"Taste of Life"
Welcome to Switzerland's Rey Thomas. A truly international artist
with exciting pop songs that were imagined and created across
three continents!
Rey's musical history began 16 years ago when, at age 6, he first
performed publiciy with his father's band in Zurich. Since that
time he has performed throughout Europe at various festivals and
competitions, and in his late-teens he took on the lead role of
Tony in the Swiss production of "West Side Story". Rey then moved
to Los Angeles and studied at the world famous Musicians Institute
in Hollywood, CA.
Upon his return to Switzerland he embarked on the first step in
his recording career by releasing his debut single "Anything Is
Possible" in his native country through an independent Swiss label,
Jaxx Records. Despite not having a video-clip the song was an
immediate Top 40 success in Switzerland, with significant radio-airplay
throughout Europe, including Germany. The song was included in
a German compilation CD along with Backstreet Boys and other major
international stars.
Rey's performance of the song earned him the Prix Walo (Swiss
Grammy) award for Best Male Singer and Newcomer of the Year.
At this point Rey determined to record his debut album with the
finest songs and musicians in the world and to that end he enlisted
the writer of "Anything Is Possible", Clive Young, to produce
the album. Clive has been a sucessful recording artist in his
home of Australia as well as being awarded Australian Songwriter
Of The Year for 1998. He has recently produced albums in Nashville,
Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne, all of which are about to be
released world-wide by the respective artists.
The basic tracks were recorded in Los Angeles at the studio of
Grammy Award nominated songwriter/ arranger/ keyboard-player,
Tom Keane. Tom has arranged, produced and written songs for innumerable
artists including Celine Dion, Chaka Khan, Chicago, Taylor Dane
and Richard Marx. Guitars were played by Mike Landau, considered
to be one of the finest session guitarists in the world. He has
played on almost every major recording artist's albums, including
Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. Bass player
Eric Pressley is currently recording his second album as songwriter/
producer/ bass player with his band Transister. Prior to that
he spent many years playing bass for Belinda Carlisle and Cher.
Drums were recorded in Australia with Peter Maslen, formerly of
top Australian band Boom Crash Opera.
Most recently he completed a world tour with Men At Work The album
was mixed by Australian engineer Matt Gearing Thomas, who's recording
and mixing credits included INXS, Matchbox 20, Underworld, Deep
Purple, U2 and the Three Tenors.
With his recording debut "Taste of Life" in safe hands, Rey has
emerged with an exhilarating album of finely-crafted pop songs
which show a maturity belying his age of 22. In his clasically
trained voice, uncanny pop instinct and emotional commitment to
the song ensure that this is first step in the long and exciting
career of Rey Thomas. |