ZAINE GRIFF HISTORY

[Courtesy Farenheit 451]

Zaine Griff was another of the strange class of Bowie influenced acts who managed to acknowledge without being mere clones of the original. Similar to Cuddly Toys' frontman Sean Purcell, Viva & White Heat's Harton, Zaine Griff managed to acknowledge without being in Bowie's debt. A splendid artist in his own right, Zaine Griff failed to achieve his potential and eventually moved into other artistic areas.

SCREEMER
Zaine joined Screemer as bass player and vocalist and they eventually secured a recording deal with Arista Records. Screemer released two singles in 1976 and 1977 called Interplanetray Twist and In The City.

ZAINE GRIFF BAND
It was Arista themselves who encourgaed Zaine to go solo, (although ultimately he signed for another label) Eventually forming the first Zaine Griff Band. At this time Chris Thompson [Singer-Guitarist from Manfred Mann's Earth Band] heard Zaine's songs and helped him to put his first demos together. In 1978 Zaine worked with The Kinks, playing bass on their Misfits LP. The Zaine Griff band played 150 gigs before Zaine decided it was again time to move on.

ASHES & DIAMONDS
In 1979 Zaine finally got his solo break, signing to Automatic Records and subsequently Warner Bros. Zaine performed his debut solo gig at the Reading Festival in 1979. His band at this time included Hans Zimmer and Warren Cann (in between his Ultravox obligations). Three singles, TONIGHT, ASHES & DIAMONDS and RUN heralded the release of Zaine's debut - ASHES & DIAMONDS [Oct 1980]. The LP was co-produced by Tony Visconti, famous for his work with David Bowie. Through Visconti, Zaine met Bowie who re-recorded three songs using Zaine and his band.

FIGURES
Automatic Records sadly folded, but Zaine deceided to start work on his second LP. With the help of Hans Zimmer, Zaine booked into the Snake Ranch Studio in Chelsea. Zaine enlisted the help of Yukihiro Takahashi (from Yellow Magic Orchestra) on keyboards, Warren Cann on drums, Billy Kritian on bass, Andy Clark on keyboards, Richard Harvey on alto sax and Kate Bush and Linda Jardin on backing vocals. Unknown to Zaine, Warren passed a copy of the finished cassette to Chris O'Donnell who was so impressed that he contacted Zaine and helped him to secure a new deal with Polydor Records. Two singles were released, FIGURES, and FLOWERS - pre-empting ZAINE's second album "FIGURES" [Sept 1982].

Poor sales and a changing world led Zaine to concentrate on other areas while still continuing to create music. An Art exhibition and the investigation of other areas of financial security meant that by 1986 there was no new recording contract and due to changes in his personal circumstances the hunger to remain in music seemed to have dissipated. One final strange performance did come about - a final television appearance : on the David Essex hosted "Search For A Star" [?], Zaine performed the last track in his repertoire - PASSIONATE REPLY… a bizarre footnote in a career which never really manifested the way is should have.

ZAINE GRIFF DISCOGRAPHY

SINGLES

1980

TONIGHT / THIS COULD MEAN EVERYTHING

ASHES & DIAMONDS / THE HAUNT

RUN / SHE'S MY MAN

1982

FIGURES / MENTAL PICTURES

FLOWERS / TURN OUT THE LIGHT

1983

SWING / HOT [IMPORT]

1984

SO LONG / ? [UNRELEASED]

12"

1982

FIGURES [EXT] / MENTAL PICTURES [EXT]

1983

SWING / HOT / PASSIONATE REPLY [IMPORT]

ALBUMS

ASHES & DIAMONDS - 1980

FIGURES - 1982

THE PROUD ONES
THE VANISHING MEN
FLOWERS
HOT
FAHREHEIT 451
FIGURES
THE STRANGER
TIME STANDS STILL
83RD AND 4TH
CHANCE OF A DANCE
THE BEATING OF WINGS