Roland Gift, one of modern music's true torchbearers and the former front man of one of Britain's most pioneering groups of the 1980s, Fine Young Cannibals, is back in the pop arena with his new album, the self-titled Roland Gift. Gift's distinguished career has expanded in recent, post-FYC years to include critically-lauded film acting and musical score work. Roland Gift marks a triumphant return to pop music's front line, where Gift's talents and unique style have long established him as one of the genre's trailblazers. A great voice never goes out of style, and Gift's trademark vocal prowess is both timeless and strikingly ahead of his time.

The album Roland Gift was recorded at a variety of locations, from demo studios to front rooms to Mayfair Studios, with producers David Z and Ben Barson. The album is reminiscent of the sparse, classic appeal that typified Roland's work with FYC , a sophisticated blend of pop and soul with jazz and even gospel flavours, with Gift's own new spin for the 21st Century. Highlights of Roland Gift include "It's Only Money" and "Looking For A Friend," two songs Gift co-wrote with the highly successful American song writing team of Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers.

"Tell Me You Want Me Back" has a pop-soul groove that Gift says still sums up his style. "Soul is a funny word, all kinds of music can have soul. If it touches you and inspires you, any kind of music is entitled to be called soul music and it's poppy in the way Bacharach-David songs are poppy ."

Gift looks forward to performing the new songs from Roland Gift and some classic fan favourites at forthcoming shows. "There are a lot of people who liked the Cannibals who never saw songs like 'She Drives Me Crazy' in concert, and since I wrote them as well, I'll definitely do some Fine Young Cannibals songs."

"The Cannibals sort of officially dissolved in 1996," says Gift, "Then we came out with The Finest, which was a greatest hits set plus three new tracks" (among those new tracks was the hit "The Flame"). On ending on a high point Gift view is "It's better to burn brightly for half as long than to be a dim lingering light."

During the making of the new album, Gift took time out to work on the forthcoming The Island of the Mapmaker¹s Wife, directed by Michie Gleason, the latest entry in his illustrious film career, which includes Sammy And Rosie Get Laid, Tin Men (for which FYC also supplied the music, at the special request of director Barry Levinson), and Scandal. "When I first started, I wanted to be an actor. That's one of the reasons I came down to London from Hull. Then the first punk band I was in [The Acrylic Victims] got a bit of notoriety, so my music focus grew from there."

Gift's professional career has taken him from stage to screen and back again, as his fans around the world await the release of Roland Gift.

Any music lover, who has ever fallen in love, will know they are on to a good thing when Roland comes home at his finest

© 2001 MCA Records, Inc.