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Christina
Vocals |
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Rob Reed
Keyboards, guitar, bass, vocals |
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Chris Fry
Guitars |
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Magenta Biography - 2011 Update
Best female singer – Classic Rock Presents Prog Readers Poll
Best female singer (a record breaking 6 times), best band, best guitarist, best live show – Classic Rock Society Awards
“Seven” included in Classic Rock Presents Prog’s top 50 prog albums of all time
When Cyan composer and multi-instrumentalist Rob Reed released double album “Revolutions” in 2001 under the banner “Magenta” little did he realise that he had started something that would take on a life of its own. Compared favourably to the artists that had inspired it, like Yes and Genesis, the success of their debut brought public demand for live shows, and so a band was formed around Rob on keyboards, vocalist Christina Booth and guitarist Chris Fry, leading to a triumphant appearance at the 2003 Baja Prog Festival in Mexicali, Mexico.
The band followed this up with the award winning “Seven” in 2004. This was followed by a headline appearance at the Rites Of Spring Festival in Pennsylvania, USA. At the end of 2005 they released their first live DVD “The Gathering”, followed by the band’s third album “Home” released in 2006. Originally released as a single album with a bonus disc, “Home” has recently been re-released as the double album it was always intended to be.
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In early 2007 the single “Speechless” made it into the lower part of the UK single chart, while all the bands EPs were collected together as “The Singles” album. As well as an appearance with IQ at the Tiana Festival in Spain, the band once again played the USA, this time the Nearfest festival. Their appearance at The Point in Cardiff at the end of the year was recorded for a DVD “Live at The Point”.
2008 saw the release of album four, the powerful and much praised “Metamorphosis” which, in part, returned to the epic track format of “Revolutions” but with a harder, darker edge. The band continued to play the album live throughout the year, but in 2009 switched briefly to an acoustic format for the live album and DVD “Live at Real World”, recorded at Peter Gabriel’s prestigious studio in near Bath. As well as a remixed version of perennial favourite “Seven”, 2009 also saw the band release a superb cover of the Yes classic song “Wonderous Stories”, which reached number one in Amazon’s rock download chart.
A second cover version, this time a beautiful reworking of ELPs "Lucky Man", was followed by a short hiatus for the band. However Magenta returned triumphantly in 2011 with their fifth album "Chameleon" . This showed a different side to the band, a set of shorter and extremely varied tracks. Written and recorded over just a few weeks with lyrics by Christina, "Chameleon" also showcased a more spontaneous aspect to the band.
Magenta returned to live performance as a five-piece in 2011, featuring new members Steve Roberts on drums and Dan Nelson on bass. These shows celebrated the 10th anniversary of "Revolutions" and included the band's third appearance at the Summers End Festival. The live band continued with two special concerts in March 2012, celebrating the diversity of the Magenta family, with the band playing material not just by Magenta but by a variety other related projects including solo tracks by Christina and Chris Fry alongside songs by Cyan and ChimpanA. The band are now hard at work on Magenta 6, which promises a return to the recording approach and sound of "Seven" . With the album due for release later in the year, the next era in the band's evolution looks very bright indeed for Magenta, the true colour of Progressive Rock.
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