External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
Vas | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Los Angeles, United States |
| Genres | Tribal rock, folk rock |
| Years active | 1996–2004 |
| Labels | Narada/MCA Records Narada/Virgin/EMI Records |
| Members | Azam Ali Greg Ellis |
Vas was an alternative world musical group which consisted of Persian vocalist Azam Ali and American percussionist Greg Ellis. Vas is frequently compared to the Australian band Dead Can Dance. The band released four full-length albums, and both artists have released a few solo albums and participated in side projects. After the group's last album, Feast of Silence, Ali and Ellis went their own separate ways.
Azam Ali was born in Iran and moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1985, where she began studying the dulcimer-like santur under the guidance of Manoochehr Sadeghi. Greg Ellis was born and raised in Los Gatos, California, where he first learned to play the drums at age twelve. Ellis moved to Los Angeles in 1984 and started work as a percussionist. The two musicians met at UCLA in 1995 after hearing each other perform; they formed Vas shortly thereafter.
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| Artists | |
Michael Wayne Campbell is an American guitarist and vocalist. He was a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and co-wrote many of the band's hits with Petty, including "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "You Got Lucky", and "Runnin' Down a Dream". Outside of The Heartbreakers, he has worked as a session guitarist and songwriter with a number of other acts, including composing and playing on the Don Henley hits "The Boys of Summer" & "The Heart of the Matter" as well as working on most of Stevie Nicks's solo albums. Campbell, along with Neil Finn, joined Fleetwood Mac to replace lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham on their world tour in 2018–2019. After the end of that tour, he has been involved in his own band, the Dirty Knobs. As of 2024, the Dirty Knobs have released three albums.
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Azam Ali is an Iranian musician. As of 2013, she has released eight full-length albums with the bands VAS and Niyaz, as well as four solo albums.
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Lara & Reyes is an instrumental group founded by Sergio Lara and Joe Reyes in 1989. It performed flamenco-influenced Latin guitar instrumental pieces. Their first album Two Guitars - One Passion released in 1992 under Talking Taco Records Record Label, the album was available only at the duo's concerts and in a limited number of record stores around their home of San Antonio, Texas, later the album was released in 1996 under Higher Octave Music Record Label. By the time Two Guitars - One Passion was released in San Antonio, both Joe Reyes and Sergio Lara were receiving top honors in the San Antonio News's annual media awards. Both have won the acoustic guitar category, for instance, and Sergio's mandolin playing won him a first place award in the miscellaneous instrument category. The two have won the San Antonio Current award as "Best Latin Band" for two years running.
Steve Jordan is an American musical director, producer, songwriter, and musician. Currently, he is the drummer for the Rolling Stones. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a member of the bands for the television shows Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman.
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Niyaz is an Iranian Canadian musical duo. The group was created in 2004 by DJ, programmer/producer and remixer Carmen Rizzo, vocalist and hammered dulcimer player Azam Ali, formerly of the group Vas, and Ali's husband, Loga Ramin Torkian, of the Iranian crossover group Axiom Of Choice. In 2013, Carmen Rizzo announced via Facebook that he was retiring from Niyaz. "Niyaz" means "yearning" in Persian, Urdu and Turkish.
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Luis Villegas is an American guitarist who released an album called Cafe Olé in 1996, which was nominated for the Best New Album award at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards in 1999. Villegas's style combines new-age music, flamenco, and jazz. He is known for using a technique of playing fast, intricate lines by using the fingernail of his right index finger in place of a guitar pick. He also had a small role as a member of a band in the film Collateral starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. He is currently a member of the group Heavy Mellow, along with founder Benjamin Woods and percussionist Mike Bennett.
Jason Hann is an American percussionist and DJ.
Insurge, commonly typeset iNsuRge, were an Australian political industrial rock band founded in 1994 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Chris Dubrow (ex-Soulscraper). Other founders were Mattieu MacRoth on bass guitar, Matt Richmond on drums, Paul Bianco on found Percussion and Monique Wakelin on keyboards. Their debut album Power to the Poison People was released in August 1996, which reached No.16 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Roseland is a musical partnership between Azam Ali and film composer Tyler Bates. It features Azam singing entirely in English against a rock/ambient soundscape that, on several tracks, includes the drumming and percussion of Greg Ellis, who co-founded Vas with Azam Ali back in 1996.
Marc Stewart Danzeisen is an American drummer and musician. He is best known for his work with Riverdogs, Gilby Clarke, Little Caesar, his contributions to Def Leppard, and his appearance in the 1995 film, The Brady Bunch Movie.
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