title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Invocation of Article 50 by the United Kingdom government occurred on 29 March 2017, when Sir Tim Barrow, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union, formally delivered by hand a letter signed by Prime Minister Theresa May to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council in Brussels. The letter also contained the United Kingdom's intention to withdraw from the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). This means that the UK will cease to be a member of the EU on 30 March 2019, unless an extension to negotiations is agreed upon by the UK and EU.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The leaving date was subsequently revised by agreement with the EU to be 31 October 2019. This led to a change of prime minister who promised to leave the EU on this date either with a revised deal or with no-deal.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The UK withdrew from the EU at 23.00 GMT on 31 January 2020, beginning a transition period that was set to end on 31 December 2020. During the 11-month transition period, the UK and EU negotiated their future relationship which resulted in the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement which was agreed on 24 December 2020 just days before the end of the transition period. The UK ended the transition period which ended the incorporation of European Union law into UK law, and ended its membership of the EU Customs Union, and the European Single Market at 23:00 GMT on 31 December 2020.


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: Pankaj Tripathi (né Tiwari; born 5 September 1976) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and also has appeared in a Telugu and Tamil language film. He has worked in more than 60 films and many television shows and has established himself as one of the finest actors in Hindi cinema. Tripathi is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award, a Screen Award and an IIFA Award.


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: Born in Gopalganj, Bihar, Tripathi got more attracted to art in Patna where he was doing his higher studies. He started visiting various drama shows, and started acting as well. In 1995, he performed a small role in a local play, where his performance was highly appreciated by the audience and media alike. From there on, he became a regular theatre artist. He enrolled himself in the National School of Drama in 2001, from where he graduated and moved to Mumbai in 2004. Tripathi did an uncredited role in the film "Run" (2004) starring Abhishek Bachchan. He did several small roles in films such as "Apaharan" (2005), "Dharm" (2007), "Raavan" (2010), "Agneepath" (2012) and in some television series including "Powder".


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: Tripathi rose to fame with his role as Sultan in Anurag Kashyap's "Gangs of Wasseypur". Since then, he has appeared in many commercial films as a supporting actor, including "Singham Returns" (2014), "Dilwale" (2015), "Kaala" (2018), "Super 30" (2019), "Extraction" (2020), "" (2021) and "83" (2021). While Tripathi has received critical appraisal for multiple films, including "Fukrey" (2013), "Masaan" (2015), "Nil Battey Sannata" (2016), "Bareilly Ki Barfi" (2017), "Newton" (2017), "Fukrey Returns" (2017), "Stree" (2018), "Ludo" (2020), "Kaagaz" (2021) and "Mimi" (2021) for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. For "Newton", Tripathi earned several awards, including a National Film Award – Special Mention. He has starred in several web series, including "Mirzapur", "Criminal Justice", "Yours Truly" and "".


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: Tripathi was born on 5 September 1976 in a Bhojpuri-speaking Hindu Brahmin family in Belsand village (Barauli block) in Gopalganj District in the Indian state of Bihar, to Pandit Benares Tiwari and Hemwanti Tiwari as the youngest of their four children. His father works as a farmer and Hindu priest. Tripathi also worked as a farmer with his father until he was in the 11th standard at school. During festive seasons, he used to play the role of a girl in his village's "natak", which was appreciated by the villagers and ultimately prompted him to make a career out of acting. He moved to Patna after high school where he studied in Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur. He did theatre and was active in college politics. Out of fear of failure in acting he also worked briefly at Maurya hotel in Patna, where he encountered his idol Manoj Bajpai. Tripathi later narrated that once, while he was working as a chef at Maurya Hotel, he decided to keep Bajpai's slipper, which the latter forgot in his room, as a souvenir. After his stay of about seven years in Patna, he moved to Delhi to enroll in the National School of Drama, from where he graduated in 2004.


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: Graduated from the National School of Drama, Tripathi moved to Mumbai in 2004, Firstly he played the role of politics in the Tata Tea ad and subsequently performed an uncredited role in the film "Run". In his early career, he played mostly negative roles and became synonymous with gangster characters. He appeared in many Hindi films in unnoticed roles including "Apaharan" (2005), "Bunty aur Babli" (2005), ""Omkara"" (2006), "Shaurya" (2008), "Raavan" (2010) "Aakrosh" (2010), "Chillar Party" (2011) and "Agneepath" (2012). In 2008, he also acted in the "Bahubali" TV series, and later in "Powder" on Sony TV as well as in few television serials such as "Gulaal" and "Sarojini - Ek Nayi Pehal".


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: In 2012, he made his major breakthrough, when he was widely acclaimed for his role as Sultan in "Gangs of Wasseypur" duology. His audition for the film went on for approximately eight hours. Later, he played a variety of roles and won critical acclaim for the same. Since then he has starred in several commercial films as well with critically acclaimed performances. His first film as a lead actor was the 2017 film "Gurgaon" and also gained appreciation in "Kaagaz" (2021). His 2017 film "Newton" was India's official entry for the Academy Award in best foreign film category. Tripathi made his debut in Tamil cinema with the film "Kaala," which was released on 7 June 2018.


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: He also starred in leading roles in the 2018 acclaimed and successful web series "Mirzapur" and Mirzapur season 2 available on Amazon Prime and in other, the 2019 web series Sacred Games available on Netflix as well as in Criminal Justice as a lawyer.


title: Pankaj Tripathi

text: Pankaj met Mridula during a wedding ceremony in 1993, at that time Mridula was studying in class IX and Pankaj was in class XI. Pankaj fell in love with Mridula at first sight. Pankaj and Mridula had to persuade their parents to marriage because Pankaj's sister was married to Mridula's brother, and marriage in the same family was against their caste. After much effort, the couple got married on 15 January 2004. They moved to Mumbai after their marriage and in 2006, they had a baby girl named Aashi Tripathi.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable" (1975), and "Our Love" (1977). She returned as a pop singer on the 1987 album "Everlasting" and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she sang traditional pop by her father, resulting in her biggest success, "Unforgettable... with Love", which sold over seven million copies and won her seven Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Natalie Cole was born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California, to American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Hawkins Ellington, and raised in the affluent Hancock Park district of Los Angeles. Regarding her childhood, Cole referred to her family as "the black Kennedys" and was exposed to many great singers of jazz, soul and blues. At the age of 6, Natalie sang on her father's Christmas album "The Magic of Christmas" and later started performing at age 11.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole grew up with an older adopted sister, Carole "Cookie" Cole (1944–2009) (her mother Maria's younger sister's daughter), adopted brother Nat "Kelly" Cole (1959–1995), and younger twin sisters Timolin and Casey (born 1961). Through her mother, Cole was a grandniece of educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Her paternal uncle Freddy Cole was a singer and pianist with numerous albums and awards.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole enrolled in Northfield School for Girls, an elite New England preparatory school (since 1971 known as Northfield Mount Hermon School after merging with another school) before her father died of lung cancer in February 1965. Soon afterwards she began having a difficult relationship with her mother. Cole attended The Buckley School, a private school in Sherman Oaks, California, and then enrolled in the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She transferred briefly to University of Southern California where she pledged the Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She later transferred back to the University of Massachusetts, where she majored in Child Psychology and minored in German, graduating in 1972.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole grew up listening to a variety of music that included Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin. After graduation in 1972 she began singing at small clubs with her band, Black Magic. Clubs initially welcomed her because she was Nat King Cole's daughter, only to be disappointed when she began singing cover versions of R&B and rock songs.


title: Natalie Cole

text: With the assistance of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy, a songwriting and producing duo, she recorded some songs in a studio in Chicago that was owned by Curtis Mayfield. Her demo tapes led to a contract with Capitol, resulting in the release of Cole's debut album, "Inseparable", which included songs that reminded listeners of Aretha Franklin. Franklin later contended that songs such as "This Will Be", "I Can't Say No", and others were offered to her while she was recording the album "You" but she had turned them down. Released in 1975, the album became an instant success thanks to "This Will Be", which became a top ten hit and won her a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. A second single, "Inseparable", also became a hit. Both songs reached number-one on the R&B chart. Cole also won Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards for her accomplishments, making her the first African-American artist to attain that feat. The media's billing of Cole as the "new Aretha Franklin" started a rivalry between the two singers. The feud boiled over at the 1976 Grammy Awards when Cole beat Franklin in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category, a category which Franklin had won eight times before losing to Cole.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Becoming an instant star, Cole responded to critics who predicted a sophomore slump with "Natalie", released in 1976. The album, like "Inseparable", became a gold success thanks to the funk-influenced cut "Sophisticated Lady" and the jazz-influenced "Mr. Melody".


