Vista Chino
Even de geschiedenis oprakelen: Kyuss was een iconische Amerikaanse stonerrock band die eind jaren ’80 het licht zag. John Garcia, gitarist Josh Homme, bassist Nick Oliveri (later vervangen door Scott Reader) en drummer Brant Bjork brachten in vijf jaar vijf albums uit waarvan het laatste  ‘… And The Circus Leaves Town’ een legendarische status kreeg. Na de split in oktober 1995 zwermden de leden uit naar verschillende nieuwe projecten: Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator, Brant Bjork And The Bros, Eagles Of Death Metal, Hermano, en uiteraard Queens Of The Stone Age.
In 2010 tourt John Garcia door Europa met een Belgisch-Nederlandse band ter promotie van zijn soloproject 'Garcia vs. Garcia', en speelt hij onder de naam 'Garcia plays Kyuss' oude nummers van Kyuss. Op het Franse festival Hellfest loopt hij Nick Oliveri en Brant Bjork tegen het lijf, en samen treden ze er op en spelen ze de Kyuss albums 'Green Machine' en 'Gardenia', tot grote vreugde van de trouwe Kyuss aanhang. In 2011 gaan de drie originele leden zonder Josh Homme maar met de Belgische gitarist Bruno Fevery, op tour onder de naam 'Kyuss Lives'. In het voorjaar spelen ze in de AB in Brussel twee uitverkochte en laaiend enthousiast onthaalde concerten, en tijdens de zomer volgt een geslaagde festivaltour. Een rechtszaak in 2012, aangespannen door Josh Homme en Scott Reader, laat toe dat de naam 'Kyuss Lives' verder mag gebruikt worden voor live shows, maar dat hij niet gebruikt mag worden voor nieuwe opnames.
Omdat er een nieuwe "Kyuss" plaat op stapel staat, en om alle problemen hierover te vermijden, beslisten John Garcia, Nick Oliveri en Brant Bjork de naam te veranderen in Vista Chino, naar een straatnaam in hun 'hometown' Palm Springs. De laatste shows onder de oude naam vonden plaats op het Soundwave festival, eind februari in Australië, waar ze al een eerste nummer 'Dragona' van de binnenkort te verschijnen Vista Chino plaat speelden.
Kyuss leeft dus verder in Vista Chino, en op 25 juli komen ze dat met een welgemikte stonerrock uppercut bewijzen op de  Grote Markt van Tienen!

Bush
10 miljoen verkochte platen, een tiental hitsingles en ongetwijfeld één van de meest succesvolle rockgroepen van de '90's: Bush!
Bush werd in 1992 opgericht door zanger/gitarist Gavin Rossdale en de leadgitarist Nigel Pulsford, in de Londense wijk 'Shepherd's Bush', vandaar de naam.
De band kende zijn grootste successen halverwege de jaren negentig met de singles 'Everything Zen', 'Glycerine' en 'Machine Head', allemaal hits uit het debuutalbum 'Sixteen Stone'. De invloeden van grunge-bands zoals Nirvana en Soundgarden zijn duidelijk terug te vinden op de eerste twee albums 'Sixteen Stone' en 'Razorblade suitcase'. Bush werd hiermee ook mateloos populair in de VS.
In 2002 gingen de leden hun eigen weg, en werd Bush onofficieel ontbonden. Gavin Rossdale trouwde datzelfde jaar met Gwen Stefani, en legde zich toe op enkele soloprojecten.
In 2010 kondigde de band echter aan dat ze een nieuw album (The Sea Of Memories) zouden uitbrengen. Het album verscheen in het najaar van 2011, nadat leadgitarist Nigel Pulsford en bassist Dave Parsons de band verlieten en vervangen werden door respectievelijk Chris Taynor en Corey Britz. Bush ging terug op tour en bewees dat ze ondanks de personeelswissel nog niets van de energie van weleer hadden ingeboet.
Op donderdag 25 juli komt Bush met hun charismatische rock, de Grote Markt van Tienen platwalsen. Niet te missen!

Within Temptation, Bush en Vista Chino (het vroegere Kyuss Lives) zijn de topnamen voor de openingsdag van Win for Life Suikerrock 2013. Het mag duidelijk zijn dat donderdag 25 juli een stevige rock/metal dag wordt!

Within Temptation
Within Temptation stond 15 jaar geleden zowat mee aan de wieg van symphonic gothic metal. Op de eerste platen werd nog gebruik gemaakt van de death metal stem van Robert Westerholt in combinatie met de engelenstem van Sharon den Adel.
Vanaf het album 'Mother Earth' werd alles ingezet op zangeres Sharon en evolueerde de groep in de richting van symfonische rock, met een knipoog naar gothic.  Het legde hen geen windeieren: De single 'Ice queen' werd een grote hit in Nederland en België. Met de latere albums 'The silent force' en 'The heart of everything' en singles als 'Stand my ground', 'Angels' en 'Frozen' ging ook de rest van Europa en Noord- en Zuid-Amerika overstag, en werd de groep mateloos populair. Ze wisten ook grenzen te verleggen want ze stonden niet alleen op metalfestivals, maar ook op bijvoorbeeld Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop en Win for Life Suikerrock. Within Temptation shows zijn telkens weer een lust voor het oog, met indrukwekkende decors, steekvlammen en vuurwerk.
Eind 2012 vierden ze hun 15e verjaardag in stijl, met een spectaculaire show in een volledig uitverkocht Sportpaleis in Antwerpen. Een nieuw album staat inmiddels op stapel en is voorzien voor dit najaar, maar eerst volgt nog een drukke zomertour, waarbij ze hun 'homebase' België uiteraard niet overslaan.
Op donderdag 25 juli is Within Temptation met alle mogelijke toeters en bellen, hoofdact op Win for Life Suikerrock!

