Rabin comes from a family of classical musicians in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his father was lead violinist for the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Educated at a public school in Johannesburg, he took formal piano training before discovering the guitar at age 12. His parents encouraged his talents toward rock music, although Rabin would maintain his interest in Classical music throughout his career. Rabin also briefly studied orchestration at the University of Johannesburg, and later arranged and conducted for many artists in South Africa. Trevor Rabin’s early influences included Arnold Schoenberg, Tchaikovsky, Cliff Richard And The Shadows, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. He also dabbled with progressive and heavy rock with his first bands, The Conglomeration and Freedom’s Children. The latter group were older musicians whose songs questioned the South African government, especially its racial policy of apartheid. During this same period, Rabin became a highly sought after session guitarist and bassist, playing with many jazz bands in South Africa. When Rabin fulfilled his obligation to the South African Army at age 19, he served with the entertainment division. In 1974 Trevor Rabin formed his first major recording group, Rabbitt along with Neil Cloud (drums), Ronnie Robot (bass guitar) and Duncan Faure (keyboards, guitar, vocals). Rabbitt actually began just prior to Rabin’s year of military conscription in 1974, but it really took off in 1975 after their onstage popularity at Johannesburg’s “Take It Easy” club spread by word of mouth. Their first single, released in 1975, was a cover of Jethro Tull’s ”Locomotive Breath”. It later appeared on their debut album, Boys Will Be Boys, which featured original songs penned by Trevor Rabin. Rabbitt’s second album, A Croak and a Grunt in the Night, was released in 1977. Trevor Rabin would go on to win a South African music award for his co-production on the album. Momentum gained with a short-term record distribution deal with Capricorn in the United States, but Rabbitt were unable to tour abroad because of continuing international disapproval of South Africa’s apartheid policies. As a result, Trevor Rabin decided to leave South Africa. After recording one album without Trevor Rabin, Rabbitt disbanded that same year. After moving to London in 1978, Trevor Rabin recorded his first solo album, Beginnings. It was released in England simply as Trevor Rabin, with a slightly different track listing. While some songs were reminiscent of Rabbitt, Rabin’s guitar playing was more prominent as it would continue to be on his successive solo albums. In Transition: the UK and Los Angeles Along with a budding solo career, Rabin began working as a producer and session player. Some of his prominent work included South African vocalist Margaret Singana (”Where Is The Love”) and fellow South African expatriate, Manfred Mann from Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Rabin still found time to record his second album Face to Face, touring the United Kingdom in support of Steve Hillage in early 1980. Face to Face had the melodic guitar style of his first solo album, but also took a more hard-edged approach on such songs as ”The Ripper” and ”Now.” Rolling Stone’s first edition of their Record Guide criticized Rabin’s music for its hook-ridden ballads but still gave his first two albums moderate ratings for their overall technical qualities. Neither of Rabin’s first two solo albums found any commercial success. With the growth of the Punk scene in the late 70s, power-pop and hard rock music had fallen out of fashion in England. Trevor Rabin began looking for more fertile ground for what would be characterised in the U.S. as album-oriented rock (AOR). In 1981 he released the album Wolf, co-produced with Ray Davies of The Kinks. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band members Chris Thomas and Manfred Mann made vocal and musical contributions to the album. Wolf marks Rabin’s first collaboration with former Cream bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Simon Phillips. Following the release of the album, Rabin severed ties with Chrysalis Records as he felt they did little to promote the album. In 1981 Rabin moved to Los Angeles and signed with David Geffen. Rabin briefly recorded new material with a rhythm section consisting of future Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali and bassist Mark Andes who would later join Heart. Some of these demo recordings developed into the Yes songs ”Hold On” and ”Make It Easy”. Although Geffen Records dropped his contract in 1982, Trevor Rabin kept composing material for his projected fourth solo album in Los Angeles. As a keyboardist, he also considered touring as a session player for Foreigner. During this time Rabin auditioned with the prog-rock supergroup Asia, featuring former Yes members Steve Howe and Geoff Downes. Yes Rabin’s career was in a downturn after Wolf, as American recording companies were not interested in his style of music. While in Los Angeles, he met bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White, who had experienced their own difficulties following the apparent demise of Yes in 1981. The trio found a mutual musical energy and they began recording new material as Cinema in early 1982. Later on they enlisted original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye to complement their live performances. Produced by former Yes member Trevor Horn, the Cinema project came