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole released her first platinum record with her third release, "Unpredictable", mainly thanks to the number-one R&B hit "I've Got Love on My Mind". Originally an album track, the album's closer, "I'm Catching Hell", nonetheless became a popular Cole song during live concert shows. Later in 1977, Cole issued her fourth release and second platinum album, "Thankful", which included another signature Cole hit, "Our Love". Cole was the first female artist to have two platinum albums in one year. To capitalize on her fame, Cole starred on her own TV special, which attracted such celebrities as Earth, Wind & Fire, and also appeared on the TV special, "Sinatra and Friends". In 1978, Cole released her first live album, "Natalie Live!"


title: Natalie Cole

text: In early 1979, the singer was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same year, she released two more albums, "I Love You So" and the Peabo Bryson duet album, "We're the Best of Friends". Both albums reached gold status in the U.S., reflecting her continuing popularity.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Following the release of her eighth album, 1980's "Don't Look Back", Cole's career began to take a detour. While Cole scored an adult contemporary hit with the soft rock ballad "Someone That I Used to Love" off the album, the album itself failed to go gold. In 1981, Cole's personal problems, including battles with drug addiction, began to attract public notice, and her career suffered as a result. In 1983, following the release of her album "I'm Ready", released on Epic, Cole entered a rehab facility in Connecticut and stayed there for a period of six months.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Following her release, she signed with the Atco imprint Modern Records and released "Dangerous", which started a slow resurgence for Cole in terms of record sales and chart success. In 1987, she changed to EMI-Manhattan Records and released the album "Everlasting", which returned her to the top of the charts thanks to singles such as "Jump Start (My Heart)", the top ten ballad, "I Live for Your Love", and her dance-pop cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". That success helped "Everlasting" reach one million in sales and become Cole's first platinum album in ten years. In 1989, she released her follow-up to "Everlasting", "Good to Be Back", which produced the number seven hit "Miss You Like Crazy", which became her biggest hit in the United Kingdom by reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. While the album failed to reach Gold certification in the US, it achieved international success by becoming her only top ten album in the UK, and later being certified Gold there.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole released her best-selling album with 1991's "Unforgettable... with Love" on Elektra Records, which saw Cole singing songs her famous father recorded, nearly 20 years after she initially had refused to cover her father's songs during live concerts. Cole produced vocal arrangements for the songs, with piano accompaniment by her uncle Ike Cole. Cole's label released an interactive duet between Cole and her father on the title song, "Unforgettable". The song eventually reached number fourteen on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number ten on the R&B chart, going gold. "Unforgettable...with Love" eventually sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone and won several Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance for the top song.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Alongside signing for new material with Elektra, she transferred rights of her EMI-Manhattan catalog.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole followed that success with another album of jazz standards, titled "Take a Look", in 1993, which included her recording of the title track in the same styling that her idol Aretha Franklin had recorded nearly 30 years earlier. The album eventually went gold while a holiday album, "Holly & Ivy", also became gold. Another standards release, "Stardust", went platinum and featured another duet with her father on a modern version of "When I Fall in Love", which helped Cole earn another Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.


title: Natalie Cole

text: In 1999, Cole returned to her 1980s-era urban contemporary recording style with the release of "Snowfall on the Sahara" on June and second Christmas album "The Magic of Christmas" on October, which recorded with London Symphony Orchestra. A year later, the singer collaborated on the production of her biopic, "Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story" with Theresa Randle playing Natalie Cole. She also released the compilation "Greatest Hits, Vol. 1" to fulfill her contract with Elektra. All albums she recorded for Elektra and EMI-Manhattan are no longer controlled by Warner Music Group; they were sold to Concord Music Group and are available digitally via Craft Recordings division.


title: Natalie Cole

text: She changed to Verve Records and released two albums. "Ask a Woman Who Knows" (2002) continued her jazz aspirations, while "Leavin" (2006) was an album of pop, rock, and R&B songs. Her version of "Daydreaming" by Aretha Franklin was a minor hit on the R&B chart. In 2008, seventeen years after "Unforgettable... with Love", she released "Still Unforgettable", which included songs made famous by her father and Frank Sinatra. In April 2012, she appeared on the "Pennington Great Performers" with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole pursued a career in acting. She appeared several times in concerts or other music related programs, including the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute with sidemen Richard Campbell, Jeffrey Worrell, Eddie Cole, and Dave Joyce.


title: Natalie Cole

text: In 1990, Cole hosted the TV show "Big Break", a talent competition where singers and musicians competed for a $100,000 prize. That year, she and Al Jarreau sang "Mr. President" on the television special "Comic Relief" special.


title: Natalie Cole

text: After Johnny Mathis appeared on a special of Cole's in 1980, the two kept in contact, and in 1992 he invited her to be a part of his television special "A Tribute to Nat Cole" for the BBC in England. An album of the same name was released. In 1992, following the success of the "Unforgettable: With Love" album, PBS broadcast a special based on the album. "Unforgettable, With Love: Natalie Cole Sings the Songs of Nat "King" Cole" received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program. Cole received a nomination for Outstanding Individual Performance but lost to Bette Midler.


title: Natalie Cole

text: In 1993, she was among the guests of honor attending "Wrestlemania IX" at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. At the 65th Academy Awards she performed a medley of two Oscar-nominated songs: "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing", both performed by Whitney Houston in the film "The Bodyguard". Cole made a number of dramatic appearances on television, including "I'll Fly Away", "Touched by an Angel", "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", and "Grey's Anatomy". She had the lead role in the TV movie "Lily in Winter". She appeared in the Cole Porter biopic "De-Lovely". In 2001, she starred as herself in "Livin' for Love: the Natalie Cole Story", for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. On the February 5, 2007, episode of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", Cole sang "I Say a Little Prayer" at a benefit dinner. She sang the national anthem with the Atlanta University Center Chorus at Super Bowl XXVIII. In 2013, she was a guest on Tina Sinatra's Father's Day Special on Sirius Radio. The program included Deana Martin, Monica Mancini, and Daisy Torme reminiscing about their famous fathers.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole was married three times. She married Marvin Yancy, songwriter, producer, and former member of the 1970s R&B group The Independents on July 31, 1976. She had a son, Robert Adam "Robbie" Yancy (October 14, 1977 – August 14, 2017); he was a musician who toured with her. Marvin was her producer, and an ordained Baptist minister who helped reintroduce her to religion. Under his influence, Cole changed from a lapsed Episcopalian to become a devout Baptist. Cole and Yancy were divorced in 1980; Yancy died of a heart attack in 1985, aged 34. In 1989, Cole married record producer and former drummer for the band Rufus, Andre Fischer; they were divorced in 1995. In 2001, Cole married Bishop Kenneth Dupree; they divorced in 2004. In 2017, her son Robbie died of a heart attack, aged 39.


title: Natalie Cole

text: In 2000, Cole released an autobiography, "Angel on My Shoulder", which described her battle with drugs during much of her life, including heroin and crack cocaine. At one stage of her addiction, Cole worked as a prostitute's tout in order to fund her drug habit. Cole said she began recreational drug use while attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was arrested in Toronto, Canada, for possession of heroin in 1975. Cole spiraled out of control – in this phase of her life there was an incident in which she refused to leave a burning building, and another in which her young son Robert nearly drowned in the family swimming pool while she was on a drug binge. She entered rehab in 1983. Her autobiography was released in conjunction with a made-for-TV movie, "Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story", which aired December 10, 2000, on NBC and re-aired October 26, 2011, on Centric TV.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole announced in 2008 that she had been diagnosed with hepatitis C, which is a liver disease that is spread through contact with infected blood. Cole attributed having the disease to her past intravenous drug use. Cole explained in 2009 that hepatitis C had "stayed in [her] body for 25 years, and it could still happen to addicts who are fooling around with drugs, especially needles."


title: Natalie Cole

text: Four months after starting treatment for hepatitis C, Cole experienced kidney failure and required dialysis three times a week for nine months. Following her appeal for a kidney on the "Larry King Show", she was contacted by the organ procurement agency One Legacy, in May 2009. The facilitated donation came from a family requesting that, if there were a match, their donor's kidney be designated for Cole.


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole canceled several events in December 2015 due to illness; her last musical performance was a short set of three songs in Manila. She died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on December 31, 2015, at the age of 65. Cole's publicist said the singer's death was the result of congestive heart failure, which her family said was a complication of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, which she had been diagnosed with after her kidney transplant in 2009. Her family said in a statement, "Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived... with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever."


title: Natalie Cole

text: Cole's funeral was held on January 11, 2016, at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. David Foster, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Eddie Levert, Mary Wilson, Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Jesse Jackson, Angela Bassett, Denise Nicholas, Marla Gibbs, Jackée Harry and Freda Payne were among the mourners at the funeral. After the funeral, she was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Her grave is located in the central lawn area of the 'Court of Freedom' section, Garden of Honor; there is no public access to her grave.


title: Natalie Cole

text: The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Cole received nine awards from 21 nominations.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The group came to prominence playing rhythm and blues. They made some changes in musicians but settled on a line-up of Pinder, Thomas, Edge, guitarist Justin Hayward and bassist John Lodge, who stayed together for most of the band's "classic era" into the early 1970s. Edge was the group’s sole continuous member throughout their entire history.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Their second album, "Days of Future Passed", which was released in 1967, was a fusion of rock with classical music which established the band as pioneers in the development of art rock and progressive rock. It has been described as a "landmark" and "one of the first successful concept albums". The group toured extensively through the early 1970s, then took an extended hiatus from 1974 until 1977. Founder Mike Pinder left the group a year after they re-formed and was replaced by Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz in 1978. In the following decade they took on a more synth-pop sound and produced "The Other Side of Life" in 1986, which made them the first act to earn each of its first three top-10 singles in the United States in a different decade. Health troubles led to a diminished role for founder Ray Thomas throughout the 1980s, although his musical contributions rebounded after Moraz departed in 1991. Thomas retired from the band in 2002; he died shortly before the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The band's last album was the Christmas album "December" (2003), after which they decided against recording any further studio albums. However, they continued to tour throughout the 2000s and later reunited periodically for events, one-off concerts, short tours and cruises, until Edge's retirement in 2018; he died in 2021.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues' most successful singles include "Go Now", "Nights in White Satin", "Tuesday Afternoon", "Question", "Gemini Dream", "The Voice", "Your Wildest Dreams" and "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)". The band has sold 70 million albums worldwide, which includes 18 platinum and gold LPs.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues formed in 1964 in Erdington, a suburb of Birmingham. Ray Thomas, a young John Lodge and (occasionally) Mike Pinder had been members of El Riot & the Rebels. They disbanded when Lodge, the youngest member, went to technical college and Pinder joined the army. Pinder then rejoined Thomas to form the Krew Cats. Back from a disappointing spell in the Hamburg region a few months later, the pair recruited guitarist/vocalist Denny Laine and band manager-turned-drummer Graeme Edge. Pinder and Thomas initially approached their former El Riot bandmate John Lodge about being the bass player, but Lodge declined as he was still in college. They instead recruited bassist Clint Warwick. The five appeared as the Moody Blues for the first time in Birmingham in 1964. The name developed from a hoped-for sponsorship from the Mitchells & Butlers Brewery which failed to materialise, the band calling themselves both "The M Bs" and "The M B Five", and was also a subtle reference to the Duke Ellington song "Mood Indigo". In an interview it was revealed that the band was named "Moody Blues" because Mike Pinder was interested in how music changes people's moods and due to the fact that the band was playing blues at the time. Around this time the band were the resident group at the Carlton Ballroom, later to become rock music venue Mothers on Erdington High Street.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The band soon obtained a London-based management company, Ridgepride, formed by Alex Murray (Alex Wharton), who had been in the A&R division of Decca Records. Their recording contract was signed in the spring of 1964 with Ridgepride, which then leased their recordings to Decca. They released a single, "Steal Your Heart Away", that year which failed to chart. They also appeared on the cult television programme "Ready Steady Go!" singing the uptempo 'B' side "Lose Your Money (But Don't Lose your Mind)". But it was their second single, "Go Now" (released later that year), that launched their career, being promoted on television with one of the first purpose-made promotional films in the pop era, produced and directed by Alex Wharton. The single became a hit in Britain (where it remains their only No. 1 single) and in the United States, where it reached No. 10. The band encountered management problems after the chart-topping hit and subsequently signed to Decca Records in the UK (London Records in the US) directly as recording artists. A four-track extended play release titled "The Moody Blues" featuring both sides of their first two Decca singles was issued in a colour picture sleeve in early 1965.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Their debut album "The Magnificent Moodies", produced by Denny Cordell with a strong Merseybeat/R&B flavour, was released on Decca in mono only in 1965. It contained the hit single together with one side of classic R&B covers, and a second side with four Laine-Pinder originals.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Alex Wharton left the management firm, and the group released a series of relatively unsuccessful singles. They enjoyed a minor British hit with a cover of "I Don't Want To Go on Without You" (No. 33) in February 1965, while the Pinder-Laine original "From the Bottom of My Heart (I Love You)" produced by Denny Cordell (with a vocal choral sound towards the conclusion that anticipated their sound on "Nights in White Satin") was issued as a UK single in May 1965 and did a little better (No. 22). But then "Everyday", another Pinder-Laine song, stalled at No. 44 in October 1965 and no further British singles were released for about a year. The group was still in demand for live gigs, though, and they had chart success in the US and in Europe during those months when "Bye Bye Bird" (Decca AT 15048) was lifted from their album in December 1965 as an overseas single in France (No. 3).


