Darryl Way

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Darryl Way
Birth nameRichard Darryl Way
Born (1948-12-17) 17 December 1948 (age 76)
Taunton, Somerset, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Violin
  • keyboards
Years active1968–present
Labels Cherry Red Records

Richard Darryl Way (born 17 December 1948 in Taunton, Somerset, England) [1] is an English rock and classical musician who was a founding member of the progressive rock band Curved Air and co-writer of their albums from 1970 to 1976. He is best known as a violinist but also plays keyboards.

Contents

Early life

Way began his musical training at Dartington College of Arts, and later studied at the Royal College of Music.[ citation needed ]

Career

Way met Francis Monkman and they formed the band Sisyphus, which evolved into Curved Air. [2]

After three albums and a hit single with Curved Air, Way left in 1972 and formed the band Darryl Way's Wolf, which also recorded three albums before splitting. His next band, Stark Naked & the Car Thieves, went on hiatus when Curved Air reformed in late 1974. [3] After their Curved Air – Live album, the band split, only to be reformed by Way primarily using members of Stark Naked & the Car Thieves. [3] He recorded two studio albums with this new incarnation of the group before leaving again. [2]

Way played on two tracks on Jethro Tull's 1978 album Heavy Horses. He then went on to release several solo albums, including Concerto for Electric Violin, which premiered on The South Bank Show with the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra in 1978. There was a subsequent performance at Leeds Town Hall in the early 1980s which was broadcast live on BBC Radio Leeds.[ citation needed ]

Curved Air reunited briefly in 1990 and a live recording of their reunion concert was released in 2000.[ citation needed ]

In November 1996, Way's opera, The Russian Opera, premiered at The Place Theatre in London, and his songwriting work includes music set to lyrics by Steven Berkoff.[ citation needed ]

In 2008, Way took part in a series of Curved Air reunion concerts.[ citation needed ]

Discography

With Curved Air

With Darryl Way's Wolf

With Trace

With Pierre Moerlen's Gong

With Jethro Tull

Solo

References

  1. "Search Results for England & Wales Births 1837-2006". Findmypast.co.uk.
  2. 1 2 Brennan, Mark (1995). "Curved Air". In Midnight Wire [CD booklet]. Repertoire Records.
  3. 1 2 Sutcliffe, Phil & Fielder, Hugh (1981). L'Historia Bandido. London and New York: Proteus Books. ISBN   0-906071-66-6. Pages 15-16.