WaterSound - Musicians' choice.

Take an Express Tour of WaterSound with owner/engineer/producer Carlos Castro. Find out who has been recording and what's some of the latest at this very comfortable and well equipped facility.

Back to top

Sheldon Steiger, producer/mixer/engineer/composer/arranger
Ricky Martin , Beu Sisters, Verve Pipe

Steiger toured with Paul Simon, P.M. Dawn and worked extensively with Joe Jackson including his Grammy-winning Symphony No. 1. He produced a pioneering DVD for Run-DMC and composed original music for the film American Psycho. Read More...

John Kurlander, engineer/mixer
Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Toto, Beatles

With 2 Grammy nominations for classical engineering, John has worked on some great soundtracks from Philadelphia to the current Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. Read more...

Check out the StudioExpresso online event calendar

Party time this weekend!
Veteran music & entertainment producers Jimmy Iovine and Joel Gallen to produce NFL Super Bowl XXXVII halftime show in San Diego

Entertainment industry icons Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and Joel Gallen, director-producer of Tenth Planet Productions are the official NFL producers of the Super Bowl XXXVII Half-time Show. Michael Dempsey (Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special) is the co-producer.

Sting, No Doubt and Shnaia Twain are among those set to perform on Friday Night Super Bowl Bash, a new entertainment special to be broadcast from the New Orleans Arena, Fri., Feb. 1 (10:00-11:00 p.m., live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Super Bowl XXXVII is slated for Sunday, Jan. 26 in San Diego and will air on ABC. More than 800 million people worldwide annually watch the event, including 130 million viewers in the U.S. Super Bowls account for the top ten most-watched TV programs of all time. Last year's Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring U2 created one of the most memorable moments in entertainment history, according to numerous reports.

The 45th annual Grammy Awards will be staged at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 23, 2003. The show will be broadcast by CBS from 8 - 11:30 p.m. (live in the East, tape delayed in the West). The awards presentation is telecast annually to an international audience of over 2 billion in 180 countries. For more details on this years Grammy's, visit www.grammy.com


And the Grammy goes to...Congrats to all Grammy nominees and a special hip hip hooray to studioexpresso special friends: Raphael Saadiq, Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, Doug Sax, Ron Fair, Jack Joseph Puig, Michael C Ross, Arif Mardin, Elliot Scheiner, Al Schmitt, Scott Litt, Dre Dre, Elvis Costello, Craig Street and Rick Rubin.

Several artists were given 4 or more nominations this year including Avril Lavigne, Norah Jones, Ashanti, Alan Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and Raphael Saadiq (formerly of Tony Tony! Tone!), Eminem, and Sheryl Crow. Norah Jones, the daughter of legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar grabed eight Grammy nominations for her best-selling album Come Away With Me. Other nominations include Chad Kroeger of Nickleback, Remy Shand, India.Arie, Vanessa Carlton, Erykah Badu, Elvis Costello, Dr. Dre, No Doubt and Johnny Cash for his collaboration with Fiona Apple.

Universal Music Group scored a leading 151 Grammy Award nominations, followed by BMG with 71, Warner Music Group with 61, Sony with 56 and EMI with 53.

The 45th Grammy Awards will make its return to New York City after a four-year stint in Los Angeles. Pierre Cossette is executive producer, Ken Ehrlich is writer/producer, Walter Miller is producer/director, John Cossette is supervising producer and Tisha Fein is coordinating producer.

