With a name like Era, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Era phenomenon was a group, but Era is, in fact, the work of one man - Eric Lйvi. At that time, the Rolling Stones were a subversive group, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple were beginning to drive the crowds wild with their sharp riffs. At that time, to imitate his idols, the adolescent Eric Lйvi strummed his first chords on an electric guitar. At that time, rock music meant revolution, emergency, efferverscence. In 1977, Eric Lйvi founded the group Shakin' Street in Paris. Lйvi (who launched his career performing under the stage name Eric Lewy), rose to fame in the 70's with the hard rock band Shakin' Street. Lйvi played guitar alongside singer Fabienne Shine, bass-player Corinne Marienneau and Shakin' Street's other guitarist Louis Bertignac. Their first concert was at the mythical festival of Mont-de-Marsan, where their shared the billing with, among others, The Clash, Der Feelgood, Generation X (Billy Idol) and The Damned. The next morning, Shakin' Street were on the front page of the English music magazines. This sudden fame led CBS to offer them a contract: to record their first album "Vampire Rock" in London.

In 1979, the group released their second album on Columbia USA, produced by Sandy Pearlman (The Clash, Blue Oyster Cult). Shakin' Street became an important part of the American rock scene: thier first American concert was at the annual Day on the Green festival in San Francisco, in front of 80,000 people who had come to applaud Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick and Journey. Shkain' Street were also on tour at that time with ACDC and the Blue Oyster Cult both in America and throughout Europe. In 1981, the group split and Eric moved to New York. He worked with Marianne Faithfull and other very famous musicians on the New York scene for various group projects.

Eric Lйvi went on to reinvent himself as a successful solo artist, re-emerging on the French music scene in the 90's as a soundtrack composer. Lйvi went on to write music for several famous French films, including Jean-Marie Poirй's 1990 comedy "L'Opйration Corned-beef". But it was Lйvi's soundtrack for Poirй's box-office smash "Les Visiteurs" which would really catapult him to fame in 1993. (Following the phenomenal success of "Les Visiteurs", Poirй made a sequel - "Les Couloirs du temps : les Visiteurs 2" - in 1998 and Lйvi was, of course, invited to write the soundtrack for this film too).

"Les Visiteurs", a time-travel comedy set between the Middle Ages and the present day, proved to be a particularly challenging film as far as the music was concerned. Lйvi managed to capture the scenario's frequent shifts between the Middle Ages and the 20th century, by writing a soundtrack which fused medieval-style compositions (а la "Carmina Burana") with computerised synthesisers and electro beats. Poirй's film proved to be a phenomenal hit in France, smashing all previous box-office records and attracting audiences of over 13 million. Naturally enough, Eric Lйvi's soundtrack benefited from the phenomenal success of "Les Visiteurs" - and it came as no surprise to anyone when "Enae Volare mezzo", the theme song from the film, went on to become an overnight hit.

The huge success of the "Visiteurs" soundtrack encouraged Lйvi to go back into the studio and begin experimenting with more medieval/synth fusions. And it was thus that Era and the album "Era" came to life. Lйvi's album (released in the spring of '97 under the pseudonym Era) featured eleven tracks which sounded as if they had been recorded beneath the vaults of an ancient cathedral. In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth. As was the case with Lйvi's best-selling single, "Enae Volare mezzo", the backing choir featured on the album "Era" was recorded in London at the legendary Abbey Road studios (once frequented by the Beatles). Lead vocals were provided by a group of talented singers - Florence Dedam, Harriet Jay, Eric Geisen, Murielle Lefиbvre and Guy Protheroe. Protheroe, a renowned conductor and musician (who had already worked with Lйvi on the soundtrack of "Les Visiteurs") was also responsible for conducting the choir on the album.

While Protheroe was supervising the choir at the Abbey Road studios in London, a group of musicians were busy elsewhere in the U.K., recording the guitar and synthesiser parts for "Ameno" at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios. A host of talented musicians were called in to help on Lйvi's album. The rhythm section, for example, featured two musicians from Phil Collins's backing group - bass-player Lee Sklar and drummer Chester Thompson.

While the rest of the album was being recorded in the U.K., the rhythm section was actually recorded in Nashville (the home of country music). In spite of the fact that the majority of "Ameno" was composed with the aid of computers and recorded in sophisticated hi-tech studios around the world, the album was infused with a thoroughly medieval atmosphere. In keeping with this Middle Age ambience, the video for "Ameno", the first single release from the album, was shot in a medieval castle in Montsйgur (in the South of France).

Needless to say, Lйvi's medieval/synth fusion proved a huge hit once again, and the Era album "Ameno" was soon rocketing to the top of the charts all over Europe. The album not only proved to be an enormous hit in France, it was also incredibly successful abroad. Indeed, in the space of just twelve months, international sales of "Era" topped the 2 million mark! The Era album was distributed in more than 40 different countries - and sales topped the 100,000 mark in seven of these. Interestingly enough, the title track "Ameno" (released as the first single from the album) proved particularly successful in Argentina, where it rapidly became the French Hit of the Year. Following this phenomenal success in the singles chart, Era went on to sell over 250,000 albums in Argentina.

On 20 February 99 Era triumphed at the 'Victoires de la Musique' (the annual French Music Awards), carrying off the award for Best Export Sales of the Year for their album "Ameno".

The following year, in May 2000, Eric Levi re-emerged on the international music scene with a second album entitled "Era 2". While the Era sequel did not rack up the same phenomenal sales as "Era 1", it did sell over a million copies worldwide (including 350,000 in France).

The story continues with the release of ERA "The Mass"

Extracted from www.Mystic-Spirits.de by Elena Steingrad

 

Main Discography

 

 

Singles and Maxis

Bootlegs

 

 

 

 

Extracted from the: enigma.peoples.ru

 

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