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| One of Australian’s most loved artists and nominated by revered music legends as one of the great voices of Australia, Guy Sebastian was born in Malaysia to a multicultural Sri Lankan family, which moved to Australia where all sons became involved in music through their Para |
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One of Australian’s most loved artists and nominated by revered music legends as one of the great voices of Australia, Guy Sebastian was born in Malaysia to a multicultural Sri Lankan family, which moved to Australia where all sons became involved in music through their Paradise church in Adelaide. Guy’s elder brother Oliver Sebastian has written many recorded gospel songs, while Chris, a younger brother has also commenced his musical career.
At 4, Guy taped and sang along to his favourite songs. Eventually, despite several setbacks in his teens, he became a drummer in a band and only after a couple of years when he found the band another drummer was he permitted to sing. Finally the urge to make his own music became so strong that despite his own familys disapproval he gave up university and commenced classes as a vocal coach, while he also studied music and music technology. During this time he was also part of the great Australian band, The Planetshakers, with whom he travelled Australia and overseas and also recorded. There is also a track or two available with SA Youth Alive albums. Early in 2003 Guy Sebastian submitted the song “NO MORE” for an Australia wide competition held by PilotPen and was awarded the winner’s prize.
In 2003 he was talked into attempting to try out for the inaugural Australian Idol contest, which format was completely new to Australia. During the competition, when he re-arranged songs into his own unique format which also displayed his almost 4 octave range, musicians and critics of reality shows – and the judges – were vocal in their appreciation of his superb musical talent and it was no real surprise when he won, despite the very great talents displayed by the other competitors. Some comments included “I think your voice is the most beautiful instrument I have ever heard” (Marcia Hines, celebrated US/Australian artist), “I simply never tire of hearing you sing, a true joy and privilege - you are a sublime talent” (Mark Holden, musician/singer and writer of numerous No. 1 hits), “You’re the best unsigned talent I’ve ever heard – you’re destined for enormous success” (Ian Dickson former marketing director of BMG record company).
Guy Sebastian was given “Angels Brought Me Here” as his debut limited edition single, which almost broke all speed barriers in sales, and his DEBUT ALBUM “JUST AS I AM” , which features three of his own original songs, reached almost 7 platinum, due to the frenzy of obtaining something of his voice. It sold over 2 ½ platinum in the first week. (However, there are many other tracks available from pre-competition, including two solos and of course “No More” for those lucky enough to obtain that). He not only had no.1s in Australia but also in New Zealand and several Asian countries, where other singles reached the top 3.
It appears that no-one was quite prepared for the incredible whirl of fame that continued in 2004. Guy toured with the group to huge sell-out crowds in entertainment centres and theatres, he appeared in Asia and New Zealand to continuous accolades, took part in his church’s recording of GOSPEL ALBUM “PARADISE LIVE – ADORE” cd/dvd album (in which he sings the major part in three tracks, on of which he wrote with his Pastor). He even flew back from Malaysia to take part in an Easter Gospel Festival at Toowoomba, before flying back again to Malaysia the same day. He was then sent overseas to write for the 2nd album, writing with such well knowns as Robin Thicke, Beau Dozier, David Ryan Harris, Brian McKnight etc. Unfortunately, the timing for the 2ND ALBUM BEAUTIFUL LIFE (October 2004) coincided with the amalgamation of Sony/BMG record labels and while the launch was tremendous, and overseas interest was immense (see www.alexa.com), that very successful tour was rushed and lost momentum (only 4 weeks from the announcement of the tour and its start, and the album), with New Zealand and Asia ignored, they felt snubbed.
Guy continued to tour and write for his 3rd album, and meanwhile he was in huge demand for private corporate gigs and TV appearances, barely able to field everything that was offered. Guy again took part in the recording of the 2nd Paradise GOSPEL ALBUM – PARADISE – SET ME FREE (cd/DVD) and toured Asia with that group.
He also became a World Vision Ambassador as well as being a McDonalds ambassador, and was nominated for Young Australian of the Year.
In 2006 Guy Sebastian’s star was continuing to rise even higher and he was asked to appear in the series “It Takes Two”, where he showed Australia once again why he is considered such an innate artist. A well known journalist penned an article, the gist of which was while Guy brought his extraordinary talents to the show which was greatly enhanced by his presence on it, he was simply too ‘big’ and ‘too popular’ to take part in such competitions. The TV media however continued to ask him to appear whenever they could.
At the finale of that show Guy sang an inspirational song penned by him, Gary Pinto and Phil Turcio, “Taller Stronger Better” which received such huge acclamation that it was decided to make it the first single off the 3RD ALBUM (CLOSER TO THE SUN). However, while it may have been cool to play similar songs by ‘gritty bands’, radio was loath to play it as Guy is a committed Christian and has a major ‘nice guy’ image which they apparently felt was not cool enough. And yet during this same period those same stations might play “My Sweet Lord” by the late George Harrison. However, even despite the lack of airplay the single went gold and is generally considered around the world as one of the true anthems of recent years. It is available on the World Youth Day Album 2008
So much is he in demand that quite often around the busier parts of the year he will be doing two gigs per night, especially at Christmas time.
