1994 – 4th Annual LA Music Awards
Mark Eddinger is an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, music producer, record company executive, and music and entertainment industry consultant. Eddinger is also involved as an executive and consultant in other business sectors unrelated to the entertainment industry.
Mark Eddinger was born in Santa Rosa, California on December 11, 1958. He began studying classical piano at the age of 5 under Frances Kelly, a student of classical composer Sergei Prokofiev. He continued his studies and competed in several young pianists competitions. Although unpopular in the strict classical music circles, Eddinger became interested in rock music and in particular analog synthesizers. While still studying under Kelly, and later with Sonoma County pianist Norma Brown, he began studying analog synthesizer programming with analog synthesizer pioneer Patrick Gleeson. In the summer of 1975 while traveling in England with a close friend, he met Peter Bardens of the band Camel and producer Alan Tarney, both of whom he would work with in later years.
Business activities
While living in Las Vegas in 1977 and again in 1980 and 1981, Eddinger worked primarily as a musician and producer. He performed live with acts including Lola Falana and Sadler and Young, recorded with artists including Sam Butera and Doc Severinson, and worked with producers including Brooks Arthur and George Richey. The bulk of his recording and production work during this period took place at Las Vegas Recording Studio, a facility owned by Hank Castro, Chips Davis (a pioneer of Live End – Dead End (LEDE) acoustic technology), and Mel and Sheila Godfrey. Eddinger was working at this studio during the time that Las Vegas Recording Studio was being developed into the Live End-Dead End prototype studio, and therefore was one of the first people to produce and record using this acoustic technology.
In early 1980, Eddinger co-founded Worldwide Entertainment, one of the premier independent promotion companies in the music industry. During his tenure with Worldwide, Eddinger created and directed regional promotional campaigns for over 30 artists including Aretha Franklin, Fleetwood Mac, Toto, Van Halen, David Bowie, Grateful Dead, Journey, AC/DC and Heart. The company was sold to WEA in the Fall of 1981, and Eddinger was retained by WEA as a consultant following the sale. He also worked briefly for Warner Bros. Records in 1982 and for Columbia Records in 1984. Eddinger moved to New York City late in 1984. Over the past 25 years, Eddinger has served as president of two independent record labels, AudioTone Records from 1986–1988 and InVision Records in 2000. Eddinger has provided consulting services to a wide variety of companies in the music and entertainment industries including Sony Music, BMG, Warner Bros. Records, MCA Records, Warner Chappell Music, ASCAP, and the RIAA, and has been a trusted advisor and consultant to many music industry executives, managers, attorneys and recording artists. He is a voting member of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, a founding member of Digital Audio Consortium and a member of the Audio Engineering Society. He has conducted master classes at Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School, and has taught graduate courses and seminars relating to the music industry at Brigham Young University, UCLA and NYU.
Production, technology and live performance
Eddinger’s original synthesizer programs have been used on thousands of recordings by artists including Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Herbie Hancock, Bryan Ferry, and Oasis. Over the past three decades his programs and samples have resided in keyboards and synthesizers manufactured by companies including New England Digital (Synclavier II), Moog, Oberheim, Kurzweil, Yamaha, ARP, and Roland. He has also made several contributions to the development of digital audio technology, including authoring algorithms, designing operating systems and consulting for companies including Akai, HHB Communications, Panasonic and Microboards.
Eddinger has played on more than 1,000 recordings by artists including Blues Traveler, Londonbeat, Butthole Surfers, Luciano Pavarotti, Bakers Pink, and Bill Champlin.Eddinger created original synth sounds, played keyboards and performed live percussion on the Butthole Surfers track “Pepper” from the album “Electric Larryland” which reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1996. He has also performed on several U.S. and World tours with artists including Diana Ross, Sammy Davis Jr., Cliff Richard, Chaka Kahn, Be-Bop Deluxe and Nazareth. He has produced over 35 albums, has written over 1,000 songs, and his music and productions have appeared on soundtracks for films including Silverado, Empire of the Sun and Celebrity. For his contributions as a musician, producer, arranger, programmer and industry executive, Eddinger has been the recipient of RIAA Gold and Platinum Awards commemorating the sales of over 50 million albums.
Since the mid 80’s, Eddinger has also spent considerable time developing and producing independent artists, many of whom have gone on to have regional or national success, including Sin River (featuring Russell Allen of Symphony X),[7] Mobius Strip,[8] Seventh Proof, The Apostle Ensemble, The Ben Shippee Band,[9] and CA surf band Aloha Radio in the Spring of 2011.
