Ten (band)
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Ten (also typeset as TEN or ten) are an English melodic
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band which were formed in 1995. Up until February the 18th, the band has released 15 studio albums, six compilation albums, five EPs, a double live album, nine music videos and four lyric videos, with the latest one being "Hurricane", from their 15th studio album ''
Here Be Monsters ''Here Be Monsters'' is the debut album by Ed Harcourt, released in 2001. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001. Tim Holmes, one-half of British dance music duo Death In Vegas, co-produced the album. The singles "Something in My ...
''. In March 2016, the band announced their return to
Frontiers Frontiers may refer to: * Frontier, areas near or beyond a boundary Arts and entertainment Music * ''Frontiers'' (Journey album), 1983 * ''Frontiers'' (Jermaine Jackson album), 1978 * ''Frontiers'' (Jesse Cook album), 2007 * ''Frontiers'' ( ...
for a multi-album deal, starting with the release of their thirteenth studio album entitled ''Gothica'' and a reissue of their back catalogue in box-set format, entitled
Opera Omnia The complete works of an artist, writer, musician, group, etc., is a collection of all of their cultural works. For example, ''Complete Works of Shakespeare'' is an edition containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. A ''Complete W ...
. The band's fifteenth studio album entitled ''
Here Be Monsters ''Here Be Monsters'' is the debut album by Ed Harcourt, released in 2001. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001. Tim Holmes, one-half of British dance music duo Death In Vegas, co-produced the album. The singles "Something in My ...
'', was released in February 2022, through Frontiers Records. On the 8th of November 2022, the band announced that their sixteenth studio album entitled Something Wicked This Way Comes will be released on the 20th of January 2023.


Biography


Formation (1994–1996)

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter
Gary Hughes Gary Hughes (born 5 July 1964) is an English hard rock singer, songwriter and musician. Apart from his work as a solo artist, Gary Hughes is the front man and main songwriter of Hard Rock/Melodic Rock band Ten. He has also worked as a produce ...
was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of a one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the US, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including
Doug Aldrich Doug Aldrich (born February 19, 1964) is an American hard rock guitarist. He founded the band Burning Rain with Keith St. John in 1998 and has played with Whitesnake, Dio, Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, Bad Moon Rising and Revolution Saints. ...
,
Lanny Cordola Lanny Cordola (born 1961) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. He has been a member of bands such as Giuffria, House of Lords and Magdallan (also known as Magdalen after Ken Tamplin's departure). Before joining Giuffria, Cordola w ...
and
Ralph Santolla Ralph Santolla (December 8, 1966 – June 7, 2018) was an Italian-American heavy metal guitarist. He played in many bands, most recently Deicide, but also including Eyewitness, Death (he never recorded any of their albums, but toured with them in ...
. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist
Vinny Burns Vinny Burns (born 4 April 1965, Oldham, Lancashire) is an English hard rock guitarist and producer, best known for his work with the bands Dare, Ten and Bob Catley. He has also been a member of Asia, Ultravox, Hugo, FM, The Ladder, Phoenix Do ...
( Dare,
Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...
) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of Ten. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.


Early years (1996–2001)

The band's first album (named '' X'') was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 100,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the forthcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex- Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. ''
The Name of the Rose ''The Name of the Rose'' ( it, Il nome della rosa ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in ficti ...
'' was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to ''X'', gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted "Song Of The Year" by the readers of ''BURRN!'' magazine in Japan. With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, Ten (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and ''
The Robe ''The Robe'' is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion of Jesus, written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list in October 1942, four weeks later ...
'' was released in September 1997. ''The Robe'' marked a change in the overall sound of Ten, which was now a combination of the instantly recognisable Melodic Rock/Hard Rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named '' Never Say Goodbye''. Ten's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label
Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
for the release of their fourth studio album, '' Spellbound''. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful Ten albums in Europe. ''Spellbound'' was also the first Ten album for which famous fantasy artist
Luis Royo Luis Royo (born 1954) is a Spanish artist. He is best known for his fantasy illustrations published in numerous art books, magazines such as '' Heavy Metal'' and various other media including book and music CD covers, video games and Tarot cards ...
designed the cover. In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. ''
Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
'', which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a
concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. ''Babylon'', once again, proved to be another successful release for Ten and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts. Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to ''Babylon'', named ''
Far Beyond the World ''Far Beyond the World'' is the sixth studio album released by the hard rock band Ten (band), Ten in 2001. It was the last Ten album with the founding member guitarist Vinny Burns. The Asian version of the album has a different track listing. Tr ...
''. The recordings took place in
Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player
Paul Hodson Paul Hodson is an English hard rock singer, songwriter and musician. Biography Paul Hodson has been the keyboard player of the band Ten from 2001 until September 2011. He has also played for the band Hard Rain since 1997 as well as for h ...
taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, Ten released ''Far Beyond the World''; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.


