Trevor Rabin (born Jan. 13, 1984) is a South African-born/U.S.-naturalized guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer with a musical career that dates to the early 1970s. He first emerged in the Johannesburg art-rock/pop band Rabbitt, which he joined at age 18 in 1972.
Rabbitt scored locally with the chart-topping symphonic-ballad “Charlie” and the album Boys Will Be Boys!, which Rabin wrote, produced, arranged, and largely performed. After the song-cyclic A Croak and a Grunt in the Night, he left the band in 1977 to record as a solo artist. Amid these activities, he also contributed to albums by Margaret Singana, Mike Makhalemele, and the Soul of the City.
Settling in London, Rabin released his first album, Beginnings, on RMP Records in 1978. The album was a mostly self-contained effort, save for the input of drummer Kevin Kruger and violinist Godfrey Rabin, Trevor’s father. Internationally, an eponymous version of the album was released with different cover art on Chrysalis.
Over the next three years, Rabin released the albums Face to Face (1979) and Wolf (1981). Concurrently, he built his producer resume on the U.K. scene, manning the console for hard-rockers Wild Horses, ex-Moon vocalist Noel McCalla, and supergroup Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
In 1982, Rabin collaborated with Yes alumni Chris Squire and Alan White on material for a new project, tentatively called Cinema with Trevor Horn at the console. Soon enough, Jon Anderson was invited to provide vocals and Yes was reborn with the late-1983 release 90125. Led by the mega-hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” the album went multi-platinum and fueled a worldwide stadium tour. Rabin would ultimately serve as the band’s musical director for 11 years, producing the albums Big Generator (1987) and Talk (1994).
Rabin’s fourth proper album, Can’t Look Away, appeared in 1989 on Elektra. Two years later, just as two competing camps of Yes merged for the mammoth Union tour, Rabin became an American citizen. In 1996, he composed the score for Steven Seagal’s action-drama The Glimmer Man and has largely concentrated on soundtrack work ever since.
Discography:
- Beginnings (aka Trevor Rabin, 1978)
- Face to Face (1979)
- Wolf (1981)
- Can’t Look Away (1989)
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