Roger Scott Craig
Roger Scott Craig is an Irish musician who started his career with The Merseybeats in the early 1970s, along with members, Tony Crane, Derek Cashin, and Tony Coates. They later left "Tony Crane and The Merseybeats", to form a band called Liverpool Express, which Roger invited to come with them, Billy Kinsley whom Roger saw performing in clubs at the time, and admired Billy's singing voice.
Liverpool Express experienced chart success with "You Are My Love", mentioned by Paul McCartney as one of his favourite love songs,[1] plus "Everyman Must Have A Dream", "Dreamin", "Hold Tight", and "Smile". They toured the UK and Europe supporting Rod Stewart,[1] released more singles, and were successful in South America (they were the first band to play large stadiums in Brazil).[1] They later played at the Royal Gala Performance at the request of Prince Charles,[1] at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. After three albums, they had no further chart success.
Craig left Liverpool behind in 1981 to settle in California, he says he was tired of the cold and rainy weather! He joined the band Fortune, after auditioning here in the U.S. for several bands, including Foreigner. He wanted to be on the West Coast of the US which led to him taking the Fortune job; and they recorded one album in the mid-eighties. This album had all but one of the songs on it written by Roger S. Craig. This album has become something of a cult classic, all due to his songwriting abilities.
After this period he joined Nina Hagen's band, and appeared on her album, In Ekstase. They toured Europe and South America and played to hundreds of thousands of people at the Rock in Rio concert in Brazil.[1] Nina Hagen was not well known in the US, but was VERY popular in Europe. She went through various keyboard players when Roger quit her band, only to hire him again at a later date as no one else came up to her standards as a performer.
He, along with Larry Greene formed the band Harlan Cage in the mid-nineties, and they recorded and released successful albums right into the 2000s until a 'Best of' album was commissioned. Roger and Larry formed a very workable group, with Larry's strong and sensual vocals, Harlan Cage became a cult classic which vied with the previous Fortune album for supremacy in the Pomp AOR world.
Roger later formed a new band, 101 South, in 2000 and they recorded three albums together. 101 South comprises the fulmination of the creativity from all the songs he wrote throughout his life, starting with those songs he wrote for Liverpool Express, Fortune, and Harlan Cage. Roger was able to attract some exceptional musicians at this point of his career, such as Ian Bairnson (guitarist). His primary choice of vocalist was Gregory Lynne Hall, he had found other musicians who were to his ears specialists in their fields, such as Alan Jeffrey, an emotive saxophone player. Never willing to stop, without finding the best instrumentalist to present his own beautifully written music for your ears...that is what Roger Scott Craig does, that is how his mind works.
bairn
In 2002, it was Craig's idea to release a greatest hits compilation album for his old band, Liverpool Express. The album was successful and a reunion concert in Liverpool soon followed. Roger met with Billy Kinsley to write an album of brand new Liverpool Express material. The album was eventually released and named 'Once Upon A Time' in 2003.
Craig is also a composer of movies and many successful TV commercials.[1]
He now lives in California and Hawaii with his new wife who is encouraging him to release a new 101 South album as she dearly loves the many new compositions that he has written.
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