"Return To Evermore" and hiatus (2002–2007)

The band held auditions for the position of the lead guitarist, and in January 2002 announced Chris Francis as Vinny Burns' replacement. During 2002 and 2003, the band took a break since Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on Hughes' two-part rock opera project named ''Once and Future King''. Ten returned in the forefront again with the release of '' Return to Evermore'' in 2004 initially through Gary Hughes' own record label Intensity Records, while in 2005 the band announced that they would release a double disk ''Best Of'' collection, aptly named '' The Essential Collection 1995-2005'', in order to celebrate the band's tenth anniversary. ''The Essential Collection 1995-2005'' featured newly recorded versions of the songs, which were divided into two disks – one containing the ballads and one the heavier material. In addition to ''The Essential Collection'', the band announced the release of a new album in 2006 and so, in August 2006, the band released ''
The Twilight Chronicles ''The Twilight Chronicles'' is the eighth studio album released by the British hard rock band Ten (band), Ten. The album marked a shift in the band's sound, relying more heavily on symphonic orchestrations and musical landscape, more so than eve ...
'', which featured another change in the sound of the band, leaning towards a more symphonic sound. By then, the band consisted of Hughes, Chris Francis, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson and session drummer Frank Basile, since bassist Steve Mckenna had left the band in December 2005. By 2007, Ten was put on a hiatus and by May 2008, lead guitarist Chris Francis had announced his departure from the band.


Re-emergence and "Isla De Muerta" (2010–2015)

Following a four-year hiatus, the band returned to the fold with a new album, their ninth one, in early 2011, entitled '' Stormwarning''. The album featured members
Gary Hughes Gary Hughes (born 5 July 1964) is an English hard rock singer, songwriter and musician. Apart from his work as a solo artist, Gary Hughes is the front man and main songwriter of Hard Rock/Melodic Rock band Ten. He has also worked as a produce ...
, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson and session musicians Neil Fraser on lead guitar, Mark Sumner on bass and
Mark Zonder Warlord was an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band, formed in 1980 and based in Los Angeles, California. Since its formation the band was led by guitarist William J Tsamis and drummer Mark Zonder. History Early years Warlord is the ...
( Fates Warning) on drums and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be included on the Babylon album, but was removed from it just three weeks prior to its final release. In January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. ''Stormwarning'' on the other hand, was released a month later, in February 2011. In September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a Ten group on Facebook. In 5 November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's reemergence, the band featured for the first time in a live setting, the new (at the time) lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboard player Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did a UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on 19 October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville. The band's tenth studio album entitled '' Heresy and Creed'', was released on 26 September 2012 in Japan, 19 October in Europe and 22 October in North America. The leading single off the album was the track "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012. Some months later, in March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece, for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm. A few weeks before the release of their eleventh studio album '' Albion'', the band unveiled their new lineup on Firefest 2014 - The Final Fling, featuring the band's current two lead guitarists, Dann Rosingana and Steve Grocott. The band appeared for the second time in their history in Athens, Greece on 9 May 2015, before they released their 12th studio album, entitled ''
Isla De Muerta This is a list of islands and other locations in the '' Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series. Davy Jones' Locker Davy Jones' Locker, based on a real superstition of the same name, is a fictional place introduced in ''Dead Man's Chest'' an ...
'' on the 20 May via Rocktopia Records. About a month later, the band headlined the second night at Wildfire Festival in Scotland. In September of the same year, the band also released their first EP in 16 years entitled The Dragon And Saint George, which included three brand new tracks, alongside "Albion Born" and the European exclusive track "We Can Be As One", the last two originally present on the band's latest two full-length studio albums Albion and Isla De Muerta.


