Freshlyground founder launches prison singing sensation

Freshlyground founder launches prison singing sensation

On Monday 13th December 2010, Larry Joe, an exceptionally talented singer and songwriter, will be released from the Douglas Correctional Centre in the Northern Cape and step straight onto a stage in the prison grounds to perform songs from his first solo album, Crazy Life. This day will mark the start of his new life as an artist and free man.

On World Aids Day in 2008, Larry was invited to perform at a government function in Douglas. There he met Aron Turest-Swartz who was performing with Freshlyground, the well-known multi-award winning South African band that he co-founded in 2002. Impressed by Larry’s outstanding voice and the original songs he had written, Aron approached Larry and the prison authorities with a proposal to work with him to develop his skills and produce a solo album.

Before being incarcerated, Larry, who plays both guitar and keyboard, primarily performed cover versions of well-known songs.Whilst being behind bars however, he has composed over 40 original songs in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Spanish and Portuguese, collaborating with fellow inmates, as well as one of the wardens, who have helped him translate his songs. With the invaluable support and co-operation of the officials at the facility, Larry and Aron have been able to record an album in highly unusual and challenging circumstances.
Larry was born and bred in the Northern Cape, South Africa. His life’s journey took him down a tough road of crime that in turn led to his imprisonment after he handed himself over to the authorities in 2008. By December 2010, he will have served half of his 5 1/2 year sentence with the Parole Board having decided to grant him an early release for good behaviour.

Aron has been a friend and mentor to Larry over the past 18 months and has driven this project with great determination and limited resources, believing strongly in Larry’s gift and in his future as a professional musician. Aron himself is a multi-talented musician and composer, perhaps most widely known for starting Freshlyground. He now works as a music producer and runs Quietly Cape Town (QCTmusic), working with promising artists by developing and producing their music and songs, and creating opportunities for them wherever possible.

Larry’s album, Crazy Life, was recorded in a single cell in the Douglas Correctional Centre and will be released on 13th December 2010. Larry Joe is a living testimony of someone who has undergone a truly remarkable inner transformation with music being at the very core of this process.

YOUTUBE (Documentary):

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