together over eight months in 1982. During his searching period in Los Angeles, Rabin had written several songs that formed the project’s nucleus. ”Owner of a Lonely Heart” evolved into a catchy riff-oriented song that Trevor Horn seized upon as a potential single. Atco Records, Yes’ former record label, heard the group’s demo, but questioned whether the group needed a separate vocalist. In fact, Rabin recently revealed that Horn had actually been invited to join, but the producer refused Squire’s offer, presumably because of negative fan reaction toward his replacement of Jon Anderson in 1980. Rabin would endure similar comparisons to Steve Howe throughout his tenure with Yes. However, Chris Squire settled the question of a lead vocalist when he ran into Anderson at a Los Angeles party in 1983. After a favourable reaction to Cinema’s version of ”Leave It,” Anderson rejoined the fold at the closing moments of the recording of 90125. Because the band now featured four former members of Yes, including Anderson, who was especially strongly identified with Yes in the public eye, the band (over Rabin’s objections) chose to revive the Yes name rather than call itself Cinema. The new Yes would meet with critical and commercial success — but not without some harsh criticism from older Yes fans. 90125, a title taken from the album’s own Atlantic Records catalogue number, sold more copies than any previous Yes album. This success was helped by the number-one smash, ”Owner of a Lonely Heart”. MTV rotation of the song and its follow-up ”Leave It” carried 90125 to six million sales between 1983 and 1985. Yes also received a Grammy award in 1984 for the instrumental ”Cinema”. The band toured behind the album, in a series of well-received concerts across Europe and the Americas. In England and North America many younger fans were introduced to the earlier Yes catalogue because of the success of the 90125 album and its popular singles. Besides the above-mentioned songs, 90125 also yielded ”It Can Happen,” which reached #54 after strong MTV airplay. ”Changes” and ”Hold On” were also heavily played on AOR stations. Trevor Rabin almost did not make the 90125 tour, due to a swimming accident in Florida just before the 1984 tour kicked off. According to interviews from the period, Rabin was injured severely when a large woman hit his midsection while jumping into a hotel swimming pool. He endured an emergency splenectomy and returned to Yes in time to begin the tour. 9012Live debuted as a live album and video package, taken from the group’s 1984 shows in Edmonton, Canada and Dortmund, Germany. On the former recording, Trevor Rabin contributed his acoustic guitar solo, ”Solly’s Beard”. In early 1986, Yes began recording its next album with Trevor Horn, but the production became bogged down amid Anderson and Squire’s personal differences. Eventually, Rabin assumed control of studio engineering, alongside other personnel. Rough tape demos have emerged with Trevor Rabin singing lead vocals on ”Final Eyes” and ”Rhythm of Love”. Big Generator emerged in late 1987, with singles ”Love Will Find a Way” and ”Rhythm of Love”. Both were modest chart hits compared to the singles from 90125. The song ”Shoot High, Aim Low” featured a dual lead vocal between Rabin and Jon Anderson. The 1988 Big Generator tour of the U.S. missed several dates after Rabin collapsed from influenza. Trevor Rabin expressed a guarded neutrality over the split between Jon Anderson and Chris Squire, who briefly led rival groups consisting of Yes members. Squire held the Yes name, while Anderson formed Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe — a line-up he felt better represented Yes. A major lawsuit between Arista and Atlantic Records ensued. While Yes members, old and new, quarrelled over rights to the Yes trademark, Trevor Rabin completed his fourth and final-to-date solo album, Can’t Look Away, released in 1989. The album’s lead single, ”Something to Hold On To”, earned a Grammy for Best Music Video and topped the AOR charts for two weeks. But despite some positive reviews, and extensive marketing from Elektra Records neither ”Something to Hold on To,” nor Rabin’s anti-apartheid ballad ”Sorrow (Your Heart)” managed to crack the American Top-40 charts. Trevor Rabin toured between 1989 and 1990 with drummer Lou Molino III (one of Rabin’s best friends and a featured player on his soundtracks). Rabin rounded out his support band with fretless bassist Jim Simmons and keyboardist-composer Mark Mancina. Trevor Rabin’s nationwide Can’t Look Away tour attracted a modest number of Yes fans, and has since been documented with 2003’s Live in L.A., featuring interpretations of ’80s Yes material, as well as highlights from his Wolf album. Rabin’s solo band also performed an instrumental version of a 90125 outtake, ”You Know Something I Don’t Know”. On this tour, Rabin also unveiled part of ”Lift Me Up,” the lead single for Union. It has also been speculated that Trevor Rabin’s solo band may have recorded demos for ”Miracle of Life,” which also surfaced on Union. However, any plans for Rabin’s fifth solo album were interrupted once more by the machinery of Yes. Unexpectedly, Yes would reform in 1991 with a short-lived, eight-man lineup for the Union tour. Unlike the dramatic reunion of 90125, the story behind Union comes across as strictly a corporate decision. In late 1990, Chris Squire’s Yes line-up had been jettisoned by Atlantic Records after creative differences. During a recent interview with Mike Tiano in 2003, Trevor Rabin indicated his