The Celestials

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Supergroup to the Gods

My ideal celestial band will include these musicians (who have all passed on from this mortal coil):

Isao Tomita - modular synthesisers
Delia Derbyshire - electronics, tape, angelic voice
Vivienne McAuliffe - sublime voice (PEMT)
Demetrio Stratos - vocal research, keyboards (Area)
Nick Drake - voice, guitar, piano, clarinet, sax
Eddie Hazel - voice, electric guitar (Funkadelic)
John McGeoch - electric guitar (Magazine, Visage, Siouxsie & The Banshees, PiL)
Jaco Pastorius - fretless bass
Nagisa - harp
Sun Ra - organ, piano, synthesiser, solar drum, space lute, bandleader
Fela Kuti - voice, sax, percussion, keyboards, bandleader
Miles Davis - trumpet, coolness
Roman Kunsman - flute, alto flute, alto sax (The Platina)
Lindsay Cooper - bassoon, oboe, (Henry Cow)
Peter Leopold - drums, percussion (Amon Duul II)
James Brown - djembe, West African percussion (Tanante)
James VanDenAkker - congas, Afrocuban percussion
James Blades - orchestral percussion
Charles Stepney - production, arrangements, composition
Conny Plank - production
Uwe Nettlebeck - studio wizardry (Faust)
Colin Thurston - recording engineer (Duran Duran, Magazine, Talk Talk and many other 1980s classics)

...featuring The Heavenly Choir

Minnie Riperton - stratospheric coloratura soprano voice
Ella Fitzgerald - soprano voice
Lyn Collins - soprano voice, "The Female Preacher" (James Brown)
Betty Carter - contralto voice
Sarah Vaughan - alto voice
James Brown - tenor voice, superfunk
Bim Sherman - tenor voice
Barry White - baritone voice, sex appeal
Sting Ray Davis - bass voice (Funkadelic)
Prince Far I - subbass voice

I'm still scouting for a deceased celestial string ensemble to add some ethereal shimmering sounds. We need some more girl instrumentalists in there too. I'm open to suggestions for alternative supergroups of your own, or more artists for this one but they'd have to be really special, not just popular choices like Bob Marley, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Syd Barrett, Ian Curtis (all cool), or Kurt Cobain (not). John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix are not included as they thrive more in small group settings. Fellow Funkadelic guitarist/singer/drummer Glen Goins can stand in if Eddie Hazel or Tiki get tired. There are of course many jazzers who could stand in, but this group is about much more than jazz - think cosmic calypso space funk with offstage whispered gospel harmonies! Of course one day I'd aspire to join this esteemed band, but in the meantime, perhaps I should try and emulate and develop their sublime sounds while still here on Earth...

It's inevitable that the band will only expand as more great masters join the heavenly throng - I'm starting to feel old, now that all my mentors are leaving this life! But even heaven's stages have size limits, and not everyone can play at once. Possibly they can branch out into splinter groups of like-minded individuals from this initial mega-orchestra melting pot. Hopefully being dead will free the group from earthly pressures such as clashes of ego and rehearsal time/space issues. We look forward to hearing their heavenly music soon at a shrine near you...

May they all Rock In Peace!

The Celestials

Home / Music / Mentors / The Celestials

Supergroup to the Gods

...featuring The Heavenly Choir

Guest Stars

May they all Rock In Peace!