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Robert Fox was born on January 29th 1950 in Newcastle under Lyme, staffs, and educated at Newcastle High School and Newcastle School of Art and Design. He trained as a teacher of Drama and Art at St Katherine's College, Liverpool.
It is largely through his work as a teacher of Drama and Theatre, both as a Head of Department for some 18 years at a school in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and a long association and direct involvement in county Cheshire theatre projects, that his involvement with Electronic Music grew.
Despite being a fan of and a listener to Electronic Music for many years, it was the combination of two factors which led directly to to his being regarded today as one of the UK's leading synth musicians; the acquisition of one of the very first Roland D50 synthesisers and, at the time being Associate Director of Cheshire Youth Theatre. In this capacity in 1987 he produced a full length soundtrack for Cheshire Youth Theatres production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. The Times Educational Supplement reviewed the show, showered it with compliments, and described the soundtrack as "stunning". That was the start of further investigation into the genre and a search to find his own distinctive style within it.
1991 saw the release of his first album Asfafa (FXCD1) to much critical acclaim (and much to his surprise), and C&D Compact Disc Services took Robert's music under their wing and became sole distributor. There had been two other earlier albums, but in his own words, "Asfafa was the one I felt happy with both musically and technically".
Asfafa was essentially a travelogue, through and to people and places both real and imagined, and from here the impact of people and places continued to inspire his music.
The Fire and the Rose (FXCD2) followed in 1991, and followed too, the untimely death through cancer of his first wife Gillian.
It is also a journey, but this time through life, and inspired by the words of T.S. Elliot's Four Quartets. It is dedicated to Gillian's memory, and has been rewarded with growing acclaim, both in the UK and North America.
The travelogue theme continued and in 1993, Blue Mountains Suite (FXCD3) was created and released. Based on an eventful 3 week journey to Australia in the Summer of 1991, there is no doubt that the impressions of the journey also left their mark on the music.
A growing relationship with AD Music saw a switch of distributors to Select Music & Video for the release of Robert's fourth album in 1994. A Gathering of Spirits (FX4CD) again draws its inspiration from travel, this time to Canada, with particular reference to a legend surrounding the Niagara Falls.
Also in 1994, a highly acclaimed joint concert with David Wright in Derby gave rise to the jointly composed tracks Overture, Finale and Meeting at Trevalyn (all three pieces eventually appeared on their collaborative 4 CD box set Blue 6 years later).
1995 saw Robert again collaborating with David Wright and joined by Nik Smith and Vaughn Evans. Subsequently the band Code Indigo was formed. The resulting album For Whom the Bell (AD16CD) has been hailed a classic and was an adventurous project for all concerned.
Nominated 3rd place in the German 'Schwingungen' radio awards for best album and best band of 1996, it lead to the band being invited to play at the Duisburg festival in Germany on May 17th, headlined by the legendary Klaus Schulze.
As a result of this exposure, tracks from For whom the Bell were to appear regularly on major Sony and Polygram CD compilations across Europe as the band featured alongside the likes of Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Vangelis and Enigma.
In 1997 Robert released his first ADML release Into The Light (AD18CD), which proved an immediate and popular success. The opening track, Brother Earth, was to be the first of several tracks to appear on major Italian CD compilations. The next two years proved hectic for Robert, with involvement as both a soundtrack writer and a theatre director coinciding with a major studio upgrade.
His proposed 1998 release, The Stuff of Dreams, was shelved, and his only musical output in this period was on Code Indigo's problematic second studio album Uforia (AD16CD) which was released in 1999.
Robert's 6th solo album, Talking Heads (AD32CD), was released to critical acclaim early in 2000, and is considered by many to be his finest and most mature work to date.
During October 2000 Robert again joined David Wright for a concert at Derby Cathedral, and his shelved album, The Stuff of Dreams, was finally released as part of the collaborative Blue. This acclaimed limited edition (2000) 4 CD box set set also featured the remarkable 1998 Code Indigo concert (at Derby Cathedral), and a collection of songs written and performed with David Wright.
For the next 12 months Robert worked on re-mastering his pre Asfafa releases, Songs from the Inner Ear and On Distant Shores which were released as part of a double set entitled The Missing Albums (SP3) in 2001. He also began work on a new studio album Underworld.
Underworld, based on the Faustus story, was to set Robert on a darker musical journey than his previous outings. But that didn't prevent his emotional and anthemic style shining through. Indeed, with minimalist passages also in evidence, Underworld was to receive universal critical acclaim upon its release in 2002. Robert premiered the album in concert at Jodrall Bank in July 2002.
Robert's involvement with Code Indigo continued and in September 2002 Robert Fox and David Wright spent a productive 2 week period writing the 3rd Code Indigo studio album TimeCode. Joined by Andy Lobban (guitars), Louise Eggerton (vocals) and Dave Massey (programming/production) the reformed, new look band premiered the album at a successful concert at the National Space Center, Leicester in July 2003.
After a difficult period in 2004 which saw him relocate his home and studio, Roberts 11th solo album 'Maya' was released early in 2005, shortly followed by a well received 'Best of' compilation, "Timeless".
2006 was to be a "Code Indigo" year, with the release of the album "Chill" and several UK and European concerts, including headlining the e-live festival in Holland.
At the time of going to press, Robert is working on his 12th solo album, "Touching the Serpents Tail, set for early 2007 release.
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