Record of the Year
"A Thousand Miles"--Vanessa Carlton
Ron Fair, producer; Tal Herzberg, Jack Joseph Puig & Michael C. Ross
"Don't Know Why"--Norah Jones
Norah Jones, Arif Mardin & Jay Newland, producers; Arif Mardin & Jay Newland, engineers/mixers
Album of the Year
Home--Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks & Lloyd Maines, producers; Gary Paczosa, engineer/mixer; Robert Hadley & Doug Sax, mastering engineers
The Eminem Show--Eminem
Jeff Bass, Dr. Dre, Eminem & Denaun Porter, producers; Steve Baughman, Mauricio "Veto" Iragorri & Steve King, engineers/mixers; Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, mastering engineer
Come Away With Me--Norah Jones
Norah Jones, Arif Mardin, Jay Newland & Craig Street, producers; Husky Huskolds, Arif Mardin & Jay Newland, engineers/mixers; Ted Jensen, mastering engineer
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Ask A Woman Who Knows--Elliot Scheiner & Al Schmitt, engineers (Natalie Cole)
Morning View--Mike Einzinger, Dave Holdredge, Scott Litt & Rick Will, engineers (Incubus)
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Dr. Dre; Nellee Hooper; Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis; Arif Mardin; Rick Rubin

A full list of nominees can be found at: Grammy Web Site

Back to top

"We are delighted that Andy will join Sony and lead our music company," Stringer said in a statement. "He is the most rare of senior entertainment executives, equally adept at business, management, strategy and value creation, as well as a consummate and proven developer of content, talent, and ideas. His skills and energy will be of enormous value as we move to transform our music business in this most challenging time for that industry."

Prior to working at NBC, Lack spent many years at CBS, where Stringer was a top executive.

Lack replaces Thomas D. Mottola, who stepped down on Jan 9th after 14 years as chief. He is planning to launch a new label in partnership with Sony. "I have been thinking about taking up this new challenge for about a year, and really made the decision to go forward only recently," Mottola said.

Expect official announcements soon regarding staffing issues for the newly merged promo department including permanent field rep territories reflecting a blending of remaining RCA and J field reps. Look for J Records Executive VP Richard Palmese to assume the helm of the new promo team. Expect J West Coast promo domo Mike Bergin to relocate to Times Square as VP/Promotion, and incumbent J Rock exec Chris Woltman to head up the label’s Rock efforts as SVP/Rock. Other incumbent RCA promo execs who are part of the new look RCA squad are Bill Burrs (VP Rock), Cheryl Khaner (VP/AC), John DiMaio (Sr. Director Modern Rock) and Dennis Blair (West Coast Rock National).

J Records chairman/CEO Clive Davis, who was forced out as head of Arista Records in 2000 only to successfully launch J Records as a joint venture with Arista parent BMG, is selling out his 50% stake in J to BMG and merging it with RCA, where he will become chairman of the combined labels, to be known as the new RCA Music Group.

Making way for Davis is Bob Jamieson, who exits as chairman/CEO of the former RCA Music Group, which consisted of RCA, BMG Canada, RCA Label Group--Nashville, RCA Victor Group, strategic marketing, BMG Special Products, and BMG Heritage. These entities-except for RCA--now fall under the control of BMG COO Michael Smellie, at least for the time being. Davis will report to BMG chairman/CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, who has also named J's president/COO Charles Goldstuck as president/COO of RCA Music Group. Richard Sanders stays on executive VP/GM of RCA Records.

Warner moving its distribution headquarters from Burbank to New York City

Warner will be based alongside the HQ of parent company WMG. "While the restructuring necessitates some painful changes, these are crucial in strengthening the organization and enabling us to continue to uphold WEA's longstanding tradition of excellence," says CEO Jim Caparro.

The WEA restructuring includes transition from 10 branch offices to four regional offices based in Atlanta, L.A., Minneapolis and N.Y., in response to a shift in WEA's customer base. Branches in San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit and Dallas will be shuttered, as will marketing offices in Boston and Philly, affecting a total of 30-45 people.

As a result, approximately 50 positions will be relocated to WEA's new East Coast home base, including sales and marketing along with their support staffs. Services such as finance, credit, IT and auditing will stay in Burbank for now. A number of employees currently in those positions will be offered the opportunity to relocate to company's new headquarters. Those who choose not to do so will be offered assistance in job placement within WMG, AOLTW and outside companies.

