I am delighted to announce the release of my new album Lease of Life which is now available for download here on RasheedMusic.com It’s my first album since 2012’s Songs from the Soul. The album was 3 years in the making and we completed work on it late last year. Once again the brilliant John Hamilton of EQ Studios produced the album.
About the album
This exciting new Rasheed album charts the ups, downs, joys and heartaches of life. Starting with the catchy, up-tempo In Life, the affecting Get Back Up Again and the uplifting Take Flight this collection is a journey through the rich and varied emotions and experiences in life. Love, loss, disappointment and possibility are all explored and fittingly Rasheed then delivers Something Good and Disappointment Guaranteed right after one another – as life so often does. Our journey continues with beautiful Walking Out on Love, the aptly quirky The Mystery and the jazzy You’re No Good For Me – all leading us In the Wilderness. But not for long; Time to Heal lifts the tempo again. It’s the one song not produced by Rasheed’s long time musical collaborator / arranger John Hamilton – with Rene Coffey doing nifty job on production duties on this poignant track. In all Rasheed treats us to 14 tracks on this outing – without a filler in sight. True to form Rasheed rounds off the album with four impassioned, heartwarming songs: Don’t be Afraid to fall in love, I’ll Love You All My Life, The Future is Now and Love is Gonna Get You. They wrap up the collection beautifully optimistically and to remind us of the magic of life – which as the album title reminds us – we only have for a while.
All songs written / sung by Rasheed Ogunlaru. © Rasheed Ogunlaru 2015. All songs produced by John Hamilton and Recorded at EQ Studios London except “A Time to Heal” produced by Rene Coffey.
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Thanks
I would like to start with a huge vote of thanks for John Hamilton, my producer and long-time musical collaborator. It’s John’s musicianship that you really hear on this album. John plays most of the instruments throughout the collection: keyboards, guitar and bass with myself on support on selected keyboards. Thanks too to Rene Coffey for her outstanding work producing ‘Time to Heal’. Thanks to Ajamu for the cover photography and to Steve Bryne for the graphic design.
I’m very grateful too to Marcin Steciuk for the wonderful work in producing several videos for the album all of which you can enjoy here on my YouTube Channel. Finally I’d like to thank everyone who has supported my music and helped me along on my musical journey over the years including Marcus Fellowes, Marshall Franklin Ravel, Janet Kumah, John Gibbons, Yinka Sapara, Robert Bicknell and Kweku Aacht. But extra special thanks are due to Kevin Arnold with whom I wrote and recorded a rich set of songs in my early years – when I was seeking a recording deal – of which I am very proud and which made me the songwriter I am. I would finally like to thank my late great singing teacher, Mark Hayden.
Listen and download
You can hear four selected tracks from the album (and then three from the last one) right here on the “Listen to songs” music player feature on the site. You can also hear the whole album on the my YouTube Channel and you can download the album right here on the website. Enjoy.
Watch Rasheed sing songs Lease of Life
Right at the end of last year I decided to do an intimate little gig – my first live show in many years – in order to present some of the songs from the album. You can enjoy the segment with the new songs right here: