Sal Solo
Encyclopedia
Sal Solo is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Classix Nouveaux had number one hits in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and other countries in the early 1980s. They also had one Top 20 and various other Top 50 hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, including "Is It a Dream", which reached #11 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. They toured extensively in more than 30 countries, selling out big arenas. Their most fanatical following was, and still is, in Poland, where they were one of the first Western bands to tour in Communist times, after martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
was lifted.
Solo also sang with Rockets, (who sold a million and a half album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s in Italy), for their last three albums, after they gave up their former Space Rock
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...
image. Eventually, he pursued a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
career, releasing one album with MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
which included the UK Top 20
Top 20
20 #1's Now is a 2007 compilation album by various artists and presented by reggaeton production duo Luny Tunes, released on November 20, 2007, by Machete Music.-Tracklist:# Welcome to My Crib – Randy "Nota Loka"...
hit "San Damiano (Heart And Soul)".
After a pilgrimage to San Damiano, a small village in Italy near Piacenza
Piacenza
Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...
, Solo embraced the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
faith of his childhood and continued in the music industry for a short time. He had a solo hit with "San Damiano (Heart And Soul)" which reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart, and went to #1 in Poland; and a minor hit with "Music and You". For "San Damiano", he was backed by boy choristers from the St Philip's Choir
Libera (music)
Libera is a non-profit all-boy English vocal group directed by Robert Prizeman. Most members come from the parish choir of St. Philip's, Norbury, in South London. The albums, tours and TV appearances they do as Libera are in addition to their regular singing as part of the full choir of men and...
, but the first television clip (made in Poland, inside the Palace of Culture and Sciences, directed by Ryszard Karpiński) was recorded with a Polish boys' choir - Lutnia from Warsaw. In 2003, Aled Jones
Aled Jones
Aled Jones is a Welsh singer and television/radio personality, broadcaster and television presenter who first came to fame as a treble...
recorded a new version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "San Damiano" for his album Higher, which remained in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
Top 40 for several weeks, and earned a silver
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
disc. The song has also been recorded by other artistes
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, including Angel Voices (St Philip's Choir), which released their own all-treble
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...
version.
After 1987, Solo stopped recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
commercially, and became active in youth ministry
Youth ministry
Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as Youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry and is the way in which a faith group, or other religious organization involves and engages with the young people who attend its place of worship, or live in its community...
in the Catholic Church in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. During this time, he continued to write and perform new music and in the early 1990s he released three albums of Christian music
Christian music
Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely across the world....
through the Christian record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Word Records, followed by several more released independently. His latest recordings and videos
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
can be found on his own website and on sites such as MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. In 1999, he moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and now works with Catholic teens in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and other parts of the world, speaking on matters of faith and justice, and giving concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s and youth retreats.
In 1997, EMI Gold issued The Very Best of Classix Nouveaux. The original three Classix Nouveaux albums, and his MCA solo album, have now all been reissued on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by Cherry Red Records in the UK and there are plans underway for a new Cherry Red compilation of A and B sides. There is also a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
of a 1982 concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
in Strathclyde
Strathclyde
right|thumb|the former Strathclyde regionStrathclyde was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created by the Local Government Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc Act 1994...
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, issued by River Records in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Several Classix Nouveaux television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and live appearances and music videos can be found on YouTube. However, no concert DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s have ever been released. Solo says he threw away all the old Classix footage when he left the UK, as he did not think anyone would ever be interested in it again.
At a time when many 1980s bands are reforming, no Classix Nouveaux reunion seems likely. Solo always says he prefers what he is doing now. His 20th album, on social justice themes entitled We Cry Justice! was released in February 2009 by HeartBeat Records in the USA, and marks a departure from his other recent albums both in the world music style and justice themes, and the fact that it is not a specifically Christian music album.
Interesting fact
- On the cover of Sal Solo's album Heart And Soul there is visible un reproduction of the fragment of the painting from the Hall of Knights in the Jasna Góra MonasteryJasna Góra MonasteryThe Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland is the most famous shrine to the Virgin Mary in Poland and the country's greatest place of pilgrimage - for many its spiritual capital. The image of Black Madonna of Częstochowa, to which miraculous powers are attributed, is Jasna Góra's most...
, showing the siege of the monastery by Swedish army in 17th century.
Discography
Albums- 1981: Classix Nouveaux: Night People (Liberty/EMI)
- 1982: Classix Nouveaux: La Verité (Liberty/EMI)
- 1983: Classix Nouveaux: Secret (Liberty/EMI)
- 1985: Sal Solo: Heart & Soul (MCA)
- 1985: Rockets: Imperception (CGD)
- 1986: Rockets: One Way (CGD)
- 1991: Sal Solo: Look at Christ (Word UK)
- 1992: Rockets: Another Future (Polydor)
- 1994: Sal Solo: Through Ancient Eyes (Word UK)
- 1996: Sal Solo: Born to Die ( (Word UK)
- 1997: Classix Nouveaux: The Very Best of Classix Nouveaux (EMI UK)
- 1998: Sal Solo: Live! (ACTS)
- 1999: Sal Solo: Anno Domini (ACTS)
- 1999: Sal Solo: Pilgrimage - The Gospel Best of Sal Solo (ACTS)
- 2001: Sal Solo: I Worship (ACTS)
- 2001: Sal Solo: Anno Domini (Espańol) (De La Raiz)
- 2003: Sal Solo: NeoSacro (Espańol) (De La Raiz)
- 2005: Sal Solo: Yes! Best of Studio and Live (ACTS)
- 2005: Sal Solo: Teen Mass for the Millennium (ACTS)
- 2009: Sal Solo: We Cry Justice! (HeartBeat)