Illusion were a British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band formed in 1977. They released two albums, ''Out of the Mist'' (1977) and ''Illusion'' (1978) on

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, before folding in 1979. A third release titled ''Enchanted Caress'' (made up of demos for a proposed 3rd album, from the late 1970s) was released in 1990. Illusion were intended to be a reunion of the original line-up of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

(whose second 1971 album was titled ''

Illusion An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people. Illusions may o ...

''), but singer and guitarist

Keith Relf William Keith Relf (22 March 194312 May 1976) was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, The Yardbirds ex-drummer Jim ...

died before the project was realised. Thereafter, the band's new lineup featured

Louis Cennamo Louis David Cennamo is an English bass guitarist, whose lengthy career has included extensive recording and touring with a number of important British rock/blues/progressive bands. Career Cennamo left school at 16 and undertook his earliest imp ...

on bass,

John Hawken John Christopher Hawken is an English keyboard player, best known as a member of The Nashville Teens, Renaissance, and the Strawbs. He also played in Spooky Tooth, Third World War, Vinegar Joe, Illusion, as well as being a session musician. ...

on keyboards,

Jim McCarty James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Yardbirds and Renaissance. Following Chris Dreja's departure from the Yardbirds in 2013, McCarty became the only member of the band to featur ...

moved from drums to play acoustic guitar and share vocals with

Jane Relf Jane Relf (born 7 March 1947) is a British singer, best known as the original vocalist for the progressive rock band Renaissance. She is the younger sister of Keith Relf of the Yardbirds. Renaissance In January 1969 Keith Relf and Jim McCa ...

, while Eddie McNeill replaced him on drums and John Knightsbridge (from Third World War, and later of Ruthless Blues) played lead guitar. In 2001, McCarty, Cennamo, Hawken and Jane Relf reunited once again to record ''Through the Fire'', an album of new material, under the bandname Renaissance Illusion.

Members

– vocals *

– vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion * John Knightsbridge – guitars *

– keyboards *

– bass * Eddie McNeill – drums

Discography

''Out of the Mist'' (1977)

;Personnel * Jane Relf – vocals * Jim McCarty – vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion * John Knightsbridge – electric and acoustic guitar * John Hawken – piano, synthesizers,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, Fender Rhodes electric piano, harpsichord * Louis Cennamo – bass guitar * Eddie McNeil – drums, percussion ;Notes *"Face of Yesterday" was a remake of a song from Renaissance's ''

'' album (1971)

''Illusion'' (1978)

;Personnel * Jane Relf – vocal * Jim McCarty – vocal, acoustic guitar, percussion * John Knightsbridge – electric and acoustic guitar * John Hawken – piano, synthesizers, Mellotron, Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, harpsichord * Louis Cennamo – bass guitar * Eddie McNeil – drums, percussion

''Enchanted Caress'' (1979)

;Personnel * Jane Relf – vocal, percussion * Jim McCarty – vocal, acoustic guitar, percussion * John Knightsbridge – electric and acoustic guitars * John Hawken – piano, analogue synthesizers (Moog/ARP), Mellotron (original), Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, harpsichord * Louis Cennamo – bass guitar (1–5), (7–10) * Eddie McNeil – drums, percussion (1–5), (7–9) * Keith Relf – vocals, acoustic guitar (10) (See Notes below) ;Session personnel * Chas Cronk – bass (6) * Tony Fernandez – drums (6) ;Notes * Recorded in 1979 but was released as an album in 1990. Contains demos for a planned third album, plus a 1976 Keith Relf demo and a John Knightsbridge solo instrumental. * "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" features John Knightsbridge, with

Chas Cronk Chas Cronk is an English musician, best known as the bass player and acoustic guitarist for the Strawbs from 1973 to 1980 and again from 2004 to the present. Chas also toured and recorded with Steve Hackett and Rick Wakeman in the 1980s and Cr ...

on bass and Tony Fernandez on drums. * "All the Falling Angels" features Keith Relf, with other musicians including Louis Cennamo on bass. It was Keith's last recording before his death (May 1976). * See YouTube video (JimMcCarty and Co) for original Home Demo version of "All the Falling Angels".

''Through the Fire'' (2001)

Personnel * Jane Relf – vocals * Jim McCarty – lead vocals, drums, percussion * John Idan – acoustic guitar * John Hawken – piano, keyboards * Louis Cennamo – bass * Ravi – percussion * Jackie Rawe – vocals * Mandy Bell – vocals * Emily Burridge – cello * Dzal Martin – acoustic guitar * Gary Le Port – acoustic guitar * Jonathan Digby – acoustic guitar * Danny Relf – synthesizer programming *

Ron Korb Ron Korb is a Grammy-nominated Canadian flutist (flautist) and composer. Musical style Korb is best known for writing culturally diverse music and his mastery of a wide array of world music wind instruments. His work spans a range of genres incl ...

– vocals, flute

References

External links

Northern Lights Renaissance website; includes Illusion discography etc.

* Illusion biography by Bradley Torreano, discography and album reviews, credits & releasesat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Illusion discography, album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Illusion albums to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illusion Island Records artists Musical groups established in 1977 English progressive rock groups Female-fronted musical groups