Kerry Linder

My earliest memories are of the sun caressing my face, the salt-water smell of the ocean , and the sounds of nature awakening in me a sense of wonder and awe. My earliest musical memories are of listening to Brahms, Cesar Franck and Schumann on an old hi-fi. They say that music is the language that unites us all and from the very beginning, my connection to every thing around me was filtered through the music I heard: the trade winds gently whispering through the breeze, the whistle of the yellow-bellied bird in the trees and the deep sensuality of Anneke Gronloh and Connie Francis belting out their souls on the radio. Music has always been my foremost means of expression; at four I began to study ballet and at six I was choreographing and performing my own pieces. I've studied piano and percussion, taught Latin dance, mastered eight languages, worked as a DJ at a radio station and performed as a limbo dancer! Most of all I love to sing, and play percussion. Music either moves you or it doesn't. I have been blessed to work with some amazing musicians, spanning three continents where I've lived at one time or another. I continue to be inspired by all the great vocalists who came before: Ela Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday, Elizete Cardozo, Peggy Lee, Elis Regina, Ofra Haza,Carmen McRae Celia Cruz, Maria Callas, Clara Nunes, to name a few. I'm also a flower child of the Woodstock generation: I believe in the power of music to heal and bring people together. My greatest inspiration is my father, Felix Linder, a classical violinist who continues to play chamber music at the age of 85!In 2001 I personally witnessed the collapse of the Twin Towers; I wrote this poem on the first year anniversary of the attack and set it to music; you can here it on my CD Sail Away With Me...............Sail away with me to a place where there's no uncertainty....No fire in the sky,no crimes against humanity...Where the only sound you can hear is the wind as it whispers a lullaby... As you float on a wave of dreams while up high double rainbows caress butterflies... And you drift on the turquoise sea, sail away with me.......Would you like to be on a beach in the sun.... On the run, running from reality..... Laying low like the breeze as it blows through the hills and the trees....Where you wander along the shore of a city that lies at the foot of a bay........ In the air just a single note lets you drift off to sleep....... In a little boat....... And you wonder can this be real?...... Sail away with me......