Ken Tamplin

Ken Tamplin (born December 11, 1963 ) is an American rock musician and singing teacher . He is considered a four-octave vocal wonder and was the singer and guitarist of the American glam metal band Shout at the end of the 1980s , which celebrated some successes in the Christian metal scene as well as in the secular hard rock area. As a solo artist, he has recorded eight albums since 1990 . He has also written the music for several films, series and TV commercials. He currently works primarily as a voice trainer for the Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy.

biography

childhood

Ken Tamplin grew up in a Christian home. He started playing guitar when he was six and singing when he was nine. Despite his Christian upbringing, he turned away from the faith in early adolescence and got into the drug scene, suffered four phencyclidine overdoses , took and traded cocaine , hashish and other drugs. At the age of 14 he overcame his drug problems and became a Christian . "I've been on fire for Him ever since," says Tamplin looking back.

Joshua

Tamplin's first band stop was the Christian melodic metal formation Joshua , led by guitarist Joshua Perahia. He worked on some of the songs on the first two albums The Hand is Quicker than the Eye (1982) and Surrender (1985) as a singer and guitarist. However, since Surrender was re-recorded by Joshua Perahia in 1992, including with Robyn Kyle Basauri as the singer, the old version, on which Tamplin participated, has become a rarity.

Shout

In 1987 Tamplin founded the group Shout together with guitarist Chuck King ( Idle Cure ) , whose first album Won't Be Long was released the following year, which can be classified between melodic hard rock and glam metal and is characterized by Christian-influenced lyrics. Bassist Loren Robinson and drummer Joseph (Joe) Galletta, who Tamplin knew from his time with Joshua and who subsequently became an integral part of Shout, were hired to record the album. Well-known guitarists like Marty Friedman ( Megadeth ) and Michael Angelo Batio ( Nitro ) as well as drummer Dennis Holt ( AD ) were also involved in the album. Guitar virtuoso Lanny Cordola (including Giuffria and House of Lords (Band) | House of Lords) also contributed some guitar solos and a friendship developed between Tamplin and him, which led to further musical encounters, including two Tamplin solo albums and 1992 in the rock group Magdallan. Won't Be Long sold well straight away, also in Europe, where they went on tour and performed at the Marquee Club (London) in August 1988.

In 1989 the second Shout album In Your Face was released, which is a step harder and faster than its predecessor. 40,000 copies were sold in the first month after publication. The album was said to have "every nuance and gradation of volume and speed". During this time the group became widely successful, with sold out concerts at the Roxy Theater (West Hollywood). The single In Your Face received the 1990 Dove Award as "Hard Music Song of the Year".

In 1989 Tamplin was hired for the first time as a producer for the album Angelica by the band of the same name around guitarist Dennis Cameron. Tamplin brought metal singer Rob Rock on board, but also sang a song himself: Face to Face .

1990 came the temporary end of Shout, mainly for two reasons: the "inability of Christian music to keep artists afloat financially", although they had already sold well over 100,000 albums by this time, and a legal battle over the naming rights that led to it resulted in a band from the US East Coast being granted the right to perform under the name Shout, while Tamplin was granted the right to perform under that name. This was followed by a compilation of the best songs plus two new ones under the title At The Top Of Their Lungs in 1992.

In 1999 the formation finally reported back with the album Shout Back , which is stylistically more versatile than the previous Shout albums and moves between acoustic pop, rock and hard rock.

In 2010 the band re-entered the stage at Legends of Rock in Ennepetal, Germany, playing songs from the first two albums and, as an encore, the tamplin song Sing Hallelujah from the album In the Witness Box .

Solo career

After Shout temporarily ended, Tamplin began his solo career in 1990, which culminated in eight studio albums by 2003. He won a total of four Dove Awards (including his band activities) , including for the 1993 disc Tamplin as "Hard Music Album of the Year".

For his first album An Ax to Grind from 1990 he invited many guest musicians - including Scott van Zen, Lanny Cordola , Joey Tafolla, Ken Mary and Joe Galetta - which is why he released it under the name "Tamplin and Friends". The included song Take 'em Back also appeared on the John Jacobs and the Power Team soundtrack released in the same year .

In 1991 Soul Survivor was released . Like its predecessor, it can be found in Melodic Rock , but overall it is a bit quieter.

After the release of his first two solo albums, he founded the melodic rock group Magdallan (later written "Magdalen") with guitarist Lanny Cordola , which released the 1992 album Big Bang . Tamplin and Cordola wrote the songs and also produced the album together. While Cordola then released other albums under the band name Magdalen, Tamplin got out of the project after Big Bang and continued to concentrate on his solo albums.

In 1993 the album Tamplin was released , for which he won the 1994 Dove Award in the “Hard Music Album of the Year” category. Overall, it's heavier and more guitar-oriented than its previous releases.

In 1995 In the Witness Box followed , which by and large tied in with the harshness of the previous album, but also contains two more pop songs and an acoustic ballad. Ex- GIUFFRIA guitarist Lanny Cordola worked as guitarist and co-songwriter on the album. The song Sing Hallelujah , a song of praise set in hard rock, became a crowd favorite. In Germany an edition with 5 demo versions of songs from the albums Big Bang and An Ax to Grind was released for the European market .

