The Alan Parsons Project
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompanied by varying session musicians and some relatively consistent session players such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, arranger Andrew Powell, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons and Woolfson shared writing credits on almost all of the Project's songs, with Parsons producing or co-producing all of the band's recordings.
The Alan Parsons Project released eleven studio albums in its 15-year career, the most successful being I Robot (1977) and Eye in the Sky (1982). Many of their albums are conceptual in nature and focus on science fiction, supernatural, literary and sociological themes. Among the group's most popular songs are "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You", "Games People Play", "Time", "Sirius"/"Eye in the Sky" and "Don't Answer Me".
Members
- Official members
- Alan Parsons – production, engineering, programming, composition, vocals, keyboards, guitars (1975–1990)
- Eric Woolfson – composition, lyrics, piano, keyboards, vocals, executive production (1975–1990)
- Notable contributors
- Andrew Powell – composition, keyboards, orchestral arrangements (1975–1996)<ref>John Miles, Laurence Cottle, Ian Bairnson, Contributed to The Alan Parsons Project Template:Webarchive</ref>
- Philharmonia Orchestra
- Ian Bairnson – guitars (1975–1990)
- David Pack – guitars (1976, 1993), vocals, keyboards (1993)
- Richard Cottle – keyboards, saxophone (1984–1990)
- David Paton – bass, vocals (1975–1986)
- Stuart Tosh – drums, percussion (1975–1977)
- Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion (1977–1990)
- Andy Kanavan - drums, percussion (1990)
- Geoff Barradale – vocals (1987)
- Phil Kenzie – saxophone (1978)
- Dennis Clarke – saxophone (1980)
- Colin Blunstone – vocals (1978–1984)
- Gary Brooker – vocals (1985)
- Arthur Brown – vocals (1975)
- Lesley Duncan – vocals (1979)
- Graham Dye – vocals (1985, 1998)
- Dean Ford – vocals (1978)
- Dave Terry ("Elmer Gantry") – vocals (1980, 1982)
- Jack Harris – vocals (1976–1978)
- The Hollies – vocals
- John Miles – vocals (1976, 1978, 1985, 1987, 1990)
- Chris Rainbow – vocals (1979–1990)
- Eric Stewart – vocals (1990, 1993)
- Peter Straker – vocals (1977)
- Clare Torry – vocals (1979)
- Dave Townsend – vocals (1977, 1979)
- Lenny Zakatek – vocals (1977–1987)
- The English Chorale – choir (1976, 1977, 1982, 1987)
Discography
- Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976)
- I Robot (1977)
- Pyramid (1978)
- Eve (1979)
- The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980)
- Eye in the Sky (1982)
- Ammonia Avenue (1984)
- Vulture Culture (1985)
- Stereotomy (1985)
- Gaudi (1987)
- Freudiana (1990 – Austrian Original Cast Musical Soundtrack, virtually a solo Woolfson project)
- The Sicilian Defence (2014, recorded in 1979)
Related
- The Philharmonia Orchestra Plays the Best of the Alan Parsons Project (1983 – orchestral album by Andrew Powell)
- Ladyhawke (1985 – soundtrack by Powell, produced and engineered by Parsons)
