Ashes and Diamonds

Biography

Zaine Griff (born Auckland, New Zealand, 4 October 1957) is a singer and artist who formed part of the English New Wave scene of the 1980s. Although being educated and beginning as musician in New Zealand, he moved to England in the 1970s, where he continued with his artistic and musical career, becoming a solo artist. He worked with Lindsay Kemp, in arts, and The Human Instinct, The Kinks, David Bowie and Hans Zimmer, in music. Being brought up in New Zealand and Tahiti by his Danish parents, h...

Zaine Griff (born Auckland, New Zealand, 4 October 1957) is a singer and artist who formed part of the English New Wave scene of the 1980s. Although being educated and beginning as musician in New Zealand, he moved to England in the 1970s, where he continued with his artistic and musical career, becoming a solo artist. He worked with Lindsay Kemp, in arts, and The Human Instinct, The Kinks, David Bowie and Hans Zimmer, in music.
Being brought up in New Zealand and Tahiti by his Danish parents, he learned guitar in an early age.
In the early 1970s, he joined country rock band The Human Instinct, as bassists, with the stage name of Glenn Mikkelson. During his time with the band, he recorded three albums, Snatmin Cuthin (1972), The Hustler (1974) and Pegleg (recorded in the mid-1970s but released in 2001).
By 1975, he quit The Human Instinct and moved to London, England to continue his musical career. There, he became vocalist and bassist of a band called Baby Face and began to study mime and movement, alongside Kate Bush, with Adam Darius and Lindsay Kemp. At the time, he joined Kemp's production Flowers, but quit to stay in London to continue with music, when the company went to tour in Australia.
After leaving the Kemp company, Griff joined Screemer, with whom released two singles, Interplanetary Twist, in 1976, and In The City, in 1977.
Later, in 1979 for his solo career, he called musicians for his band, among them, future film-musician Hans Zimmer and Ultravox drummer Warren Cann. He released only two albums Ashes and Diamonds and Figures. In 1982, he made and art exhibition. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.