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ANJANI
Anjani hails from Honolulu, Hawaii where she recalls picking up her first instrument--an ukulele--at the age of four. Then came lessons in guitar, piano and voice. By the age of fourteen she had eleven classical piano students, but during high school, teaching gave way to playing keyboards and singing in funk, R&B, soul and jazz bands. After attending Berklee College of Music for a year, Anjani moved to New York, where producer John Lissauer hired her as a background vocalist for the legendary Leonard Cohen's recording of Hallelujah, now lauded as one of the greatest modern pop songs of all time. That session led to a gig as the sole female vocalist and keyboardist on Cohen's Various Positions World Tour 1984-85, and she continued to record vocals for him on I'm Your Man (1988), The Future (1992) and Dear Heather (2004). But it was not until 2006 with Blue Alert, that their musical collaboration achieved the ultimate fusion of both of their creative strengths and talents. Leonard Cohen wrote the lyrics and produced the record, while Anjani wrote the music and sang all vocals.
"Anjani has always been known as a great singer, a musician's singer," says Cohen. "She seems to be able to channel some kind of spirit of place. Generally, people want to be generous, but they go over the top or they give too much. But to be able to be generous in this manner of real generosity, which is not to overwhelm, but to merely satisfy and nourish: that is something very rare. She has this capacity -- melody after melody -- to hit the mark. Not go beyond it and not fall short...just perfect."
Anjani is currently recording a sequel to Blue Alert. Tentatively titled I Came To Love, it features more tunes co-written with Cohen, but also showcases Anjani’s solo songwriting skills. It is being produced by Jerry Marotta, who is also playing drums, percussion and bass on this record, slated for release this winter.
JERRY MAROTTA
Two years after graduating from high school, Jerry's drumming career took off in 1975, when he joined the pop rock group, Orleans. Soon after, they recorded their seminal album, Waking and Dreaming, which yielded the hit single, Still The One. When founding member John Hall left the band in the summer of 1977, Jerry went to London to work with ex-Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel. For the next ten years, Jerry divided his time between recording and touring with Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Tears for Fears, Orleans, Joan Armatrading, Paul McCartney, and many other artists of the time.
After moving to Woodstock, NY in 1986, Jerry founded Jersville Studios and later on, Dreamland Recording Studio, where he's produced records for Kristen Hall, Barbara Kessler, Ellis Paul, Jenny Bird, Pam Golden, Andrew Caine, Gabriella Schaaf, and two tracks on 1200 Curfews by the Indigo Girls. He's also recorded and toured with world renown artists including Tony Levin, The Indigo Girls, Elvis Costello, 10,000 Maniacs, and Suzanne Vega, to name a few. Jerry was introduced to Anjani with the phrase, "You two would create some great music together". And thankfully, cousin Gloria is always right.
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