What do Richard Strauss, Roy Rogers, and Jerry Garcia have in common? Right, all three have had recordings of their work mastered by Paul Stubblebine.

Paul Lawson, leader of The Persuasions with Paul Stubblebine upon completion of The Persuasion¹s new CD "Might As Well" for Arista/Grateful Dead Records.

For nearly thirty years Stubblebine has been working in the San Francisco area, mastering records for a varied clientele that also includes Herbie Hancock, Sly Stone and Tony Bennett.

Stubblebine is awfully particular when it comes to equipment purchases. For the last three years his studio has relied extensively on Z-Systems technology. "I first became familiar with Z-Systems through their switchers and routers, when I was mixing a project at Skywalker Sound. Although I'm purchasing some of this equipment now, the first pieces we brought into our facility were the z Q6 Six-Channel Mastering Equalizer and the z CL6 Six-Channel Dynamics Compressor/Limiter."

Z-Systems has focused on engineering digital products that sound musical. "You obviously have to have equalizers and compressors that are highly musical. But surround sound is a
rapidly growing area of the industry, and these pieces let you link or decouple the front channels from the center and rears very quickly."


NORAH JONES FINDS NEUMANN KMS 105 VOCAL MIC ON HER PATH TO STARDOM

Norah Jones on performing on tour with the Neumann KMS 105. (PHOTO CREDIT: Image Direct)

Two-thousand two was a whirlwind year for Norah Jones culminating in five 2003 Grammy Award nominations in the following categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Female Vocal Performance, and Best Pop Vocal Album. With the extraordinary success of her debut full-length album, "Come Away With Me" (Blue Note),
that the young singer/pianist, used to playing tiny jazz clubs, now finds herself selling-out major venues in the U.S. and Europe. To meet the challenge of playing larger venues for an ever-growing throng of adoring fans, Jones has quickly learned the benefit of using the best possible equipment, exclusively adopting Neumann and Sennheiser microphones and
Sennheiser wireless ear monitors during the middle of last year.

According to Lee Moro, who joined Jones and her band as front of house engineer and production manager earlier this year, changing over to Neumann and Sennheiser microphones in June made a world of difference to her sound. Moro singles out the Neumann KMS 105 vocal microphone for particular praise. "It's real sounding and not incredibly colored," he observes. "It's a really wide-open mic. For Norah, and for what we're doing with it, it's perfect."

Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), will step down from her post by the end of this year, the organization said last week.

Rosen is leaving to spend more time with her family, the RIAA said in a statement. She became CEO in 1998 and spent 17 years overall with the RIAA, the recording industry's lobbying group. Rosen will work with Cary Sherman, the RIAA's president, to search for a successor, the statement said.


January 2003 marks Favored Nation's 4th year in business. Look for new releases by Adrian Leggs "Guitar Bones" on January 28th.

"I first heard Adrian in the earlier days of Relativity records. His performance style was stunning. He would choose odd tunings to make his compositions sound lush and exotic. Adrian incorporates tuning changes in the body of his pieces. He does this with amazing speed and intonational accuracy. I had the good fortune to tour with him and Joe Satriani on a G3 tour of Europe some years ago. We became close friends and after getting to know him I discovered a newly found respect for the man. I'll never forget the time we were in Berlin and we all went out to get into some mischief. Well, some of you may have heard o! Adrian traveled on our bus and many a nights we spent discussing music and various human philosophies. It's a great honor to be working with this extraordinary musician. I think you will enjoy his CD," says FN founder Steve Vai.


Country star Dwight Yoakam, who previously recorded for Reprise Records, now has his own label, Electrodisc Records, which will be distributed through Audium Records, the Nashville label owned by Koch Entertainment.

Koch Entertainment Distribution, incidentally, has just signed a North American distribution deal with SST Records, whose catalog features Husker Du, the Minutemen, Bad Brains, Descendents, and Soundgarden, and is also distributing product for Detroit Public Television's DPTV Media label.

