I am delighted to unveil the video of my new song Stars Align. Simply click on the video icon above to view it.

Written by Marcin Steciuk and myself it’s from my forthcoming album Rasheed Re-Imagined which is due for release on 20 February 2017.

I hope you enjoy it and watch this space for the new album in 2017.

Stars Align Rasheed Ogunlaru & Marcin Steciuk ©2016 Video Director: Marcin Steciuk.  Track performed by Rasheed Ogunlaru and Produced by Marcin Steciuk

So my new album Lease of Life is now out and available here on www.rasheedmusic.com but I for one – as a fan of artists and as a singer/ songwriter myself – love hearing artists themselves themselves talking about their work and what inspires it. With that in mind we just created this film about the album, the songs on it and what inspired it. Enjoy.

All that I’d like to add is my sincere thanks to my good friend, Marcin Steciuk who filmed and directed this and all the promo videos. Also huge thanks to the brilliant John Hamilton of EQ Studios my producer/collaborator who is just brilliant to work with. He made this album very special musically. Thanks too to Rene Coffey who did another brilliant job on producing ‘Time to Heal’ one of the tracks on the album and featured in this promo film.

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:

So here’s the video for “Love is Gonna Get You” which is one of the last songs I wrote for my forthcoming collection ‘Lease of Life.’ We filmed the video abroad in the Canary Islands and it was fun. Once again Marcin did a great job on this video. As with all but one song from the collection this was produced by John Hamilton at EQ Studios. John is always a joy to work with and I’m really pleased with this song which is the last song on ‘Lease of Life’.  John and I got a sound that I really feel works capturing the melody of the track. I love the deep buzzy bass – which I had a lot to do with. John did a great job  on bringing the horn sound to life which I knew would be one of the signatures of this song. When I first wrote this song I just knew that that sound had to be part of it. Anyway I hope you enjoy the song and the video.

Here’s the video for Disappointment Guaranteed another track from my forthcoming collection Lease of Life.

I’m quite proud of this track. I wrote it a couple of years ago in the small hours of the morning walking home from a night out. In fact two songs emerged pretty much back to back so I need to check my voice recorder on my phone to see if I still have the second song on it. What I remember about this song is that I felt it was strong right away. It just so happened that I was booked into EQ Studios with my producer John Hamilton that day just beginning.

So there was a first. I recorded a song pretty much immediately after writing it. I have to give John some real praise here. This is one of several occasions where he absolutely ‘got’ what I was trying to create and the mood of the song straight away. His ‘Rhodes-style’ keyboard solo in the middle of the track was an inspired, one take bit of impromptu playing. The strings that end the track are a classic bit of the magic he brings to the table as a musician and producer.

There’s something about this song that reminds me of some of the very earliest songs that I wrote. I think part of that is also the area of the voice that I sing this song with. It has a bit more of the chest to head voice tenor style more than the baritone voice that I naturally am and that over time I became far more comfortable with embracing and grew into.  So there’s something of a naiveity, vulnerability, youthfulness and honesty about this song that I like. Yet it has something of someone who has lived a bit of life and has become more wise to it,

The long spoken intro to thee video and the video itself was the work of my good friend Marcin who thought it would be good to utilise a bit of the acting together with the kind of spoken speech that I use in the work I do today as a life coach and motivational speaker. I really like the blue colouring and mood of this track. Thanks Marcin and thanks John.

I’m delighted to announce that you can now listen and enjoy my album Songs from the Soul for free on YouTube.

The album, first released here on RasheedMusic.com in 2012 went live on the internet on Monday and was the idea of my good friend Marcin Kovacs.  In fact Marcin had the great idea (that we’d first considered some time back) of filming a short interview with me talking about the album and combining that with making the whole album available.  So thanks Marcin for recommending both uploading the album and for recording the interview which you can watch above  (more follows…)

The interview above gives you a bit of an insight into the album and the songs contained within it. Basically the songs were written over a 12 year period. The earliest songs including the two opening numbers Soul Mate and Be Something were written during and toward the time I was pursuing career in music but I never got around to recording. In fact the album blends a number of songs which I wrote some time ago and then a handful of new songs written after my career in coaching had taken off and once I got into the recording studio with my producer, John Hamilton. You’ll hear John’s musical talent across the album. Typically my writing process is that a song will come to me. I’ll sing it and record it in my phone. I’ll then seek to find the chords on my keyboard at home and then I’ll go into the studio with John. Occasionally I’ll play the starting piano chords myself – or more often then not I’ll let John – with his skills as a musician – then play the part(s) and we’ll then build from there. If you like I’m the designer and architect and he is the builder and furnisher. One of the moments from John that I think is especially special is his piano opening and closing sequence on the song Return to Love which is very special as is the string line he produced for Live Before We Die which is the song about appreciating and really living life that came to me in a dream in which I heard Stevie Wonder singing the song.

Anyway check out the full album on YouTube and the video above.

Songs from the Soul – by Rasheed Ogunlaru.

