CREDITS
Composed, Sung and Produced by Richard Knight, Jr.
Arranged and Played by Curtis Allen Hager
Except “Imagine Me and Marcus” arranged, played, produced and engineered by Mark MacLean
RKJ’s vocals produced by Mark MacLean
Engineered and Mastered by Curtis Allen Hager
Additional Musicians:
Nina Allen (Backing Vocals on "You'd Better Go," "My Dreams," My Haunted Love"), Teresa Bowen (Backing Vocals on "Bird of Paradise"), Grace Carlin (Lead Vocals on "Love Is Love"), Susan Knight Carlin, Tony Carlin (Backing Vocals on "Love Is Love"), Robert Cornelius (Lead Vocals on "Love Is Love"), Steve Dollinger (Guitar on "Golden," "Imagine Me and Marcus"), Gerald Dowd (Backing Vocals on "Love Is Love," Drums on "Life Walks the Edge"), Curtis Allen Hager (Backing Vocals on "Love is a Speeding Train," "My Dreams," "Candy Hearts," "My Haunted Love"), Emily Hager (Backing Vocals on "Bird of Paradise"), Randy Henry (Bass on "Life Walks the Edge"), Geoff Lowe (Bass on "Imagine Me and Marcus"), Mark MacLean (Backing Vocals on "Love Is a Speeding Train," "My Dreams," "Imagine Me and Marcus," "My Haunted Love"), Glenn Morimoto (Trumpet on "Imagine Me and Marcus"), Chris Nyqvist (Guitar on "Golden"), Marty Metzger (Guitar on "Life Walks the Edge"), Scott Stevenson (Piano on "Life Walks the Edge"), Katie Wiseman (Backing Vocals on "I'd Like to Rest," "Candy Hearts," "Bird of Paradise"), Jen Zias (Backing Vocals on "Custody Battle," "My Haunted Love")
Photos by Kimberly Shade
Total Running Time: 67 minutes
Listen, explore (lyrics, background on each song), purchase (digital or CD) here:
“Folks, this is amazing: feast your ears on well-crafted and adeptly arranged, singer-songwriter brilliance.”
- The Ark of Music
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Richard Knight, Jr. - Love Is Possible: My first solo album in 41 years! While wandering through my musical past while archiving I found a lot of songs I'd left on the table or never finished. So, with my longtime collaborator, Mark MacLean, we began recording this long gestating solo album. Some of these songs date back to the dawn of my recording career, others are brand spanking new. All of them, I hope, demonstrate my love for different musical genres. That's reflected in the arrangements. Midway though the project, Curtis Allen Hager came onboard to help with arrangements on several of the tracks, adding even more musical flavor. I have never worried about boundaries when it comes to my recordings and you will find that philosophy reflected here.
Read an interview about the making of "Love Is Possible. |
CREDITS
Music, lyrics, piano and singing: Richard Knight, Jr.
"Daddy Was a Thin Man" music by Richard Knight, Jr., lyrics by Brian Daly
Produced by Mark MacLean
Background vocals, keyboard and musical enhancements: Mark MacLean
"Love Is Possible," "On," "Three Times Makes It True," "Day Was a Thin Man," "I'm Night" arranged, played and mixed by Curtis Allen Hager
Guitar: Steve Dollinger
Trumpet: Glenn Morimoto
Bass on "Imagine Me and Marcus": Geoff Lowe
"My Designs" French dialogue: Jennifer Estlin
Mixed by Mark MacLean and Curtis Allen Hager
Mastered by Gary Cobb
Photos: Kimberly Shade
THIS ALBUM IS FOR MARK
with love and gratitude for all the years of laughs and support
Richard
Listen, explore (lyrics, background on each song), purchase (digital or CD) here:
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| Richard Knight, Jr. - Edge of the Gloaming: My first all instrumental album, 15 selections composed over the course of my music career. The orchestral arrangements are by the musical jack of all trades otherwise known as Curtis Allen Hager. Four years in the making, this is the realization of a dream that began decades earlier. Released on September 22, 2022 -- the Fall Equinox. Available at all streaming sites and on CD via Bandcamp link below. |
Listen, explore, purchase (digital or CD) here:
CREDITS
Composed and Produced by Richard Knight, Jr.
