Bruce Hornsby, a three time Grammy Award winner who has sold more than 10
million records since his multi-platinum debut in 1986, released his ninth full
length album, "Halcyon Days" as his debut album with Columbia Records in
November 2004. This followed 19 successful years with RCA Records.
Hornsby is an American singer, pianist, accordian player and song writer whose
musical journey has continued unabated for three decades. While his list of
guest appearances is enormous - including co-writing and performing on Don
Henley's Grammy-winning smash, "The End of the Innocence", a stint with the
Grateful Dead, and sessions for Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan and others, Mr.
Hornsby's own releases have been consistently eclectic and captivating,
revealing the head of a pop craftsman and the heart of a virtuoso jazz
pianist. "Many keyboard magazines will rate Bruce Hornsby as the best piano
player out there", according to Celebrity Cafe.
"Halcyon Days" includes guests Eric Clapton (guitar), Sting (vocals) and Elton
John who alternates solo verses with Hornsby before the pair join in becalming
dusky harmonies with gospel singer Lloyd Jones. This long anticipated album
draws from an array of influences, among them jazz, pop, classical, blue grass,
rock, vaudeville and other sounds both swinging and downright uncategorizical
to create his most sublime and elegant collection to date, all the while
bringing his patented blend of playful lyrical whimsy and formidably refined
musicality to the table.
Hornsby was born in Williamsburg, Va. and grew up in that combination college
town and tourist center, later attending the University of Miami. He is also a
distinguished alumni of Berklee College of Music in Boston (1974). Hornsby
spent years playing in bars and sending demo tapes to record companies. In
1980, he and his brother (and songwriting partner) John Hornsby, moved to Los
Angeles where they spent three years writing for 20th Century Fox. There Bruce
met Huey Lewis, who would eventually produce him and record his material.
Hornsby finally signed his band, Range, to RCA in 1985.
His debut album with RCA was released in August 1986. It eventually produced
three Top 20 hits, the biggest of which was the socially conscious "The Way It
Is", which featured Hornsby's characteristically melodic right-hand piano
runs. The album stayed in the charts for almost a year and a half and sold two
million copies. Hornsby and the Range won the Best New Artist Grammy Award for
1986. Other albums with RCA include "Scenes from the Southside", Jan.. 1988,
"A Night on the Town", July 1990, "Harbor Lights", April 1993, (which went
gold), "Hot House", July 1995 and "Spirit Trail", October 1998.
In "Halcyon Days", Bruce returned to a more acoustic, piano-driven sound.
Bruce Hornsby has always followed his muse. In his later career he has moved
in a less commercial, more musically challenging direction. "I have to do what
I like", he says, "and that includes a lot of complex harmony". Bruce is an
avid pursuer of new music with no signs of slowing down yet. He remains a
musician more concerned with his devoted fan base and his own growth as an
artist than with commercial success.
*In Partnership with Monterrey Peninsula Artists
