Born
in Britain on December 20, 1948, Alan soon found that his interests lay in
music. He studied piano and flute as a child and was always intrigued by
gadgetry. He picked up the guitar in his early teens and played as a soloist as
well as with various bands at school.
One
of his first jobs was at an EMI tape duplication facility in West London. At
this time he was fortunate enough to experience the master tape of the
Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album and that boosted his determination to
become a recording engineer. Says Alan, “I couldn't wait to find out the
secrets behind the album. It left me totally in awe of the talent of the
Beatles themselves of course, but also the work behind the scenes in the
studio.” His timing was perfect. He landed a post at the then not-so-celebrated
Abbey
Road Studios and garnered significant experience on the Beatles’
Let It Be album, and actively participated in the famous Apple rooftop
session.
The
Abbey Road album (released before Let It Be but recorded later)
helped Alan to make his mark with the Fab Four, although he was only an
assistant engineer at that time. Still, it resulted in Alan going on to work as
a full-blown engineer with Paul McCartney on McCartney, Wings Wild
Life and Red Rose Speedway, including the singles, “Hi Hi H” and “C
Moon”. Alan adds, “I couldn’t have asked for a better grounding in recording -
after all not many engineers got to work the greatest Rock act of all time.” He
also helped out on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album, both as
an assistant and as a mix engineer.
After
the experience of the Beatles, Alan worked on a number of hits with the Hollies, including “He Ain’t
Heavy He’s My Brother” and “The Air That I Breathe”. However, his reputation
was totally solidified with his engineering work on Pink
Floyd's legendary Dark Side of the Moon, which earned him
the first of many Grammy nominations.
Alan
soon ventured into production with the British band, Pilot and scored
immediate success with the hit single, “Magic”. (You know - "Oh Ho Ho It’s
Magic!!”). Other hits followed with Cockney Rebel and John Miles. Alan
made three albums with Al Stewart, spawning the hit singles, “Year
fo the Cat” and “Time Passages”.
Along
with songwriter/manager Eric Woolfson, Alan decided to begin creating his own
thematic records and founded the Alan Parsons Project. Although he
occasionally played keyboards and infrequently sang on his records, the Project
was designed primarily as a forum for a revolving collection of vocalists and
session players - among them Arthur Brown, ex-Zombie Colin Blunstone, Cockney
Rebel's Steve Harley, the Hollies' Allan Clarke and guitarist Ian
Bairnson -- to interpret and perform Parsons and Woolfson’s
conceptually-linked, lushly arranged and orchestrated music.
The
Project debuted in 1976 with Tales of Mystery and Imagination, a
collection inspired by the work of Edgar Allen Poe. Similarly, the science
fiction of Isaac Asimov served as the raw material for 1977’s follow-up, I
Robot. After the further success of Pyramid in 1978, he moved to
Monaco to record Eve, achieving a number one in Germany as well as a number
one single with “Lucifer" in 1979. The Monaco residence clearly influenced
The Turn of a Friendly Card, a meditation on gambling, recorded in Paris
in 1980. The Alan Parsons Project scored two Top 20 hits from this
album, “Games People Play” and “Time”. Having resettled back home in England,
1982’s Eye in the Sky, was their most successful effort to date, and
notched a Top Three hit with its title track. More successes followed - Ammonia
Avenue (1983), Vulture Culture (1984), Stereotomy (1985) and Gaudi
(1987). A brief venture into musical theatre resulted in Freudiana in
1990.The show ran for over a year in the historic Theater An Der Wien in
Vienna, Austria.
Eric
and Alan then went separate ways. Eric devoted his career to the musical
theatre while Parsons felt the need to bring his music to the live concert
stage and to continue to record conceptual symphonic rock music. With his
long-standing previous collaborators, guitarist Ian Bairnson and drummer Stuart
Elliott, Alan dropped the Project identity for Try Anything Once
in 1993. The partnership continued for On Air in 1996 and The Time
Machine in 1999. During this time the “Alan Parsons Live Project” toured to
sell-out audiences throughout the globe. Alan has also played various live
shows with Ringo Starr, Jon Anderson, Alice Cooper, John Entwistle and
Ann Wilson.
One
of the most familiar Project tracks is “Sirius”, perhaps best known as
the Chicago Bulls’ theme and featured at countless NBA games. P. Diddy (Puff
Daddy) also chose “Sirius” as the backbone for the title track of his most
platinum-selling CD, The Saga Continues. In 2000, “Sirius” was featured
in an IMAX documentary movie about Michael Jordan.
A
long-standing fan of Alan’s Music, Mike Myers as Austin Powers in “The Spy Who
Shagged Me” decided to name his Dr. Evil character’s Death Ray “The Alan
Parsons Project”. Yeh, Baby, Yeh!!
Alan’s
music is now taking a new contemporary direction into the world of Electronica.
His latest album features a number of notables in the genre including the Crystal Method, Shpongle,
the Nortec Collective and Uberzone.
The album also features a guest appearance by Pink Floyd guitarist David
Gilmour. Alan says, “The industry is changing and I feel the need to capture a
different kind of audience while still keeping my identity. Electronic music is
the fastest growing music category right now and I’m enjoying working with new
people and new technology.” The album is now available on CD and will be released in
DVD formats. The DVD will contain 5.1 surround mixes as well as new visual
material.
Alan
has written extensively for the Pro-Audio press and is an acknowledged expert
in 5.1 Surround Sound recording. He has often lectured at Recording conferences
and Schools of Recording and was the keynote speaker at The Audio Engineering
Society convention in 1998.