While all of his previous records can be roughly classified as melodic hard rock, the albums We the People (1996), The Colors of Christmas (1997) and Where Love Is (1998) are more experimental and tend to be in the areas of pop , jazz and gospel , Acoustic and rock . We the People appeared in Germany in 1997 in a special edition with two bonus songs.

The album Make Me Your Voice , released in 2001, was produced with Stu Goldberg to raise funds for Christian groups who campaign for the massively persecuted and oppressed dark-skinned, predominantly Christian minority in Sudan, and to raise public awareness of the genocide in Sudan Direct South Sudan and Darfur (Western Sudan). The album includes gospel singers Andraé Crouch and Charlie Peacock, but also a song by Tamplin himself - Great, Great, Love - is included. In 2002 and 2003, two sequels, also produced by Tamplin, were released: Make Me Your Voice II and Make Me Your Voice III .

Tamplin's last album to date was released in 2003: Wake the Nations is a return to his musical roots of melodic hard rock. Due to the large number of guest musicians involved - including singer Jeff Scott Soto and guitarists Scott van Zen, Howie Simon and Marty Friedman - the artist's name is again called "Ken Tamplin and Friends". With eighteen songs, over 78 minutes of playing time and a bonus DVD, Wake the Nations Tamplins is the most extensive release to date.

After this release he began to work as a producer. In 2005 he produced the album Live Your Dreams by Daize Shayne, on which he played a major role as studio guitarist and background singer.

Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy

In 2008 he founded the Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy and has been working as a vocal coach ever since. As part of this work, the cover albums Got You Covered 1-6, the karaoke albums Ken Tamplin Karaoke 1-5, the gospel compilation Then Sings My Soul and the medley compilation Superstar Medleys were published on iTunes .

Music for films, series and commercials

Tamplin has also composed music for films, TV series and commercials. Among the films are: Inspector Gadget , The Tempest , Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man , Waterboy - The guy with the water damage , 3 Charlie's Angels , The Mod Squad , Wild America and First Division - The Major League are back . TV series include Melrose Place , Beverly Hills, 90210 , The X-Files - The FBI's Scary Cases , Baywatch - The Lifeguards of Malibu , Ace Ventura , Spin City , On Disney Now! and Entertainment Tonight . He has also written the music for advertisements for Nestlé , Hot Wheels , Acura , Ford , Honda , Nissan , Mazda , Japan Airlines and Shakey’s .

Personal

Ken Tamplin is married and has two children. The former frontman of Van Halen , Sammy Hagar , is his cousin.

Discography

Shout

• 1988: Won't Be Long (Frontline Records)
• 1989: In Your Face (Frontline Records)
• 1992: At The Top Of Their Lungs (Intense Records / Frontline)
• 1999: Shout Back (Z Records)

Magdallan

• 1992: Big Bang (Intense Records)

Solo albums

• 1990: An Ax To Grind (Intense / Frontline)
• 1991: Soul Survivor (Intense / Frontline)
• 1993: Tamplin (Benson / IRS)
• 1995: In The Witness Box (Benson / Liberty / Milestone)
• 1996: We The People (Benson / Liberty / Milestone)
• 1997: We The People with two bonus songs (CeeM)
• 1997: The Colors Of Christmas (CeeM)
• 1998: Where Love Is (CeeM)
• 2003: Wake The Nations (Song Haus / Mascot)

Web links

• www.kentamplin.com - official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CCM Magazine August 1989
2. ↑ Angelic Warlord: Reviews - Joshua - Surrender
3. ↑ Mark Hale: 2646 Shout . In: Headbangers , First edition, second printing. Edition, Popular Culture, Ink, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1993, ISBN 1-56075-029-4 , p. 316.
4. ↑ Brian Quincy Newcomb: Notebook: Shout It Out !! . In: CCM Magazine . 11, No. 4, October 1988, p. 10.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Dan Milette: A SHOUT for Mortality . In: CCM Magazine . 12, No. 2, August 1989, p. 17.
6. ↑ Mark Eischer: Reviews . In: CCM Magazine . 11, No. 9, March 1989, p. 39.
7. ↑ Kevin Allison: On the Beat / Rock . In: CCM Magazine . 11, No. 11, May 1989, p. 14.
8. ^ Dove Award Recipients for 1990 . Gospel Music Association . Archived from the original on October 20, 2006. Retrieved March 1, 2007.
9. ↑ Angelic Warlord: Reviews - Angelica - Angelica
10. ↑ ^{a b} Doug Van Pelt: Tamplin's Got An Ax To Grind . In: CCM Magazine . 13, No. 3, September 1990, pp. 22-23.
11. ^ ^{A b c} William Lobdell: Raising Their Voices , Los Angeles Times . February 19, 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2009. 
12. ↑ GMA Dove Awards: Past Winners
13. ↑ What Sammy Hagar Sez Archived from the original on October 31, 2000. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: HM Magazine . No. 66.Retrieved April 30, 2007.