Ten Invitations From The Mistress of Mr. E
(Released 1997) - http://www.rikemmett.com/discography/images/teninvitations_cover.jpg
Rik Emmett: “I grew up in west-end Toronto, with many friends from the Italian community there. This tune is based on what may be an embroidered fabrication: a bittersweet little confessional from a quiet, lonely old bachelor uncle, told after a few glasses of home-made wine. Back in his village in Italy, he had fallen for a young girl because of the way she used to smile at him, even though he had never spoken to her, and it broke his heart forever when he emigrated to Canada and left her behind. As I wrote this piece, I kept picturing his memories in the warm, soft slo-mo colours of love, Mediterranean style, after being smitten by the lightning bolt of a young girl's beautiful smile”
Rik Emmett’s Biography (http://www.rikemmett.com/bio.php)
Rik Emmett was a relatively unknown singer/songwriter/guitarist on the local Toronto scene in September of1975, when he joined a newly-forming hard rock trio. By 1979 that act had three albums that had gone gold and platinum in Canada, and two of these had charted in the States, receiving serious radio airplay. By 1981, they were firmly established as one of the premier touring rock acts in North America, with generous FM radio airplay support and heavy rotation on the fledgling MTV cable channel. In the next seven years they released a total of ten albums, which all struck gold, as four of them went platinum in Canada, and two went gold Stateside. Emmett's name frequently appeared in guitar magazine polls, and he won some prestigious awards, including Best Lead Guitarist nationally in 1981. Rik left that band in 1988 to fly solo, but as one of the original band members, he was inducted into the Canadian Rock Hall of Fame in 1993.
Rik's solo career began in 1989 and spawned three releases for Duke Street/MCA Records. The first album of the three, Absolutely, went gold in 1990, yielding the hits "Saved by Love" and "Big Lie", two songs that provided a fairly easy transition from triumphant arena rocking while maintaining a sense of continuity for FM radio listeners. Perhaps a bit more of a surprise was the ballad, "When a Heart Breaks", which crossed a rock guitar hero over into other radio formats, and revealed a more sensitive singer/songwriter persona. "World of Wonder" also received substantial airplay, and revealed an expanding lyrical and stylistic range. Ipso Facto followed in '92. It offered up such hits as "Out of The Blue", the Stevie Ray / Jimi / Wes Montgomery tribute, and "Bang On", a rocking return to one of Rik's personal themes - positive motivation and inspiration. Ipso Facto was a tour de force of that 'damnable' stylistic versatility - no surprise to fans who knew Rik as a guy who always put trademark classical guitar pieces or little jazz tunes in between the hard rock anthems, arena blues riffs and progressive flourishes found on past records.
A strong singer/songwriter album called Spiral Notebook followed in '95, which got noticed through airplay of the singles "Let Me Be The One" and "The Longing", both examples of Emmett's abilities as a sensitive balladeer, arranger, and producer.
In 1996, Rik Emmett's career entered another new phase, as he began testing the courage of his musical convictions with his work at THE REC ROOM, a digital studio facility he built, and through OPEN HOUSE Records, his own label.
Artistically, following those convictions paid off. The first release for OPEN HOUSE was Ten Invitations from the Mistress of Mr E., a beautifully written and performed CD of instrumental classical nylon string guitar. Critics and fans were reminded that the 'rock guitar god' was not a one trick pony. Rik then recorded part two of his guitar trilogy, Swing Shift, which took a completely different musical direction, featuring jazz, swing and fusion. Again, the CD was well received, and piqued the interest of brand new fans in growing musical circles. Perhaps more importantly, he continued to elevate the spirits of his diehard supporters who were witnessing a musical transformation that would come to defy easy classification. Raw Quartet, released in early 1999, became the final CD in the trilogy, displaying Rik's passion and natural affinity for blues and rock. 1999's Live at Berklee (highlights from sold out shows at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston), was followed by a traditional Spirit Of Christmas album, recorded in collaboration with keyboardist Sam Reid. 2002 brought the release of a 20th Century Masters Best of Rik Emmett Collection, and another widely-acclaimed instrumental masterpiece - Handiwork. In the late summer of 2003, the singer/songwriter of GOOD FAITH emerged, and yet another new chapter began in an already storied career.
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