My main musical influences began with the electronic pop music of the early 80s such as Ultravox (Vienna, Rage in Eden, Lament, Quartet), Kraftwerk (The Robots, Trans Europe Express, Computer World), Japan (can you imagine 'Ghosts' ever being released now ?!), Talk Talk, Visage (Fade to Grey, Damned Don't Cry), Depeche Mode (A Broken Frame, Get The Balance Right etc) OMD, New Order, Trevor Horn's productions, as well as Simple Minds, Icehouse, Prefab Sprout (Steve Mcqueen), The Police, Sting, Pink Floyd, A-Ha (Swing of Things), Vangelis (Soil Festivities, Bounty, 1492, Opera Sauvage, El Greco, Blade Runner etc), Jean-Michel Jarre (Oxygene, Equinox, Magentic Fields, Zoolook, Concerts in China etc), Eno (Discreet Music, Appollo), Tangerine Dream (Exit, Poland, Melrose, Legend, Near Dark, Canyon Dreams, Live Miles etc), Mike Oldfied etc and then classical, film music and jazz; Mozart (the piano concertos, The Prague Symphony and isn't The Marraige of Figaro Overture the most amazing few minutes of music ever written ?, Chopin (the piano stuff !) etc and 20th century innovators such as Satie, Messaien (Quartet for the end of Time, Turangalila etc), Glass (Glassworks etc), Reich (The Desert Music etc, Music for Mallet Instruments), the film music of Morricone (Once Upon a Time in America, Cinema Paradiso etc ), Moroder (Midnight Express) M.Jarre (Witness (Building the Barn), Dr Zhivago, The Year of Living Dangerously, Dead Poet's Society), Gabriel Yared (Betty Blue, English Patient, Cold Mountain), Eric Serra (The Big Blue), Jerry Goldsmith (The Russia House, such a beautiful fusion of classical, jazz and electronic sounds), Thomas Newman (Shawshank an amazing mix of melodic, ambient, atmospheres and diverse approaches) Zimmer (Black Rain, Gladiator, Beyond Rangoon), Cliff Martinez's Solaris soundtrack, the piano of Bill Evans (Conversations with Myself, etc), Keith Jarret (The Koln Concert) and the fusion of Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays (Still Life Talking, Secret Story, The Falcon and the Snowman, As falls Wichita....., Offramp etc). Most recently I have added much of today's great dance music to my influences such as Tiesto (In My Memory etc), Armin Van Buuren (Burned with Desire), Solarstone (Solarcoaster etc), Above and Beyond (Can't Sleep, Home etc), 4 Strings (Take me Away), Aurora (Hear You Calling) and Chicane (Saltwater, Don't Give up etc) to name a few !
Sounds Like
Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Mozart, Morricone with hints of dance influences such as Chicane and Tiesto etc all add up to hopefully make me sound like Richard Amos !
..I make music because I have to. Because there is some desire inside me that has to be expressed, that wants to create. Sometimes it is hard and sometimes easy. I make music because other people's music has inspired me so much, has made me feel great, comforted me, moved me and made me feel connected. I make music to give back what others music has given to me. I want to make the best music I can. I want to evolve it and push boundaries while not being afraid to show my influences. Gustav Holst once said 'Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you' and I think if musicians and artists followed that, then all there work would have a power to it, as if it had no choice but to be born ! Even when I stopped making music I knew that I would make music again. There are many great things to do in this life and music is one of them ! Enjoy ! Richard. '-----------------------------------------
Richard Amos is a diverse composer, producer and songwriter based in London. He is showcasing his solo material on this site. He has composed three internationally acclaimed albums (Breathe / Dancing in the Desert / Tears and Joy ) fusing electronic, ambient, classical, new age, pop, chill out and film music influences (www.richardamos.com). Music from his albums has been played on the radio in Asia, Canada, Europe and USA and reviewed internationally.
He has just released three online compilation albums of many of his favourite and popular tracks (search 'Richard Amos' on iTunes or Amazon etc). The albums are; 'Electronique: Retrospective', 'Eclectic: Retrospective' and 'Private Cafe' or to find click the thumbnails on the homepage of his main site at www.richardamos.com.
Richard also manages Zemon (www.zemon.co.uk) a London based music production agency producing music for advertisements, corporate films and television etc. Zemon also features other composers/songwriters; Xwing, Nic Saunders and Christof Wiseman. As well as this Richard has worked on the business and marketing side managing the Channel 4 Recordings label and publishing business with joint venture partners Universal and EMI.
His latest musical venture is a dance/pop project called Evolve (www.richardamos.com/evolve and go to myspace.com/evolveprojects) which will feature collaborations with different singers and musicians. The first tracks are 'Dreamer' and 'I Know What I Want' featuring vocals by Eve Robertson. And there are numerous remixes by artists such as DJ Cristo (www.djcristo.co.uk) in trance and house styles. His latest collaborations are with singer/songwriters Janis Kay and Niki Mak and DJ Cristo. Go to www.richardamos.com/news for the latest.
Richard began his professional music career when he worked as an assistant recording engineer at John Kongos' (He's Gonna Step on You Again !) recording studio in Barnes, London, assisting on projects for Sinead O' Connor, Gary Numan, even doing some backing vocals for Roddy Frame as well as making some tea ! Prior to this Richard was a singer/songwriter in a synth pop duo called Exhibit-A with his brother Robin performing across London. Together they wrote and produced over 30 songs and built a home recording studio. They were managed by Michael Alfandari (former manager of Genesis and business partner of Harvey Goldsmith). Richards musical aptitude comes from his Dutch mother who is still a music and piano teacher and he is also a cousin of the famous Dutch pianist and composer Marius Van Paassen. As a child Richard studied piano and cello to grade 6 and 7 respectively and sang in a church choir for over 5 years.
I hope you are fine
