Marc Antoine: Growing up in Paris, Marc Antoine began playing guitar when he was 11 and as a teen, he split his time between developing as a musician and swimming competitively. While training at the International School of Classical Guitar, he also attained championship caliber as a member of the French Junior Swim Team. When he was 16, he won a scholarship to the Conservatory of Music, whereupon Antoine came to a crossroads. To achieve his full potential in either pursuit would require his full dedication. Marc's father reasoned that within a few years, he would be past his peak as a swimmer whereas music could a lifelong passion; heeding his father's reasoning, Antoine chose music. He spent the next few years living with his aunt attending the Conservatory by day while jamming at clubs late into the night!

Courtesy of Marc Antoine.com

Tragedy struck in the summer of 1981 when at 19 Antoine suffered a career-threatening injury - the tendons in his left wrist became severed to the bone when he fell backwards thru a plate glass door. In spite of a lengthy five-hour operation, the prognosis was he would never play guitar again. After working strenuously for an entire year Antoine could still only play a single A minor chord. Yet that provided all the encouragement that he needed to continue practicing and ultimately to prove the doctors wrong. In the process, he not only overcame the injury but also developed an entirely new technique and sound. After three long and painful years of rehab and practice, Antoine's dreams once again took wing and when in 1984 at the age of 22, he was back performing and playing on the Parisian club circuit! IIn 1988, Antoine moved to London - he toured with Basia, played on Soul II Soul's first album, and became totally absorbed in that city's acid jazz scene. Moving to LA in the early 90s, Antoine sessioned with The Solsonics and Queen Latifah; played with Sting, George Benson, and the late Selena, while also working a few film soundtracks.

Then as a seasoned 31-year-old performer, Antoine recorded his critically acclaimed 1994 debut and earned Best New Artist of the Year recognition! In the time since, he's shown unique development by mixing seemingly incongruous elements from pop, jazz, Latin, and African music into a creative yet highly appealing blend. He's become a mainstay of the genre while being somewhat revered on our humble show as the frequent focus for a variety of specials and tributes.

So it is, that with the release of Hi-Lo Split now his 9th cd overall, it's rather apropos that Antoine once again finds himself basking in the radiance of our spotlight as the focus for our Then & now feature. We've run similar segments in the past, on ed281 in 2003 and ed385 in 2005, but with due diligence, we've expanded our vision to include a few exotic flavours that have heretofore been untasted on our program. We include the following: Timeless Line, Sand Castle, Sarava, Celta, Cruisin', Señor Groove, Bella Via, and Hi-Lo Split from the above albums respectively! By our reckoning, Antoine may well remain a force in contemporary instrumental music for another 20 or 30 years, and we can only dream of the incredible features that we'll be able run as time goes by! Site: Marc Antoine

Also by Marc Antoine

The Very Best of GRP Records 2003