I wrote very recently about the forthcoming collection “Lease of Life” and here is the lead song from it “In Life”. The fact is that we never know how much time we have on the clock and the most important thing is to embrace ourselves, life itself and the journey itself. That’s what the song is essentially about. It’s about the appreciation of the magic of it, of others and the great mystery of it.

I wrote the song last year and recorded it I think last year possibly completing it early this year. I’m fairly sure that I wrote this song one day when I was walking through one of the small garden squares in the Kings Cross, Bloomsbury, Euston area of London and I happened upon this square with a tiny chapel and that had a few graveyards in it. It was a sunny day and far from a sad song emerging a very upbeat song emerged but that speaks of the fact that we cannot be complacent about time.

Last year when I wrote the song it was a really tough time for a close family member who could have died and we are all so, so blessed that they did not and sadly since writing my nearest neighbour passed far too soon. Fortunately they had lived a rich life and had created some amazing work as an artist.

In Life we so easily get caught up in the day to day that we forget that each day is such a gift.  What’s been a gift for me about this song is once again John Hamilton of EQ studios producing the track. Plus also my very good friend Marcin, who once again created the video (above) which we filmed just a few days ago during the week.

Musically I’m quite proud of this as I had more to do with the ‘sound’ than I often do. I knew it needed to have a beat and a particular kind of feel and I had much to do with finding the layered sound samples that lace the core sound of the track. John did his magic in bringing the whole thing together and I’m really pleased with it. It was one of the last songs recorded for the Lease of Life collection but as soon as I recorded it I knew it needed to start of the set of songs. I say that as though there will be some kind of physical – or more likely virtual online – collection of the songs which I’d like. We’ll see. Anyway I hope you enjoy it and the lyrics are below.

In Life 

Some say it’s much too late
Some say choice, some fate
I know that there still is time
Past, present and future now
I know where you’re coming from
Same place as everyone
Don’t you get lost in your mind
Stop seeking and then you’ll find.

In life, in life, in life
Don’t swim against the tide
Don’t fight yourself, or life itself
Embrace it will there’s time
In life

Some say we’re afraid to try
Or we’re afraid to die
I say we’re afraid to live
I say we’re afraid to give (give love)
One morning you won’t wake up
This morning you did – that’s love
While you have a beating heart
Each day is a day for love

In life, in life, in life
Don’t swim against the tide
Don’t fight yourself, or life itself
Embrace it will there’s time
In life

Gonna sing my song to the whole wide world
Gonna dance through darkest nights
Gonna share my heart right across the earth
Gonna turn into the light in life

In life, in life, in life
Don’t swim against the tide
Don’t fight yourself, or life itself
Embrace it will there’s time
In life

Rasheed Ogunlaru ©2014

Rasheed Ogunlaru

Over the last two years or so – and I can’t believe it’s been that  long a stretch of time – I’ve been in and out of the studio recording a new collection of songs. And aptly that leads in and ties in with the title of this new forthcoming collection ‘Lease of Life‘ which I’ve now nearly completed.

The title came to me pretty much at the start of the project. It’s a bit of a double-play on the phrase. On the one hand it’s about that energy we have and that renewed sense of energy. And on the other hand – and more deeply and essentially – it’s about that we only have a finite amount of time that we are charged with in this physical form.

The previous collection of songs ‘Songs from the Soul’  – which you can enjoy listening to 5 of the tracks from on the player at the top of each page and that you can get on download via the music page on this site – was very much a set of songs about awakening to life and really discovering oneself and ones true self. It was I guess a serious endeavour of me wanting to gather together old and new songs I’d written over the best part of a decade that captured that journey and my return / reconnection to music.

With that done ‘Lease of Life’ is more of a freer exploit with songs about all different dimensions of this physical, material and emotional experience of life. It covers life in it’s ups and downs, it’s highs and lows. Below you can see a video of my producer, John Hamilton and I finalising the mix of one of the lead songs “Get Back Up Again” which is quite a good reflection and summary of the collection. Though, as you might expect from me, it has actually quite a range of different sounds and inflections. I’m actually really proud of this new set of songs – a word I don’t use that often, I’m very pleased with it. A week or two ago a new song emerged which I felt was calling out for a place in the collection so I’ll be going in to the studio next weekend to start to record. Once I’ve recorded that – and perhaps then mixed another song then we’ll be pretty much there with this set of songs.

It’s good timing personally and I feel it’s time the collection starts to live and breathe. Having said it has been living and breathing already as you can hear a couple of songs here already on my video & gallery page and on my YouTube Channel – and of course you can watch / here Get Back Up Again right below this blog.

Anyway I hope to be sharing more – and possibly all – of the collection with you soon.

