Richard Gannaway
Richard Gannaway is a composer, producer, recording artist who founded the world/new age MusicAL group, Aomusic (also known as, AO). The group features Miriam Stockley, the voice of Karl Jenkins' "Adiemus" project, whose recording credits include Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, George Michael, Freddie Mercury, Deniece Williams, Mike Oldfield, Brian May and David Arkenstone. Jazz keyboardist / producer, Jay Oliver is also a member of the group, whose credits include, Sheryl Crow, The Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Wynona Judd, Glenn Frey, Chick Corea, Peabo Bryson, Dave Weckl and Maynard Ferguson. Gannaway founded Aomusic's indie label, AO Music/Arcturian Gate.
During the seventies and early eighties Gannaway toured in acoustic ensembles as a 5-string banjo player. He moved to Los Angeles in 1986 as a composer and formed the rock group Tiger & the Helix in 1990 with guitarist Andy Georges and drummer Mike Lawrence. The band released the album Peace Face on Arcturian Gate in 1994, which also featured Keyboardist, Jay Oliver. Gannaway toured Helix throughout Western Europe with backing musicians from Canada for three years, then retired the project in 1997 while developing the sound for Aomusic's debut release "Grow Wild" with Jay Oliver.
In 2001, Gannaway and Oliver were invited to China by CRC (the China Record Corporation) and introduced to the Beijing Olympic Committee, who asked them to compose theme music for the 2008 Summer Games. Ultimately, the Aomusic song ("On Jai Ya") was not selected as the 2008 Olympic theme. In 2009 the song was released on Aomusic's second album "Twirl", and chosen as soundtrack music for the 2011 promotional trailer Project Peace on Earth.
With the release of their third Aomusic album "...and Love Rages on!" in Feb. 2011, Gannaway formally aligned the group with one of the many charities under the FirstGiving / GlobalGiving umbrellas. The FirstGiving / Aomusic alliance is specifically organized to build sustainable villages for the children of Haiti who were displaced by an earthquake in 2010.
Discography
- Tiger & the Helix - "Peace Face" (1994)
- Aomusic - "Grow Wild" (2000)
- Aomusic - "Twirl" (2009)
- Aomusic - "...and Love Rages on!" (2011