Simon Apple's "River To The Sea" (released October 2004), yielded the band's first U.S. Top 10 single in December of 2005 - Hold Me [Like A Lover]. (#10 Adult Contemporary FMQB). The album also features several Grammy-winning and multi-platinum guest artists, including: Legendary bassist TONY LEVIN (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, John Lennon), guitarist BUCK (more cowbell!) DHARMA (Blue Oyster Cult), saxophonist JOHN HELLIWELL (Supertramp), cellist HUGH MCDOWELL (Electric Light Orchestra), acoustic bassist STEVE RODBY (Pat Metheny Group), and trumpeter DAVE STAHL (Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick, Jr.). The album was mixed by Grammy-winning engineer, DAVID LEONARD (credits include: Paul McCartney, Rush, Tony Bennett, Prince, Barenaked Ladies, kd lang, Toto, Avril Lavigne, to name a few). "River To The Sea" has also received critical acclaim worldwide, including four nominations and one award in the 2006 Just Plain Folks Awards: Best Contemporary Song ("Hold Me"), Best Rock Song ("Leap Of Faith"), Best Rock Album ("River To The Sea"), and winner for Best Male Vocalist (Dan Merrill). [Just Plain Folks is a worldwide music organization of over 40,000 independent musicians, songwriters, publishers, and record labels. Nominations were selected from over 25,000 albums and 350,000 songs.] Additionally, Simon Apple donates a portion of every sale to the CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION... and on-going donation - until there is a cure. Two Philadelphia area musicians, Jeff Miller and Buzz Saylor, formed Simon Apple with the intentions of writing material that combined their favorite elements of pop, rock, and jazz, coupled with positive, hopeful, spiritual, thought-provoking, and sometimes humorous messages. In early 1998, Simon Apple independently released their first single, "It's Over", taken from their debut CD From The Toybox. By April, "It's Over" had climbed to #21 nationally, on the Adult Contemporary Gavin chart (kept out of the Top 20 by Mariah Carey by only 24 spins). By late summer, their second single, "A Boy Like Me", broke the A/C Gavin Top 30 again (reaching #29). A third 'seasonal' single, "Scenes Of December", also received national airplay (reaching #43). Simon Apple has been invited to perform at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia for Billy Joel three times, Elton John twice, Bruce Springsteen, Cher, Creed, Depeche Mode. They have performed to stadium crowds of 65,000, small intimate acoustic venues, churches, open-air music festivals, and all points in between...while purposefully bridging the secular/spiritual gap. Guest Artists and Engineers on the 'River To The Sea' CD: BUCK DHARMA - Guitarist, writer, singer, producer of Blue Oyster Cult. As a founding member of BOC, Buck wrote and sang the band's biggest hits - Don't Fear The Reaper, Burnin' For You, & Godzilla. The band has several Gold & Platinum albums selling millions worldwide. BOC is still an active touring/recording band playing over 100 dates a year. Their latest studio album, Curse Of The Hidden Mirror, was released in 2001, and their most recent live DVD, A Long Day's Night, was released in 2002. TONY LEVIN - Bassist with Peter Gabriel & King Crimson. Tony has been the recording & touring bassist with Gabriel since Peter's first solo album after leaving Genesis in 1977. He still occasionally records & tours with King Crimson. Tony has played on hundreds of albums over the years including: John Lennon, Pink Floyd, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Stevie Nicks, Sarah McLachlan, etc. Tony is also a Grammy nominated solo artist, with several solo albums to his credit. JOHN HELLIWELL - Saxophonist of Supertramp. John has been with Supertramp since their 1974 hit album Crime Of The Century... in 1979, Supertramp's 'Breakfast In America' album was the biggest selling album of the year worldwide. In between Tramp duties, John has his own jazz sextet, Creme Anglaise, which gigs throughout Europe. STEVE RODBY - Bassist in the Pat Metheny Group. Steve has been with the PMG since 1982. Steve has been nominated for numerous Grammy awards and has won several Grammy awards. (In 2004, Pat Metheny tied Sting for 10th on the all-time Grammy winners list). Steve has also performed with jazz greats Tony Bennett, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson. In addition to being a world-renowned bassist, Steve is also an accomplished producer. HUGH MCDOWELL - Cellist formerly of Electric Light Orchestra. Hugh was with ELO between 1973-1980, during their impressive string of 24 consecutive Top 40 hits, and world-wide massive arena & stadium tours... multi-gold & platinum albums throughout the world. ELO was the biggest concert draw of the year in 1978, averaging 50,000 people per show. DAVE STAHL - Trumpeter who hails from our Pennsylvania hometown area, has played with Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr., Liza Minnelli. Dave also has his own 20-30 piece big band (including vocalists) - The Dave Stahl Sacred Orchestra - performing jazz arrangements of sacred works. The Sacred Orchestra has released 2 albums to date. DAVID LEONARD - Mix engineer. David mixed the album and also engineered the drum & piano tracks. A partial list of David's credits... David won a Grammy for his engineering contribution to Toto IV, which won album of the year and numerous awards that year (Rosanna, Africa, etc). David has engineered, mixed, and/or co-produced Rush, Paul McCartney, John Mellencamp, Prince, kd lang, Tony Bennett, Avril Lavigne, Chick Corea, Barenaked Ladies, Bruce Hornsby, Sugar Ray, Jackson Browne, Santana, Hootie & The Blowfish, etc. ADAM AYAN - Mastering engineer. Adam's mastering credits include Rush, LeAnn Rimes, Phish, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Linkin Park, Wynonna, Brian Setzer, Martina McBride, Bee Gees, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Dave Matthews, Bela Fleck, Counting Crows, Mariah Carey. WWW.SIMONAPPLE.COM