| Geoffrey Downes | |
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Downes in concert with Asia, 2006 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Geoffrey Downes |
| Born | 25 August 1952 Stockport, Cheshire, England |
| Genres | Progressive rock, hard rock, pop rock, New Wave, synthpop, electronica |
| Occupations | Musician, keyboardist, songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Keyboards, piano, synthesizer, vocoder, drums, percussion |
| Years active | 1974-present |
| Labels | EMI America Records Frontiers Records Geffen Records Universal |
| Associated acts | The Buggles, Yes, Asia, Glenn Hughes, New Dance Orchestra, John Wetton, ICON |
| Website | Official website |
Geoffrey "Geoff" Downes (born 25 August 1952)[1] is an English rock keyboard player, songwriter, best known as the keyboardist for the bands The Buggles, Yes and Asia, of which he is the only consistent member. When he was a keyboardist for The Buggles, he played multiple keyboards to achieve a New Wave technopop sound. He was once entered for the Guinness Book Of Records for performing with the most keyboards (28) on stage in one performance.
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Downes was born at Stepping Hill Hospital, Hazel Grove 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, and created a worldwide hit single in 1979 ("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 in 1980. 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; the album remained at number 1 on the Billboard album charts for a record 9 successive weeks. Asia has formed the backbone of Downes' career since then, and to this day he is the only member of Asia to have been in the band continually since its beginnings.
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, Ride The Tiger with Greg Lake, 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, on their debut album.
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 Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA. He is also credited as a co-writer on the album entitled "Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe" (made up of former members of Yes; he is credited due to Howe re-using some musical ideas from Asia.
Downes has continued to release sporadic solo albums over the years, mainly under the name The New Dance Orchestra. They include the critically acclaimed 1986 double album The Light Programme, in addition to Vox Humana, Shadows & Reflections, along with a few others. He performed a sold out one-man show in 2003 at St Cyprian's Church in London, which was recorded using ambisonics technology.
In recent years, Downes has teamed up with John Wetton again in a separate project under the name Icon. They have released three studio albums thus far, Icon, Rubicon, and 3 released in 2009. The original 'Wetton/Downes' album is due for re-issue under the Icon banner in 2010.
In 2006, Downes reunited with the original members of Asia for a series of tours that continued into 2008, releasing a new album of studio material, Phoenix, with more shows performed through Spring 2009. Later in 2009, the original Asia toured the US supporting Yes, with guitarist Steve Howe doing double duty performing with both bands nightly. In the autumn of 2009 the band went into the studio again to record another album. The Asia album Omega was released in April 2010. The band have since been touring this album in Europe and Japan. The band are scheduled to play the High Voltage Festival, London on 24 July and then several festivals in Germany before embarking on a six week US tour through August and September. A song, "Extraordinary Life" from their previous album, Phoenix, was recently chosen as the trailer for US's biggest reality TV show America's Got Talent.
Downes was involved as producer with the re-make of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" in 1989 to raise funds for the Spitak Earthquake victims, which occurred on 7 December 1988. In 2009, Downes along with Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan and the former Wimbledon tennis champion Pat Cash, went to Armenia, and were presented with state medals from the President of Armenia for their efforts in the Rock Aid Armenia project.
In an interview conducted December 2006,[2] 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".
Downes has been married (and divorced) twice and has two daughters, Christina & Alexandra, from his first wife, Norwegian former model Wenche Steen. He has an older sister, Helen, and two older brothers, John Gordon and Andrew. He currently lives in South Wales with his long-term partner.
While currently active with the original Asia, he has also finished an album with John Wetton on their side project 'Icon', and recorded a live DVD in February 2009 to promote the release of their third studio album. The project included guitarist Dave Kilminster (Roger Waters, Keith Emerson), Pete Riley (Keith Emerson, Ken Hensley), and Hugh McDowell (ELO). In addition, Downes is also working on television, film and production music for a London West End film production company, Original Production Music Ltd.
He released a further NDO album scheduled in October 2010, entitled Electronica and with vocals from Anne-Marie Helder. It is a twelve track album featuring Downes's orchestral style of keyboard playing.[3]
On September 28, 2010, he reunited with Bruce Woolley and Trevor Horn as the band The Buggles, performing The Lost Gig to "raise funds for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability".
On March 22, 2011, he performed at the Roundhouse, London with Trevor Horn as the band The Producers, along with Spandau Ballet & Alison Moyet to raise funds for a music charity for underprivileged children. The event itself raised over half a million pounds on the night.
On March 31, 2011, he was confirmed as participating in the recording of the new Yes album, reuniting with them formally for the first time since 1980, he has also been announced as rejoining the band for an upcoming tour.[4]
The following list contains the various keyboards that have been used by Downes.
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