Sananda Maitreya

The stepson of a Pentecostal Minister and a gospel singer, Terence Trent D'Arby cut his musical teeth singing in church and school choirs. After the family had moved to Florida, he trained as a boxer, reaching a high level, winning the Golden Gloves lightweight title before enlisting in the US Army. Stationed in Germany, D'Arby joined a band, The Touch, who released one album, Love On Time (1984) and was then discharged from the army for going AWOL and moved to London. It was there he launched his solo career with the striking R&B flavoured album Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby (1987), which produced a series of major hits - including Wishing Well and Sign Your Name - and instantly transformed him into a charismatic international star. Yet he failed to match its success with the follow-up Neither Fish Nor Flesh (1989), later moving to LA where he tried to revive his career with Symphony Or Damn (1993) and Vibrator (1995). D'Arby briefly replaced the late Michael Hutchence in INXS to play at the opening of the Sydney Olympics and in 2001 reinvented himself as Sananda Maitreya, moving back to Europe and releasing the albums Wildcard (2001) and the online recordings Angel & Vampires Volume I and Volume II (2005 and 2006) and Nigor Mortis. In 2010 he was working on a new project, The Sphinx.