Nashville indie label Audium Records run by Dwight's longtime buddy Nick Hunter. According to Dwight's manager Mark Hartley, Nick was there at Warner Brothers when Dwight — who has sold 20 million albums so far — launched his career in the mid-'80s.

Dwight will make an album, and Nick and his label, home to Charlie Daniels, Daryle Singletary, Dale Watson and others, will distribute it, Hartley said. Look for new music in the spring. In the meantime, Dwight continues to push his Bakersfield Biscuits and his companion Lanky Links sausage, and Dwight is releasing a four-CD boxed set called Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years.

Who would you like to see interviewed? Send us your feedback.
Past interviews include:Get your FREE Real One Player download

Ken Allardyce - Sarm West, UK
Chris Fogel - Fig, Glendale, CA
Greg Ladanyi - Tidal Wave Sound, Studio City, CA
Joseph Magee - O'Henry Studios, Burbank, CA
Michael C Ross - Royaltone Studios, North Hollywood, CA
Tolbert & Sutton - Studio Atlantis, Hollywood, CA
Rafa Sardina - Abbey Road, UK

studioexpresso in alliance with the following affiliates is pleased to bring you these interviews. Big thanks to: Record Production & Babblefish

The show's about to start - Come on in!
Spyro Gyra's "Original Cinema"

Ater 25 years as founder, producer, chief songwriter, and saxophone wizard with Spyro Gyra, Jay Beckenstein speaks about their new cd released on Heads Up Int, one of the premier crossover jazz labels. "In the end, it's about feeling," Beckenstein says. "When I was playing experimental classical music in college, as intellectual and unemotional as it could be, I was paying my bills by gigging with blues bands … and it was the blues that gave me a rush. Eventually I went to jazz for more sophistication, but I never wanted to lose the goose bumps."

As a first step on this project, Beckenstein turned his home studio, Bear Tracks Studios inside out, replacing his recording gear with a new and unfamiliar setup. "I wanted to change my way of working," he explains. "I wanted to experiment as I wrote, and embrace anything exciting and new that came up, as opposed to looking for a way to produce pleasant-sounding music or things that are reminiscent of what we've done in the past. I also didn't run away from dark-sounding melodies or moody chords this time," he adds.

The band, keyboardist Tom Schuman, guitarist Julio Fernandez, bassist Scott Ambush, and drummer Joel Rosenblatt have sold more than ten million copies of twenty-plus albums and tearing it up on marathon tours throughout the world. Thier 2001release In Modern Times spent 64 weeks on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Album chart, peaking at #2.
Enjoy the visual play of these great musicians!Spyro Gyra on CD NOW

One More Bridge To Cross, latest cd release from Mighty Sam McClain

Once again, Mighty Sam McClain changes the face of the blues with his new album "One More Bridge To Cross". Released on his own label, Mighty Music, the CD has a fresh sound and focuses more on Sam's powerful and heart-breakingly beautiful voice. Produced soley by the Mighty one himself, this new release is the culmination of a life-long dream. This music, like the singer, speaks passionately about life, love, faith and the simpler things in-between.. Pre-order the cd here. It won't disappoint ya! Mighty Sam, Mighty Good!
Mighty Sam CD NOW

Late 2002 Ark 21 Records released Voices Of Hope to benefit the Sabera Foundation.

Featuring some of the world's top selling artists, including Alanis Morissette, Sting, Ricky Martin, Elton John, and Placido Domingo, the idea of the album came from Melanie Griffith and her sister Tracy. The 14-track disc contains brand new music from Alanis, Antonio Banderas, Latin Grammy winner Alejandro Sanz, Vincente Amigo, Melanie Griffith and Tracy Griffith. The album also contains previously released tracks, however each song has been altered to make them unique to the CD. This eclectic album has Elton John dueting with Luciano Pavarotti on "Live Like Horses." Antonio Banderas sings a beautiful rendition of "Imagine" with the girls of the foundation singing the chorus. Latin Grammy winner, Juanes teams up with Ketama and the girls from the foundation on "Dame La Mano". Penelope Cruz sings with J.M. Serrat and Vincente Amigo on "Penelope."