James Morrison
As the title of James Morrison’s third and by far best album suggests, The Awakening is the sound of an artist coming of age. In his personal life, Morrison has become a father, while losing his own father after the latter’s long battle with alcoholism and depression. At the same time, Morrison, 26, has matured as a singer, songwriter and musician, enabling him to channel all of that emotion into his most accomplished collection of songs yet. “My first two albums felt like practice shots,” he says, “and now I’ve graduated. In many ways this feels like my first proper album.”
Practice shots they may have been, but those first two albums – Undiscovered (2006) and Songs for You, Truths for Me (2008) – have sold a combined total of 4.5m copies and yielded an astonishing ten singles, including You Give Me Something, Wonderful World, The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore and the global smash Broken Strings, featuring Nelly Furtado. Those practice shots turned Morrison into an international star.
He has sold out arena tours, gigged coast-to-coast in America as well as in Australia, Japan and across Europe; he has performed on Jimmy Kimmel’s and Jay Leno’s TV shows in the States; sung in front of tens of thousands at London’s Hyde Park supporting both Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder; appeared on Herbie Hancock’s Grammy-winning album The Imagination Project – singing a widely acclaimed cover of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come; he has been voted Best Male at the 2007 Brit Awards; and – at just 21 – was the biggest-selling British male solo artist the year his debut album, Undiscovered, came out.
Everything was new then – co-writing songs, recording professionally, adjusting to being in the public eye. “It was an amazing opportunity, obviously, but at the same time I found it hard living up to being the person that people thought I was. I kept getting: ‘Ahh, James Morrison – he’s so romantic.’ And I didn’t think I was that kind of guy. I wasn’t trying to write songs to get the girls. That’s not me at all! But I loved touring, playing live – that was the side that really made me believe in what I was doing.”
When the time came to record his second album, “I was trying too hard to reconfirm why I was there and why people liked me. And that I could do it again”. And he did do it again: the album’s first single, Broken Strings, has been Morrison’s biggest-selling to date to the tune of 1.5m copies – but he struggled to embrace the experience the way he had two years earlier. Looking back, he feels his second album was too pop, too “lukewarm”, a step in the wrong direction. “I thought, if I can’t get it right next time, then I ain’t doing this any more. I’m losing myself, and I don’t want to do that.”
Fortunately, The Awakening has turned out to be the album that James Morrison always had the potential to make – at last a worthy platform for his extraordinary singing voice. “This time I wasn’t worrying about success at all, and that’s why it was really enjoyable. I didn’t feel I had to go for the big, loud notes all the time – I just sat back and sang how I felt and it all just came flooding out.”
The Awakening is a warm, live-sounding collection of classic but contemporary folk-soul songs. There are musical similarities with Morrison’s debut, but with added panache and self-belief. There are soaring strings, uplifting harmonies, soulful ballads and, in Slave to the Music, a hand-clapping dancefloor groover – a new string to his bow. There are nods to Motown, gospel, country and a hint of Latin. Technically, Morrison remains one of the finest white soul singers, equal parts Stevie Wonder and Paul Young. But he is more than just a Big Voice – he sings from the heart. “To me, pop music is just great music that lasts for years,” he says. “Though there is the other side of pop, which is where you have a hit, but then, after it comes out, it never gets heard again. I never wanted to make that sort of music.”
Three years in the making, the new album is Morrison’s first for Island Records, after moving from Polydor. He has retained the services of regular co-writers including Steve Robson, the man behind Take That’s Shine, Eg White (Duffy), Dan Wilson (Adele); as well as Toby Gad, best known for Beyonce’s If I Were a Boy. Ten of the 12 songs are produced by Bernard Butler – the acclaimed former guitarist in Suede. Butler, who also played guitar on The Awakening and is hailed by Morrison as “the director of the album”, has forged an impressive studio-based career, producing the likes of The Libertines, Tricky and Duffy .
“I was a bit nervous to meet him – his musical background is so different to mine,” Morrison says. “And that created a bit of tension in me to want to please him. So every time I sang I was really going for it, and he kept saying, ‘Chill out – you’re singing too much. Sing it softer.’ But it clicked on the second day, and from then on I knew it was going to be epic ; I was so excited.
“Bernard was really good at keeping the space in the songs and not letting them get too cluttered with production. You can hear everything clearly. Yet he made it sound like a proper record without it being too polished. It was exactly what it needed.
“It was quite a full production, but at its core there were only four of us in the room – drums, bass, Bernard on guitar and me singing. We did seven or eight live takes of each song, picked the best and worked around that. We just made sure the vibe was good, and then whatever you put on top is going to sound great.”
The song Up is another duet with “hit” written all over it. It is one of two songs produced by Mark Taylor, who helmed Broken Strings. Morrison’s vocal partner this time seems an incongruous choice – the potty-mouthed new queen of urban music, Jessie J. Jessie was suggested by his longstanding A&R, Colin Barlow. “Not that I was doubting Jessie’s ability in any way,” Morrison says, “But I was worried whether she was the right character for the song. She got in the booth and did all this stuff that was amazing  – she is a ridiculously good singer, so in tune she’s like Autotune . I wanted to tap into the side of her character that is just a normal girl. I was like, you’re a Ferrari, Jessie, you’re in fifth gear – take it down to third. In the end it worked amazingly: she sang the chorus the way I should’ve sung it!”
James’s strained relationship with his father, who died last year from heart failure after a protracted and painful battle with alcoholism, inspired the lyrics for Up – and several other songs on The Awakening. “It’s such a personal song: ‘How can I find you when you’re always hiding from yourself/Playing hide and seek with me until it gets too dark inside your shell/Why do I even try when you take yourself for granted – I should know better by now/And when you call, I can already hear that crashing sound as it all falls down.’
“It was basically me saying to him: ‘I’m not going to put up with your shit, but I want you to know you have got the strength to turn it around for yourself.’ I didn’t explain any of that to Jessie, though – I’d only just met her. We just focused on her delivering a shit-hot vocal.”
Another song, The Person I Should Have Been, evolved out of a poem Morrison wrote after a conversation with his dying father. “He wasn’t very well before he died, and we were talking about things he should have done, or things I should have done. It span me out, and I was like, I need to write about this because I’m going crazy.”
Most raw of all is In My Dreams. “I can hardly hear it because it affects me that much – I don’t know how I’m going to perform it. I was writing with Dan Wilson, and he asked me what I was feeling at the time. I told him that my dad had recently died and I was hoping he would come into my dreams, but he still hadn’t.’ And Dan said, ‘I think you should tap into that,’ and as soon as we had the title In My Dreams I just got a guitar and it all came out. Musically I wanted it to sound like “up”, like Curtis Mayfield or Stevie Wonder. I wanted it to feel like you’re in a dream when you’re hearing it.”
Elsewhere, on the album’s title track, Morrison drew on his own experience of fatherhood. His daughter, Elsie, is now three. “It’s like I’ve just woken up to myself and to what I have to do. I used to say ‘oh, I don’t want kids’ – and then when it happened it was the best thing ever. So I wanted to catch that”. And on the stunning I Won’t Let You Go, on which Morrison’s voice really lets fly, his muse is his long-term girlfriend Gill – about whom he had previously penned songs such as You Give Me Something and, during a rocky patch, The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore.
The Awakening is full of raw emotion, but these are not “downer songs”, says Morrison. “Yes, some of it’s about dealing with shit – but it’s also about looking at yourself and what you’ve got around you, and weighing stuff up to keep yourself thinking positively. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to that, because that’s what life’s like, what relationships are like.”
That is an outlook that Morrison did his best to adhere to during a childhood that was tougher than many. He was born in Rugby, the middle child of three. After his father left when the children were young, the family moved around the country, bedeviled by debts and the frequent threat of eviction, finally settling the Cornish beach town of Porth when Morrison was 15. He taught himself guitar and learnt to perform live by busking locally – although he failed music A-level at school. “I could hear a note and play it on the piano and get it right every time – but I was crap at the technical side.”
A few years of dead-end jobs followed, reaching a nadir during a spell living in Derby when he was employed as a van washer (“I was 19 and living the life of a 40-year-old.”). But he kept his chin up, and it was while living there and performing at open-mic nights that he took the first steps towards landing the record deal with Polydor that turned his life around.
Those formative years perhaps explain Morrison’s unusual reaction to his own celebrity. “I make a point of going to that extra level in my life to remind myself that I’m normal. Like, I went camping to a Haven holiday park – and I didn’t really want to go, but I thought that if I don’t, it’d be like I was saying I’m too good for that. Like I don’t go to Haven holiday parks, I only go to Hawaii or whatever.”
Inevitably, he got mobbed – while eating sausage and mash with his daughter. “I tried to explain that this was private, family time, but in the end I had to get escorted out by a mate. I ended up sitting on my own in the tent for hours, just so I could finish my dinner! I know I shouldn’t do things like that because I’ll get shit I don’t want – but then if I don’t do it I’m creating a barrier, and I don’t want that either. So I have to keep taking the opportunity to knock it down.”
The bad news for James Morrison is that any future camping trips are likely to result in more undignified scrambles – The Awakening has the potential to send him supernova.
“Yeah, it feels like it’s exactly the right thing at the right time,” he concedes. “I’ve only had a couple of moments like that in my life, but I’ve learnt to recognise them when they come along. And it feels like that’s what’s happening now.”
http://www.jamesmorrisonmusic.com

Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are a four piece from Leeds in the UK.
In 2013, Kaiser Chiefs are one of the best festival bands in Britain - in 2004 they exploded out of the radio with their first single “Oh My God”.
The following February they played the opening slot on the NME Awards Tour and in March 2005, Kaiser Chiefs debut album “Employment” entered the UK Album Chart at number 3 (later peaking at #2). Produced by Stephen Street, and written by the band over 2003/2004, “Employment” would deliver a further four singles including the “I Predict A Riot” and “Every Day I Love You Less and Less”.
“Employment” went on to win Album of the Year prizes at the Ivor Novello and NME Awards as well as being nominated for the coveted Mercury Music Prize. In 2006 the band won three Brit Awards and Kaiser Chiefs reputation as a live band was cemented with tours around the world.
“Yours Truly, Angry Mob” was released in 2007 and would bring even greater success. “Ruby” became the biggest UK & European radio hit of 2007 and helped break the band in South America and Australia. “Ruby” was a Top 5 AAA Airplay hit in North America and buoyed by Lily Allen’s cover of “Oh My God”, the sound of the Kaiser Chiefs was instantly recognizable.
The Mark Ronson produced “Off With Their Heads” followed in 2008 lead by another massive radio hit “Never Miss A Beat”. The band’s live star continued its rise, after performing at 2008’s Brit Awards, a triumphant Kaiser Chiefs returned to Elland Road Stadium in Leeds to play their biggest show to date in front of a 45,000 strong crowd, and went on to take home the Q Award for Best Live Act later that year.
In 2010 Kaiser Chiefs took stock, drummer Nick Hodgson took time to build a studio in East London and he set about writing the band’s fourth studio album “The Future Is Medieval” (2011). The album was accompanied a bespoke ‘build-your-own’ album for which the band won two coveted Yellow Pencil Awards at the D&AD in Cannes, and the Q Award for Innovation 2011.
“The Future Is Medieval” would be Hodgson’s final recording with the Kaiser Chiefs, as he wanted to focus on songwriting and production. “He doesn’t want to be in a rock band anymore, and I understand that” said singer Ricky Wilson. In 2012 Kaiser Chiefs played Coachella, the Olympic Closing Ceremony (performing a cover of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard”) ahead of Nick’s final show which was a storming set at the Reading Festival. Hodgson also oversaw the release of the band’s first singles collection “Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012” which was released in July 2012.
2013 is a new dawn for Kaiser Chiefs and set to be a big year - with a headline UK tour in February, Lollapalloza Festival in Brazil and Chile, Benicassim in Spain before a stadium tour with Green Day in the summer and a giant homecoming gig to open Leeds Arena in September.
And along the road Kaiser Chiefs are writing and recording what singer Ricky Wilson calls their “first record for the second time”.
Kaiser Chiefs are: Peanut Baines, Simon Rix, Ricky Wilson, Andrew White.
http://www.kaiserchiefs.com

