What could Mysterium Music have in common with Gene Simmons, Diana Ross, Prince, Eddie & Charlie Murphy, Shalamar, Dave Chappelle, Little Steven Van Zant, and Cheap Trick? Micki Free! This weekend, the artist and label will attend MIDEM in Cannes, France to share a preview of his forthcoming album with international distributors; Suzanne Doucet and Beth Ann Hilton are facilitating their meetings.
Mysterium Music and its founder Trisha Bowden are renowned for the label's unique, high-quality, award-winning meditation and relaxation music. Today, Bowden announced that Mysterium is welcoming GRAMMY Award winner Micki Free to the label for the release of his next Native American flute album titled The Native American Flute as Therapy in August 2016. Free joins Mysterium's roster of beloved New Age artists including Peter Kater (also attending MIDEM), Agrelia's Castle (Paul & April Brown), Paul McCandless, Paul Lloyd Thomas and vocalist Trisha Bowden.
The album, incorporating a unique blend of flute, spoken word and instrumentals, promotes relaxation and enlightenment. The collection will feature among its spiritually-uplifting song titles "Candle Light," "Scented Oil," "Positive Energy" and "Pressure Points." He recorded "The Lavender Touch" on the day Prince passed away, and renamed it "Lavender Kiss" as a soulful lament for his friend, in the legend's honor.
This new project is the latest addition to an instrumental music catalog that includes The Sun Chase, Free's first love song flute CD written about his trials, hopes and loves through his travels on Native American Flutes; Sedona Free, written about the "sacred spiritual red earth" and Native American ancestors/peoples of Sedona, Arizona; and Comanche, which he dedicated to his family and the Comanche tribe.
In May, Free will take a break from collaborating on the recording with producer/keyboardist Paul Brown in Nashville; he's set to make a live guest appearance in Carlos Santana's Las Vegas Show, record an interview for VladTV in Los Angeles, and attend MIDEM in France to establish international touring and distribution for both his Native American music and his Blues/Rock Band, American Horse.
Free became well-known to a younger audience in 2004, when his manner of dress and appearance during the late '80s (and that of Prince) was parodied by Dave Chappelle in his Chappelle's Show sketch "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories: Prince: Uncensored." The skit is included in many "Top 10 Best" comedy lists, and according to BILLBOARD (4/25/16) it was viewed over 600,000 within days of Prince's passing, generating interview requests and new interest in the long-term friendship between Free and Prince.
When Micki Free picked up the guitar for the first time as a young teenager after seeing Jimi Hendrix play live in Germany, he set a multi-faceted course with musical destiny that would alternately embrace and conquer the distinct worlds of rock and roll, pop/R&B and � drawing inspiration from his heritage as a mixed blood Cherokee/Comanche - Native American flute music. Over the past four decades, the GRAMMY Award winner and five-time Native American Music Award winner's eclectic muse has inspired him to find an artful cultural balance between the rock world and new age music as a renowned guitarist and flutist.
Discovered by Gene Simmons when his Illinois based band Smokehouse opened for KISS, Ted Nugent and REO Speedwagon, Free joined funk-soul group Shalamar in 1984, the year they reached the Top 20 with "Dancing In The Sheets" from the Footloose soundtrack; the following year, they won a Grammy (Best Album of an Original Score Written For a Motion Picture) for "Don't Get Stopped in Beverly Hills," from the multi-platinum Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack.
After an eight-year run with Shalamar, Free hooked up with Jean Beauvoir and formed Crown of Thorns, which was managed by Amazing Management (Simmons and fellow KISS member Paul Stanley). Launching his solo career in the early 2000s, he earned recognition from the Native American Music Awards, where he won Top Male Artist (2002) and Pop Rock Artist (2004). In 2002, Free created the Micki Free Electric Blues Experience and also worked with LA & Babyface, Queen's Roger Taylor, Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin, and others.
Over the years, Free has performed and/or recorded with Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, Diana Ross (who also managed his career), Janet Jackson, Little Steven Van Zandt (Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band), Prince, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman-Santana, Cheap Trick, Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), and many others. In 2004, the Seminole Tribe purchased Hard Rock Caf� International and invited him to be a worldwide ambassador and Director of Promotions and special events. Free appeared each year from 2007-2010 at the massive Hard Rock Calling Festival in London's Hyde Park in front of 100,000 fans.
Find more info at www.mickifreenativeamericanflute.com/ and www.MysteriumMusic.com
Please direct MIDEM and media requests to Beth Ann Hilton, m: 310-560-8390 or BethHilton@TheBCompany.com
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