title: The Moody Blues

text: In June 1966, Warwick retired from the group and the music business. He was briefly replaced by Rod Clark, but in early October, Denny Laine also departed from the group, which prompted Decca to release "Boulevard de la Madeleine" c/w "This is My House (But Nobody Calls)" (Decca F 12498, 1966) only a few days later, as the Moody Blues seemed to be disintegrating. Clark joined The Rockin' Berries.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In the November 1966 issue of "Hit Week", Dutch interviewers Hans van Rij and Emie Havers presented their story, saying the Moody Blues had been in the process of recording their second album, "Look Out", with Cordell producing. The album was shelved and "Really Haven't Got the Time" (released as a single c/w "Fly Me High" some months later) is the only song mentioned in the article but the authors say Laine had written all of the material, with Thomas, Pinder and Clark (still the bass player) singing lead vocals as well.


title: The Moody Blues

text: A final "Mark One" Moodies single, Pinder-Laine's "Life's Not Life", was scheduled for release in January 1967 (Decca F 12543) c/w "He Can Win" even though Laine couldn't perform it live, because the group had relaunched themselves without him a few months earlier. (This single's release is often listed as being cancelled; however, both promo and regular stock copies have been seen over the years.)


title: The Moody Blues

text: The group re-formed in November 1966. By then, "Boulevard de la Madeleine" had made the Belgian charts and won them more fans, which came in handy when they relocated to Belgium for some time. The new members were John Lodge, their bassist from El Riot who was now finished with his education, and Justin Hayward, formerly of the Wilde Three. Hayward was recommended to Pinder by Eric Burdon of the Animals and was endorsed by famed UK singer Marty Wilde, the leader of the Wilde Three. Pinder phoned Hayward after reading his lead guitarist letter, and was impressed when Hayward played him his 45 rpm single "London is Behind Me" during their car ride to meet the other members in Esher.


title: The Moody Blues

text: After financial misfortune and a confrontation with an audience member, the band realised that their style of American blues covers and novelty tunes was not working, and decided to perform primarily their own material. However, as appearances on French television shows, they continued to do two covers through at least the first half of 1968: the Hayward-sung "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", and "Bye Bye Bird", with the vocal and harmonica formerly done by Denny Laine now performed by Ray Thomas. They were introduced to Decca staff producer Tony Clarke, who produced a recording session which saw Justin Hayward's "Fly Me High" and Mike Pinder's older-styled "Really Haven't Got the Time" (Decca F12607) as the 'Mark Two' Moodies' first single released in May 1967. These picked up both radio airplay and favourable reviews, but failed to chart in the UK. However, the sound gave clues about the direction in which their music would evolve. Their new style, featuring the symphonic sounds of Pinder's mellotron, was introduced on Pinder's song "Love And Beauty" (Decca F 12670) which was issued as a single c/w with Hayward's rocker "Leave This Man Alone" in September 1967. This too was not a UK hit, but further established their "new" Moodies identity. Ray Thomas's flute had been in evidence earlier ("I've Got a Dream") on their debut album; however, it became a far more featured instrument from this point onwards as they started incorporating distinct psychedelic influences, which was later developed in a concept album revolving around an archetypal day in the life of everyman.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues' contract with Decca Records was set to expire and they owed the label several thousand pounds in advances. The second album had never materialised either. They had the support, however, of Decca A&R manager Hugh Mendl, who had been instrumental in the recent establishment of London/Decca's new subsidiary imprint Deram Records. With Mendl's backing, the Moody Blues were offered a deal to make a rock and roll version of Antonín Dvořák's "New World Symphony" to promote the company's new Deramic Stereo Sound audio format in return for which the group would be forgiven their debt.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues agreed, but insisted that they be given artistic control of the project, and Mendl (as executive producer) was able to provide this despite Decca's notoriously tight-fisted attitude to their artists. The group was unable to complete the assigned project, which was abandoned. However, they managed to convince Peter Knight, who had been assigned to arrange and conduct the orchestral interludes, to collaborate on a recording that used the band's original material instead.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Deram executives were initially sceptical about the hybrid style of the resulting concept album. Released in November 1967, "Days of Future Passed" peaked at No. 27 on the British LP chart. Five years later it reached No. 3 on the "Billboard" chart in the US. The LP was a song cycle or concept album that takes place over the course of a single day. The album drew inspiration in production and arrangement from the pioneering use of the classical instrumentation by the Beatles, to whom Pinder had introduced the mellotron that year. It took the form to new heights using the London Festival Orchestra, a loose affiliation of Decca's classical musicians given a fictitious name, adding the term "London" to sound impressive, to provide an orchestral linking framework to the group's already written and performed songs, plus overture and conclusion sections on the album, including backing up Graeme Edge's opening and closing poems recited by Pinder. Strings were added to the latter portion of the album version of Hayward's "Nights in White Satin" (absent on the single) but the orchestra and group never performed together on the recording, with the band's rock instrumentation centred on Pinder's mellotron. Despite being a lush concept album, the LP was cut in a very workmanlike manner, with the band recording a particular song, then the track being presented to Peter Knight who quickly composed a suitable "linking" orchestral portion, which the Decca musicians ("London Festival Orchestra") then recorded. The album was as much an original work by Knight himself as the group. The composing credits were listed on the sleeve as: "Redwave-Knight", although Hayward wrote "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon", Thomas provided "Another Morning" and "Twilight Time", Lodge penned "Peak Hour" and "Evening (Time To Get Away)", and Edge contributed the opening and closing poems (the first "Morning Glory" and the latter titled "Late Lament") read by Mike Pinder who composed both "The Sun Set" and "Dawn is a Feeling" (sung by Hayward, with Pinder singing the bridge section).


title: The Moody Blues

text: Clarke produced the album, and afterwards continued working with the band. Sometimes known to fans as "The Sixth Moodie", he produced their albums and singles for the next eleven years. Engineer Derek Varnals also contributed heavily to the creation of the early Moody's studio sound, working with Pinder and Clarke to create a more symphonic overlapping sound on the mellotron as opposed to the sharp 'cut off' the instrument normally gave, partly achieved by removing all the "sound effects" tapes (trains, whistles, cockerel crowing, etc.) and then 'doubling up' the tapes of orchestral instruments' sounds, which combined with Pinder's ability and sensitivity at playing (Pinder having earlier worked for the company that manufactured the mellotron) and Varnals' recording skills at creating an orchestral 'wave' sound that characterised their non-orchestra accompanied sound thereafter.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The album, plus two singles therefrom, "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" (as a medley with "Forever Afternoon," listed as "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" on the album), took time to find an audience. In the Moody Blues' native Britain, the two singles from the album didn't initially catch on; "Nights in White Satin" made only No. 19 on the British singles chart in early 1968, and "Tuesday Afternoon" didn't chart at all. However, the British public learned to appreciate "Nights in White Satin" subsequently; it made No. 9 on the UK singles chart on re-issue in December 1972 and No. 14 on the charts on another reissue at the end of 1979, and is now regarded as the Moody Blues signature song by British audiences. In the US, "Nights in White Satin" did not make the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1968, although it reached No. 2 on re-release in 1972; "Tuesday Afternoon" was more successful on initial release stateside, peaking at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The 1968 follow-up LP, "In Search of the Lost Chord" included "Legend of a Mind", a song written by Ray Thomas in tribute to LSD guru Timothy Leary which encompassed a flute solo performed by Thomas – four members of the group had taken LSD together at the start of 1967. A promotional film for the song was filmed on location at Groot-Bijgaarden Castle near Brussels in Belgium. Lodge provided a two-part song "House of Four Doors" set either side of Thomas' epic piece. Justin Hayward began playing sitar and incorporating it into Moody Blues music ("Voices In The Sky", "Visions of Paradise", "Om", etc.), having been inspired by George Harrison. Hayward's "Voices in the Sky" charted as a single in the UK (No. 27), as did Lodge's "Ride My See-Saw" (No. 42, No. 15 in France) – still their concert finale number – which featured Pinder's non-album song "A Simple Game" as the 'B' side. Pinder's "The Best Way to Travel" was another high point, as was his closing song "Om" (sung by Pinder and Thomas, again featuring Hayward on sitar). Graeme Edge found a significant secondary role in the band as a writer of poetry, and some of their early albums from the late 1960s began with various band members reciting poems by Edge that were conceptually related to the lyrics of the songs that followed. Edge narrated his brief "Departure" poem on "Lost Chord", although Pinder recited the majority of Edge's poetry, as according to Edge, he had the best voice for it due to smoking more cigarettes and drinking more whisky at the time.


