Celestial Sphere

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**Celestial Sphere** are a British symphonic metal band that was formed in 1989 by brother and sister James and Caitlyn Harrison. In 1991 they teamed with bassist Trygve Brandtzæg, guitarists Ragnar Horowitz and Hjalmar Østigård originally as a black metal band, but in 1993 Brandtzæg, Horowitz and Østigård left leaving the siblings to carry on as a duo and switched to symphonic metal. They released their debut album *The Sphere* in 1994 and they then expanded and brought in new members and have had numerous line-up changes throughout the years with only James and Caitlyn remaining ever present. The band comprises of Caitlyn Harrison (lead vocals), James Harrison (lead guitar, vocals), Richard Henshall (rhythm guitar, drums), Meiju Enho (keyboards), Mai Leisz (bass), Julie Fowlis (uilleann pipes) and Rebecca Harrison (drums, vocals). The band are often credited with popularising and evolving symphonic metal as they began to focus on female operatic vocals and the usage of orchestras. With the mixture of Caitlyn's operatic vocals and James' growling vocals they would also develop several symphonic sub genres, mostly notably symphonic power metal, a genre that featured heavily in their early music.

Originally signing to British independent label Kitchenware, they released two extended plays in 1992 which both charted within the UK top twenty, this saw them move to the established metal label Nuclear Blast in 1993. They released their first album *The Sphere* in 1994 which became an instant success and remained the best-selling metal album for a decade. They continued to adapt and evolve their sound throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, this would culminate in their 2004 album *Dark Chest of Wonders* which overtook their debut album as the best-selling metal album of all-time. Following this Caitlyn began retraining her voice to move from a soprano to mezzo-soprano which is evident on the bands following albums. Following her second cancer diagnosis in 2021 Caitlyn decided that under doctors recommendation to step down as lead singer due to the damage to her vocal chords.

Celestial Sphere are the best-selling band of all-time, with estimated sales of 650 million units worldwide. They hold the record for most UK number one singles (24), the most number one singles on the *Billboard* Hot 100 (22), the most UK number one albums (24) and most *Billboard* 200 albums (20). They have also recieved a record 34 Grammy Awards, 21 BRIT Awards and six Academy Awards.

## Discography

*Main article: Celestial Sphere discography and list of songs*

* *The Sphere* (1994)
* *Pearls of Light* (1996)
* *Know Why the Nightingale Sings* (1997)
* *The Pharaoh Sails to Orion* (1998)
* *Two for Tragedy* (2000)
* *Slaying the Dreamer* (2002)
* *Illusive Consensus* (2003)
* *Dark Chest of Wonders* (2004)
* *Another Me in Lack'ech* (2005)
* *Cadence of Her Last Breath* (2006)
* *The Obsessive Devotion* (2007)
* *Kingdom of Heaven* (2009)
* *Serenade of Self-Destruction* (2012)
* *The Essence of Silence* (2014)
* *The Eyes of Sharbat Gula* (2015)
* *Ascension - Dream State Armageddon* (2016)
* *The Golden Chamber* (2019)
* *All the Works of Nature Which Adorn the World* (2020)
* *Sovereign of the Sun Spheres* (2021)
* *This is Not the End* (2022)
* *Nocturnal Whispers* (2022)
* *The Final Lullaby* (2023)

## Members

*Main article: List of Celestial Sphere members*
### Current

* Caitlyn Harrison – lead vocals (1989–1991, 1993–2021, 2022–present), keyboards (1989–2003), drums (1989–1995), rhythm guitar (2021–2022)
* James Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocals (1989–1991, 1993–present), bass guitar (1993–1995), lead vocals (1991–1993)
* Julie Fowlis – violin, flute (2001–present), uilleann pipes, tin whistle, low whistle, bouzouki, bodhrán, backing vocals (2006–present)
* Meiju Enho – keyboards, piano, synthesizer (2003–present; live member 2002–2003)
* Richard Henshall – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2018–present), drums (2022–present)
* Mai Leisz – bass guitar (2021–present)
* Rebecca Harrison – lead vocals (2021–present), drums (2022–present)

### Former

* Hjalmar Østigård – rhythm guitar (1991–1993)
* Trygve Brandtzæg – bass (1991–1993)
* Nicholas Barker – drums (1995–1997, 2005–2021)
* Tony Dolan – bass (1995–2007)
* Paul Allender – rhythm guitar (1995–1997)
* Monika Fikerle – drums (1997–1998)
* Herman Li – rhythm guitar (1997–2001)
* Frank Ferrer – drums (1998–2001)
* Per Möller Jensen – drums (2001–2002)
* Micky Moody – rhythm guitar (2001)
* Richie Faulkner – rhythm guitar (2001–2003)
* Dariusz Brzozowski – drums (2002–2004)
* Demir Demirkan – rhythm guitar (2003–2004)
* Jens Ludwig – rhythm guitar (2004–2005)
* Gus G – rhythm guitar (2005)
* Bob Katsionis – rhythm guitar (2005–2006)
* Jairo Guedz – rhythm guitar (2006–2007)
* Joel Graham – bass (2007–2013)
* Liu Yijun – rhythm guitar (2007–2011)
* Gastón Iungman – rhythm guitar (2011–2013)
* Andy Sneap – rhythm guitar (2013–2017)
* Justin Chancellor – bass (2013–2021)
* Brian Tatler – rhythm guitar (2017)
* Paul Ortiz – rhythm guitar (2017–2018)
* Chad Szeliga – drums (2021–2022)

## Concert tours

*Main article: List of Celestial Sphere concert tours*
* Tour of Norway (1991–1993)
* The World at Our Feet (1995–1996)
* The Pharaoh and the Nightingale (1997–1999)
* A Decade Live (2001–2002)
* Dark Chest of Wonders Live (2004–2006)
* Kingdom of Heaven World Tour (2009–2011)
* The Golden Years (2014–2015)
* The Silver Tour (2016–2020)
* Procession of the Sun Spheres (2021–2022)