Neal Morse

Neal Morse
Morse performing in 2012
Background information
Born	(1960-08-02)August 2, 1960 Van Nuys, California,U.S.
Genres	Progressive rock progressive metal Christian rock
Occupations	Singer songwriter musician
Instruments	Vocals keyboards guitar
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Metal Blade Radiant Inside Out
Member of	Transatlantic Flying Colors The Neal Morse Band D'Virgilio, Morse & Jennings
Formerly of	Spock's Beard Yellow Matter Custard
Website	nealmorse

Neal Morse(born August 2, 1960) is an American singer, musician and composer based inNashville, Tennessee.In 1992, he formed theprogressive rockbandSpock's Beardwith his brotherAlanand released an album which was moderately successful. In 1999, he joinedDream Theater's co-founder and then drummerMike Portnoy,together withFlower Kings'Roine StoltandMarillion'sPete Trewavasthey formed the super-groupTransatlantic.In 2002, Neal Morse became aborn againChristian, left Spock's Beard and began aChristian rocksolo career, releasing many progressive rockconcept albumsabout his new religious faith. In the meantime, he continued to play with Transatlantic and formed three new bands with Portnoy,Yellow Matter Custard,Flying Colorsand The Neal Morse Band.

Biography

Band career

Morse grew up in theSan Fernando Valleyof Los Angeles as one of four children. His father was a choral director. Morse started to play the piano at the age of five and started to learn to play the guitar at the age of nine.During his twenties he wrote two musicals (Hit ManandHomeland), did some session jobs, tried to get a deal as a singer-songwriter in Los Angeles, and recorded a fewcountry and westerndemos with his brother Richard.

After about ten years, having played in small Californian clubs with various groups including Burlesque, Morse foundedSpock's Beardtogether with his brotherAlan,to give voice to his great passion for Progressive Rock.Their first album,The Light(1995), was moderately successful. Despite having released the first two Spock's Beard albums to good critical acclaim, Morse found himself struggling economically. His brother Richard advised him to go to Germany to play hit songs as a one-man band in pubs, accompanying himself with piano or guitar, to generate income.Morse then began periodic travel between California and Germany, where from time to time he remained for several weeks to work as a pub musician. During his periods in California, Morse continued to alternate work on new compositions for Spock's Beard, and live performance with them. At that time Morse was also part of the Eric Burdon band, touring with them, too.The popularity of Spock's Beard's continued to grow and they would soon become one of a number of successfulprogressive rockbands during the late nineties (along withDream Theater,Porcupine Tree,andThe Flower Kings).

While with Spock's Beard, Morse released two solo albums of more conventional straightforward rock music. In 1999, he joined formerDream Theaterco-founderMike Portnoy,Flower Kings'Roine StoltandMarillion'sPete Trewavasto form the supergroupTransatlantic.The band has released five studio albums (SMPT:e,Bridge Across Forever,The Whirlwind,KaleidoscopeandThe Absolute Universe) plus live albums from the tours behind each studio disc:Live in America,Live in Europe,Whirld Tour 2010: Live in London,More Never Is EnoughandKaLIVEoscope.In concert, the group has includedDaniel GildenlöwofPain of Salvation,and occasionally Ted Leonard, Morse's eventual replacement in Spock's Beard.

Morse recording on a classical guitar

In 2003, Morse, Mike Portnoy, Paul Gilbert and Matt Bissonette formedYellow Matter Custardas a Beatles tribute supergroup. They took the name from a lyric in The Beatles song "I Am the Walrus": 'Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye...' On March 26, 2012, Morse releasedthe first albumof the newly formed bandFlying Colors(Mike Portnoyon drums and vocals,Dave LaRueon bass, Neal Morse on keyboards and vocals,Casey McPhersonon lead vocals, and guitar, andSteve Morseon lead guitar). In 2014, he gave life to another group, The Neal Morse Band (with Mike Portnoy, Randy George, Eric Gillette and Bill Hubauer), that released its first studio albumThe Grand Experimentin 2015. The group's second outing,The Similitude of a Dream,was released on November 11, 2016, and the sequel to that album,The Great Adventure,was released on January 25, 2019. Their fourth release,Innocence & Dangerwas released on August 27, 2021.