STING
Born 2 October 1951, in Wallsend, north-east England, Gordon Sumner's life started to change the evening a fellow musician in the Phoenix Jazzmen caught sight of his black and yellow striped sweater and decided to re-christen him Sting. Sting paid his early dues playing bass with local outfits The Newcastle Big Band, The Phoenix Jazzmen, Earthrise and Last Exit, the latter of which featured his first efforts at song writing. Last Exit were big in the North East, but their jazz fusion was doomed to fail when punk rock exploded onto the music scene in 1976. Stewart Copeland, drummer with Curved Air, saw Last Exit on a visit to Newcastle and while the music did nothing for him he did recognise the potential and charisma of the bass player. The two hooked up shortly afterwards and within months, Sting had left his teaching job and moved to London.
Seeing punk as flag of convenience, Copeland and Sting - together with Corsican guitarist Henri Padovani - started rehearsing and looking for gigs. Ever the businessman, Copeland took the name The Police figuring it would be good publicity, and the three started gigging round landmark punk venues like The Roxy, Marquee, Vortex and Nashville in London. Replacing Padovani with the virtuoso talents of Andy Summers the band also enrolled Stewart's elder brother Miles as manager, wowing him with a Sting song called 'Roxanne'. Within days Copeland Senior had them a record deal. But the hip London music press saw through The Police's punk camouflage and did little to disguise their contempt, and the band's early releases had no chart success. So The Police did the unthinkable - they went to America.
The early tours are the stuff of legend - bargain flights to the USA courtesy of Freddie Laker's pioneering Skytrain; driving their own van and humping their own equipment from gig to gig; and playing to miniscule audiences at the likes of CBGB's in New York and The Rat Club in Boston. Their tenacity paid off though as they slowly built a loyal following, got some all important air-play, and won over their audiences with a combination of new wave toughness and reggae rhythms.
They certainly made an odd trio: guitarist Summers had a career dating back to the mid-60s, the hyper-kinetic Copeland was a former prog-rocker, and Sting's background was in trad jazz and fusion. The sound the trio made was unique though, and Sting's pin-up looks did them no harm at all. The band returned to the UK to find the reissued 'Roxanne' single charting, and played a sell-out tour of mid-size venues. The momentum had started. The debut album 'Outlandos d'Amour' (Oct 78) delivered three sizeable hits with 'Roxanne', 'Can't Stand Losing You' and 'So Lonely' which in turn led to a headlining slot at the '79 Reading Festival which won the band some fine reviews, but it was with 'Reggatta de Blanc' (Oct 79) that the band stepped up a gear.
Reggatta's first single, 'Message In A Bottle', streaked to number one and the album's success was consolidated further when 'Walking On The Moon' also hit the top slot. The band was big, but about to get even bigger. 1980 saw them undertake a world tour with stops on all continents - including the first rock concerts in Bombay - and the band eventually returned to the UK exhausted, for two final shows in Sting's hometown of Newcastle. Much of this groundbreaking tour was captured on the 'Police Around The World' video and a BBC documentary entitled 'The Police in the East'
Within weeks, the band were in a Dutch studio recording new material but Sting's stock of pre-Police songs and ideas were wearing out. When 'Zenyatta Mondatta' was released (Oct 80) although it sold well and produced another number one single in 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' and a top five hit with 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da' a rethink was required. Sting later admitted that he felt 'Zenyatta' was the band's weakest album but by the end of 1980 the band were undoubtedly the biggest-selling band in the country selling out two shows in a huge marquee on Tooting Bec Common in London.
Changes materialised on 1981's 'Ghost In The Machine', a rich, multilayered album which was augmented not only by Jean Roussel's keyboards and Sting's self taught saxophone playing, but by particularly strong writing contributions from both Copeland and Summers. The album still had the now expected clutch of hit singles with 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' making number one, the bleak 'Invisible Sun' reaching number two (despite a BBC ban being slapped on its video) and 'Spirits In The Material World' also charting, but it was a much darker and complex album than its predecessors and, to many, more satisfying.
During this period Sting took the lead role in Richard Loncraine's big-screen version of Dennis Potter's controversial play "Brimstone and Treacle" as well as in the BBC production "Artemis '81". In the late 70's he had appeared in a couple of movies - a minor part in Chris Petit's "Radio On" and an excellent cameo in Franc Roddam's "Quadrophenia" but "Brimstone and Treacle" was a major role and Sting took up a good deal of screen time opposite Joan Plowright and Denholm Elliot. The Police also contributed music to the movie's soundtrack and indeed Sting had a surprise solo hit with the track 'Spread A Little Happiness'. Also during this period he made his first solo appearances at 'The Secret Policeman Ball' benefits in aid of Amnesty International demonstrating a burgeoning interest in humanitarian causes.
Sting and The Police decamped to Air Studios in Montserrat to begin recording what would be their final studio album, 'Synchronicity', at the turn of 1983. The album was preceded by the release of a new single 'Every Breath You Take' (May 83) which immediately went to number one on both sides of the Atlantic and simply stayed there. Dressed up as a love song, the song was anything but - its sinister theme being one of obsession and surveillance. More than twenty years later, the song is one of the most played records on American radio having clocked more than seven million plays. With such a stand-out track the album couldn't fail and it duly took its rightful place at the top of the world's charts as the band started a spectacular stadium tour of the States, the high spot of which was a sell-out show in New York's Shea Stadium. Further hit singles in the shape of 'Wrapped Around Your Finger', 'King of Pain' and 'Synchronicity II' helped maintain the album's success, but despite the album collecting three Grammies awards, the writing was on the wall for The Police.
The band's tense relationship was slowly breaking down and after the Shea Stadium show Sting told the others that it was time to take a break. The 'Synchronicity' tour finished in March 1984 and the three went their separate ways. Copeland to movie scoring, Summers to guitar duets and jazz, and Sting initially to acting. A lead role in "The Bride" and supporting parts in "Plenty" and "Julia and Julia" followed before Sting picked up a guitar again. And when he did, it was not a bass.
In June 1985, Sting released his first solo album 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles' and it was a revelation. Featuring the cream of America's young, black jazz musicians - Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Omar Hakim and Darryl Jones - the album showed that Sting had lost none of his songwriting ability by being outside of the Police camp. The new material had a more political stance - 'We Work The Black Seam' dealt with the miner's strike, 'Children's Crusade' with drugs, and 'Russians' with the West's demonisation of communism. He even wrote what he termed "an antidote song" to 'Every Breath You Take' in the shape of 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free'. The album was premiered in a series of shows at Paris's Mogador Theatre - a period captured in Michael Apted's rockumentary "Bring On The Night" - and the band were magnificent. The success of the album, a solo appearance at Live Aid, and a well received world tour were proof that Sting had no need for the safety net of The Police - he had not only a retained a fan base he had started to build another one.
