Terence Trent D'Arby

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Sananda Francesco Maitreya (born Terence Trent Howard on March 15, 1962), better known by his former stage name Terence Trent D'Arby, is an American singer-songwriter. He also plays many of the instruments on and produces his own albums.

Early life and career

D'Arby was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, in 1962, he grew up with his stepfather, Reverend James Benjamin Darby, a minister of the Pentecostal church and Frances Darby, a gospel singer,^[1] teacher and counselor. D'Arby was known to childhood friends as Terry Darby. His family moved from New York to New Jersey to Chicago and then settled in DeLand, Florida, north of Orlando. A graduate of DeLand High School, he sang with the Modernaires, a show choir of high school.^{[citation needed]}

D'Arby trained as a boxer in Orlando and won the Golden Gloves lightweight championship. He received an offer to attend boxing school in the United States Army, but his father insisted he go to college instead. Maitreya enrolled at the University of Central Florida but quit a year later, enlisting in the U.S. Army. He was posted at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then served in the 3rd Armored Division, near Frankfurt, Germany.^[1] He was formally discharged by the army in April 1983 after going absent without leave. While in Germany, he also worked with the band The Touch, releasing an album of material called Love On Time (1984). It was later re-issued in 1989 as Early Works after his world-wide success as a solo artist. In 1986 he left Germany for London, where he briefly played with the band, The Bojangels, after which he signed a solo recording deal.

Fame as Terence Trent D'Arby

D'Arby's debut solo album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, released in 1987, is his best-known and, in commercial terms, most successful work. The album, which produced hits like "If You Let Me Stay", "Wishing Well", "Dance Little Sister", and "Sign Your Name", sold over a million copies in the first three days of its release, and its sales currently total over 12 million. The album also earned him a Grammy Award in March 1988 in the category Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male. In that same year, he earned a Soul Train Award nomination for Best New Artist.

His follow-up was the album Neither Fish Nor Flesh: A Soundtrack of Love, Faith, Hope & Destruction (1989). It sold over 2 million copies.

It took four more years and a move to Los Angeles until his next project, Symphony or Damn: Exploring the Tension Inside the Sweetness (1993) was released. The record explored some of the themes of Neither Fish Nor Flesh, and contains the singles "Delicate" and "She Kissed me". It gathered favorable reviews and was played widely on radio. It peaked at #4 on the UK Album Charts.

In 1995, D'Arby released Vibrator, which largely followed Symphony or Damn in its musical direction. It was well received, and also followed by a very successful world tour.

During the 1990s, the relations between him and his record label Columbia Records became strained, eventually leading to his departure in 1996. He moved to Java Records for one year, during which he recorded Terence Trent D'Arby's Solar Return, which was not released. In 2000, he bought back the rights to his unreleased album and left the record company as well as his management team, Lippman Entertainment.

In 1999, D'Arby collaborated with INXS to replace his friend, late vocalist Michael Hutchence, so the band could play at the opening of facilities for the Sydney Olympics.

Later career as Sananda Maitreya

D'Arby adopted the name Sananda Maitreya, following a series of dreams and he legally changed his name to Sananda Maitreya on October 4, 2001. He proclaimed in an interview that "Terence Trent D'Arby was dead...he watched his suffering as he died a noble death", in what was perceived as an attempt to reinvent himself artistically and free himself from what he believed to be the oppressive nature of the record business.

In 2001, Maitreya moved back to Europe and Germany, resettling in Munich and starting his own independent record label, Treehouse Pub. The year also marked his first album release in six years, as the unreleased Terence Trent D'Arby's Solar Return was revamped into Wildcard. The album, which received a warm critical welcome, was at first available for free through his website, and later gained a commercial release through a one-album distribution deal with Universal Music and then an with an independent release with the artist's own record label.

In 2002, the now 40-year-old Maitreya moved to Milan, Italy, and began working on his next project, Angels & Vampires - Volume I. The songs were initially released initially through Weedshare by chapters, allowing the fans to get a glimpse of the work as it evolved. On July 29, 2005, the fully mastered album was finally released through his webshop utilizing the mp3 format.

In July 2005, Maitreya started working on Angels & Vampires - Volume II. He released each chapter online as he finished recording the songs. On April 29, 2006, he released the finished mastered album in his online shop. That was followed by the release of the 2CD limited edition of 'Angels & Vampires' at the end of 2007. In 2009, the album Nigor Mortis: A Critical Mass was released on his official website both as a CD and as Mp3. In 2010 he started the recording of his next project called The Sphinx, its first chapter, made of 3 instrumental classical songs, is available on the ecommerce of the artist official website.

Maitreya currently^[update] lives in Milan, Italy where he continues to create music. Since the early stages of his music career he has always written, composed, arranged and produced all his tracks. In his later albums such as Angels & Vampires and Nigor Mortis he also played all instruments. He is also currently touring with his band 'The Nudge Nudge' around Europe to present his new music called 'Post Millennium Rock'.

Film career

D'Arby has appeared in two films, as well as the TV mini-series Shake, Rattle and Roll where he played the part of Jackie Wilson.

His music has also been included on several movie and television soundtracks, notably his version of the theme song of 1991's Frankie and Johnny, as well as having one of his songs featured prominently in the end credits of Beverly Hills Cop III, "Right Thing, Wrong Way", which he wrote and produced with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Another of his songs, "What Shall I Do?", was also featured in an episode of the UPN television series Girlfriends. In 2007, three songs appeared on Judd Apatow's movie Knocked Up.

Collaborations

D'Arby was featured on "A Stronger Man", a dance single by Everything But The Girl's Ben Watt. He also duetted with Des'ree on the single "Delicate" from the album Symphony or Damn. In 2008, Nathan Jay remixed the song "As Yet Untitled" on "This Land Is Still My Home", from the album Virtually. He also did background vocals on Corey Hart's "Love and Money" track from his 1992 album Attitude & Virtue.

Discography

Albums

• 1987 - Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby
• 1989 - Neither Fish Nor Flesh (A Soundtrack of Love, Faith, Hope & Destruction)
• 1993 - Symphony or Damn* (*Exploring the Tension Inside the Sweetness)
• 1995 - Vibrator
• 2001 - Wildcard (reissued in 2002 as Sananda Maitreya's Wildcard! - The Jokers' Edition)
• 2005 - Angels & Vampires - Volume I
• 2006 - Angels & Vampires - Volume II
• 2009 - Nigor Mortis
• 2010 - The Sphinx

Singles

See also

• List of Number 1 albums from the 1980s (UK)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• BRIT Awards
• Grammy Awards of 1988

References

External links

• Official website
• Sananda Maitreya at MySpace
• Sananda Maitreya channel at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
• Terence Trent D'Arby at Rolling Stone