NASHVILLE |FROM: TODD BRODGINSKI/MITCH SCHNEIDER
TONY RICH PROJECT
TO RELEASE ‘RED WINE’ AS NEXT SINGLE FROM THIRD ALBUM, ‘RESURRECTED’
With early positive reaction to the new TONY RICH PROJECT album RESURRECTED, the singer, songwriter, producer and musician is building on the critical acclaim he’s earned since debuting with the 1996 Grammy Award-winning albumWORDS. TONY RICH will next release “Red Wine,” the album’s follow-up single to the Urban AC hit “Traveling Alone.”
RESURRECTED (Compendia Music), released in July, does indeed herald the resurrection of RICH. The album is a reflection of his personal and professional experiences of the last 10 years, including his success as a songwriter and recording artist, parenthood, a divorce and record label changes. In a USA Today review (7/22/03), Steve Jones said RICH “…weighs in with everything from free-spirited rock to acoustic ballads to bubbling funk,” adding that “Rich’s voice has surely been resurrected.” Billboard’s Gail Mitchell said (7/26/03), “Shaking off the R&B tag he was labeled with early on, Rich rocks out on ‘Future Daze’…Rich’s freshness is a welcome break from today’s formulaic tripe.”
“I see this record as a river in the desert,” says multi-instrumentalist RICH. “Radio lacks variety, but there are a lot of artists who can contribute and keep the cycle of music fresh.” An eclectic connection of his various influences,RESURRECTED is a paradox, speaking broadly about and at times simultaneously about his career, his personal life, self-discovery, the music business and spirituality, while never forgetting that it’s all entertainment. There are intensely personal songs, like the post-divorce “Don’t Call Me” and “Mental Purgatory.”
The Atlanta-based artist first rose to notoriety as a songwriter for such acts as Boys II Men, Toni Braxton, Michael Bolton and Johnny Gill. His debut album Words and its #2 pop single “Nobody Knows” solidified his reputation as an artist in his own right, and went on to sell over a million copies. Words earned RICH a Grammy for “Best R&B Album” and a Billboard Music Award for “Best New Pop Artist.” As his second record Birdseye (which featured special guest Eric Clapton) was being released, RICH’s then-manager was hired to work for his label (Arista), and the album was caught in limbo. RICH took time off to work in his state-of-the-art home studio, re-married and had a son. “The way all this happened makes me think it was meant to be. A sacrifice had to be made. A time of absence had to occur in order for the resurrection to be complete.”
For further information or photos of TONY RICH–or to see his eclectic paintings – please visit:
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