Guy Sebastian’s stunning shows early in 2007 set a new height for artistic and musical integrity, pulling in even more fans. The Australian Philharmonic Orchestra approached him and he had two shows at the Sydney Opera House and one in Melbourne, which again showed his continued evolution as a musician / singer. UK conductor Gavin Sutherland accorded him the highest label of ‘a musician’s musician’ as an artist, and gave him the accolade of ‘streets ahead of the rest!’ During these shows different groups and individuals in the audience would simply be overcome and gave standing ovations, with finales reaching a peak of seven standing ovations by the entire audience at the end of the shows in Sydney. Unfortunately due to new prior commitments Guy was unable to do more of these shows, as after a world wide search by the WYD organisation, his song written with Gary Pinto had been applauded as the theme song for the World Youth Day 2008, with all the recording, filming and appearances that was thereby entailed. The song “Receive the Power” is available from the WYD08 site and Itunes, and the song and video are open to the public on many sites. The WYD 2008 ALBUM, “RECEIVE THE POWER” is available from Sanity.
Guy travelled to the US, and was accorded the absolute honour of recording with (Booker T and) the MGs house band at Ardent Studios, where they recorded with 14 tracks out of the 15 as first takes, including his own “I’d Like to Get to Know You”; jammed with Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn at BB Kings Restaurant, following Sheryl Crow and her father; sang in New York to an explosion of applause as people rushed the stage and tours with his legendary band the MGs. Steve Cropper describes Guy (see youtube) as “mind boggling”. John Fry of Ardent Studios is so impressed with his 4TH ALBUM “THE MEMPHIS ALBUM” and Guy that he is already suggesting that it be placed in the Stax Museum in the Here and Now. The Memphis Album has already gone 2P in 10 weeks.
Spoken fondly of as “the coolest guy”, “the nicest guy on the planet”, the “most beautiful person I’ve ever met”, and “my favourite person in the whole world” by the cool media, Guy Sebastian has only just started to soar! We look forward to his own 5TH ALBUM (expected around mid 2008) and he has been writing with David Ryan Harris.
THE MEMPHIS ALBUM has been reviewed as astonishing and authentic, oozing freshness and excitement, technically amazing, fresh, electrifying, an awesome jam session and superb, while Guy’s supreme talent and gravelly voice shows joyous individuality. Even the Memphis Flyer bowed down!
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Discussion Topic
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The Idol Who Soul'd Out
[b]July 13th, 2008 -
[url=http://www.vibewire.net/Members/mishness
/my-articles/the-idol-who-sould-out/view]Vibe
wire[/url] (Life: Music section)[/b]
[b][size=6]The Idol who Soul'd
Out[/size][/b]
[b]He won our hearts on Idol with his
trademark afro-hair. Five years on, Guy
Sebastian is going global as he teams up with
musical legends, The MGs who shaped soul
music in the 1960’s.
By Michelle Wilding[/b]
[img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/mi
sh87/Guy/mishvibewire1.jpg[/img]
Guy Sebastian deserves more credit than the
fuzzy, afro-haired original [i]Australian
Idol[/i] winner that most of us remember him
for. He's partly responsible for breathing
soul music into the lungs of our younger
generation who were never exposed to the
genre, and the hunger to hear more is
creating a soul revolution across Australia.
I had the privilege to work on Guy's
recent national tour as Assistant Tour
Manager/Soul Lounge Manager and what I had
come to ask myself was why weren't younger
people listening to this music sooner? The
beauty about soul music is that in true form,
it was recorded in raw, one-take sessions
without the technological enhancements that
are prominent today. It's all soul,
bearing the spirits of the musicians being
recorded as a group. That sound is exactly
what Guy has brought back. The purity of
sound that will pull your heart strings or
just make you want to get up and groove.
At only 26, Guy scored the unique opportunity
to record an album over in Memphis in this
same old-school format that our grandparents
grew up listening to. Together with
honourable Stax Record musicians The MGs who
wrote, sung and played on the original soul
hits like 'Knock on Wood',
'(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay'
and 'In the Midnight Hour' among the
many others, Guy was able to reinterpret
Memphis classics from the soul era and craft
his triple platinum [i]The Memphis Album[/i]
in a rare, mostly one-take style where
musicians record their instruments all at
once on analogue tape. This was a real
blessing for Guy, considering it is just a
musicians dream to be able to do something
like this.
"It's crazy!" exclaims Guy
with his eyes lighting up. "It's
pretty incredible first of all that I got The
MGs on the album, and secondly that
they're touring with me as my
band". You can sense a vibe of awe, as
he marvels about working with his childhood
heroes.
[img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/mi
sh87/Guy/mishvibewire2.jpg[/img]
Steve Cropper and Donald 'Duck' Dunn of
The MGs (from Booker T. and the MGs) are
world-class musicians who defined soul music
in the 1960’s, having recorded and played
with them all. "These guys are
legends," adds Guy. "I used to
watch them on DVD, playing with Otis Redding.
