Born in Guyana, South America, Thane grew up in Calgary listening to his parents' diverse album collection spanning the calypso, soca, reggae, disco, classical, pop/ballad, and folk genres. After moving to Toronto in 2002, the imprint of this musical milieu can still be found within Thane's songwriting. Likened to British sensation Andrew Roachford, Thane's singing style has been described as emotive pop music with rich, earthy, and soulful vocals inspired by such artists as Seal, Boyz II Men, Tracey Chapman, Lionel Richie, and Alana Davis.
Thane has spent the last several months in the studio recording original material in preparation for his newly released debut album. He has had the privilege of working with a host of accomplished musicians including Steven Roe (lead guitar player for The BitterSweet), Colin Robinson (drummer for FeFe Dobson), Nick Czarnogorski (bass player for Kazzer), and Jake Payne (pianist for Colin Amey). Fatlabs producer, Vikas Kohli, describes Thane's work as "…rooted in a strong foundation of what makes a great pop song - one can hear the soul in his voice and the honesty in his lyrics." Thane gained voice training experience through several years of choral performance and, in 1996, won an Alberta Black Achievement Award for Amateur Performing Arts after being nominated by his influential music teacher. Thane continues to study music through private training, actively participates in songwriting workshops, and is a member of The Songwriter's Association of Canada (SAC) and SOCAN. No stranger to performing, Thane has sang for diverse audiences ranging from intimate venues to festivals of over 1000 people. Recently, he has been delighting Toronto audiences at such venues as The Drake Hotel, The Smiling Buddha, the International Centre and El Mocambo. Thane's music has shown early signs of success on the airwaves. His single Roller Coaster Love remains steady on the indie charts and has earned him the title of "Hot Artist to Look Out For" on Indie Mix Radio AM 1580 broadcast from Los Angeles, California. The song is also in regular rotation on iRADIO LA (indie104.7FM) and has been featured on Mark's Podshow (Netherlands) and Episode 1 of Improve My English Podcast (Germany) both fed through The Podsafe Music Network. Thane was featured in an artist spotlight interview on Nat Radio's The Frequency Show and his single, Anybody Seen My Angel, has been included on The Best of DropHit 2006 Compilation CD. Thane was a featured artist on Arya TV's "The Kaave Show" broadcast to millions of viewers worldwide via satellite TV. Most recently, Thane received a 2007 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award for Best Male R&B Vocalist and Best Website categories. Keep your ear to the ground for more news about this emerging talent. |
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Production:
Ari Gajraj was born into a musical family in Bangalore, India. His mother, a piano teacher, was his first instructor. As a multi-instrumentalist, Ari trained as a classical pianist before gradually making the transition to more contemporary forms of music. He's played in a wide variety of US bands (reggae, funk, jazz, alternative, world, top 40, Indian, etc.) and received his certification from the Electronic Music Studio at the University of Michigan. In 2006, Ari moved to Canada and set-up his own production studio Listen Without Borders and is psyched to be working with Thane on the production of his EP. On Drums: Mario Calleja first took up drums at the age of 7, inspired by his father, a back-up drummer for the legendary BB King in the late 60’s and 70’s. Growing up, Mario was exposed to an array of music including blues, funk, R&B, soul, and latin and was influenced by top groove drummers like Billy Cobham, Dennis Chambers, and Carter Beauford. Mario currently studies with John Zarifopoulos who was mentored by well known Canadian jazz drummer and teacher, Dan Bodanis. Mario has performed with wedding bands and church choirs and is excited to be part of Thane’s band. On Bass: Shawn McCleery - Bio Coming Soon! On Saxophone: Mike Glendon is a graduate of the Humber College Jazz Performance Program and the Thompson Rivers University Jazz Degree Program. He has played in many local jazz, funk, fusion and R&B groups since moving from London to Toronto in 2003. His main influences include John Coltrane, Bob Berg and Michael Brecker, as well as Mike Stern and Soulive. On Guitar: Daniel Liberatori has been active in all aspects of the music industry since starting Humber College's guitar program in 2004. Among his notable achievements he cites the 2007 Ron Collier Memorial Award for Arranging and Composition, a considerable body of work eminating from his home studio including numerous artist demos and a theme song for a radio program, and a 2003 GTA MusicFest "Outstanding Band Leader" Award. As a guitarist, Dan has studied with Canadian greats Ted Quinlan, Geoff Young, John Pelosi, and Toni Zorzi, and performed as a sideman with countless bands and entertainers, including Las Vegas heavyweights Clint Holmes and George Solomon. Dan looks forwarding to completing his studies at Humber College and continuing to play guitar as much as possible! |
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