Stairway was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

new-age music band, who have released a total of five albums and cassette tapes between 1986 and 1995.

History

After

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

' mid-1980s reunion project (known as " Box of Frogs"), drummer

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 featu ...

reunited with bassist Louis Cennamo (a colleague from McCarty's days with his post-Yardbirds bands,

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

and

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 oc ...

), to form "Stairway", a duo which would record largely instrumental and "atmospheric" music. In a departure from their usual roles in bands, for this project McCarty played keyboards and Cennamo (who is credited on Stairway releases as "Loui") played guitar. Stairway was signed with Colin Wilcox of New World Cassettes, a UK-based independent record label that specialized in "healing music". Their first releases were two cassette tape albums: ''Aquamarine'' (1987) and ''Moonstone'' (1988), a mixture of songs and instrumentals. Additional musicians on these releases included keyboardist Clifford White, and another colleague from Renaissance and Illusion, vocalist

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 ...

. Although only available as cassette tapes initially, Stairway’s "New World Cassettes" albums were eventually both released in Compact Disc format. These releases were subsequently followed by two albums with the Psychologist and "

Spiritual Healer Energy medicine is a branch of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel "healing energy" into a patient and effect positive results. Practitioners use a number of names including various synonyms for ...

", Malcolm Stern: ''Chakra Dance'' (1989) and ''Medicine Dance'' (1992), which they promoted through a few live performances, mainly at

St James's Church, Piccadilly St James's Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, United Kingdom. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren. Th ...

(

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) After a few years between releases, Stairway resurfaced once more as "James McCarty/Louis Cennamo" on Canadian flute player

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 inc ...

’s Oasis label, releasing the ''Raindreaming'' CD in 1995. There have been no new releases by Stairway since 1995. McCarty has more recently been active with a re-formed version of The Yardbirds, and Cennamo has returned to playing bass and doing sessions, in addition to having begun a writing career. In 2015,

Angel Air Records Angel Air is an English independent record label established in February 1997, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 1970s (and latterly new albums from known artists up to the 21st century) ...

released a Stairway "best of" compilation, titled "Pearls Of The Deep".

Discography

* ''Aquamarine'' (1987) ¤ * ''Moonstone'' (1988) ¤ * ''Chakra Dance'' (1989) * ''Medicine Dance'' (1992) * ''Raindreaming'' (1995) ¤ Note: These two releases were initially available as cassette tapes only. A CD that included tracks from both tapes was later released as ''Aquamarine''.

Personnel

* Louis Cennamo – guitar * Jim McCarty – keyboards * Jane Relf – vocals * Clifford White – keyboards * Dave Balen – Percussion and tablas on Medicine Dance

References

External links

Stairway – Discographie
– Stairway's Discography (French)
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– Stairway albums

– An Interview with Jim McCarty

– The Yardbirds offshoots {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1969 The Yardbirds members English progressive rock groups