They used to hang out with Elvis, play with
the Staple Singers, Sam and Dave, Eddie
Floyd, Wilson Pickett. They use to write for
Aretha Franklin". Now add Lester Snell
to the band on keys who toured with Prince
and Isaac Hayes, and you're bound to have
nerves.
But despite his stunning vocal ability, Guy
Sebastian who describes himself as
"grounded in his roots" chooses
to put his confidence in his music. He
explains however that sometimes even the
thought of recording and playing with musical
legends like The MGs can get to you.
"Initially I thought I'd get to
Memphis and freak out. I thought I was going
to feel so inadequate, but I got there and
something grabbed hold of me and I just knew
this was my arena," says Guy.
"If I am going to shine in any arena,
it is going to be blues and soul."
It didn't take long for Guy to lose the
nerves and win over the ears of his heroes.
The MGs guitarist Steve Cropper who [i]Mojo
Magazine[/i] named the greatest living guitar
player (second all time behind Jimi Hendrix)
says Guy was "a dream to work
with".
At Wollongong's Soul Lounge - a special
pre-show Q&A for fans - Cropper tells the
audience that the world needs to be
re-educated on soul music and Guy Sebastian
is the person to do it.
"We've got to educate these young
kids about real music that comes from the
heart and comes from the soul, not just
manufactured by some computer somewhere.
There's a lot of great records, but
there's not a lot of great performances.
On stage they sound awful. You take that
computer away and these people can't sing
Happy Birthday." He looks over to Guy
and adds "but this man can sing
anything, anywhere" while patting his
back.
It certainly takes a lot of sensitivity and
heart to be able to do what Guy does. The MGs
drumming tsunami Steve Potts believes it is
not only Guy's musical talent that's
important, but his ability to sing from the
heart with feeling that makes him so great at
singing soul music. "Once you learn
the basics of soul, you will play with a
groove," he explains. “Guy recorded
with this groove and he toured with it. He
sings soul music like he was here (in
Memphis) back then. A lot of the songs were
one takes because of the way he
sings". After a slight pause he looks
me in the eye and emphasises "his
spirit was there… in one take".
The incredible thing about Guy is that he
doesn't just have a voice; he has the
talent to do a first take. Guy's back up
vocalist of five years, Gary Pinto (who also
fronts soul group CDB), reaffirms that Guy
has what it takes to record with a band all
at once in the same room. "Not many
artists have the vocal ability to record this
way, and with a voice as good as his, Guy
does," he says.
It is so easy to conjure up that when someone
has an enormous musical gift like this you
would literally expect their head to explode,
but Guy Sebastian contradicts that
stereotype. Curry Weber of Ardent Studios who
engineered [i]The Memphis Album[/i] had this
assumption when he first viewed Guy
Sebastian's Myspace page, thinking another
"cookie cutter pop singer" who
had done so well would have an air of
"I'm better than you" around
him.
"I was expecting arrogance,"
says Curry. "This was certainly not
the case with Guy. He was down to earth,
patient, sincere and appreciative. As an
artist, he is certainly focused. Sometimes he
was driving for perfection, other times he
knew the feeling and emotion of the track was
more important than the actual
'perfect' notes or melodies".
Guy's goal was to capture moments when
recording, as opposed to being perfect.
"Nowadays people build up a track;
they build up a song generally in stages and
they're fancy about it," says Guy.
"You take away the spontaneity of
music".
[img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/mi
sh87/Guy/mishvibewire3.jpg[/img]
In the end Guy said that he was really proud
of the way the album came out. "We
recorded it pretty much live. We all went
into the same room and hit 'Record'.
There wasn't much room for error. You had
to nail the whole take. The MG's were
incredible, in one word. It was just a lesson
for me in music".
Going over to record in Memphis with The MGs
as well as touring with them back home in
Australia "helped me establish who I
am and what I do best, which is soul
music," says Guy.
"It's helped define the next album,
which I've done most of the writing for
already. I've written some of the best
songs I reckon I've ever written; really
funky and really fun".
The secret about Guy is that most people just
don't know how good he is until they
actually see him live. He has this
'effortlessly' appearing
on-stage-presence that's on fire, and I
had come to realise that in reality there is
nothing music-wise that Guy Sebastian
can't do. With the anticipation to go
global, The Memphis Album will be released in
the US within the first quarter of 2009. This
is the start of a soul revolution in the
making, as Guy struts his soul and shares his
voice with the world.
[/quote]
thanks to Mish for this fab. articl
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prinia |
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Replys
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Listener
| these guys agreed to tour with Guy after
working with him, and jamming with Guy at BB
Kings Blues Bar in Memphis, where (according
to the manager of the bar) Guy 'brought
down the house' !!
Duck Dunn commented how it was an honour to
be on stage with him, after their first
session at The Bridge Hotel in Sydney, in
front of musos and curiosity seekers.
A musician, who also has a sensational voice
and extraordinary talent - THAT is Guy
Sebastian. | prinia | | | |
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