Paul Hardcastle

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Paul Hardcastle (born December 10 1957, in London) is a British composer and musician specialising in the synthesiser. In the early 1980s he performed in the dance music groups Direct Drive and First Light, before going solo. He achieved some acclaim for his early singles, notably the instrumental Rainforest 1984, but came to greater prominence in 1985 with the groundbreaking "19", a dance record featuring samples of television narrator Peter Thomas from the 1984 television documentary Vietnam Requiem, which was about Vietnam veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (and for which Hardcastle was sued by ABC). It was a number one hit in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and was a significant hit in many other countries. However Hardcastle and his manager Simon Fuller never saw much of the royalties as the song was sampled without permission and were sued. Fuller would later adopt the song title for his management company.

He enjoyed several further hits in the UK, including "Don't Waste My Time" (with vocals by Carol Kenyon) and "The Wizard", the theme from BBC TV's Top of the Pops. After 1986 he started to specialise in TV soundtracks.

He has also recorded several acclaimed synth-jazz albums under the name Jazzmasters, which are played heavily on smooth jazz radio. Hardcastle and vocalist Helen Rogers have been joined by several top reed players for the four Jazzmasters albums -- including saxophonists Gary Barnacle (on the first album), Snake Davis, Phil Todd and Tony Woods.

[Paul Hardcastle - 19 excerpt] ([file info])
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Paul Hardcastle

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