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Raul Midón | |
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Raul Midón at TED2007 in 2007 | |
Background information | |
Born | Embudo, New Mexico, U.S. | March 14, 1966
Genres | Pop, rock, Latin pop |
Occupation(s) | Singer, musician |
Instruments | Guitar, vocals, mouth trumpet |
Years active | 1993–present |
Labels | Artistry |
Website | www |
Raúl Midón (born March 14, 1966) is a Grammy Nominated American singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Mexico.
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose, and perform their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies.
A guitarist is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar by singing or playing the harmonica.
Midón was born prematurely in a rural hospital in Embudo, New Mexico, to parents of Argentine and African American descent. His father was a folkloric dancer from Argentina. Midon and his twin brother Marco were blind as infants after spending time in an incubator without adequate eye protection. The sound of music became integral to Midon's life at age four when his father introduced him to the drum. Midon learned how to play guitar while performing in educational programs at a school for the blind, then at an academy in Santa Fe while completing his last two years of high school. Midon then attended the University of Miami, which he selected for its jazz curriculum. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1990.
Embudo is an unincorporated community in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. It is on NM State Road 68. The Embudo Station is located 2.9 miles south of the intersection of NM State Road 75, near where the Embudo River flows into the Rio Grande.
The University of Miami is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. As of 2018, the university enrolls 17,331 students in 12 separate colleges/schools, including the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Miami's Health District, a law school on the main campus, and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science focused on the study of oceanography and atmospheric sciences on Virginia Key, with research facilities at the Richmond Facility in southern Miami-Dade County.
Midon began his career as a session singer for Latin recording artists, including Shakira, Alejandro Sanz, Julio Iglesias, and Jose Feliciano. After touring with Shakira, he moved to New York City to pursue a solo career. In New York City he worked with producer and DJ Little Louie Vega. He wrote and recorded several songs, including "Cerca De Mi" with Vega and his production team under the band name Elements of Life. The band was led by Vega and toured Europe, Japan, and Australia during 2003 and 2004.
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is a Colombian singer, songwriter, dancer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. Born and raised in Barranquilla, her first studio albums, Magia and Peligro, failed to attain commercial success in the 1990s; however, she rose to prominence in Latin America with her major-label debut, Pies Descalzos (1996), and her fourth album, Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998). According to Billboard, she has sold over 10 million albums in Latin America alone by 2001.
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer.
Luis Ferdinand Vega Jr., better known as "Little Louie" Vega, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is one half of the Masters at Work musical production team.
Midón was signed by Arif Mardin to Manhattan Records. In Mardin's long career, Midon was his first signing of an artist. Mardin and his son Joe produced Midon's debut album, State of Mind (2005). [1] The album featured a guest performance by Stevie Wonder, one of his idols, another one with Jason Mraz, and a song written in tribute to Donny Hathaway entitled "Sittin' in the Middle." Midon is an avid amateur radio enthusiast, [2] who used his call sign (KB5ZOT) using Morse code. Midon released the album A World Within a World on September 25, 2007.
Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for over 30 years, as producer, arranger, studio manager, and vice president, before moving to EMI and serving as vice president and general manager of Manhattan Records. His collaborations include working with Queen, the Bee Gees, Hall & Oates, Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, Chaka Khan, Laura Nyro, Phil Collins, Daniel Rodriguez, and Norah Jones. Mardin was awarded eleven Grammy Awards.
Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Capitol Music Group.
Joe Mardin is a music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of producer Arif Mardin. Joe is also a conductor, songwriter and drummer.
In 2008 he built a home studio with the help of Cakewalk and the company Dancing Dots, which designs technology for the blind. The studio allowed him to produce music from home without the need of an engineer. His song "Everyone Deserves a Second Chance", which appeared on Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca's album Akokan, was recorded at his home. He recorded two songs for the Generosity Water project at his home studio, which he calls The Basement Studio.
Cakewalk, Inc. was a music production software company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company's best known product was their professional-level digital audio workstation (DAW) software, SONAR. SONAR integrated multi-track recording and editing of digital audio and MIDI. The company also offered a full range of music software products, including Pyro Audio Creator—a digital music management program, and Dimension Pro—a virtual instrument.
Roberto Fonseca is a Cuban jazz pianist. From an early age, Fonseca was surrounded by music: his father was drum player Roberto Fonseca, Sr, his mother, Mercedes Cortes Alfaro, a professional singer, and his two older half-brothers from his mother's previous marriage to the pianist and musician Jesús "Chucho" Valdés are Emilio Valdés (drums) and Jesús "Chuchito" Valdés Jr. (piano).
Akokan is the sixth studio album by Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca. It was released in 2009 by Enja Records. The album's title means "from the heart" in the Yoruba language. Recorded in 2008 in the EGREM studio in Havana, it is a tribute to Rubén González and Ibrahim Ferrer. The album was well received by critics.
Midon worked with Grammy Award-winning producer Larry Klein on the album Synthesis (Decca, 2010). He moved to Santa Monica, California, while recording the album, which featured Vinnie Colaiuta, Dean Parks, Jamie Muhoberac, Larry Goldings, Paulinho Da Costa, and Klein on bass. Two years later a live album and DVD followed. The album Don't Hesitate (Mack Avenue/Artistry, 2014) was recorded at his home studio. The album featured appearances by Lizz Wright, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Miller, and Richard Bona. He wrote the song "Mi Amigo Cubano" with Bill Withers and it led to the film Still Bill (2014).