Solo career

Morse became aborn againChristian in 2002. He left both Spock's Beard and Transatlantic immediately following the release of the Spock's Beard albumSnow,in response to a calling to make his personal faith more prominent in his recorded output. He felt this would not be possible or appropriate in a band context. The period leading to this decision is described on the solo albumTestimony(2003), an epic, introspective composition which featuresKerry LivgrenofKansasandMike Portnoy.One part of his conversion to Christianity, omitted fromTestimonybut described in full onTestimony Liveand later in the songJaydaonTestimony 2,was that his daughter Jayda had been diagnosed as having a hole in her heart that required open-heart surgery. However, before Jayda received surgery, the hole disappeared following a church service in which Morse's wife and others prayed for God's healing.

In 2004, Morse wrote and recorded a new concept album featuring Portnoy and Randy George (on bass guitar). Guitar virtuosoPhil Keaggymade a guest appearance on guitar and vocals. The album, titledOne,is about man's relationship with God from his Christian perspective and was released on November 2, 2004. In 2005, Morse released two non-prog Christian albums. In January, Morse recorded Lead Me Lord with the Christian Gospel Temple Choir, his children, and his friends. Morse wrote about half of the tracks. This was released in February and is available for a donation. In July, Morse releasedGod Won't Give Up,which was written around theSnowperiod. This is a pop album similar toIt's Not Too Late,but with Christian lyrics.

Morse in 2007

In the summer of 2005, a member of his church approached Morse to tell him that he should make an album based on thetabernacleand that he should keep it a secret. Morse nonetheless mentioned that he was working on a secret project before he had written a note or even committed himself to do the project. Mentioning it during a radio interview created enough buzz to convince him to make the album. There was a contest on his message board to guess the participants, theme, and meaning of the album based on a series of clues. The secret project was finally revealed to be?(also known as The Question Mark album, rumored to be influenced in title byThe White Album) and is about the tabernacle in the wilderness and the tabernacle of the heart. The studio band is Neal, Mike Portnoy, and Randy George with guests Mark Leniger,Alan Morse,Roine Stolt,Steve Hackett,andJordan Rudess.

In 2006, Morse issuedCover to Cover,a collection of cover versions by Mike Portnoy, Randy George and him, recorded during the production of?,OneandTestimony,proving that despite the new focus of his solo career Morse wasn't averse to tackling songs with non-religious themes. In early 2007, Morse releasedSola Scriptura,a concept album detailing the life and struggles of the German theologianMartin Luther,and corruption within the medieval Church. Portnoy and George once again teamed with Morse and were joined by Paul Gilbert (ofRacer XandMr. Big) who contributed a few solo parts.

Immediately followingSola Scriptura,Morse released the acoustic folk albumSongs from the Highway.The studio albumLifelinewas released on September 30, 2008. Morse was once again joined by Portnoy and George, just four months after the release of theSola Scripturalive DVD. A live album,So Many Roads,recorded with his European band, was released on June 30, 2009. Testimony 2,a sequel and expansion of the autobiographical story from the first Testimony album, was released May 23, 2011. As had become Morse's pattern, he followed that album with a tour and live DVD. Also in 2011, he released a book,Testimony,a continued autobiographical look at his life story and spiritual journey explored in more detail than in the associated Testimony albums.

Momentumwas released on September 11, 2012, an album that, in structure, featured several shorter songs and one epic.

In recent years, Morse has recorded two more cover albums with George and Portnoy (Cover 2 Coverin 2012 andCov3r to Cov3rin 2020), a guest-heavy prog rock musical retelling the life and Passion of Christ (Jesus Christ the Exorcist,released in 2019), a biographical album in the vein ofSola Scripturabased on the conversion and writings ofPaul the Apostle(Sola Gratia,released in 2020), and a two-part musical based on the story ofJosephfrom theBook of Genesis(The DreamerandThe Restoration,released in 2023 and 2024, respectively).