The Sabera Foundation focuses its efforts on the social transformation of young women in India. The Foundation dedicates its resources to the creation of safe shelter, health care, education, nutrition and self-employment programs. Started in 1999 by Nacho Cano after seeing a young girl, Sabera, begging in the street for food and water, the foundation now houses 140 girls (with 95 waiting) in Kalitala, Calcutta. After being introduced to the foundation by Penelope Cruz, Melanie and her husband Antonio quickly became involved. Melanie and Penelope currently preside as Co-Presidents of the foundation in the United States along with supermodel, Esther Cañadas who is Director of the foundation in New York. The sales from every disc sold will benefit the Sabera Foundation in the hopes of raising enough money to build a second shelter home and hospital to help treat many more than the 2,000 now treated per year.
For more information on the Sabera Foundation, please contact Andy Gelb
at PMK/HBH Public Relations, 310.289.6200.

101st NAMM SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

The 101st NAMM Show opened last Thursday Jan 16th, bringing together a record 1,309 exhibiting companies, a record number of international attendees and thousands of retail buyers for the music products industry’s largest annual event in the United States.

Yamaha presented the 2003 NAMM Concert Honoring Sir Elton John: A Benefit for Music Education. Emmy Award winner Eric McCormack (NBC’s “Will & Grace”) hosted the benefit held on Friday night at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. Guest performers included: Vanessa Carlton, Ray Charles, Nikka Costa, Amy Grant, Bruce Hornsby, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Michael McDonald, John Mayer, Take 6, Rufus Wainwright, and Brian Wilson.

Elton and the band - Davey Johnstone, Guy Babylon, Bob Birch, John Mahon and Nigel Olsson - will be appearing at the Tabernacle, Atlanta, Georgia, for two special concerts on Tuesday February 18th and Wednesday February 19th, to benefit the Elton John Aids Foundation(EJAF). Both performances will be at 7:30pm.

Look for NAMM Summer Session Nashville, TN, USA
July 18-20, 2003



Stolen Beatles Tapes Come Together!
According to London AP on Jan 10th, Police raids in England and the Netherlands recovered what could be about 500 original Beatles tapes that were stolen in the 1970s, including some never-released tracks.

The material disappeared shortly after the 1969 Beatles sessions, which attempted a more back-to-basics approach to recording after the 1968 "White Album." The recovered reels are believed to contain dozens of entire songs, as well as snippets of tracks the band attempted, then abandoned. Along with new songs, the Beatles ran through earlier tracks for old time's sake. "Get Back" originally was written to satirize negative attitudes toward immigration in Britain in the late 1960s. In early versions, it was referred to as the "Commonwealth Song" and "No Pakistanis."

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry led the investigation with help from London detectives. They first identified suspects who were thought to have been involved in the theft and handling of the tapes. Further inquiries across Europe led to the joint operation by British and Dutch police. Two people were arrested last week in West London, and three at an undisclosed location south of Amsterdam, police said.

PLUS XXX IN PARIS INSTALLS 5.1 SYSTEM FROM ATC

As part of a recently completed rebuild of Studio 2, Studio PLUS XXX has upgraded the control room main monitor system with the installation of a 5.1-channel system from British manufacturer ATC (Acoustic Transducer Company). The system comprises three of the company's flagship SCM 300A PRO soffit-mounted units handling LCR plus two SCM 100ASL PROs for surrounds. According to owner Claude Sahakian, the multi-channel system has been installed to handle film and DVD projects.

Studio 3, a mixing, overdubbing, pre and post production and digital editing
room on the second floor at PLUS XXX, has had many years of success with a
stereo ATC SCM 200ASL PRO monitor system, Sahakian reports.