personal dissatisfaction with Atlantic Records executive, Derek Schulman (one-time frontman of progressive rock band Gentle Giant) who damned Rabin with faint praise as “the one who writes the hits.” Unfortunately, Rabin would find himself in this hated position when he received a call from Jon Anderson in 1991. After a gold album and lucrative tour, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe’s second album for Arista had encountered a creative block. Anderson asked Rabin for creative input, but after Can’t Look Away, Rabin did not have much new material on-hand. Even so, he submitted a demo of three songs, thinking the record company would select one. Instead, all three were accepted: ”Lift Me Up”, ”Saving My Heart” and ”Miracle of Life”. Arista subsequently made what Rabin later described as a “42nd floor boardroom decision,” and brought both Yes line-ups together — although the recording of Union did not feature all eight members of the touring group, and its sessions were augmented by a small army of studio musicians. Rabin only appeared on one-third of the album, although two of his songs were released as singles — ”Lift Me Up” and ”Saving My Heart” — which were also performed live on the tour, on alternating dates. Trevor Rabin expressed dislike of the Union project, but still took part in the supporting tour, where he developed a lasting friendship with Rick Wakeman, often accompanying his keyboard performances onstage. 1992 and 1993 marked a series of negotiations between the short-lived Victory Music (not to be confused with a Chicago-based indie alt-rock outfit called Victory Records) and the so-called Yes West line-up. Phil Carson, responsible for Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s comeback in 1992, invited the Yes 90125 lineup to record a third album. Rabin had also hoped the next Yes project would have involved Wakeman, but owing to managerial problems, the plan fell through in 1993. Rabin later contributed lead vocals and guitar solos to ”Never is a Long, Long Time,” from Rick Wakeman’s Return to the Centre of the Earth in 1999. As Victory Records’ budget could not include an outside producer, Trevor Rabin undertook the mission. During sessions, he used an innovative digital hard-disk recording method now in common use in many studios. Although some Yes fans, and even Rabin himself, have criticised the limitations of digital sound, Talk made music recording history with its technical achievements. Talk featured the final collaboration between Rabin and Jon Anderson, who had hitherto completed the last few albums after the principal writing. Despite a couple of filler tracks, the album represents a fusion between old and new Yes. Fans across the board have listed ”Endless Dream” as one of group’s best songs. During 1994 and early 1995, the group performed nearly all the album, plus their earlier hits to a quickly vanishing fanbase. While some venues were full, others were less than half capacity — fuelling ill-founded rumours that Yes fans had boycotted the shows. Yet, many fans who attended felt that the Rabin lineup’s performance, especially on classic Yes material, had never been better. Numerous bootleg recordings exist, because the Talk concerts were simultaneously broadcast on FM radio frequency — allowing Yes fans to make high-quality tapes. Trevor Rabin went on record as being supportive of this particular form of music-sharing. While some fans — and Steve Howe — did employ the press and Internet to blame Trevor Rabin’s influence, certain tour dates were simply given low promotion by radio stations. After an initial rush of fans took the album to #33, Talk failed to sell as expected, because the AOR radio format had become moribund in the wake of Clinton-era telecommunication deregulation. Despite live exposure on the David Letterman Show, both ”The Calling” and ”Walls” failed to catch as a single during the height of Grunge. Moreover, Victory Records did not allot budgets for video promotion. Ultimately, the Talk tour ended in 1995 amid recriminations. Post-Yes and Film Scoring Following the 1995 tour, Trevor Rabin resigned from Yes to become a film score composer. Trevor Rabin has been a U.S. citizen since 1991. In 1996, he visited his native South Africa and performed Yes and Rabbitt songs during the Prince’s Trust Concert. Trevor Rabin released demo versions of pre-90125 Yes compositions and solo work, entitled 90124, as well as Live in LA, recorded at the Roxy in Los Angeles in late 1989. Most recently, aside from his film work, Trevor Rabin performed in aid of the Prince’s Trust with Yes at the Wembley Arena in London, where he served as lead guitarist and lead singer. Trevor Rabin has scored over two dozen films which include: Con Air, Homegrown, Armageddon, Enemy of the State, Jack Frost, Deep Blue Sea, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Remember the Titans, The 6th Day, The Banger Sisters, Kangaroo Jack, Bad Boys 2, The Great Raid, Exorcist: The Beginning, National Treasure, Coach Carter and most recently Snakes on a Plane, Flyboys, Gridiron Gang and The Guardian. Along with several Grammy nominations and one Grammy win, Trevor Rabin also has received eight BMI film score awards, and has received a lifetime achievement award from the Temecula Film Festival. He has been married for two decades to Shelley Rabin. They have one son, Ryan Rabin, who recently began his own career as a rock drummer in the band The Outline, signed to Fearless Records in Los Angeles. |
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