Return to Frontiers Records (2016–present)

In March 2016, the band announced their return to Frontiers Records, for a multi-album deal, starting with the release of their thirteenth studio album Gothica in July 2017 and the re-issue of their entire back catalogue in both physical (box set) and digital format under the title ''
Opera Omnia The complete works of an artist, writer, musician, group, etc., is a collection of all of their cultural works. For example, ''Complete Works of Shakespeare'' is an edition containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. A ''Complete W ...
''. As with the band's last four releases, the band's thirteenth album Gothica, was mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward. In November 2018, the band released their fourteenth studio album entitled ''
Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...
'', while in April 2019, the band released their long-awaited compilation box-set entitled
Opera Omnia The complete works of an artist, writer, musician, group, etc., is a collection of all of their cultural works. For example, ''Complete Works of Shakespeare'' is an edition containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. A ''Complete W ...
. The box-set included every album released by the band since its inception back in 1995, up until
Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...
. In December, 2021, the band announced that they're working on two new studio albums, with the first one entitled
Here Be Monsters ''Here Be Monsters'' is the debut album by Ed Harcourt, released in 2001. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001. Tim Holmes, one-half of British dance music duo Death In Vegas, co-produced the album. The singles "Something in My ...
, to be released on February 18 of 2022.https://www.rockeramagazine.com/mag/index.php/music-news/item/3819-ten-announce-new-studio-album


Current members

*
Gary Hughes Gary Hughes (born 5 July 1964) is an English hard rock singer, songwriter and musician. Apart from his work as a solo artist, Gary Hughes is the front man and main songwriter of Hard Rock/Melodic Rock band Ten. He has also worked as a produce ...
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
and backing vocals, programming, guitars * Dann Rosingana -
lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...
* Steve Grocott - lead guitar * Darrel Treece-Birch -
keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
* Steve Mckenna - bass * Craig Walker -
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...


Discography


Studio albums

* '' X'' (1996) * ''
The Name of the Rose ''The Name of the Rose'' ( it, Il nome della rosa ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in ficti ...
'' (1996) * ''
The Robe ''The Robe'' is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion of Jesus, written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list in October 1942, four weeks later ...
'' (1997) * '' Spellbound'' (1999) * ''
Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
'' (2000) * ''
Far Beyond the World ''Far Beyond the World'' is the sixth studio album released by the hard rock band Ten (band), Ten in 2001. It was the last Ten album with the founding member guitarist Vinny Burns. The Asian version of the album has a different track listing. Tr ...
'' (2001) * '' Return to Evermore'' (2004) * ''
The Twilight Chronicles ''The Twilight Chronicles'' is the eighth studio album released by the British hard rock band Ten (band), Ten. The album marked a shift in the band's sound, relying more heavily on symphonic orchestrations and musical landscape, more so than eve ...
'' (2006) * '' Stormwarning'' (2011) * '' Heresy and Creed'' (2012) * '' Albion'' (2014) * ''
Isla De Muerta This is a list of islands and other locations in the '' Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series. Davy Jones' Locker Davy Jones' Locker, based on a real superstition of the same name, is a fictional place introduced in ''Dead Man's Chest'' an ...
'' (2015) * '' Gothica'' (2017) * ''
Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...
'' (2018) * ''
Here Be Monsters ''Here Be Monsters'' is the debut album by Ed Harcourt, released in 2001. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001. Tim Holmes, one-half of British dance music duo Death In Vegas, co-produced the album. The singles "Something in My ...
'' (2022) * '' Something Wicked This Way Comes '' (2023)


Live albums

* '' Never Say Goodbye'' (1998)


Compilation albums

* '' The Best of Ten 1996-1999'' (1999) * '' X/The Name of the Rose'' (1999) * '' The Robe/Bonus Collection'' (1999) * '' The Essential Collection 1995-2005'' (2006) * '' Battlefield – The Rocktopia Records Collection'' - Limited Release Double CD Collection (2016) * '' Opera Omnia: The Complete Works'' (2019)


EPs

* ''
The Name of the Rose ''The Name of the Rose'' ( it, Il nome della rosa ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in ficti ...
'' (1996) * ''
The Robe ''The Robe'' is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion of Jesus, written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list in October 1942, four weeks later ...
'' (1997) * '' You're In My Heart'' (1997) * '' Fear the Force'' (1999) * '' The Dragon And Saint George'' (2015)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ten (Band) English hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups from Manchester