Located northeast of central Paris, Studio PLUS XXX attracts artists from
all over Europe and North America. Local and international artists as
diverse as Pavarotti, David Bowie, Eurythmics, Hooverphonic and MC Solaar
have worked at the three-room complex, which most recently has hosted
sessions in the revamped Studio 2 by Keziah Jones, with Grammy-winning mixer
Russell "Dragon" Elevado (Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, D'Angelo). Up-and-coming
international star Billy Crawford is recording a single in Studio 3.

Situated in Aston Down in rural Gloucestershire, England, ATC was established in London
in 1974 by acoustics engineer and musician Bill Woodman. ATC's drivers are manufactured in-house to exacting tolerances and are legendary for their many design innovations, such as the company's renowned Soft Dome midrange driver, which achieves exceptionally broad and even dispersion to produce a flat response anywhere in the room.

contact Plus XXX: Tel : +33 (0)1 42 02 21 02 Fax : +33 (0)1 42 45 03 53 Email : [email protected]

21 Grammy Nominations & recent artists working at Avatar

From L-R: Dave O'Donnell (Engineer), Ron Goldstein (Verve), Aaron Neville, Anthony Wilson, Rob Mounsey (Producer) in Studio A tracking for upcoming release. r-- Jane Monheit (front), Sushi Kosugi (Producer, rear left) and Roy Hendrickson (Engineer, rear right) in Studio B for a vocal overdub session.

According to studio manager Tino Avatar had a very good year. Here's some recent activity:
STUDIO A- NEVE 8068
Aaron Neville recently visiting to cut a record for Verve Records. Rob Mounsey produced and Dave O'Donnell engineered the sessions to Pro Tools. Aya Takemura assisted.

Producer Gregg Wattenberg recently in with Warner Record's artist Pat McGee, commencing tracking for a new record. Engineering is John Agnello assisted by Ross Petersen.

Nagel Heyer Records recently did a two record stint with engineer Jim Anderson using Avatar's Steinway B piano. Marc Copland and Greg Osby did a duet record, and the Donald Harrison trio record features Billy Cobham and Ron Carter. Frank Nagel Heyer produced the sessions and Peter Doris assisted.

Def Jam artist "K Fox" recently in recording strings and horns for the upcoming release.
Engineering was Niko Bolas with help from assistant engineer Brian Montgomery.

STUDIO B- SSL9000
Grammy Award winning producer Andrew Lippa recently in producing music for the upcoming release of "Legally Blonde II" for MGM Studios. Vince Caro engineered the sessions assisted by Aya Takemura.

Patty Scialfa was recently in with Grammy winning engineer Trina Shoemaker putting the finishing touches on her album. Ross Petersen assisted the string sessions.

Studio C- NEVE-VRP72
SONY PICTURES recently in recording music for "Mona Lisa Smile" with engineer James Farber producer Randy Poster.

Vertical Jazz Records and producer/arranger extraordinaire Bob Belden recently recorded the Classical Jazz Quartet: pianist Kenny Barron, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Lewis Nash. The album, Plays Bach, is a collection of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Telarc Records recently in to record McCoy Tyner and Monty Alexander Trio using Sony's DSD format. Telarc's Jack Renner and Elaine Martone engineered and produced, respectively with assistance from Aya Takemura and Peter Doris.

Photo caption
Pacifique Recording Studios has installed its second 96-channel Solid State Logic XL 9000 K Series SuperAnalogue™ console in Studio East (pictured)

XL x2 for Pacifique!

Pacifique Recording Studios has installed its second 96-channel Solid State Logic XL 9000 K Series SuperAnalogue™ console in Studio East. The second XL, as specified by owners Joe, Ken and Vic Deranteriasian, will address the overwhelming demand for XL studio time created by the initial XL installation in Pacifique's Studio West. Top recording acts like Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Christina Aguilera, Shania Twain, Will Smith and Natalie Cole look to Pacifique as a place to create mega-hits on the cutting edge technology Pacifique is noted for.