'...Nothing Like The Sun' (Oct 1987) was another strong collection of songs, containing perennial favourites 'Englishman In New York' and 'Fragile'. Sting even got himself banned from Chilean radio thanks to 'They Dance Alone', a haunting song that resulted from his meeting with some of South America's "Mothers of the Disappeared". Released shortly afterwards was a mini-album 'Nada Como El Sol' which featured several of the album's songs in Spanish and Portuguese, and which strengthened his popularity further in Latin America. His new band included Kirkland and Marsalis, Delmar Brown, Jeff Campbell and Tracey Wormworth, with Sting content to sing, dance and play occasional guitar. In mid tour, Sting joined the Amnesty International "Human Rights Now!" tour alongside Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel for several huge fundraising concerts.
Ever busy, when the tour finished Sting was looking for a new project, and found it with a starring spot on Broadway during 1989 in Brecht's "3 Penny Opera" in the role of Macheath. The shows proved popular and the show completed a three month run ending on new year's eve. Earlier visits to the Amazonian rainforest in 1987 also led to both he and Trudie Styler establish a charity, The Rainforest Foundation, aimed at protecting both the environment and indigenous peoples. This has proved to be not just a passing interest, with an annual all-star benefit concert at New York's Carnegie Hall helping to raise funds to maintain the charity's work in supporting indigenous and traditional people of the world's rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment.
Recovering from a spell of writer's block, Sting returned to his childhood memories for inspiration and released 'The Soul Cages' (Jan 1991). Jokingly referred to by Sting as a record for the "recently bereaved", 'The Soul Cages' was often bleak but always compelling. Depending on your point of view it is either impenetrably dense or his strongest work - only the listener can decide. The first single, 'All This Time', was deceptively poppy and 'Mad About You' was also a minor hit, but the rest of the album was not so radio friendly. Nevertheless the album sold well, the title track collected a Grammy for Best Rock Song, and the live shows saw a stripped down rock band comprising of Dominic Miller (guitar), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) and David Sancious (keyboards) with Sting returning to the bass. During the tour a very popular MTV unplugged session was recorded in New York and this was followed by a small acoustic gig at a Wallsend Arts Centre, from which some songs were released on the 'Acoustic Live In Newcastle' (Nov 1991) mini-album.
Sting and Trudie married in 1992, and bought Lake House in Wiltshire where the writing and recording of 'Ten Summoner's Tales' took place (Mar 1993). As upbeat as 'The Soul Cages' was downbeat, it was a remarkable album, and won universal praise from the critics. The album contained instantly likeable tracks such as 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You', 'Fields Of Gold', 'Seven Days' and 'Shape of My Heart'. It also hinted at what was to come on later albums with its mix of musical genres and styles. During the inevitable world tour he found time to record a Stateside number one by performing with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart on 'All For Love' from the "The Three Musketeers" soundtrack and to add another three Grammies to his awards collection. The following year saw the release of the retrospective 'Fields Of Gold - The Very Best of Sting 1984-1994' which included two new tracks 'This Cowboy Song' and 'When We Dance'.
During 1995 Sting was writing and recording songs for a new album, 'Mercury Falling' (Mar 1996) a release which showed an increasing tendency for him to risk commercial success by writing primarily to please himself and his band. Foregoing standard pop and rock fare, he was now writing country tunes such as 'I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying', bossa nova such as 'La Belle Dame Sans Regrets', gospel tinged material such as 'Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot' and songs in devilishly difficult time signatures like 'I Hung My Head'.
He was also becoming more involved in contributing songs to movie soundtracks - there had always been a demand for Police songs, but in 1993 he had been approached to write the theme song for "Lethal Weapon 3", and together with Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen he duly complied with 'It's Probably Me'. A reworking of The Police's 'Demolition Man' followed for the film of the same name, as did the recording of several jazz standards for the "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Sabrina" soundtracks. 'Mercury Falling' continued this trend with 'Valparaiso', which was used in the movie "White Squall". Puff Daddy's reworking of 'Every Breath You Take' (in the shape of 'I'll Be Missing You') brought Sting's earlier work to the notice of a new generation, and he and Pras from the Fugees reworked 'Roxanne' in 1997. Further soundtrack contributions to "The Mighty" and the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair" followed, as did a cameo acting role in the biggest British movie of 1998, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". During this time he was also writing songs for Disney for the soundtrack to the 'The Emperor's New Groove' movie which was released in 2000.
The highly anticipated 'Brand New Day' album (Sep 1999) proved to be Sting's most popular album in terms of sales - in excess of eight million copies world-wide. If 'Mercury Falling' mixed genres, 'Brand New Day' took it a step further - the title track was full of optimism and renewal, a true millennium message. The remarkable, arabesque 'Desert Rose' featured the prince of rai music, Cheb Mami, and brought arabic flavoured music to traditionally conservative US radio. 'Fill Her Up' crossed country with gospel, 'Perfect Love...Gone Wrong' included French rap, and 'Big Lie Small World' was gentle bossa nova. This was undoubtedly one of Sting's finest albums.
The subsequent tour was a staggering success with Sting playing his longest ever tour - close to 300 shows in 45 countries to just under 3 million people. As the tour finished in July with two celebratory show at London's Hyde Park, Sting was already planning his next project. He would take the 'Brand New Day' songs back to their birthplace - Italy - where he would record a live album in front of an audience of fan club members and friends that would see the material reworked and remodelled. Plans for a simultaneous webcast of the concert on September 11 were postponed as a mark of respect for the victims of the heinous terrorist acts in the USA, but the show went ahead and the results can be heard on the compelling 'All This Time' album/DVD. The powerful emotions of that evening can be heard throughout the performance from band and audience alike. Sting not only kept his promise to rework the songs from the 'Brand New Day' album but he also delved deep into his back catalogue producing magical versions of solo favourites like 'All This Time' and 'When We Dance', as well as reworkings of Police classics like 'Roxanne' and 'Don't Stand So Close To Me'.