title: The Moody Blues

text: On 1969's "On the Threshold of a Dream", Hayward, Edge and Pinder share the opening narration on Edge's "In The Beginning", leading into Hayward's "Lovely To See You". His "Never Comes the Day" was issued as a UK single, while Thomas' wry observations of life in "Dear Diary" and "Lazy Day" were striking features. Pinder contributed the closing track on side one, "So Deep Within You". Side two closed with the "Dream Sequence", Edge's poem "The Dream" leading into Pinder's "Have You Heard?" parts I and II with the two parts separated by his classically themed instrumental piece "The Voyage".


title: The Moody Blues

text: The band's music continued to become more complex and symphonic, with heavy amounts of reverberation on the vocal tracks, resulting in 1969's "To Our Children's Children's Children" – a concept album inspired by the first moon landing. The opening track "Higher and Higher" saw Pinder simulate a rocket blast-off on keyboards, then narrate Edge's lyrics. Thomas' "Floating" and "Eternity Road" stood out, as did Hayward's "Gypsy" and a rare Pinder-Lodge collaboration "Out and In". Lodge provided his two-part "Eyes of a Child" and "Candle of Life" while Pinder contributed "Sun is Still Shining". The album closed with "Watching and Waiting", composed by Ray Thomas and Justin Hayward and sung by Hayward. It was during 1969 that the band established their own label "Threshold" under licence to Decca Records. "To Our Children's Children's Children" was the first of their albums to be released on their own label. The song "Watching and Waiting" was issued as a single on the Threshold label, but failed to chart.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Although the Moodies had by now defined a somewhat psychedelic style and helped to define the progressive rock (then also known as 'art rock') sound, the group decided to record an album that could be played in concert, losing some of their full-blown sound for "A Question of Balance" (1970). This album, reaching No. 3 in the American charts and No. 1 in the British charts, was indicative of the band's growing success in America. Hayward's "Question" (in a different version) was issued as a single, reaching No. 2 in the UK. Justin Hayward began an artful exploration of guitar tone through the use of numerous effects pedals and fuzzboxes and developed for himself a very melodic buzzing guitar-solo sound. The Moody Blues had by now become a bill-topping act in their own right. They appeared twice at the famous Isle of Wight Festival (A DVD of their 1970 performance has been released). Pinder's "Melancholy Man" (a No.1 single in France) stood out beside Hayward's "Question" on the 1970 album.


title: The Moody Blues

text: For their next two albums, "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" (1971) – from which Hayward's "The Story in Your Eyes" was taken as a US charting single (No. 23) – and "Seventh Sojourn" (1972) (which reached No. 1 in the US), the band returned to their signature orchestral sound which, while difficult to reproduce in concert, had become their trademark. The title "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" was borrowed, tongue-in-cheek, from a mnemonic used to remember the musical notes that form the lines of the treble clef: EGBDF. The opening track "Procession" was the only item composed by all five band members, a track depicting the "evolution" of music, leading into Hayward's "Story in Your Eyes". Thomas's reflective "Our Guessing Game" and whimsical "Nice To Be Here" offset the deeper drama of Hayward's "You Can Never Go Home", Lodge's "One More Time To Live" and Pinder's "My Song". Edge, the long-standing drummer-poet, started writing lyrics intended to be sung, rather than verses to be spoken – his "After You Came" (1971) featured each of the four lead singers taking a vocal section. Then in 1972, Lodge's songs "Isn't Life Strange?" (No. 13) and "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" (No. 36) were lifted from "Seventh Sojourn" as charting UK singles. "Sojourn" also saw Pinder using the new Chamberlin instrument in place of the mellotron and Edge using an electronic drum kit. Pinder's stirring lament "Lost in a Lost World" opened this last "Core Seven" outing, while his sympathetic ode to Timothy Leary "When You're a Free Man", Thomas's romantic "For My Lady", and Hayward's serene "New Horizons" all stood out.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In an interview following the release of "Seventh Sojourn", Graeme Edge told "Rolling Stone": "We've got two Christians, one Mystic, one Pedantic and one Mess, and we all get on a treat."


title: The Moody Blues

text: By this time, other bands were picking up their work. Pinder's songs "A Simple Game" (1968) and "So Deep Within You" (1969) were successfully covered by the Four Tops, Pinder winning an Ivor Novello Award for "A Simple Game". Elkie Brooks later covered Hayward's "Nights in White Satin". Pinder also appeared on John Lennon's "Imagine" album in 1971, providing additional percussion on "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier (I Don't Want to Die)". The 1968 to 1972 album sleeves, plus several solo sets up to Ray Thomas's "Hopes, Wishes & Dreams" in 1976, were characterised by striking surreal scenic sleeve artwork (mostly gatefold sleeves) by artist Phil Travers.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In late 1972, a re-issue of the five-year-old "Nights in White Satin" became the Moody Blues' biggest US hit, soaring to No. 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and becoming a certified million-seller; the song had "bubbled under" the Hot 100 charts on its original release. The song also returned to the UK charts, reaching No. 9, ten places higher than its original release in 1967.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moodies were also among the pioneers of the idea that a successful rock band could promote itself through their own label, following the Beatles' creation of Apple Records. After their "On the Threshold of a Dream" album (1969), they created Threshold Records, prompted in part by disputes with London/Deram over album design costs (their gatefold record jackets and expensive cover art were not popular with company executives). The idea was for Threshold to produce new albums and deliver them to London/Decca who would act as distributor. The group attempted to build Threshold into a major label by developing new talent – most notably the UK hard rock band Trapeze and the Portland, Oregon, classical-acoustic sextet Providence – but these efforts were unsuccessful and the Moodies eventually returned to more traditional recording contracts. However, they helped lay groundwork for other major acts to set up similar personal labels and distribution deals, including the Rolling Stones' own label and Led Zeppelin's Swan Song, and all of the Moodies' studio releases from 1969 to 1999 bore the Threshold logo on at least one of their format versions.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In September 1973, the Moody Blues were presented with five gold disks in Australia. At the time, Australia had only awarded eight.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In the spring of 1974, after completing a vast world tour that culminated with a tour of Asia, the group took an extended break, erroneously reported as a break-up at the time, because of band members feeling exhausted and overshadowed (this was said by Hayward in the final issue of "Higher & Higher" magazine 2006). Although the band had typically featured four lead vocalists (with Edge also contributing vocally), Hayward was the principal guitarist/vocalist whilst Pinder was considered to be the person most responsible for their symphonic sound, arrangements, and overall conceptual direction. Pinder and Thomas also doubled as the Moodies' onstage MCs (as the "Caught Live + 5" album displayed. "Caught Live + 5" was a live double album recorded c. 1969 but released c. 1977 with five previously unreleased studio tracks from 1967 to 1969 added.)


title: The Moody Blues

text: Before the band's 1973–74 world tour (their last with Pinder), Hayward wrote a song called "Island" with the intention of including it on a potential follow-up album, which the Moodies recorded in 1973 before ultimately going their separate ways. An additional cause of the hiatus were the long tours that had by this time strained Pinder, who needed a rest. In 1974 the band oversaw preparation of the compilation album "This Is The Moody Blues", which was released that year.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Hayward and Lodge released a duo album, the successful "Blue Jays" (1975), and a UK chart single, "Blue Guitar" (no. 8), which was credited to Hayward and Lodge even though it was just Hayward with 10cc backing him. The album had originally been a projected liaison between Hayward and Pinder, but after Pinder dropped out, John Lodge stepped in. (Tony Clarke produced it.) The members then released solo albums. Pinder said he hoped to get the band back together that year. "Having moved to California in 1974, I returned to Britain for a visit in summer 1975. I was trying to get the band to do an album, but the response was so weak I returned to California with my two new Mk5 mellotrons and began work on my solo album "The Promise"." Edge produced two albums with guitarist Adrian Gurvitz and his brother Paul Gurvitz, "Kick Off Your Muddy Boots" (1975) and "Paradise Ballroom" (1976); Hayward composed the acoustically textured "Songwriter" (1977), which was followed a few years later by "Night Flight" (1980), "Moving Mountains" (1985) (which Hayward dedicated to Peter Knight), "Classic Blue" (1989), "The View From The Hill" (1996) and "Live in San Juan Capistrano" (1998). Lodge released "Natural Avenue" (1977); Pinder produced "The Promise" (1976); and Thomas collaborated on two projects with songwriter Nicky James, producing "From Mighty Oaks" (1975) and "Hopes, Wishes and Dreams" (1976).


title: The Moody Blues

text: During this time, Hayward recorded "Forever Autumn" for the musical version of "The War of the Worlds". It was recorded at London's Advision Studios in 1976. The song reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1978.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In 1977, the group made a decision to record together again, with their record company Decca urging a reunion album. London Records released a somewhat poorly mixed eight-year-old recording of the band performing at London's Royal Albert Hall, against their artistic wishes. London/Decca did this in an attempt to re-energise public interest in the Moody Blues before their anticipated new album, but by this time Pinder had remarried and started a family in California, so for their reunion recording, the band decamped stateside with producer Clarke. The sessions were marked with tension and division: first there was a fire at the studios they were using, then after quickly relocating to Pinder's home studio, a landslide following torrential rains effectively marooned them, inevitably causing tensions to rise (with Pinder then dropping out before completion).


title: The Moody Blues

text: Clarke was also forced to leave for non-musical reasons before the album was completed, but by the spring of 1978 "Octave" was ready for release. Pinder, citing his young family, excused himself from the touring commitments that were to follow. His decision caused acrimony within the band (notably from Edge). Ray Thomas said Pinder was initially agreeable to touring. His opting out (with a major comeback tour already planned) was a blow to the band. Their management tried to downplay Pinder's absence, notably at a major UK music press party Decca organised, when the top Decca dignitary guest, while making a "welcome back" speech, openly referred to "Mike Pinder being currently absent over in the States", much to the band's dismay.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Former Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz joined the Moody Blues for the Octave World Tour. The album sold well and produced the hits "Steppin' in a Slide Zone" (no. 39 US) and "Driftwood" (no. 59 US). On "Octave", Hayward had four solo compositions, whilst Edge contributed "I'll Be Level With You" (a.k.a. "Little Man").