2000 to present
Over the past few years, Eddinger has played an active role in the creation, analysis and “re-tooling” of numerous digital music and digital media distribution models. During this time he has consulted for major and independent labels, music publishers, motion picture companies, digital and physical content distributors, attorneys, government agencies, and public and private companies. Eddinger is also known for his expertise in worldwide licensing and has been responsible for licensing numerous recordings that have been marketed in the U.S. and in over 50 other countries.
In 2008, Eddinger co-produced the Bill Champlin CD ¨No Place Left To Fall¨. The record was released by JVC/Victor in Japan on November 5, 2008 along with a companion DVD documentary, was released in Europe by Zinc Music on December 10, 2008 and was released in the U.S. on August 4, 2009.
In May 2010, Eddinger assumed the role of North American business manager for the U.K. based dance and pop music production company Soulshaker and its related companies and production teams under the umbrella of Galactic Media. In April 2011, Eddinger accepted the position as Director of North American Operations for Audiofreaks, a London based music company specializing in promotion, management, production, publishing and licensing.
Eddinger attended Santa Rosa Junior College, Fresno State University and Stanford University.
Personal life
While on a consulting trip to Venezuela in 1994, Eddinger met his future wife Lena Brandwijk. They were married on September 14, 2001. Brandwijk graduated in 1994 with a Master’s Degree in Organic Chemistry from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela. Lena died on August 3, 2012.[15] On November 1, 2014, Eddinger married Kacey Lynn Seratt in a private ceremony in Central Park in New York City. On April 2, 2015 Eddinger and his wife Kacey welcomed the birth of Oliver Jack Eddinger, Eddinger’s first child.
Russell Allen (born July 19, 1971 in Long Beach, California) is a singer best known as the vocalist of American progressive metal band Symphony X.
He is also a member of supergroups Star One (in which he is credited as Sir Russell Allen), Allen-Lande and most recently formed the band Adrenaline Mob.
Before working with a rock band, he was a jouster at a Medieval Times Dinner Theater. He was introduced to the band Symphony X by former singer Rod Tyler. Allen has been the lead singer of Symphony X since 1995, releasing seven studio albums and one live album with the band. His first solo album, Atomic Soul, was released April 25, 2005. As well as singing he also plays the bass when performing songs from Atomic Soul live. He is referred to in various circles as “Sir Russell Allen”, and he is credited as such on Arjen Lucassen’s Star One albums, because of a joke that Arjen made knowing Allen’s former “job” as a jouster.
In the summer of 2005 he went on tour with Symphony X on Dave Mustaine’s Gigantour alongside such bands as Dream Theater, Megadeth, and Nevermore. In the same year, he also made part of a duo melodic rock project with singer Jørn Lande (ex-Masterplan) called Allen/Lande, which already has four albums, all released by Frontiers Records.
In addition to being Symphony X vocalist, he is also currently working in another band with guitarist Mike Orlando called Adrenaline Mob. The EP, Adrenaline Mob, was released in August 2011. The first full length album Omertà was released in March 2012 and a new album called Men of Honor will be released in 2014.
In November 2013, Allen joined Trans-Siberian Orchestra for their 2013 Fall/Winter tour.
In 2014 a new project was announced, featuring Russell Allen with bassist Mat Sinner and other members of the German band Primal Fear, called Level 10, with an album release slated for January, 2015.[1] The release date and the name of the album were revealed in November, 2013: it would be titled as “Chapter One”, to be released on January 23, 2015 in Europe and on January 27, 2014 in North America via Frontiers Music srl.
Musical style
Allen during a Symphony X concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer Arjen Lucassen has said the following regarding Russell Allen:
Russell has a very powerful and versatile voice, and on top of that he is a great musician and performer. Russell was one of the few singers with whom I didn’t need to be present during recording, but when on the phone he let me hear the parts he had sung, my eyes filled with tears. Russell thought I was joking, but I was truly moved! At the moment Russell is one of the best singers in the world. And he proved that during the Star One tour.
Allen has worked with Lucassen on various occasions: originally he sang the song “Dawn of a Million Souls” on Ayreon’s 2000 album Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator (which also featured a guitar solo by Michael Romeo), and in 2002 he became one of the lead vocalists for Lucassen’s project Star One.
Allen has stated in an interview that “Ronnie James Dio is definitely at the top of my list of influences”.