After the end of the mammoth 'Brand New Day' world tour Sting contributed further songs to a number of movie soundtracks including 'Until...' (from Kate & Leopold) and 'You Will Be My Ain True Love' (from Cold Mountain), with both songs receiving nominations for Golden Globe and Oscar recognition. He also took time out to write a critically acclaimed memoir entitled "Broken Music", which was a fascinating and revealing account of his life from childhood to the first flushes of fame with The Police.
'Sacred Love' (Sep 2003) was accompanied by a sumptuous DVD companion piece recorded in Los Angeles. The subsequent tour which started in January 2004 was a lavish production with backscreens and video incorporated into the show. A tour of small theatres in the USA was followed by a visit to Europe before a return to the US for a summer amphitheatre tour headlining with Annie Lennox. A further visit to Europe was followed by Australasian dates including two shows in India and a Tsunami Benefit concert in Australia which raised an estimated £1.6m. 2004 also saw Sting recognised as Musicares® Person of the Year, made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II, and at an emotional event back home in Newcastle he was honoured by the Variety Club of Great Britain. He and Mary J. Blige also collected a further Grammy award for 'Whenever I Say Your Name'.
With only a matter of weeks passing since the finish of the 'Sacred Love' tour, Sting was ready for a change. With a new stripped down, rockier sounding four piece band comprising bass, two guitars (Dominic Miller and Shane Fontayne) and drums (Josh Freese) he undertook a six week tour billed as 'Broken Music' playing a career spanning mix of tunes across the US in mainly college venues and cities he has not previously played. Sting also took the opportunity on this tour to visit many colleges as a guest lecturer where he spoke to English classes about the process of writing his memoir and to music classes about songwriting and the music business.
Spring 2006 saw Sting return to his home town where he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music by Newcastle University, and the summer months saw him take the 'Broken Music' tour to Europe where he played in 27 countries in two months with a slightly revised line up of Dominic Miller and Lyle Workman on guitars and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums. These shows proved as successful with fans and critics alike as the previous Spring's jaunt around the States had done.
As unpredictable as ever, October 2006 saw Sting turn his attentions to a long-standing interest in the work of acclaimed Elizabethan songwriter John Dowland, with the release of 'Songs From The Labyrinth', an album featuring the talents of virtuoso Bosnian lutenist Edin Karamazov. Sting explained, "I'm not a trained singer for this repertoire, but I'm hoping that I can bring some freshness to these songs that perhaps a more experienced singer wouldn't give. For me they are pop songs written around 1600 and I relate to them in that way; beautiful melodies, fantastic lyrics, and great accompaniments." The album was a critical and commercial success topping classical charts across the world with the album outselling all previous Dowland releases in its first week of release. Indeed, despite its release late in the year, the album was the best selling classical album of both 2006 and 2007 on the Billboard end of year chart.
In February 2007, Sting stunned everyone when together with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers The Police reformed for a performance at the annual Grammy awards, where he announced, "We're The Police and we're back!" At a press conference in Los Angeles' Whisky A Go-Go club the following day the band performed again and confirmed what was now the world's worst kept secret: that they would be starting a world tour. After rehearsals in Italy and Canada the band opened their tour with a final rehearsal performance for fan club members and two further shows at Vancouver's GM Place in May 2007. A heady combination of nostalgia from older fans who saw the band first time round and intrigue from younger ones who only knew the band from their recordings was supported by ecstatic press reviews and shows sold out around the world in record time as more than 2.5 million tickets were sold.
The reformed band proved even more popular than on their 'Synchronicity' tour with sold out shows at many of the most historic and renowned stadiums around the world including: Fenway Park (Boston); Wrigley Field (Chicago); Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles); Twickenham Stadium (London); Stade de France (Paris); Croke Park (Dublin) and River Plate Stadium (Buenos Aires). The Dublin show alone saw the band play to more than 81,000 fans - their largest ever audience. Among the accolades garnered by the tour were "Major Tour of The Year" (Pollstar), as well as "Tour of the Year" and "Top Selling Tour of 2007" (Billboard Magazine). In February 2008 the band announced a third tour swing through North America supported by Elvis Costello and the Imposters, which in addition to their summer tour of festivals and stadiums in Europe would see the band on the road until August 2008.
A handful of concert appearances in mid 2009 disguised the fact that Sting was also recording a new solo album, and naturally, it was not what was expected. Taking the winter as it's over-arching theme, Sting instead recorded a selection of ancient hymns, carols, folk songs and re-recorded a small selection of his own songs with a hugely talented group of musicians including Dominic Miller and Kathryn Tickell. The resulting album 'If On A Winter's Night...' was release in Autumn 2009, and the songs on the album received a world premiere in the magnificent setting of Durham cathedral, in Sting's native northeast England where the two performances were also filmed for a feature length DVD/TV programme. Further shows in New York, Paris and Baden Baden followed before Christmas 2009.
2010 found Sting performing occasional live shows in places like Dubai, Venezuela and Colombia with a core band of Dominic Miller and David Sancious and one of a selection of drummers - Vinnie Colauita, Abe Laboriel Jr and Josh Freese - depending on their respective availability. The main live activity of the year though was the 'Symphonicity' tour with the Royal Philaharmonic Concert Orchestra and a quintet consisting of Dominic Miller, David Cossin, Jo Lawry, Rhai Krija and Ira Coleman. The tour found him performing his most celebrated songs re-imagined for symphonic arrangement, conducted by Steven Mercurio (Pavarotti, Bocelli). The tour played across North America in June and July, arriving in Europe in the autumn and continues in Australasia in 2011. An album of studio recorded tracks, 'Symphonicities', was released in July 2010 with a live CD/DVD recorded at Berlin's O2 World released in late November before the tour headed back to Europe in the summer of 2011 with dates conducted by Sarah Hicks.
The autumn of 2011 saw Sting celebrate his 60th birthday with a star studded concert at New York's Beacon Theatre where artists including Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga all performed. An innovative iPad app also accompanied a lavish boxed set retrospective collection entitled 'Sting: 25 Years'. In October 2012 Sting was on tour once again, this time in a stripped down format under the banner of 'Back To Bass'. This string of North American dates were performed with Dominic Miller, his son Rufus Miller, Vinnie Colaiuta, violinist Peter Tickell and vocalist Jo Lawry. In early 2012, Sting held some development performances of his work-in-progress, the musicial play 'The Last Ship' in Newcastle. These were read throughs with local actors and new material was played publicily for the first time. The Back To Bass tour then continued throughout 2012 across Europe and parts of Asia with the addition of keyboardist David Sancious.
As ever, Sting continues to intrigue and surprise...
http://www.sting.com

