Macwood Fleet: Spotlight On: Sananda Maitreya

Sananda Maitreya. It's not a name that slips neatly off the tongue. But you've seen the picture and thought to yourself - I know that face from somewhere. Well, if you around in the mid to late 1980s you would have heard several of this musician's hits as they flew across the airwaves, one after another as his debut album went on to shift enough units to certify it 5 x Platinum. He was nominated for 3 Grammys in 1988 and went on to win one for his debut album.

The name of the album gives the game away - it was The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby. The album was a potent mix of Soul, Funk R&B and Rock and was the toast of 1988 and announced TTD as a star in the making. But, after that sensational debut he fell to the allure of artisitic freedom and his sophomore album, Neither Fish Nor Flesh sent the buying public running to the hills. Reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac and their singularly visioned follow up to Rumours, the sprawling Tusk, it's as if TTD put two fingers up to the record company and insisted on following his muse into territory unwanted by the general public. Although a few people, including myself, still bought it and were behind the man whose vision was to move beyond mere Top 40 action. Read this reappraisal from The Guardian from 2008 to get a taste.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/oct/05/why-terence-trent-darby-became-sananda-maitreya-it-was-that-or-death

if you let me me stay

this side of love

Sananda has his own reasons as to what happened, and why. You can read a very good interview which explains a lot in this Guardian interview and I advise you to read it before carrying on.

Click here for The Guardian review with Sananda Maitreya

OK - I'll assume you've read the interview. It tells his story so much better than I could. You can now see that Sananda has been somewhat prolific and NOT dropped off the face of the earth.

oh divina - wildcard

Since his last TTD album, Wildcard, during which he decided to change his identity, Sananda has released 6 albums - some doubles and even a triple. Songs and ideas galore.

bella - angels & Vampires

He has not lost any of his self confidence or his ability to pen a cracking tune. He's playing the music industry with his own rules. We should be supporting artists with such creativity. Especially when they are this good.

because you've changed - Nigor Mortis

I've picked a song from every album - just to show the breadth of his talent and the fact that he has not faded into the distance. It was just that the public stopped listening. Be that his own fault, he shouldn't be ignored.

Never know - the sphinx