During his early solo years, Morse focused most of his touring in Europe and had a band made largely of European musicians. The incarnation that toured in Europe for Sola Scriptura, for example, included Collin Leijenaar (drums, music director), Paul Bielatowicz (guitars), Elisa Krijgsman (guitars), Wilco van Esschoten (bass guitar), Jessica Koomen (vocals, keyboards, percussion) and Henk Doest (keyboards). For Testimony 2, Morse reunited members from the band that toured the initial Testimony album, including Portnoy, George, Rick Altizer and others. He then held a contest to assemble a full-time band, which eventually toured behind Momentum.This new band consisted of Mike Portnoy (drums), Randy George (bass), Eric Gillette (guitars, keyboards) and Bill Hubauer (keyboards). Guitarist Adson Sodré was in the band until visa issues forced his departure.

Guest appearances

Morse (left) performing in the Netherlands, 2007

In 1997 he became a member ofEric Burdon's I band. They also released the concert filmLive at the Coachhouse.In 2000, Morse provided vocals for the song "The First Man on Earth" onThe Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer,one ofArjen Anthony Lucassen'sAyreonalbums. Neal Morse tracks have also appeared on theCPR Volume 1(2004),CPR Volume 2,and The Tsunami Projekt anthologies. Morse also participated in recording the ProgAID single "All Around the World". The profits for both The Tsunami Projekt and the ProgAID single were donated for victims' relief from the2004 Asian tsunami.

Morse has been a guest musician on several 2005 albums, including Ajalon'sThreshold of Eternity,Roine Stolt'sWallstreet Voodoo,Salem Hill'sMimi's Magic Moment,and Mark Leniger'sWalk on Water.Morse was one of several musical guests to appear onDream Theater's 2007 albumSystematic Chaos,on the song "Repentance".These guests were recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in the past. Morse provided vocals for the first track onJordan Rudess'tribute albumThe Road Home.

In 2020, he joined Matt Smith ofTheocracyin releasing "And the Rest Is Mystery" under the Project Aegis moniker.

Radiant Records and Waterfall

In 1998, Morse founded his own independent record label, Radiant Records. The label serves as an outlet for his work in a variety of capacities—including development, licensing, promotion and distribution.

In 2005, Morse created his fan club, the Inner Circle. The monthly membership provides an email newsletter and special releases to members every other month.Over the years, he has released many behind the scenes features, demo sessions, and bootlegs to the Inner Circle. SeeInner Circle discography

In 2019, at the dissatisfaction of current streaming services and their treatment of artists, Morse created his own streaming service, Waterfall. Most of Morse's and his collaborator's discographies can be found exclusively on the platform.

Morsefest

In 2014, Morse createdMorsefest,a weekend concert festival held at his local church, New Life Fellowship, inCross Plains, TN.The name of the event was chosen byMike Portnoyagainst Morse's wishes, however the name stuck.The inaugural Morsefest occurred on November 14–15, 2014 and featured theTestimonyandOnealbums played in their entirety with string, horn, percussion, and choir sections as well as a morning Inner Circle acoustic show.This two-day format with a large array of added musicians has continued annually featuring albums and musicians from all of Morse's projects, The Neal Morse Band,Spock's Beard,Flying Colors,and most recently in 2022,Transatlantic.

In 2020 and 2021, Morsefest went on with "Lockdown" editions due to theCOVID-19 pandemicwith a limited live audience, and for the first time, a virtual streaming option.

In 2023, in addition to the show inTennessee,Morse tookMorsefeston the road to Europe for the first time to The Boerderij inZoetermeer,Netherlandsand again in 2024 toTrinity ChurchinEssex,United Kingdom.In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Morse and the NMB playedTestimonyalong withTestimony 2in their entirety.

Discography

Main article:Neal Morse discography

References

• Christianity Today Interview

External links

• Official website
• Allmusic: Artist biography