Geoff Downes
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Geoffrey Downes (born August 25, 1952) is an English rock keyboard player, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the keyboardist for the bands Asia, Buggles, and also his stint with Yes in 1980. When he was a keyboardist for the Buggles, he would play multiple keyboards to achieve a New Wave technopop sound. He was once entered for the Guinness Book Of Records for performing with most keyboards (28) on stage in one performance.
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[edit] Biography
Downes was born in Stockport, Cheshire, England, the son of musical parents. His father was a church organist and his mother a pianist. He also took up the keyboards and played in a succession of local bands. He attended Stockport Grammar School before studying at music college in Leeds. After graduating he moved to London, where he played sessions and composed advertising jingles.
In 1976, he met Trevor Horn while auditioning for pop singer Tina Charles' band. They continued to work together, eventually forming the Buggles in a successful attempt to have a hit single ("Video Killed the Radio Star"). It was Island Records' first number 1 in the UK, and the video of the song subsequently became the first ever to be played at the launch of MTV in August 1981.
The success of The Buggles led to Downes and Horn joining Yes for one album (Drama) and the associated tour. Downes was the first member of the band to have completed a music degree. Yes then split at the beginning of 1981. Downes subsequently joined forces with Yes' Steve Howe, Carl Palmer (from Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and John Wetton (from King Crimson) to form Asia in 1981. Asia was an immediate worldwide success upon the release of their eponymous début record in 1982, and has formed the backbone of Downes's career since then. For many years, he has remained the only founding member of the band. In recent years, Downes has since teamed up with John Wetton again in a separate project under the 'Icon' banner.
In addition to recording and touring with Asia, Downes has also recorded a number of solo albums and collaborated with many other artists, including Glenn Hughes, Trapeze in 1991 for a tour that produced the live album Welcome to the Real World, and a brief appearance on Kate Bush's Sat in Your Lap. In 2005, he joined Yes drummer Alan White's eponymous band White.
He has also worked extensively as a producer with such acts as Mike Oldfield, Thompson Twins and GTR. As a songwriter, he has written for such acts as diverse as Agnetha Fältskog (of ABBA) and the rapper, Styles. He is credited as a co-writer on Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe due to Howe re-using some musical ideas from Asia.
In 2006, Downes reunited with the original members of Asia for a series of tours that have continued into 2008.
[edit] Ride the Tiger
Ride the Tiger was a project involving Downes and Greg Lake. The pair had worked together during Lake's brief stint in Asia and subsequently recorded material together. Drums on the sessions were by Lake's former band mate in King Crimson, Michael Giles. Nothing was released at the time, although some tracks later turned up on Lake's anthologies From The Beginning—The Greg Lake Retrospective (1997) and From the Underground Vol. II—Deeper Into the Mine. Some of the material from the project was re-worked by Asia ("Love Under Fire" on Aqua) and by ELP (on Black Moon).
[edit] The Rain Project
Following the production of GTR's self titled debut album in 1986, Downes began collaborating with Johnny Warman on a number of tracks that would be used for the 'Rain' Project. This was a supergroup that would feature Downes, former 21 Guns and future Asia drummer Mike Sturgis, ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham and GTR members Phil Spalding and Max Bacon on bass and vocals respectively. The project was named after the Downes/Warman song "Who Can Stop The Rain?" (renamed "Who Will Stop The Rain?" for inclusion on Aqua). This line-up never released an album, but songs "Someday", "Tears In My Eyes", "Who Can Stop The Rain?", "The Higher You Climb", "Boys From The Diamond City" and "Moon Under The Water" (the later featuring only Bacon), arose later on Max Bacon's 2002 solo release From The Banks Of The River Irwell. When played on iTunes, the program identifies the album as Asia: The Rain Demos. The songs were later re-recorded with John Payne on vocals and used for Aqua ("Who Will Stop The Rain?", "Someday") and the Archiva albums ("Tears", "Moon Under The Water", "The Higher You Climb").
[edit] Influences and style
In an interview conducted December 2006[1], Downes said the three players who had inspired him were Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson and especially Dave Sinclair. In the same interview, he identified his favourite Asia tracks as "Only Time will Tell", "Wildest Dreams", "Open Your Eyes" and "Voice of America".
[edit] Discography
[edit] Solo albums
- The Light Program, 1987
- Vox Humana, 1992
- Welcome to the Real World with Trapeze, 1993
- Evolution, 1996
- Hughes/Downes: The Work Tapes, 1998
- The World Service, 2000
- Shadows & Reflections, 2003
- The Collection, 2003
- Live at St. Cyprian's
- Icon (with John Wetton), 2005, Frontiers Records
- Icon Acoustic TV Broadcast (with John Wetton), 2006, Frontiers Records
- Icon Live - Never in a Million Years (with John Wetton), 2006, Frontiers Records
- Icon II: Rubicon (with John Wetton), 2006, Frontiers Records
[edit] Yes
- Drama, 1980 / expanded and remastered, 2004
- The Word is Live, 2005
[edit] Buggles
- The Age of Plastic, 1979
- Adventures in Modern Recording, 1981
[edit] Asia
[edit] Singles
- "Heat of the Moment"
- "Only Time will Tell"
- "Sole Survivor"
- "Don't Cry"
- "The Smile has Left Your Eyes"
- "The Heat Goes On"
- "Who'll Stop the Rain"
- "Estoy Listo Para ir a Mi Casa", 2001
[edit] Albums
- Asia, 1982
- Alpha, 1983
- Astra, 1985
- Then & Now, 1990
- Live Mockba 09-X1-90, 1991
- Aqua, 1992; Aqua Special Edition, 2005
- Aria, 1994; Aria Special Edition, 2005
- Arena, 1996; Arena Special Edition, 2005
- Archiva 1, 1996
- Archiva 2, 1996
- Now - Live in Nottingham, 1997
- Live in Osaka, 1997
- Live in Philadelphia, 1997
- Anthology—The Best of Asia 1982-1997, 1997; Anthology Special Edition, 2005
- John Wetton—Geoff Downes—Asia—UK Compilation CD, 1997
- The Very Best of Asia: Heat of the Moment (1982-1990), 2000
- The Best of Asia Live, 2000?
- Aura, 2001
- Alive in Hallowed Halls, 2001
- Asia/Boston: Winning Combination, 2001
- Alive in Hallowed Halls, 2001
- Live at Budokan, 2002
- Quadra, 2002
- Anthologia, 2002/Gold, 2005
- Armada 1, 2002
- Live Acoustic
- Live at the Town & Country
- Different Worlds
- Dragon Attack
- History of Asia, 2004?
- Live in Buffalo, 2004?
- Live in Hyogo, 2004?
- Different Worlds, 2004
- Silent Nation, 2004
- Long Way from Home, 2005 (single)
- Phoenix, 2008
[edit] EPs
- Heat Of The Moment 05 (with John Wetton), 2005
[edit] External links
- Geoff's Official website
- Geoff's Official MySpace
- Official Asia Reunion website
- Geoff Downes discography
- Asia on Classic Rock Central- 1983 audio interview clips with John Wetton, Geoff Downes and Steve Howe
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