Nog meer namen die een bezoek zullen brengen op Suikerrock dit jaar

Aanvullend op 28 juli zijn:

Natalia
Het leven is de voorbije vijf jaar niet mals geweest voor Natalia. Veel vaker dan haar lief was, keek ze de dood recht in de ogen. Eerst haar meter. Daarna haar vader. En dan ook nog totaal onverwacht een goeie jeugdvriend. Gewoon weg. Gone for good. Afscheid nemen kan je niet leren. Wennen doet het nooit. Zelfs een franke teut en een brede rug zijn niet bestand tegen zo’n zuivere hattrick van Magere Hein. In de dying seconds van een wedstrijd die alleen maar verliezers kent, nam die smeerlap trouwens ook nog gauw haar hond mee. Toch is wankelen niks voor haar. Hoogstens even deinen en dan weer doorgaan. Reculer pour mieux sauter. Met haar vijfde studioalbum Overdrive slaat Natalia harder terug dan ooit. Welgeteld dertien – haar lievelingsgetal – meedogenloze mokers met bezwerende beats en beklijvende teksten. Zonder zwaarmoedig te worden evenwel. Of zoals ze het zelf zingt in de titelsong: I’m going overdrive. I’m kicking the floor and knocking down all of the doors. Now it’s quiet on the other side…
En niets is sterker dan de stilte. Tenzij je Natalia heet. Dan is dat voorrecht je niet gegund. Of toch nauwelijks. Haar meter overlijdt middenin de razend ambitieuze SingStar Glamorous Tour. Even later neemt Natalia met Wise Girl haar vierde studioalbum op. All or Nothing, de eerste single van dat album, is meteen ook de titeltrack van de film Spion van Oranje waarin ze tevens een rolletje vertolkt. Op The Wise Girl Summer Tour volgt al snel de intimistische concertreeks Natalia Acoustelicious. De release van het nummer Burning Star luidt vervolgens de overrompelende Natalia Meets Anastacia-optredens in. Aan het vervolg op Natalia Meets The Pointer Sisters en En Vogue feat. Shaggy houdt ze een hartsvriendin voor het leven over. En daar vóór ook al een Best Of-cd die gepaard gaat met de Summertour 2010. Een nieuwe lokroep van het witte doek resulteert in de song 1 Minute, de titeltrack van de film Groenten Uit Balen waarin Natalia – net als met I’ve Only Begun To Fight in Team Spirit II destijds – weer een fel gesmaakte cameo ten beste geeft. Cassante kassierster, een rol die haar duidelijk ligt. Als jurylid van The Voice Van Vlaanderen I verkast ze ten slotte een paar maanden naar het kleine scherm.
Midden maart 2012 kan, nee, moet de riem er eindelijk even af. Sinds de dood van haar vader heeft Natalia nog geen moment rust gekend. En van zo’n groot verdriet kan een mens tenslotte niet ongestraft blijven weglopen. Ook een keiharde Kempendochter kan wel eens een paar balen hooi te veel op haar vork nemen. Tot ze onverdroten ‘Kust allemaal mijn kl****’ zegt. Wat volgt is een maandenlange aaneenschakeling van reizen. Van hot naar haar. Van Spanje over Thailand tot de Verenigde Staten. En terug. Gaan, gaan, gaan! En ook wel: uitgaan, uitgaan, uitgaan! Plankgas genieten. Deugddoend. De decompressiemeter voortdurend in het rood. In Overdrive, kortom. In alles. Zoals in ‘alles en iedereen de palmboom in’. Tot Lionel Richie plots belt. Hello, is it me you’re looking for? Ja dus. Angel, een duet om in te kaderen. En vervolgens een vreugdedansje on the ceiling, want Natalia Meets The Jacksons in de Lotto Arena. Intussen is het schrijfproces voor een nieuwe plaat in volle hevigheid losgebarsten. Opnieuw in Overdrive. Voor het eerst in tien jaar werkt Natalia niet met één, maar met verschillende producers en heeft ze een hand in heel wat nieuwe nummers: Overdrive, Alive, Make You Love Me, Paralyzed, Vegas To The Moon en Love Is War. Bijna de helft, maar toch geslaagd. Met grote onderscheiding zelfs. En felicitaties van de jury van The Voice Van Vlaanderen II. Geen toegevingen dit keer. Behalve eentje dan. Het schrappen van een Engels scheldwoord dat rijmt op moeders fruitplukker. Ach, moet kunnen. Zeker live.
Natalia raakt dus stilaan weer op toerental. Popelend van ongeduld. Snakkend naar het podium. Als een raket met nukkige neigingen tot ongeleid projectiel. Wachtend op lancering. Scherper dan ooit. Twaalf kilometer lopen in iets meer dan een uur. Keihard in vorm. Good Shape, maar dan met ballen. Tegenwoordig doet ze niet meer in tweede plaatsen zoals in Idool destijds. Hell no! The sky is the limit. Met Overdrive reiken haar ambities veel verder dan de eigen landsgrenzen. Volkomen terecht. Don’t fake me for a sucker, I’m joy-licious, damn ambitious klinkt het in Vegas To The Moon. What you see, is what you get. Take it or leave it. Her way or the highway. En dat zal iedereen geweten hebben… Zonder overdrijven.
http://www.nataliadruyts.be

Gabrielle Aplin
Gabrielle Aplin is een singer-songwriter uit Bath, Somerset, Engeland. Ze heeft drie ep's (Acoustic, 2010; Never Fade, 2011; Home, 2012) en een single (The Power Of Love, 2012) uitgebracht. Haar debuutalbum English Rain komt uit op 29 april 2013 en de bijbehorende single Please Don't Say You Love Me op 10 februari 2013.
Aplin dankt haar bekendheid aan een filmpje dat ze op YouTube plaatste op jonge leeftijd en recenter aan haar cover van The Power of Love van Frankie Goes to Hollywood, die werd gebruikt in de kerstreclame van het Britse warenhuis John Lewis en op nummer 1 in de Britse hitparade stond.
http://www.gabrielleaplin.co.uk/

Brahim
Brahim werd bekend toen hij meedeed aan Idool 2003. Daar eindigde hij op de 4e plaats en kreeg hij een platencontract, dat hij echter snel terug kwijtraakte.
Hij schreef zich in voor Eurosong 2006 met het lied P.O.W.E.R. In de eerste voorronde werd hij 2e na Katerine. In de halve finale had hij het lied wat veranderd, in plaats van een intro begon hij direct met het refrein en dat werd gewaardeerd door het publiek. De vakjury was erg lovend en gaf hem een 2e plaats, de kijkers gaven hem een 3e plaats maar door de andere jury's werd hij minder gewaardeerd, waardoor hij vierde was en niet rechtstreeks naar de finale mocht. De vakjury had echter nog een wildcard en gaf die aan Brahim. In de finale gaf de vakjury zelfs de volle pot aan Brahim maar ook nu speelden de andere jury's hem parten, waardoor hij opnieuw op de 4e plaats strandde.

Met Turn the music up en Didi had Brahim zelfs hits in Marokko.

In 2007 was hij het boegbeeld van de Damiaanactie waarvoor hij de song Lamuka (Wake Up) schreef. In de zomer van 2007 nam hij een nieuw nummer op So into you.
In 2008 nam hij opnieuw deel aan Eurosong met het nummer 'What I like about you'. Hij werd tweede in de eerste voorronde, bleef steken in de halve finale, maar de jury had nog een wildcard uit te delen en gaf die aan Brahim. Hiermee ging hij door naar de finale, waar hij uiteindelijk vierde werd.
In maart 2011 begint hij het programma I-CLiPS te presenteren op VRT-jeugdzender Ketnet. In 2011 zet hij ook zijn eerste stapjes in de radiowereld, met de MNM Dance 50 op VRT-radiozender MNM, elke vrijdag van 19.00 u. tot 21.00 u.
In 2012 presenteerde hij, opnieuw bij Ketnet, I-fan, en was er peter van de campagne tegen pesten. Het liedje Move tegen pesten dat hij hiervoor samen met wrapster Charlotte Leysen zong, kreeg tijdens Radio 2 Zomerhit 2012 de prijs voor beste kidspop.
In het najaar van 2012 presenteert Brahim op Eén het nieuw muziekprogramma In de mix, waarin een gevestigde Vlaamse artiest en een jonge collega een grote hit van elkaar bewerken in hun eigen stijl. Het is gebaseerd op het Nederlandse programma Ali B op volle toeren. Sinds het najaar van 2012 presenteert Brahim op MNM niet langer de Dance 50, maar de Urban 50 op zaterdag.
Brahim is sinds 2009 getrouwd.
http://www.brahimusic.com/

Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker werd  wereldberoemd dankzij zijn unieke rauwe stem en zijn hartstochtelijke muziek. Sinds zijn doorbraak, de Beatles cover 'With a little help from my friends' in 1969, is hij één van de meest succesvolle en populaire artiesten ter wereld. In zijn lange prachtige carrière mocht hij reeds verschillende platina platen, Grammy Awards, Golden Globes, Academy Awards en een OBE in ontvangst nemen. Kortom, Joe Cocker is een legende!
Na het grote succes met platina album ‘Hard Knocks’, dook Joe Cocker meteen opnieuw de studio in. Dat levert ‘Fire It Up’ op, een waardige opvolger met klassieke soulnummers, big power ballades en erg energetische songs. Hij kondigt meteen ook aan dat hij een Europese tour plant om het nieuwe werk aan zijn fans voor te stellen. Naast nieuwe nummers brengt de wereldster ook zijn grootste klassiekers als 'You Can Leave Your Hat On', 'Unchain My Heart' en 'Up Where We Belong'. De ‘Fire It Up’ zomer tournee zal op 28 juli 2013 halt houden in Tienen, en vormt een prachtig slotakkoord van Win for Life Suikerrock 2013!