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues toured the US and Europe during much of 1979. A live CD "The Moody Blues Live in Seattle 1979" during the "Octave" tour of a concert at Seattle Center Coliseum recorded on 25 May 1979 was later issued in 2013. By 1980 they were ready to record again, this time bringing in producer Pip Williams. Moraz was retained as the band's permanent keyboardist, though Pinder had originally understood that he would continue to record even if not touring with the band. Pinder took legal action to prevent the new Moody Blues album from reaching the public without his contributions, but he was not successful, and ultimately, he never returned to the fold. Nevertheless, when released in 1981, "Long Distance Voyager" was a colossal success, reaching No. 1 on "Billboard" and going Top 5 in the UK. The album yielded two hits, "The Voice", (No. 15 US) written by Hayward, and "Gemini Dream", (No. 12 US) written by Hayward and Lodge. John Lodge's "Talking out of Turn" also charted in the US, reaching No. 65. Edge provided "22,000 Days" (featuring Thomas as lead voice with Hayward and Lodge) while Thomas' contributions were the final portion of the set with his singing on the final two songs: "Painted Smile", "Reflective Smile" (a poem narrated by a DJ friend of the band) and "Veteran Cosmic Rocker". By now, the mellotron had long been set aside as their primary keyboard instrument on their studio albums and the band embraced a more modern, less symphonic approach, though still retaining a lush keyboard-led sound as Moraz gave a more contemporary edge. In live concerts, the mellotron was still used heavily by Moraz until the mid-1980s, including on songs that did not originally feature it.


title: The Moody Blues

text: "The Present" (1983), again produced by Williams, was less successful than its predecessor, though it spawned a UK Top 40 hit (No. 35) in "Blue World" (No. 62 in the US) and a US Top 40 hit in "Sitting at the Wheel" (which failed to chart in the UK). Videos were also produced for both singles. "The Present" was released in conjunction with Talencora Ltd shortly before Decca was bought out by Polydor Records. The album was supported by The Present Tour.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In 1986 they enjoyed renewed success with their album "The Other Side of Life" and in particular with the track "Your Wildest Dreams" – a US Top 10 hit (and No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary singles chart for two weeks). The song's video garnered a Billboard Video of the Year award after being frequently featured on MTV. Newly employed producer Tony Visconti and Barry Radman, a synth programmer formerly engaged by Moraz, delivered a modern sound the Moodies had been seeking in order to remain competitive with their pop contemporaries. The album's title song also charted in the US, at No. 58.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues performed live at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986, which raised money for Birmingham Children's Hospital. The band played four songs, and later provided backup with Electric Light Orchestra for George Harrison.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moodies continued their early video-generation success with "Sur La Mer" (1988) and its video and single, "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" (No. 30 US, No. 52 UK, No. 2 US Mainstream Rock), a sequel to "Your Wildest Dreams". Their sound took on an ever-increasingly synthetic and technical quality as Moraz and Visconti began using modern sequencers, samplers and drum machines. Hayward and Lodge wrote and sang on most of the songs, as the band came under pressure from their new record company, Polydor Records, to feature those members the label deemed to be the two more commercial looking and sounding ones. This approach stood in contrast to the more equitable five-way songwriting the group had employed with Pinder.


title: The Moody Blues

text: By this point, Ray Thomas was playing a diminished role in the recording studio with the band evolving into a synthpop act, a genre that was unsuitable for the use of a flute. Thomas provided additional percussion, notably tambourine, plus occasional harmonica, but by this point he was largely relegated to the status of a backup singer. Thomas provided some backing vocals for both "The Other Side of Life" and "Sur La Mer". Multiple production considerations, however, led Visconti to leave Thomas's vocals off the latter of these two albums.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Despite his diminished participation in the recording process, Thomas' high value remained evident on stage primarily from his continued ability to sing his 1960s and 1970s Moodies classics, and also in flute and keyboard duets he composed with Moraz which were performed only during Moodies' concerts. The band reinforced its concert sound in 1986 with the addition of a second keyboardist. Bias Boshell was the first, replaced in 1987 by Guy Allison before Boshell returned by 1990. The group also began to employ female backing singers.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In 1991, halfway through the production of their new studio album, Patrick Moraz did an interview with "Keyboard" magazine and made some comments in the article that suggested dissatisfaction with his role in the Moodies. His complaints ranged from the Moodies' music becoming too simple in structure to the other members' reluctance to allow him to make significant contributions to the songwriting on their albums. He also was occupied with spending large amounts of time planning a music concert to celebrate his native Switzerland's 700th anniversary instead of rehearsing with the Moodies and as a result, he was fired from the group before the project was completed, so Boshell and new keyboardist Paul Bliss were brought in to finish the new album's keyboard tracks. Despite previous credits as an "official band member" and being included in group photos on the four '80s studio albums from "Long Distance Voyager" to "Sur La Mer", subsequent Moodies compilations downplay Moraz to being merely an "additional keyboardist" and several band photos have him cropped or airbrushed out, notably on the covers to "Gold" (which did not even mention him in the booklet liner notes, let alone include his picture) and the more recent compilation "Polydor Years 1986–1992". Moraz later took legal action against the group in the United States and the lawsuit, which he won, was shown on Court TV, but he was awarded only $77,175 in back pay due to accounting slow-ups instead of the $500,000 he sought.


title: The Moody Blues

text: "Keys of the Kingdom", released in 1991, had modest commercial success when released and once again, Hayward's songs led off the album, with the new singles "Say It with Love" and "Bless the Wings (That Bring You Back)." Also included was a new ambient flute piece by Ray Thomas entitled "Celtic Sonant." Hayward and Thomas also co-wrote "Never Blame the Rainbows for the Rain" to close the album. Lodge made a defining shift in his songwriting on this album, leaving his trademark high-energy rock music, and instead gravitating towards slow love ballads such as "Lean on Me (Tonight)" (though he had earlier contributed some songs in this gentler vein such as "Emily's Song" for his daughter in 1971, "Survival" in 1978, and "Talking Out of Turn" in 1981), while his more powerful songs continued with "Magic" and the Lennonesque "Shadows on the Wall". This gentler trend continued on the two successive Moodies albums. Hayward wrote the driving two-part piece "Say What You Mean." Tony Visconti produced some of the tracks on "Keys", as did Christopher Neil and Alan Tarney. The ensuing tour saw them invited to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival. A non-album Hayward-Lodge song cut at these sessions, "Highway", was included on the "Say It with Love" twelve-inch single and on a later box set and compilation album, while the vinyl album did not include their song "Once is Enough" as on the compact disc version.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The group remained a steady concert draw, and a series of video and audio versions of their 1992 "Night at Red Rocks" concert enjoyed great success, particularly as a fund-raiser for American public television where it had been first broadcast. The concert was conducted and arranged by Larry Baird, who has participated in many other bands' orchestral live concerts, such as Kansas, Michael Bolton, Three Dog Night, Al Jarreau and Alan Parsons.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The group also continued their use of additional musicians on stage and in the studio, but after the two legal suits from both Pinder in 1981 and Moraz in 1992, the band was careful not to recognise future keyboardists as official members. Following on from his contributions as keyboardist on the "Keys of the Kingdom" album, Paul Bliss continued to play keyboards for the band live, being promoted to first keyboardist in 2001 (but was replaced in March 2010 after 19 years' continuous service). Thomas and Bliss continued the tradition of a flute/keyboard duet for many tours. After Edge injured himself in 1991, second drummer Gordon Marshall was brought in to back him up; he stayed with the group after Edge returned and remained in the position until autumn of 2015, when he left to play in a Moody Blues cover band, Legend of a Band, and another cover band, Reflections.


title: The Moody Blues

text: From 1991 to 1998 the group took a hiatus from recording and spent time trying to perfect the art of performing live with an orchestra. The recording hiatus ended in 1999, with the album "Strange Times", their first album in almost two decades to be more than moderately received by British critics, although Justin Hayward was quoted as saying he was disappointed at the album's chart performance, which was notably less than "Keys of the Kingdom" in 1991. It was recorded in Recco, Italy, at Hayward's suggestion, and was the band's first self-produced effort. The album featured keyboards and arrangements from Italian musician Danilo Madonia, who continued to work in-studio with the band. The album opened with "English Sunset" a pop song featuring a modern, nearly techno arrangement. The song "This Is the Moment" (which is not on "Strange Times"), which was originally featured in the Broadway production of "Jekyll and Hyde", was a minor hit in the US. "Strange Times" was also the first album since 1970 to include a new poem by Graeme Edge, "Nothing Changes", narrated by Edge, with Hayward then singing the concluding portion of the track, and notably concluded by quoting Mike Pinder's 1968 song title "A Simple Game". Also in 1999, the Moody Blues appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons" called "Viva Ned Flanders". On "Strange Times" Ray Thomas appeared vocally with Hayward and Lodge on "Sooner or Later (Walkin' on Air)" and his own brief song "My Little Lovely", plus provided a vocal snippet and backing vocals on Hayward's "English Sunset"; this was his recorded vocal swan song with the band.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In 2000 the band released "Hall of Fame", a new live concert from the Royal Albert Hall, with a concurrent DVD release. This was taken from the last tour on which Boshell played. He left the live line-up in 2001; Bliss took over first keyboard duties, with his former second keyboard role filled by Bernie Barlow and Julie Ragins when Barlow took maternity leave from 2006 to 2009.