Renowned producer/engineer Dexter Simmons has recently used Pacifique's original XL, along with Brad Gilderman, DJ Quick and Jean-Marie Horvat and the response from these well-known producers/engineers is impressive. " For our clients, the mixing experience cannot be duplicated on anything less than an XL, and that is why we bought our second one," says owner Joe. The internal surround sound mixing capabilities are a big plus," Vic explains. "As surround mixing becomes the norm, the XL gives us capacity to address this market. Also, we worked closely with SSL engineers to integrate our 50-inch plasma display and the Pro-Tools computer to be able to switch Pro-Tools, the DK audio scope and the SSL computer seamlessly throughout the studio. This capability allows us to quickly view different aspects of a session and still remain focused on the music."

"Our clients love every aspect of the console," states Ken. "They feel that the sound is more open, the EQ's are more powerful, the computer offers incredible speed and the automated panning facilities, even for stereo mixes, are excellent."

Contact Joe Deranteriasian at Pacifique: 818-761-8042 Phone 818-761-9277 Fax

Farewell to Maurice Gibb - 1949-2003

About 200 mourners, including singer Michael Jackson and other celebrities, joined family members last Wednesday at a private funeral for former Bee Gee Maurice Gibb as the county medical examiner's office disclosed it was reviewing the Bee Gee's sudden death.

Gibb, 53, who played keyboards and bass in the band, died Sunday Jan. 12, 2003 at a hospital three days after doctors decided to operate on a blocked intestine after he suffered cardiac arrest.

The Bee Gees, short for the Brothers Gibb, were a falsetto-voiced disco sensation during the 1970s, with a string of hits from the movie "Saturday Night Fever," including "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever." Their contributions to the album in 1977 made it the best-selling movie soundtrack ever, with more than 40 million copies sold.

The brothers had nine No. 1 songs, wrote dozens of hits for other artists, and sold more than 110 million records - placing them fifth in pop history behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. Known for their close harmonies and original sound, the Bee Gees are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The brothers wrote and produced songs for Barbara Streisand, Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick in the 1980s. They also wrote the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton hit "Islands in the Stream." The Bee Gees run a music production company in Miami called Middle Ear Studios.

Originally from England, the brothers gained fame as a teen pop group in Australia, then returned to England in the 1960s.The Bee Gees released three studio albums and went on a world tour in the 1990s. The live album from the tour "One Night Only," sold more than 1 million albums in the United States.

"He was a truly talented artist and a wonderful man full of wit and passion for life," Bee Gees manager Allen Kovac said in a statement.

The Bee Gees -- twins Maurice and Robin, and their older brother Barry -- have lived in South Florida since the late 1970s. Their younger brother, Andy, who had a successful solo career, died in 1988 at age 30 from a heart ailment. Gibb's first wife was British singer Lulu. He and
his second wife, Yvonne, were married for more than 20 years and had two children.

obtained from Middle Ear studios. One fan's guitar signed by all three
Family has requested donations to AG Memorial Foundations in lieu of flowers Please make check payable to:
The Andy Gibb Memorial Foundation
c/o The Dade Community Foundation
200 So. Biscayne Blvd., Suite #2780
Miami, FL 33131-2343

Martin Luther King Day Remembered this week.

Till and his mother

'Twas down in Mississippi no so long ago,
When a young boy from Chicago town stepped through a Southern door.
This boy's dreadful tragedy I can still remember well,
The color of his skin was black and his name was Emmett Till.

The Death of Emmett Till
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
© 1963, 1968 Warner Bros. Inc
© Renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Emmett Till's death acted as "the catalyst of the modern civil rights movement." One Mother's rage and courage gave voice to a race and awakened a nation.
"I have A Dream"
--Dr Martin Luther King

until next month...Peace.