Orchestral Arrangements by Curtis Allen Hager
Programmed and Played by Curtis Allen Hager
Piano solos played by Richard Knight, Jr. and Karl Montzka
Violin solo on "In Spite of All the Things You've Said" by Koi Anunta
Mastered by Gary Cobb
Cover Painting: "Self Portrait in Profile" by RKJ
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| Richard Knight, Jr. - My Designs 4 and My Designs 3: Ten of the 12 tracks that comprise these two digital only releases from 2021 and 2022 are now collected in my 2025 solo album "Time Box." See details above. The two remaining tracks, "Old Style" and "Land and Sky Days" are still available digitally and will be included on my next solo album. |
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| Richard Knight, Jr. - My Designs and My Designs 2: The 11 tracks that comprise these two digital only releases from 2018 and 2019 are now collected (along with "Three Times Makes It True" from "My Designs 3") in my 2023 solo album "Love is Possible." See details above. |
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| The original 13 track release from 1990 remastered (with one alternate, never before released track substitution) plus a second disc of 12 bonus tracks of unreleased recordings, demos, and live recordings. Available as a download or 2-disc CD version (the latter includes a 24-page full color booklet). Use the contact form if interested in purchasing the 2 disc CD. It's $15 plus shipping. |
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| The original 10 track release from 1987 remastered plus a second disc of six unreleased recordings and one re-mix. Available as a download or 2-disc CD version (the latter includes a 16-page full color booklet).Use the contact form if interested in purchasing the 2 disc CD. It's $15 plus shipping. |
cries in whispers Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition: The sheet music for all ten songs from the original 1987 release plus lyrics and five bonus songs. |
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| The original nine track release from 1985 remastered plus a second disc of 12 bonus tracks of unreleased recordings, demos, and live recordings. Available as a download or 2-disc CD version (the latter includes a 24-page full color booklet).Use the contact form if interested in purchasing the 2 disc CD. It's $10 plus shipping. |
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| I'm a Radio Lad: A whopping 42 track, 40th anniversary collection of songs from my first five years in the recording studio. Style-wise, the selections include ballads, new wave dance tracks, hard rock, art songs, funk, and even a couple of novelty numbers. The four tracks from my debut EP "Four Songs" are here, along with a quartet of selections from my first band, The Radio Lad Organization, recorded live in performance. Rare piano/vocal demos and other odds and ends are also part of this comprehensive overview. Available as a digital download or as a 2 disc CD set (which includes a full color, 20 page booklet). Use the contact form if interested in purchasing the 2 disc CD. It's $10 plus shipping. |
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| Kirsten Gustafson - Wait Until Dark: I had the great privilege of producing this pop/jazz flavored recording for the critically acclaimed jazz singer Kirsten Gustafson. Kirsten puts her stamp on an assortment of songs from multiple genres, many of them receiving the jazz treatment for the first time. My original song “For One Alone,” a standard receiving a lush orchestral treatment from arranger Curtis Allen Hager, is among the 11 selections. Available for purchase at all streaming sites. Use the contact form if interested in purchasing the CD. It's $10 plus shipping.
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A "Greatest Originals Collection" of the nine songs that I wrote for Samba Bamba, the Latin-flavored band I created in 1994. We've performed these songs for years and they're part of our 20th anniversary CD release (see below) but this is the first time the originals have been collected together and are being made available both digitally and on CD.
Listen, explore, purchase (digital or CD) here:
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| A 2-disc, 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the debut CD from Samba Bamba, the wacky "Sergio Mendes meets the B-52's" 8-piece Latin-flavored, retro crazy band in which rkj plays front man Monty "Sugarloaf" Mattachine. The first disc includes 13 songs - eight rkj originals and five covers with Samba Bamba's unique arrangements - remixed and remastered from the 1997 CD, a bonus, never before released recording among them. The second disc features eight previously unreleased cover songs recorded in 1995. This Deluxe Edition also includes a lavishly illustrated, full color 20-page booklet detailing the history of Samba Bamba. Available as a digital download or as a 2 disc CD set (which includes a full color, 20 page booklet detailing the history of Samba Bamba). Use the contact form if interested in purchasing the CD set. It's $10 plus shipping. |
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| Scrooge & Marley Soundtrack: In addition to co-writing and co-directing the 2012 LGBTQ themed holiday movie "Scrooge & Marley," I also produced the accompanying soundtrack. The 20 track collection includes my original song, "Christmas Eve is Coming Soon," the theme song for the film as well as other original songs and holiday themed contributions from renowned recording artists Matt Alber, Betty, Amber de Laurentis, The Plush Interiors, Jen Zias, Kirsten Gustafson, and The Joans. A symphonic suite of the film's score by the composer Lisa McQueen is part of the line-up as is "Amazing," the gorgeous end credit song written especially for the film by Grammy award winning Marsha Malamet, Liz Vidal and Stephan Oberhoff and hauntingly performed by Jason Gould is included. Available in digital and CD versions. Add this to your holiday collection! |
Beginning in 1976 and for about the following 25 years I wrote hundreds of songs, over 60 piano solos (or “musical essays” as I like to call them), a couple of musicals, and a batch of other musical pieces that don’t fall in any particular category. I entered my first recording studio in 1979 and in the subsequent years recorded my music with several different groups of musicians, releasing the end results under different group names, depending on the project.
rkjmusic.xyz was created to be a place for everything to do with my music. Through it, I’m re-releasing both my solo and group recordings, the majority long out of print and many never before publicly available, along with new editions of my songs as the transcribing, digitizing and remixing work progresses. I explored a lot of different musical genres throughout my writing and recording years and it’s been wonderful to go back and rediscover things I’d long forgotten.