title: The Moody Blues

text: In 2001 an IMAX film was released entitled "Journey into Amazing Caves", which featured two new songs written and performed by the Moody Blues. The soundtrack also featured Justin Hayward performing vocals and playing guitar throughout. One of these songs, entitled "Water", is the Moody Blues' first instrumental studio recording since their 1983 piece "Hole in the World" from "The Present" LP.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The new millennium saw the Moody Blues reducing their touring schedule. At the end of 2002, founding member Ray Thomas retired from the group, reducing the Moody Blues to the trio of Hayward, Lodge and Edge, the last being the only original member. Flautist and rhythm guitarist Norda Mullen was recruited early the following year for their North American tour, and worked with the band live and in the studio thereafter. Toward the end of 2003, they released an album entitled "December". The songs included originals and four covers: John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", Mike Batt's "A Winter's Tale", "When A Child is Born" and Irving Berlin's "White Christmas". "December" was the group's first album to include covers since their 1965 debut album "The Magnificent Moodies".


title: The Moody Blues

text: In March 2006, the first five of the band's 'Core Seven' albums (the seven albums from "Days of Future Passed" to "Seventh Sojourn") were re-released in SACD format with Deluxe Editions, featuring bonus songs and some rare previously unreleased tracks. In April 2007, the last two of these classic albums were re-released by Universal/Threshold. These deluxe editions were unique for an art rock group like the Moodies in that one of their members, Justin Hayward, was the one taken on to do the work, instead of a professional master technician. Hayward stated that he listened to virgin vinyl copies of these albums and used them as reference points for the new compact discs. On 21 May 2007 the Moodies released a 41-track, two-disc compilation of sessions recorded at BBC Studios, various television appearances and a previously 'lost' performance done on the "Tom Jones Show" titled "".


title: The Moody Blues

text: In 2007, the now defunct Hard Rock Park theme park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, announced the building of a dark ride entitled "". The ride incorporated multi-sensory experiences as well as a re-orchestrated version of the song by Justin Hayward. A re-recorded version of Graeme Edge's "Late Lament" again followed, which had each group member reading a verse of the poem. In March 2009, the ride closed because of the conversion of the park to the Freestyle Music Park, with the new owners desiring to make the park more "family friendly."


title: The Moody Blues

text: The group toured the UK, Canada and the US in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In addition, Hayward took part in the UK tour of "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds" in April 2006, and a second tour in November 2007, also with dates in 2009. The Moody Blues also toured Australia and New Zealand in 2006. Their long-time producer, Tony Clarke, died in January 2010. The band added keyboardist Alan Hewitt for their 2010 UK and North American tours.


title: The Moody Blues

text: They released a new compilation album called "Timeless Flight" in 2013. On 19 July 2013, it was announced that the band would be appearing on the second annual Moody Blues Cruise, from 2 to 7 April 2014, on the cruise ship "MSC Divina". Other bands on the cruise included The Zombies and Lighthouse.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues toured in 2015 in both the US and the UK in June of that year, culminating in a début appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on 27 June 2015.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Original vocalist and flautist Ray Thomas died on 4 January 2018, at the age of 76, just a few months before the band were due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Drummer and sole constant member Graeme Edge died on 11 November 2021, at the age of 80. Upon Edge's death, Justin Hayward announced that the Moody Blues had no longer been active since Edge had retired in 2018.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues' "rich symphonic sound" influenced groups such as Yes, Genesis, the Electric Light Orchestra and Deep Purple. They also helped make synthesizers and philosophy "part of the rock mainstream".


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Blues are members of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. In 2013, readers of "Rolling Stone" voted for them as one of the ten bands that should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ultimate Classic Rock called them "perennial victims of an unaccountable snubbing" and inducted them into its own Hall of Fame in 2014.


title: The Moody Blues

text: Writing for "The Guardian" in 2015, Rob Chapman described the band as "psychedelia's forgotten heroes". He stated: "Despite their success, rock critics rarely took the Moody Blues seriously, a pattern that continued for the next 45 years." He also wrote: "Despite the critical disapproval, the best of the Moody Blues music between 1967 and 1970 possessed grace and beauty. Like the Beatles, they understood how pop songs worked as ensemble pieces. None of them were particularly virtuosic or showy as musicians and their music is refreshingly free of the noodling long[u]eurs that characterised the output of their more self-indulgent contemporaries."


title: The Moody Blues

text: In December 2017, the band were announced as inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 14 April 2018, they were inducted as part of the 2018 class. During his acceptance speech in Cleveland, Ohio, Justin Hayward said, "If you didn't know already, well we're just a bunch of British guys, but of course to us and to all British musicians, this is the home of our heroes and we all know that..." acknowledging the inspirational role of America's rock and roll icons. During the ceremony, Ray Thomas was included as a star that was lost in the past year.


title: The Moody Blues

text: The Moody Bluegrass project is a group of Nashville artists who have recorded two tribute albums of Moody Blues songs in the bluegrass style. The first album, "Moody Bluegrass – A Nashville Tribute to the Moody Blues", was released in 2004. Those involved included Alison Krauss, Harley Allen, Tim O'Brien, John Cowan, Larry Cordle, Jan Harvey, Emma Harvey, Sam Bush and Jon Randall.


title: The Moody Blues

text: A second Moody Bluegrass album, "Moody Bluegrass Two...Much Love", was released in 2011. In addition to many of the participants of the first album, a number of tracks included guest performances from Hayward, Lodge and Edge, (each of whom is credited as the lead vocalist on one song) plus Thomas and Pinder, making this the first time since 1978 that these five musicians all appeared on one newly recorded album.


title: God of War III

text: God of War III is an action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. First released for the PlayStation 3 on March 16, 2010, it is the fifth installment in the "God of War" series, the seventh chronologically, and the sequel to 2007's "God of War II". Loosely based on Greek mythology, the game is set in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, the former God of War, after his betrayal at the hands of his father Zeus, King of the Olympian gods. Reigniting the Great War, Kratos ascends Mount Olympus until he is abandoned by the Titan Gaia. Guided by Athena's spirit, Kratos battles monsters, gods, and Titans in a search for Pandora, without whom he cannot open Pandora's Box, defeat Zeus, and end the reign of the Olympian gods to have his revenge.


title: God of War III

text: The gameplay is similar to previous installments, focusing on combo-based combat with the player's main weapon—the Blades of Exile—and secondary weapons acquired during the game. It uses quick time events, where the player acts in a timed sequence to defeat strong enemies and bosses. The player can use up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability as alternative combat options, and the game features puzzles and platforming elements. Compared with previous installments, "God of War III" offers a revamped magic system, more enemies, new camera angles, and downloadable content.


title: God of War III

text: "God of War III" was critically acclaimed upon release, with praise for the graphics, gameplay, and scope, although the plot received mixed reviews. The game received several awards, including "Most Anticipated Game of 2010" and "Best PS3 Game" at the 2009 and 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, respectively, and the "Artistic Achievement" award at the 2011 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Video Game Awards. The second best-selling game in the "God of War" series and the ninth best-selling PlayStation 3 game of all time, it sold nearly 5.2 million copies worldwide by June 2012 and was included in the "God of War Saga" released for PlayStation 3 on August 28, 2012. Since its release, it has also been named as one of the greatest games of all time. In celebration of the "God of War" franchise's tenth anniversary, a remastered version of the game, titled "God of War III Remastered", was released for the PlayStation 4 (PS4) on July 14, 2015. After two more prequels were released, a direct sequel to "God of War III" simply titled "God of War" was released on April 20, 2018, which shifted the setting to Norse mythology.


title: God of War III

text: "God of War III" is an action-adventure game with hack and slash elements. It is a third-person single-player video game. As with previous installments, the player controls the character Kratos from a fixed-camera perspective in combo-based combat, platforming, and puzzle games. The enemies are an assortment of Greek mythological creatures, including centaurs, harpies, chimeras, cyclopes, satyrs, minotaurs, Sirens, cerberuses, and Gorgons. The player must also climb walls and ladders, jump across chasms, and swing on ropes to proceed through the game. The puzzles included vary in difficulty: some puzzles only require objects to be placed in a specific position, while some require timing and precision, such as a puzzle with mechanics similar to "Guitar Hero". In addition to finding Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers of the previous games, Minotaur Horns are a new item to be found. Where the eyes and feathers increase the player's health and magic meters, the horns increase the items meter, which allows further use of secondary weapons, called "Items".


title: God of War III

text: Kratos' main weapon is the Blades of Exile, replacing the Blades of Athena used in previous installments and the opening moments of the game. The weapon is a pair of blades attached to chains wrapped around Kratos' wrists and forearms that can be swung in a number of maneuvers. During the game, Kratos acquires new weapons—the Claws of Hades, the Nemean Cestus, and the Nemesis Whip—with other combat options. The Nemean Cestus, a pair of gauntlets, and the Nemesis Whip, similar to the Blades of Exile, are required to advance in parts of the game; for example, the Nemean Cestus is needed to break through objects composed of onyx.


title: God of War III

text: Unlike in previous games, magical abilities are learned with the acquisition of a new weapon, giving each weapon its own magic attack; for example, the Army of Sparta may only be used with the Blades of Exile. Magic gives Kratos a variety of ways to attack and kill enemies, such as the Claws of Hades' Soul Summon ability, which conjures souls to attack enemies. Other magic includes the Nemean Cestus' Nemean Roar and the Nemesis Whip's Nemesis Rage. In addition to four primary weapons, three secondary ones, known as Items, are acquired: the Bow of Apollo, the Head of Helios, and the Boots of Hermes. All three are required to advance in certain stages of the game; for example, the Head of Helios can be used as a lantern in dark areas and to reveal hidden doorways.


