~Sky Biography~

SKY

     It all began in 1992, when James and Antoine met at Musique Technique, a recording engineering college in Montreal,
where they were both taking a one year music production course. They happened to be sitting next to each other and
each thought the other was pretty strange-looking. James had the hippie look going on, with a long beard half way down his chest ("..and I'd never seen a guy my age with a beard." said Antoine), while Antoine resembled a member of the Montreal jet set, wearing leather pants ("..[He] looked pretty weird," recalls James) Eventually first impressions were
overruled.
    The two worked on class projects together and then began to collaborate on extracurricular music. "Halfway
through the course, we became partners," says James. "It was funny, because Antoine was the complete opposite of
me....We had little in common except music."
    The two dropped out of school, moved in together and experimented for the next few years, penning songs and playing in their makeshift living room studio, also occasionally performing with different bands in local clubs. They wrote about 150 songs over 6 years, in all sorts of different styles. "It's been a long process," says James. "We've done every style of music imaginable, and I think we did them all well. At one point, we formed a four-piece metal/rap group called Louder Than A Bomb, which never did any shows."
    Finally, SKY's distinctive style of smooth, soulful R&B-driven pop began to emerge, but only after painstaking songwriting sessions and endless studio hours. "We wanted to create something special, to bring flavor, quality, and good songwriting to pop and urban music," says Antoine. The result was a combination of their disparate and unique personalities, as well as their varying musical tastes and influences.
    James grew up listening to folk, mainstream disco and brit pop, like America, Stevie Wonder and Dooby Brothers. He was also a fan of Oasis and Blur for a while. Antoine, however, came from a more R&B background, and credits Michael Jackson and Prince among his inspirations. Also, discovering their own strengths and weaknesses helped them find their "vibe". Antoine was into the rhythms, bass and drum tracks, the foundation of the songs. He provided the groove and energy to SKY's sound. Melody, lyrics and chords were more James' sort of thing, so he brought out the deeper, more introspective side of the songs.
    The two, both producers as well as song-writers and multi-instrumentalists, had the "gear" at home to build up their songs and released a five-song extended play record called America in 1997, on their own label, Phat Royale, also self-producing a video. They got some heavy rotation on MusiquePlus, the French-language version of MuchMusic and 43 Quebec radio stations played their indie record. This caught the eye of EMI Music Canada and SKY signed a deal with them in February 1998.
    To create their Piece of Paradise album, SKY had the chance to work with internationally-renowned producer Peter Mokran and Euro-Syndicate Productions, in separate sessions. Between the two, SKY was working in studios in New York, LA and Missasauga. The album was released in Canada on February 2, 1999. It met with amazing success, entering #6 on the Canadian album charts in its first week, the highest entry by a new Canadian artist since the inception of Soundscan! In less than two weeks, 50,000 copies were sold and SKY received their first gold record! It went platinum in its first month! Their first single, Some Kinda Wonderful, hit #4 on the Canadian Billboard Charts, and the video reached the top five on the MuchMusic Countdown. It was also a #1 hit in several Asian countries. Their second single, Love Song, was #1 on the MuchMusic Countdown and Musiqueplus charts for several weeks, and hit the Top 5 on the AC charts. Love Song became the first song by a Canadian group to hit #1 at Top 40 radio since the inception of BDS in Canada. Their third single, Push, also got very good response. They have just released their fourth single, All I Want to Top 40 and AC radio stations across the country. SKY did a Canadian promo tour in February, and just recently finished their tour as Britney Spear's opening act. Now, Arista Records has signed the group to release Piece of Paradise in the US, Britain and Japan! SKY is now approaching double platinum status in Canada. They are leading the pack for the Much Music Video Awards with an outstanding 7 nominatations, including Best Video (Love Song), Best Director (Jef Renfroe), and People's Choice Favourite Canadian Group! They are also performing live at the MMVA. You might expect that being such amazing successes and all, that it might go to their heads. On the contrary. By all accounts, James and Antoine are still the same sweet, modest, normal guys they've always been. After all the hard work, time and effort they put into making SKY the smashing success that it is and still keeping their feet on the ground, without a doubt, no one deserves recognition more!

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