul McCartneys Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway, five albums by The Hollies, and Pink Floyds The Dark Side of the Moon, for which he received his first Grammy Award nomination. He was known for doing more than what would normally be considered the scope of a recording engineers duties. He considered himself to be a recording director, likening his contribution to recordings to what Stanley Kubrick contributed to film. This is apparent in his work with Al Stewarts Year of the Cat, where Parsons added the saxophone part and transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Al Stewart onto the charts. It is also heard in Parsons influence on the Hollies He Aint Heavy, Hes My Brother and The Air That I Breathe, sharp departures from their popular 1960s hits Stay, Just One Look, Stop! Stop! Stop! or Bus Stop. Parsons was also known to have swapped shifts during the engineering of The Dark Side of the Moon so he could work entirely on the project. In 1975, he declined Pink Floyds invitation to come back and work on the follow-up for Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and instead initiated The Alan Parsons Project with producer and songwriter (and occasional singer) Eric Woolfson, whom he had met at Abbey Road. The Project consisted of a revolving group of studio musicians and vocalists, most notably the members of Pilot and the members of Ambrosia. Unlike most rock groups, The Alan Parsons Project never performed live during its heyday, although it did release several music videos. Its only live performance during its original incarnation was in 1990, with Woolfson present but behind the scenes. After releasing ten albums, the last in 1987, the Project terminated in 1990 after Parsons and Woolfson split, with the Projects intended 11th album released that year as a Woolfson solo album. Parsons continued to release work in his own name and in collaboration with other musicians. Parsons and his band now regularly tour many parts of the world. Parsons was born in London. He now resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife Lisa and her two daughters, Tabitha and Brittni, as well as numerous pets. He has two sons, Jeremy (Jerry) and Daniel, from his previous marriage. Here is a live performance of the Alan Parsons Project in Madrid, Spain in 2004
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 10:38:34 +0000
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