Wandering through my musical past has also inspired me. I left a lot of songs on the table, as it were, and so I’ve returned to the studio to begin recording anew. Of course, in this day and age the definition of “studio” has changed which has made it a lot easier to creatively explore. I am thrilled that many of my longtime collaborators and several new ones have joined me as I continue my musical explorations.
I hope you enjoy the music as much as I enjoyed writing and playing it and half as much as my fellow musicians and I did recording it – then and now. I thank them – and you – for listening.
Richard Knight, Jr.
Music Releases:
| 1982 |
Four Songs (7” EP) (mixed genres) |
| 1985 |
Knightklub – Mixed Emotions (LP) (new wave-artsy) |
| 1987 |
cries in whispers — cries in whispers (cassette) (new wave-artsy) |
| 1990 |
cries in whispers – Night of the Hunter (cassette) (alternative-artsy) |
| 1990 |
Fever Dreams: 15 Years at the Piano (cassette/CD) (piano solos) |
| 1991 |
Easdale – The Moon Spinners (cassette/CD) (new age goth trio) |
| 1992 |
Four on the Floor – Bitch Queens (12” dance single) (industrial dance) |
| 1996 |
Sharkskin – Break on Through (CD) (“jazz noir” covers and original) |
| 1997 |
Samba Bamba! – Lust for Samba (CD) (Latin flavored originals and covers) |
| 2001 |
Now At Last (CD) (piano standards and original)
The Show Biz Kids from Hell! (CD) (audio version of the musical comedy cabaret act) |
| 2002 |
Like Honeysuckle in the Wind (CD) (piano standards and original) |
| 2003 |
Christmas Eve Is Coming Soon (CD) (holiday standards and original with guest vocalists) |
| 2012 |
Scrooge & Marley soundtrack (CD/download) (holiday standards and originals) |
| 2017 |
The Faraway Nearby (CD/download) (3 CD archive of rkj’s 61 piano solos) |
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cries in whispers – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (CD/download) (2 CDs) |
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Samba Bamba – Lust for Samba/20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (CD/download) (2 CDs) |
| 2018 |
My Designs, Part I – rkj’s first solo recordings in over 35 years (download) |
| 2019 |
My Designs, Part II – six additional songs for rkj’s forthcoming solo album (download) |
| 2020 |
Knightklub – Mixed Emotions/35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (CD/download) (2 CDs) |
| 2021 |
My Designs, Part III – five additional rkj solo recordings (download)
cries in whispers – Night of the Hunter/30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (CD/download) (2 CDS)
I’m a Radio Lad, Early Recordings 1979-1984 – a collection of rkj’s first five years in the recording studio (CD/download) (2 CDs) |
| 2022 |
My Designs, Part IV – seven additional rkj solo recordings (download)
Edge of the Gloaming – rkj’s orchestral album (CD/download) |
| 2023 |
Love Is Possible, rkj’s first solo album in 41 years (includes all the tracks from My Designs 1 and 2, and an additional track from My Designs 3) (CD/download) |
| 2024 |
Sambasized! – A “Greatest Originals Collection” of the nine original songs rkj wrote for Samba Bamba, his Latin-flavored band (CD/download) |
| 2025 |
Orion – 25 “Quiet & Soothing” highlights from rkj’s solo piano collection (CD/download)
Time Box – An 18 track collection of rkj originals arranged in multiple musical styles dating back 100 years. |
Music Perfomances:
| 1982 – 1990 |
Multiple club appearances in Chicago and surrounding areas with original music groups of various configurations and musical styles (band names: radio lad organization, radio lads, knightklub, cries in whispers, easdale) |
| 1991 – present |
Solo piano gigs |
| 1992 – present |
Show Biz Kids from Hell (comedy cabaret duo) |
| 1994 – present |
Samba Bamba! (founder, leader of 8-piece Latin flavored band) |
| 1995 – 1997 |
Sharkskin (founder, lead singer of 5-piece “jazz noir” group) |
| 1998 – 2000 |
Richard Knight Society Band (founder, leader of 8-piece corporate group) |
| 2024 |
Samba Bamba celebrated their 30th anniversary with a sold out concert which also celebrated the release of “Sambasized!”
I performed my first solo concert of his music in 41 years at the prestigious Space music venue in Evanston, Illinois. |