In 2015, Midon joined the 14th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel. He was also a judge for the 12th and 13th Independent Music Awards. Midon sang the song at the credits for Spike Lee's 2004 LGBT film, She Hate Me , titled "Adam n' Eve n' Eve". His song "Everybody" was featured in the soundtrack of the movie The Peaceful Warrior starring Nick Nolte. Midon's national television debut was on the Late Show with David Letterman on June 28, 2005. Herbie Hancock featured Midon on the album Possibilities (2006), performing Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You".
2017 marks the release of Raul's album "Bad Ass And Blind," which was nominated for a Grammy Best Vocal Jazz Album. He continues to explore music in and outside of the genre of jazz. in 2016 he toured the United States under the Monterey Jazz Festival moniker with Gerald Clayton, Nicholas Payton, Gregory Hutchinson, and Joe Sanders. Several of the tunes on this album feature these musicians as well as Lionel Cordew on drums and Richard Hammond on Bass.
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer and actor. Hancock started his career with Donald Byrd. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles.
Stevland Hardaway Morris, better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist.
Songs in the Key of Life is the eighteenth album by American recording artist Stevie Wonder, released on September 28, 1976, by Motown Records, through its division Tamla Records. It was the culmination of his "classic period" albums. The album was recorded primarily at Crystal Sound studio in Hollywood, with some sessions recorded at the Record Plant in Hollywood, the Record Plant in Sausalito, and The Hit Factory in New York City. Final mixing was performed at Crystal Sound.
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger. Hathaway signed with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto", in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music." His enduring songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", "Little Ghetto Boy", "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", signature versions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. "Where Is the Love" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1973. At the height of his career, Hathaway was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. On January 13, 1979, Hathaway's body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled as suicide.
Innervisions is the 16th studio album by American musician Stevie Wonder, released August 3, 1973, on the Tamla label for Motown Records, a landmark recording of his "classic period". The nine tracks of Innervisions encompass a wide range of themes and issues: from drug abuse in "Too High", through inequality and systemic racism in "Living for the City", to love in the ballads "All in Love Is Fair" and "Golden Lady". The album's closer, "He's Misstra Know-It-All", is a scathing attack on then-US President Richard Nixon, similar to Wonder's song a year later, "You Haven't Done Nothin'".
Philip James Bailey is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter and percussionist best known as an early member, and one of the two lead singers of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. Noted for his four-octave vocal range and distinctive falsetto register, Bailey has won seven Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire. Bailey was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his work with the band.
Rhett Lawrence is an American record producer and songwriter. He has produced, mentored, and helped launch the career of 5 of the top 200 artists of all time who have sold over 350,000,000 records worldwide. He has worked with 30 of the top 500 artists of all time who have sold over 2.2 billion records worldwide. Many of these artists are also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Randal Edward Brecker is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B.
Possibilities is the forty-fifth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released in the United States on August 30, 2005 by Vector Recordings.
"If You Really Love Me" is a song written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright. Wonder recorded the song and released his version as a single from his 1971 album Where I'm Coming From. The single peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard′s R&B chart, and Billboard′s Easy Listening chart.
"For Once in My Life" is a swing song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965.
Tribute to Uncle Ray is the second studio album by Stevie Wonder. Released by Motown in October 1962 shortly after The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, it had been recorded first, when Wonder was just 11 years old. The album was an attempt by Berry Gordy and Motown to associate the young "Little Stevie Wonder" with the successful and popular Ray Charles who was also a blind African American musician. Like his debut, this album failed to generate hit singles as Motown struggled to find a sound to fit Wonder, who was just 12 when this album was released.
"Superwoman " is a 1972 soul track by Stevie Wonder. It was the second track on Wonder's Music of My Mind album, and was also released as the first single. In essence a two-part song, there is a coherence in that it tells a story of the singer's relationship with "Mary". The first part covers her desire to be a star, and to leave behind her old life to become a movie star. The second part covers the narrator's wondering why she hadn't come back as soon as he had hoped. The second part of the song is also a reworking of the song "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" from the 1971 album Where I'm Coming From.
"Do I Do" is a song written and performed by American singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder, first released in 1982 on the album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I. The single peaked at #2 on the soul chart and peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US. On the US dance chart, "Do I Do" went to number one for two weeks. Overseas, it reached #10 in the UK.
State of Mind is Raul Midón's second album, released June 7, 2005 through Manhattan Records. In the album, he occasionally uses his trademark vocal style, "instrumental voices", which are also performed by him during his live performances.
PJ Morton is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Since 2012, he has been one of the keyboardists, alongside Jesse Carmichael, for the pop rock band Maroon 5. Morton originally joined the band as a touring member in 2010 and became an official member in 2012 after Carmichael went on indefinite hiatus.
Jacob Collier is an English singer, arranger, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in London, England. In 2012, his homemade split-screen video covers of popular songs, such as Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing", began to go viral on YouTube.
If You Really Want is an album by Raul Midón, released in September 2018.
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