Fernando Saunders has always had a singular presence in the music industry. A world class, virtuoso bass player,
singer, songwriter and producer. Saunders first came to international prominence as one of the core players with
the renowned fund/pop artist, Hamilton Bohannon, and then as a key member of the pioneering rock/jazz ensemble,
The Jeff Beck/Jan Hammer Group.
In the early '80s, Saunders started long-term collaborations as a player, producer and frequent co-songwriter,
with the esteemed urban rockers Lou Reed and Marianne Faithfull, and with the world beat stylist Kip Hanrahan.
(These relationships remain active to this day and include Saunders appearing on Reed's 1996 album, Set The
Twilight Reeling, and currently co-writing with Faithfull.) During the late '80s, Saunders also became one of
the world's most highly sought after studio and touring musicians. In that era, he recorded and/or performed
with the likes of Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Pat Benetar
and Heart among many many others, on some of the most prestigious tours including several tours to raise money
and awareness for the human rights organization, Amnesty International. It was on one of these Amnesty International
tours, that Saunders made his auspicious debut as a solo artist - before a sold-out stadium crowd in Chile.
Saunders' solo career has since yielded two critically acclaimed. self-produced solo albums, Cashmere Dreams
(Grudge/BMG 1989) and The Spin (A?/1993). On his second solo album, Saunders started adding some world music
fibers to his already renowned pop/rock/gospel base. This showed up not only in the music, but also in Saunders'
choice of utilizing a multicultural backing band that included Korean saxophonist Eric Min and Chinese/Japanese
keyboardist Derek Nakamoto.
This added dimension has led him to further broaden his horizons through playing on
Blues In The East by the revered Chinese multi-instrumentalist, Sola and performing with folk legend Joan Baez.
Although these artists may seem quite diverse at first, Saunders noted a common tonality in their respective music's
oral tradition rudiments.
Such a broad, international musical approach has also led to Saunders becoming a most
in-demand producer for such a diverse collection of recordings by the likes of Special EFX, Susan Werner and
Hungarian artist Presser Govor, among others.