This is a bit of a rarity for me. One of the few instrumentals that I’ve ever produced. I first came up with the opening four chords – which were really just four notes that sounded nice in a sequence – many years ago. Probably 10 or more but I can’t say. Fortunately I crudely recorded them back then … and simply cycled the chords several times. Every now and then this short, looped, meditative string line would come back to me. A few years back when I was putting together the last of my ‘audio talks’ from my coaching / speaking work I used Awaken, as I called it, at the end of the audio talks  as part of the ‘outro’ information for my talks.

Last year I started working on a short film project with my friend Marcin who has filmed / directed my pop videos.  We needed some pieces of music to go with it. Marcin came up with a piece of music and I realised we could use Awaken. So together with a string line from one of my songs with vocals and with another instrumental I went into the studio to record them with John Hamilton.

I was very excited about using Awaken for this project; it was a challenge as I’d never really attempted a score before and I’m a singer / songwriter and would not call myself a musician. But I had the four chords. This is where John’s brilliance came in. He listened. We recorded the chord sequence and you’ll hear that after the opening original chords have cycled a few times a new sequence begins including a Cello sound. John created this sequence inspired by the first chords. So what you hear is very much a joint piece of work. There’s a moment later where I can’t actually tell if it’s John’s work or mine – I think it’s a blend of a simple intuitive set of piano notes that I think I play and a lower bass sound that is certainly John. Anyway I’m trilled with the result.

Anyway I’m not sure if / when the short film will unfold. I hope it will emerge if that’s meant to be. If so you’ll also the hear some of the other instrumental bits we recorded that day. For me this recording session is one of the sessions that stands out most to me as I remember going in knowing it was one of my biggest challenges to somehow come out of the studio with instrumentals that work.  But much of that outcome was thanks to John’s brilliance.

Awaken emerging now sprang from me wanting to test out I-Movie which I wanted to play around with as I’d be doing a few simple edits on interviews I recorded with guests in my coaching / speaking work. So I used ‘Awaken’ with some photos from Marcin’s videos. Anyway when I uploaded to video to my Music YouTube Channel OgunlaruMusic I sent the link to, Kevin Arnold, my musical collaborator on my earlier songs and demos. Kevin said that he really loved the track. The funny thing is that when you create a piece of music you never really know what someone’s going to think. Even if you do know their taste / style and have a bit of a sense of whether they’d like it you don’t know quite the degree to which it will connect with them. And it was great that he really connected with the song.

When I now listen (and watch) Awaken it has that meditative quality that always appealed to me from when those first chords first emerged those years back.  I hope you enjoy it.

Last weekend my good friend, Marcin Kovacs and I shot  the above new video to an old song that’s very dear to my heart: Live Before We Die is a song that came to me in a dream in about 2000 or 2001. It’s the first time and one of only two or three times that a song has ever come to me in a dream.

In the dream I heard and saw the legendary singer, Stevie Wonder singing this song. He was singing it in his trademark elastic tenor voice, riffing the song with remarkable emotion  – as only he can.

I woke up with the song going through my head. In my mind I swiftly went through all the Stevie Wonder songs I knew to try and place it. But after going through a good number, I realised that it had not been recorded!  I quickly and shrewdly recoded it on a simple recording device – I can’t even recall what type now, but fortunately I got the vocal melody down and the lyrics. I so especially remember that opening lyric as it was sung in the song:

‘Years are gonna crawl and then fly by, the first and last they’ll do for you is cry. It’s up to you what you will do meanwhile, let’s live before we die. Let’s live before we die.’  From what I recall the rest of the lyrics came through really easily.

I very much feel that this song was very a gift from Stevie. In fact I’m not even sure that I’d say. It was a gift but also feel as though this song belongs to Stevie. In the event that our paths should cross either directly or through those I meet in entertainment then I must pass this gift back to him and play it to him. For me it would be a dream to hear him sing it. While I’m very proud of how I’ve sung this I can very much here how he would sing it in his trademark register.

While the song emerged early in the 2000s it was a long time before I came to record it. A few years later – while I was briefly having some piano lessons which I really should have kept up – I learned the chords and how to play the song. (I’m very rusty these days and it would take me a while to find all the chords). But then in 2009 around the time when I started recording music with John Hamilton of EQ Studios I decided to  – at last – record the track. I will have played it to John and then John played the version you hear here. There’s a chance that a tiny bit of my playing may be here on this but essentially the musicianship and the wonderful string sequence is the work of John. He captured what I had always heard in my heart perfectly. In fact the only thing I did not hear is that fantastic opening piano and string line and the closing string line that John ‘channelled’ by hearing what I was describing.  He’s absolutely brilliant and a joy to work with.

Overall this is one of the songs I most proud of and it’s probably one of my best vocals to date. I sing it it really utilising my baritone voice and the lower areas of the tone especially which I often under-utilise But here it’s used to good effect. It’s great when all the elements of a song really come together. Not something I really achieved much earlier in my career due largely to the fact that I still had so much to learn and improve.

The last, but by no means a big thanks to the very talented Marcin. This is our fifth video together. We recorded it last weekend. What you see is a one take and shot. Anyway I hope you enjoy it. Best wishes, R.