title: God of War III

text: The relics Poseidon's Trident, the Golden Fleece, and Icarus' Wings acquired in previous games are retained and used to overcome environmental obstacles, with the Golden Fleece used to deflect enemy attacks. Hades' Soul allows Kratos to swim in the River Styx. The Blade of Olympus, a primary weapon in "God of War II", is used in this game with the special ability Rage of Sparta for temporary invulnerability and increased attack damage.


title: God of War III

text: New additions to the gameplay include the combat grapple, a ranged-grab maneuver which, depending on the weapon, can pull Kratos towards foes or force them away—necessary at certain points in the game, with Kratos riding harpies across chasms—and a simple grab allowing him to use a weak foe as a battering ram. Kratos can now rapidly switch among the four primary weapons in battle, continuing the same attack combination. Other extra features include the addition of ten Godly Possessions, often hidden near defeated foes and providing additional abilities like unlimited magic during bonus play. The challenge mode in this game is called the Challenge of Olympus (seven trials) and is unlocked after the game's completion. This mode requires players to complete a series of specific tasks—for example, killing all enemies without weapons in a limited amount of time. The player may unlock additional rewards, such as bonus costumes for Kratos, behind-the-scenes videos, and concept art of the characters and environments, by completing the game's difficulty levels and challenge mode. A new mode, the Combat Arena, allows players to set difficulty levels and choose opponents to hone playing skills.


title: God of War III

text: As with previous games, "God of War III" is set in an alternate version of ancient Greece populated by Olympian gods, Titans, heroes, and other characters from Greek mythology. The events of the game are set between 2007's "God of War II" and 2018's "God of War". The game is set across several locations on Mount Olympus, including the Tomb of Ares, the ancient city of Olympia, the Path of Eos, the Labyrinth, several areas of the Palace of the Gods, such as the Forum and Hera's Gardens, and the Underworld and Tartarus.


title: God of War III

text: The Tomb of Ares—housing the former God of War's remains—and the city of Olympia lie on the sides of Mount Olympus. Just beyond the city is the Path of Eos, a hidden cavern near the foot of Olympus. The Palace of the Gods is the home of the Olympians, and features the Forum (a small coliseum), Hera's Gardens, and the chambers of Aphrodite and Poseidon. The Labyrinth is a large aerial puzzle constructed by the architect Daedalus to imprison Pandora in the Caverns of Olympus, home of Skorpius and its offspring. The Underworld, ruled by Hades and divided by the River Styx, is the realm of the dead. Hades' palace contains the remains of his wife, Persephone, whom Kratos killed in "". The Underworld is also home to statues of the three Judges of the Underworld, who hold the Chain of Balance connecting the Underworld to Olympus. Tartarus is the prison of the dead where the Titan Cronos was banished after Kratos retrieved Pandora's Box from Pandora's Temple in 2005's "God of War".


title: God of War III

text: Kratos (voiced by Terrence C. Carson), the protagonist of the game, is a Spartan demigod warrior who became the God of War after killing Ares and seeks revenge on Zeus for his betrayal. Other characters include Greek gods such as Athena (Erin Torpey), the Goddess of Wisdom and Kratos' mentor and ally; Zeus (Corey Burton), King of the Gods and the primary antagonist; Poseidon (Gideon Emery), God of the Sea; Hades (Clancy Brown), God of the Underworld; Hephaestus (Rip Torn), the Smith God; Hermes (Greg Ellis), Messenger of the Gods and the God of Speed and Commerce; Helios (Crispin Freeman), the Sun God; Hera (Adrienne Barbeau), Queen of the Gods who controls plant life; and Aphrodite (April Stewart), Goddess of Love and Sexuality. Several Titans are featured, including Gaia (Susan Blakeslee), Cronos (George Ball), Epimetheus, Oceanus, and Perses. Other characters include Hercules (Kevin Sorbo), a demigod and Kratos' half-brother; the architect Daedalus (Malcolm McDowell), Icarus' father; and Pandora (Natalie Lander), Hephaestus's artificial daughter. Minor characters include the three Judges of the Underworld: King Minos (Mark Moseley), King Rhadamanthus, and King Aeacus; Peirithous (Simon Templeman), an Underworld prisoner in love with Persephone, and Kratos' wife and daughter: Lysandra (Gwendoline Yeo) and Calliope (Debi Derryberry), who appear in a plot sequence in which Kratos journeys through his own psyche.


title: God of War III

text: Kratos and Gaia lead the Titans into climbing up Olympus to destroy the Olympian gods. When Poseidon attempts to stop the Titans’ ascent on Mount Olympus, Kratos kills him, causing the oceans to flood Greece. Kratos and Gaia reach Olympus' peak, only to be knocked off the mountain by Zeus when Kratos tries to attack him. As Gaia clings to the mountainside, she refuses to save Kratos, calling him a pawn for the Titans' revenge.


title: God of War III

text: Kratos falls into the River Styx, where he loses the Blade of Olympus before the souls of the Underworld weaken him and ruin the Blades of Athena. Climbing from the river, he is greeted by Athena's spirit, who ascended to a higher existence after sacrificing herself to save Zeus from Kratos, and had witnessed truths which she previously could not see. She gives Kratos the Blades of Exile and tells him he must extinguish the Flame of Olympus to kill Zeus. After finding the three Judges of the Underworld and the Chain of Balance, Kratos briefly meets the spirit of Pandora, whom he initially mistook for his dead daughter, Calliope. Following an encounter with the Olympian blacksmith Hephaestus and recovering the Blade of Olympus, he kills Hades and releases the souls of the Underworld. Kratos considers searching for Calliope's soul, but Athena reminds him of his quest, and he leaves the Underworld. Kratos reaches Olympia and finds the wounded Gaia pleading for help, only for Kratos to sever her arm as payback for earlier betrayal while watching her fall to her apparent death.


title: God of War III

text: Kratos continues his ascent, murdering powerful foes such as the Titan Perses and the god Helios; plunging Greece into eternal darkness in the process. He also pursues overconfident Hermes to the Chamber of the Flame and finds Pandora's Box is held within the Flame of Olympus, which Athena says can only be quelled by Pandora herself. Kratos manages to catch Hermes and kill him, releasing a plague upon Greece. At the Forum, he has an audience with the drunken Hera, who ignores his request for Pandora's location and summons Hercules. After discussing his jealousy of his half-brother, Hercules attacks Kratos, but is killed. Kratos then encounters Aphrodite, who is indifferent to his war on Olympus. She leads him back to her estranged husband, Hephaestus, through Hyperion's Gate. The blacksmith, learning of Kratos’s plan to quell the Flame of Olympus, sends him to Tartarus to retrieve the Omphalos Stone, claiming he will forge a new weapon for the Spartan. Kratos faces Cronos, kills the Titan for the stone, and returns to Hephaestus. After forging the weapon, the god tries to kill Kratos but is fatally wounded. Before dying, Hephaestus admits that he was trying to protect his daughter Pandora, who was imprisoned in the Labyrinth after Kratos opened her box, and pleads with Kratos to spare her. Reusing the Hyperion Gate, Kratos travels through Hera's Gardens, where he kills Hera for disrespecting Pandora, ending all Greek plant life, before making his way to the Labyrinth.


title: God of War III

text: The imprisoned architect, Daedalus, distraught to learn of his son’s death, dies as Kratos proceeds to unite the Labyrinth and venture through the aerial puzzle to rescue Pandora. Neutralizing the judges and breaking the Chain of Balance, Kratos raises the Labyrinth, and Pandora tries to enter the Flame. Zeus intervenes and fights Kratos, but Pandora sacrifices herself despite Kratos' reluctance. Finding Pandora's Box empty, Kratos attacks Zeus before the Gaia joins the frays and attempts to kill them both. But they escape through an open wound on her body and continue their battle inside her chest. Kratos impales Zeus against Gaia’s heart, killing her and apparently Zeus. Believing he is done, Kratos is attacked by Zeus' spirit, who removes his weapons and powers. Before Zeus can fully finish him off, Kratos is saved by a vision of Pandora during a journey into his psyche. With help from the spirits of Calliope and his wife Lysandra, Kratos forgives himself before regaining consciousness, also regaining his god powers along with the power of hope. He forces Zeus' spirit back into his body and then beats him to death, releasing a column of lightning into the sky and plunging Greece into complete chaos.


title: God of War III

text: Athena reappears, demanding that Kratos return what she thinks he took from Pandora's Box. When Kratos tells her it was empty, she refuses to believe this, explaining that when Zeus sealed the evils of the world in the box, she placed the power of hope in it as well; foreseeing that it would eventually be opened. Athena realizes that when Kratos opened the box to defeat Ares, the evils escaped and slowly corrupted the gods while Kratos was imbued with hope, which had been hidden by his guilt. She demands Kratos return her power with the intention of establishing her own rule over Greece. But Kratos refuses and seemingly kills himself with the Blade of Olympus so that hope can be disbursed among mankind. A disappointed Athena leaves empty-handed while Kratos collapses on a mural of a phoenix.


title: God of War III

text: In a post-credits scene, a trail of blood is seen leading away from the abandoned Blade of Olympus; implying Kratos' survival but leaving his whereabouts unknown.


title: God of War III

text: In a 2007 interview with GameTrailers, "God of War" creator and game director David Jaffe explained his original intention for the series, which is different from the actual ending of "God of War III", which was based on game director Stig Asmussen's vision. Jaffe's idea was that ""God of War" explains, or ultimately will explain, why there are no more Greek myths". He said that it would have been "hell on earth" as the gods and Titans battled each other for domination. Other mythological pantheons would have become involved after Kratos killed Zeus and the other Greek gods, and the result would be that humankind no longer believed in the gods—according to Jaffe, the only way a god can truly die. "God of War III" was first mentioned by "God of War II" game director Cory Barlog at a "God of War II" launch event. Barlog said that the game would have full 1080p HD resolution (changed to 720p in final release) and support Sixaxis tilt and vibration functions. Announced before the DualShock 3 controller was introduced, this caused confusion since the Sixaxis controller does not support rumble. During the 2009 Game Developers Conference (GDC), the creative team said that the Sixaxis tilt capability had been removed because they "could not find a suitable situation to use Sixaxis in the game effectively".


title: God of War III

text: After the first eight months of development, Barlog left Santa Monica for other opportunities, and Stig Asmussen took over as game director; Asmussen previously served as lead environment artist and art director on "God of War" and "God of War II", respectively. In an interview with IGN, Asmussen said that Barlog "had a major impact on the game" and although he had left the team, they spoke several times afterwards and "bounced a few ideas off him," but there was no formal collaboration. He also said that David Jaffe "[had] been around the studio a few times" and they "[had] gone over some high-level stuff with him to get his observations and feedback." Early in development when Barlog was still with the team, he expressed interest in a cooperative mode "if we can do something unique with it". In November 2009, Asmussen told "GamePro" that although a multiplayer option had been discussed, it was unsuitable for "God of War III": "There's a story we want to tell and an experience we want to deliver, and multi-player doesn't fit into that." By December 2009, the game was in its final developmental stages.


title: God of War III

text: In December 2008, Sony reported that "God of War III" would be the last game in the series. However, in January 2010 John Hight told Joystiq: "While "God of War III" will conclude the trilogy, it won't spell the end of the franchise ... We're going to be really careful about what we do next". Asmussen mentioned the possibility of downloadable content; the game would be shipped with the regular challenge mode, and new challenge modes might be released as downloadable content to maintain the series. In March 2009, it was reported that Sony was seeking opinions about a collector's edition from PlayStation 3 owners. In October, an "Ultimate Edition" was unveiled for North America, and an "Ultimate Trilogy Edition" was announced soon afterwards for a limited European, Australian, and New Zealand release. A "Trilogy Edition" was announced for Japan, where the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) gave the game an adults-only Z rating after the previous two versions were considered suitable for players 17 and older.


title: God of War III

text: Asmussen said that one of the greatest challenges in developing "God of War III" for the PlayStation 3 was the "complexity of everything"; individual tasks, such as designing Helios' decapitation, could take a year because the "level of detail [that was] expected [was] so high and intricate, it [crossed] multiple departments." He said that the PlayStation 3's hardware capabilities allowed more flexibility in character creation and interaction with the environment. The character model for Kratos in the PlayStation 2 (PS2) games used about 5,000 polygons; the PS3 model was about 20,000 – a high number, but less than that used by other models such as Nathan Drake in "", who used 35,000. Ken Feldman, the art director, commented that the polygon count was not the only factor, and cited the increased texture detail as one of the reasons for Kratos' realistic appearance. The developers used a new technique called blended normal mapping to add realism to the basic model and hugely enhance the range of animation available (e.g., muscle movement, including visible veins, and facial animations). All of the main protagonists were animated by hand because the animators produced more effective work than basic motion capture, though the voice actors' facial movements were recorded by Image Metrics's performance capture system. For animating things like hair, the animators created a secondary animation code, known as Dynamic Simulation, which allows the PS3 itself to mathematically calculate the way it should look; it accurately generates motion that previously took the animators long hours to replicate.


title: God of War III

text: The engine for "God of War III" was from the first two installments. Santa Monica senior producer Steve Caterson said that the development team ported "God of War II"s engine to the PlayStation 3 and were able to quickly play the game. Everything that Kratos could do in previous games, he could do on the PlayStation 3, which allowed the developers to immediately begin designing new content. As the game was being developed, the code department would swap out PlayStation 2 components with PlayStation 3 components. They replaced the renderer, the particle system, and the collision system. Feldman said that although they were re-using the engine from "God of War II", the core engine for "God of War III" was brand new. Between the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and the time the game shipped, morphological anti-aliasing (MLAA) was added, which graphics engineer Ben Diamand said "improved edges dramatically and saved substantial amounts of frame-rate." MLAA is "now a popular edge-detection process that can cost-effectively remove jagged edges from each frame", which helped Santa Monica free up the processing cycle and "allowed them to add to the spectacle in other ways." Diamand also said that "depth-of-field, motion blur, crepuscular 'god' rays and refraction were either added or improved in quality and speed" during that same time period.


title: God of War III

text: Asmussen estimated overall game length to be 10 to 20 hours, "depending on how good of a gamer you are." Santa Monica studio director John Hight reassured players that "God of War III" lasts longer than 10 hours: "We've done a lot of play testing on it ... We know, for a really hardcore player, it'll take them longer than it took them to play either of the previous "God of War" games." The finished game script was about 120 pages long, and the number of onscreen enemies increased from 15 in the previous games to a maximum of 50. To light the game, Turtle by Illuminate Labs was used. Head of development Christer Ericson of Santa Monica Studio confirmed that "God of War III" has seamless loading; no loading screens and no hard disk drive installation requirement. SCE America animator Bruno Velazquez said that while the first two "God of War" titles had computer-generated imagery (CGI) cinematics, there would be no true CGI in the third game: "all the cutscenes are created using our in-game engine." A "God of War III" game trailer debuted on Spike's "GameTrailers TV" on February 11, 2010, and Asmussen confirmed that all footage is of gameplay. New camera angles were added; during some major battles the player can still control Kratos while the camera pans away from the fight, and a first-person camera view was used for the final portion of the Poseidon and Zeus boss fights. According to Santa Monica Studio director of technology Tim Moss, "God of War III" used 35 gigabytes (GB) of Blu-ray Disc. "God of War III"s budget was $44 million USD, and the game had a staff of 132 at the end of its development.


title: God of War III

text: Several voice actors returned from previous installments, including Terrence C. Carson, Erin Torpey, Corey Burton, Debi Derryberry, and Gwendoline Yeo, voicing Kratos, Athena, Zeus, Calliope, and Lysandra, respectively. Susan Blakeslee, who voiced two characters in "God of War", voiced Gaia. Narrator Linda Hunt, who previously voiced Gaia, only provided an introductory narration for the game. Rip Torn, Natalie Lander, and Malcolm McDowell joined the cast of voice actors. Lloyd Sherr and Nolan North, who had originally voiced Cronos and Hades, were replaced by George Ball and Clancy Brown, respectively. Kevin Sorbo was chosen to voice Hercules because of his portrayal of the character in the television series, "". Elijah Wood had a minor voice role, and Josh Keaton and Fred Tatasciore, who voiced characters in previous games, also had minor roles.


title: God of War III

text: At E3 2009, the "God of War III" demo was unveiled, with Kratos on the cliffs of Mount Olympus battling Olympian legionnaires, a centaur, a chimera, and a cyclops. He decapitates Helios, encounters Perses, rides harpies, and uses the Blades of Athena and new weapons (the Nemean Cestus and Bow of Apollo). On October 28, 2009, SCE Europe sent emails to PlayStation Network members with an activation code for the demo. On October 30, GameStop began providing voucher codes for customers who pre-ordered the game, and early copies of "God of War Collection" had a voucher code to download the demo. The Blu-ray version of "District 9" included the "God of War III" demo and a "making of" featurette, and the demo was released to Qore subscribers on February 4, 2010. On February 25, Sony Computer Entertainment released the demo for download on the PlayStation Store in Europe and North America. Just before the game's release, "Eurogamer" published an article comparing the graphics in the "God of War III" demo to those in the final game, reporting improved lighting and realistic motion blur in the final release.


title: God of War III

text: "God of War III" was released in North America on March 16, 2010,<ref name="3/16"></ref> on March 18 in Australia, March 19 in Europe, and March 25 in Japan. The game outsold its predecessor by nearly 400,000 copies in its first week. According to retail tracker NPD Group, "God of War III" sold about 1.1 million copies in the United States by the end of March 2010, making it the best-selling game of that month, and its opening-month sales were 32 percent higher than those of "God of War II". By June 2012, "God of War III" had sold almost 5.2 million copies worldwide—about 2.8 million in North America, 2 million in PAL regions, and 417,866 in Japan and Asia. The game is also part of PlayStation 3's Greatest Hits lineup. On August 28, 2012, "God of War III", "God of War Collection", and "" were released in North America as the "God of War Saga", part of Sony's PlayStation Collections line.


title: God of War III

text: "God of War III" had an extensive marketing campaign before its release. This campaign began in early 2008 when a teaser for "God of War III" appeared as an image (the original PlayStation 3 logo surrounded by the Greek omega) at the end of the instruction manual for "God of War: Chains of Olympus". This was soon followed by a teaser trailer screened at Sony's 2008 E3 press conference. Another trailer premiered at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards, and an "official" "God of War III" trailer was released in February 2009. A new trailer debuted with the release of "God of War III" on March 16, 2010.


title: God of War III

text: In October 2009, Santa Monica Studio announced the "God of War III Ultimate Edition", available by pre-order in North America. The package included a replica Pandora's Box, a limited-edition "The Art of God of War III" book, and downloadable content (DLC) from the PlayStation Network, which included the "Challenge of Exile" mode, Kratos' "Dominus" costume, the "God of War: Unearthing the Legend" documentary, the "God of War Trilogy Soundtrack", and the " EP". A limited "Ultimate Trilogy Edition" was released in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and included the contents of the "Ultimate Edition", as well as "God of War Collection", four Kratos costumes, and "God of War" postcards. A "God of War III" PS3 bundle, with a 250GB PS3 and a copy of "God of War III", was also available in Europe.<ref name="1/21/10"></ref> A "God of War III" media kit with special packaging and content was distributed to journalists in the PAL regions, and several were given as prizes on PlayStation Europe's website during the week of March 22, 2010. In Japan, "God of War III" was released in two packages: a standalone version and a "God of War Trilogy Edition". The latter included "God of War III", "God of War Collection", an art book, and a Kratos skin.