He’s been a major player in the music business for more than forty years. He released 21 studio and four live albums. His unmistakable bluesy soul voice is a musical trademark in its own right. He sold millions of records and had massive hit singles all over the world. He is a Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Award winning artist. He even received an OBE. Without any doubt, Joe Cocker is not only a true music legend but one of the most successful and popular singers of the last four decades. But despite numerous accolades and million selling releases, he still sympathizes and very much identifies with those who haven’t been as lucky as him, the outsiders and underdogs. So it’s no surprise that when he’s being asked about his feelings towards TV competitions like “American Idol” (a shows he has performed on twice - in France and in the US), he doesn’t seem too unhappy that these formats weren’t around in his youth. “When you think of all the losers on that, who disappear into nowhere”, he ponders, “it probably would have been more disillusioning for me if I had been in a competition like this – and lost, than to work in the pubs and come up that way”. It’s hard believe, but this man, despite being an icon for generations of music fans and musicians alike, still can’t see himself being a winner. His new album, the first for the Sony Music label Columbia Records, is called “Hard Knocks”.   

“I’ve spent probably more time on the streets than being educated”, explains the 66-year-old Brit. “Fans who’ve been around long enough to remember me all those years ago will probably understand the album title.” But despite the rough theme and atmosphere that it suggests, Cocker devotees (who had to wait more than three years for new material from the singer) don’t have to be worried about a hard-edged new musical direction, far from it. “Hard Knocks” is much more pop than any of his releases in recent years – especially his last album. “With Ethan Jones, who I love and with whom I made ‘Hymn For My Soul’ in 2007, we almost did it like a ‘demo record’. We were using no electronics and no special effects”, explains Joe Cocker.

The ten new tracks on “Hard Knocks” were recorded with Matt Serletic at the helm. It’s the first collaboration between him and Cocker. The Californian first emerged in the mid nineties when working with the alternative rock band Collective Soul. Later he produced records for Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas, Blessid Union Of Souls and Carlos Santana. “I met quite a few producers at the time I met Matt”, says Cocker. “We were just having a chat in his studio. I said that I wanted to make a modern record, but not too modern. I know I’ve got to compete with 25 year old kids here, but I’m not Green Day and all that! I felt the vibe from him that we could make something a little different together.”

The recording sessions took place in Serletic’s own Emblem studios in Los Angeles involving a host of acclaimed musicians like Ray Parker Jr., Tim Pierce and Joel Shearer on guitar, Josh Freese, Matt Chamberlain and Dorian Crozier on drums, Chris Chaney on bass and Jamie Muhoberac on keyboards. The songs were mixed by Chris Lord-Alge and mastered by Bob Ludwig.  

Another producer he had a go with was none other than Nashville legend Tony Brown, who once played piano for Elvis Presley. “Oddly enough we have the same accountant”, laughs Cocker in reference to the link-up. “He’s quite a character. Actually we also cut another track but it didn’t fit the bill for the kind of record I wanted to make.” The one that actually made the cut is also the only cover version on the album, the Dixie Chicks song “I Hope” (from their 2006 album “Taking The Long Way”). For a singer who is legendary for refining other people’s songs with his unique voice and interpretation style, the quantity of brand new original songs on “Hard Knocks” might come unexpected even for long-standing die-hard Cocker fans. “I used to take a lot of flak for doing covers, especially from younger people and the press”, he remembers. “And in mid production everyone was saying: ‘Well, Joe, they are going to expect a couple covers’ and at one point we were talking about doing a duet with Joss Stone. I’d really like to sing with her, but for some reason we never got the right song. But when I finally delivered ten tunes they were happy enough and I thought: ‘It makes a change’.”

Unlike other bands and musicians who reliably praise their latest musical output as being their best ever, Joe Cocker pleasantly doesn’t believe in all the “next level shit”-hype and rather lets the punters decide how “Hard Knocks” rates amongst his other works. “I guess it’s only about my 21st album in forty-odd years. That doesn’t seem a lot”, he muses. “I wait till I get feedback from the people. I haven’t even played it to them.” The singer will have to hold back his curiosity at least until October. Then not only will the new album be released, but he will also be touring Europe – for the first time since 2007.

Playing live is and always has been an integral element of his job and one that Joe Cocker always enjoyed immensely. Apart from presenting the songs from “Hard Knocks” live for the first time, he prepared another little surprise for his fans. “There are some songs that were quite successful, but always have been neglected for the live shows”, he explains. “Of course we always do ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’ and ‘Unchain My Heart’, but now I want to do a little montage in the middle of the show that includes some old songs like ‘Simple Things’ and ‘Tonight’.”

Katie Melua
In 2003 maakt de wereld kennis met de zachte en sixties getinte stem van een jonge Katie Melua. Op haar achtste verhuisde ze van Georgië naar London waar ze school liep aan de befaamde BRIT School for the Performing Arts & Technology, de kweekvijver van heel wat muzieksterren. Haar fascinatie voor artiesten als Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy, Paul Simon en Bob Dylan schemert door op haar eerste album 'Call of the Search', dat wereldwijd miljoenen luisteraars weet te raken.
Met het tweede album 'Piece by Piece' (2005) volgt de grote doorbraak. De single 'Nine Million Bicycles' wordt een wereldhit van formaat. Melua wint aan vertrouwen en haar succes overtreft alle verwachtingen. De gouden en platina albums blijven elkaar opvolgen. In 2008 weet Katie Melua Vorst Nationaal twee keer tot de nok te vullen, en ook in 2011 en 2012 weet ze het Belgische publiek te overdonderen in deze uit de kluiten gewassen zaal.
Katie Melua is ook houder van een bizar wereldrecord: Op 2 oktober 2006 gaf ze het diepste onderwaterconcert ooit (303 meter!) in één van de steunpilaren van het gasplatform Troll A in de Noordzee.
Een nieuw album is dit najaar voorzien is, maar eerst tourt ze deze zomer nog door Europa. Op zondag 28 juli staat Katie Melua op Win for Life Suikerrock 2013 voor haar eerste festivaloptreden op Belgische bodem!