Lily Gonzalez: An Up-and-Coming Musician From the Regeneration Tour
Written by admin on August 29, 2008
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Many new wave fans went out to see the Regeneration Tour over the past month and enjoyed performances from ABC, Naked Eyes, Belinda Carlisle, A Flock of Seagulls and The Human League. On stage, there were also several other talented musicians who backed up the headliners. I had the pleasure of meeting one of them after the Jones Beach show and was able to listen to some of her music: Lily Gonzalez, who was a backing vocalist and percussionist for ABC and Belinda Carlisle on the tour
Lily has been in the London music scene for several years and, along with the Regeneration Tour, she has worked with such greats as Bono, Paul Young and Dave Stewart. In addition, the U.K. native is a singer/songwriter who also records her own music (we will feature one of her tracks on this week’s Revenge of the 80s Radio show).
Lily’s style from her most recent CD adds modern attitude while being reminiscent of old-school jazz/funk. Her voice ranges from offering an attitude of power through tracks like “Too High” and “More to Me Than Meets the Eye” to a hint of soft vulnerability as she sings “What You Are.” While many of today’s chart-topping female vocalists tend to shy away of instrumental dynamics and jazz riffs for fear of them taking the spotlight from their singing, Lily seems unafraid to perform with creative backing music as her talents are up to the challenge other soloists avoid. This holds especially true in the song “Your Tine Is Now” as Gonzalez sings while playing with syncopation, beat changes and an interesting mix of bass, horn and organ sounds. One might suppose all of this comes from the diverse group of influences she gives credit to on her MySpace page including Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Steelu Dan, Annie Lennox and David Bowie. The songs are co-written by saxophonist Andy Hamilton, who has recently been on tour with George Michael.
Currently, Lily Gonzalez is an unsigned artist, but a treasure like her should not go as undiscovered for so long. Below is some tracks from her lates CD. For more music from Lily Gonzalez, check out her MySpace page.
“The Girl You Love” – Lily Gonzalez
“Too High” – Lily Gonzalez
