Sonia
Janet King (e-mail)
was born June 20, 1959 in London , England . She is half English
and half Italian (a volatile combination if ever there was one,
mixing British formality and Latin excitability).
In
1977-1978, I, John Wheeler, was in my freshman year at
Ambassador College 's Pasadena , CA. (U.S.A.) campus when
Herbert Armstrong (after recovering from a heart attack) closed
down the College and started "setting the Church back on track".
During the summer of 1978,
it was not clear whether the College would ever re-open. At
length, however, Mr. Armstrong decided to open it again,
offering a 1-year Diploma Course in Biblical Studies for a new
group of students, plus some sophomores who had proven their
worth. (Why I was considered to be in the latter category, I'll
never know. I do think I know why Sonia was
honored with the opportunity to be
in the former category.)
Sonia went to A.C.
beginning autumn 1978. On September 4, 1979 she obtained her
Diploma in Biblical Studies
AND
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (with a major in
theology) on May 13,
1983. I had
graduated
with my B.A. in 1981, and by 1982 I had moved to Tucson, AZ. and
had lost track of Sonia entirely.
The
above photograph was taken from The 1981 Envoy, the
official yearbook of Ambassador College. (Sonia was then 21
years old.) It is her 1981 Junior portrait.
PHOTO FROM
THE 1981 ENVOY
This
photograph is also taken from The 1981 Envoy. It shows
the Resident Assistants of that school year, including Sonia
(front left of photograph, near the bottom of the stairs).
The
first time I remember seeing Sonia was while she and three other
female vocalists (from Mayfair 2nd Floor) were singing in a
humorous "Bong Show" (cf. "The
Gong Show", then on American television), taking place in
the Fine Arts Hall of the campus. Sonia was warming up the
crowd, so to speak, wearing a white jumpsuit, playing a resonant
guitar and doing a very credible imitation of Elvis Presley.
(The young women called their act "Elvira & the Presleyettes".)
Being a musician and a wannabe singer myself (I grew up playing
the piano and the viola, but did not really know how to sing
despite having a perfect-pitch ear), I was very impressed. I was
even more impressed when I found out that Sonia (again, like
myself) was a composer of music.
Sometime
that school year (during the winter, I think), having been in
more than my share of talent shows myself, I wanted to return
the favor that people had shown me. I organized and emceed a
talent show for the students and faculty. Sonia King was at the
top of my shopping list. Up in the Grove Terrace lobby, I found
her visiting by the piano. She readily accepted my offer.
Sonia
and a friend performed the first act on the bill. Not only was
Sonia's song, "A Life of Love" (her second song, written on the
Feast of Trumpets in 1978), the perfect lead-in to the rest of
the acts, but in my mind first place on the bill was the place
of honor, and I was glad to give it to her. (I saved myself for
last: a piano composition called "Wings", which I haven't played
in many years.)
PHOTO BY JOHN WHEELER
One
Sabbath morning, after breakfast, I had brought out my mother's
ancient Kodak Duaflex II camera with the intent of making a
photographic tour of the campus. I had discovered that I had a
photographer's eye, and with so many beautiful buildings and
plantings to choose from, I wanted to exercise it.
The
first thing I wanted to photograph was the row of spring flowers
along the walk leading from Grove Terrace to the Student Center.
Along came Sonia (right), Kristin Schmidt (middle), and an
accomplished classical pianist, Donna Nirschl (left), having
finished their Sabbath Day Brunch in the Student Center. Seeing
me taking pictures, they wanted me to take their own. I
protested that they were blocking my view of the flowers! "We're
the flowers!" exclaimed Sonia. What to do? Refuse to honor the
wishes of three very lovely ladies (all of whom I liked), or
"waste" my precious film? A harder choice than one might
imagine! But in the end, I conceded. (And it's a good thing I
did, because this is the only portrait of Sonia I have in my
personal collection of College photos.)
PHOTO BY SONIA KING
I
asked Sonia (who had and has an interest in photography herself)
to take a picture of myself with the other two girls. (You can
see how tall Donna is, even given that she's wearing heels; I'm
5'10" tall.) Unfortunately, I didn't ask one of the others to
take a photo of Sonia and myself (much to my regret in later
years).
PHOTO FROM
THE 1981 ENVOY
I
suspect that Sonia was born busy. During her tenure at
Ambassador, she was involved for a year in the Young Ambassadors
(a popular-music singing group), was Resident Assistant on two
occasions for her dorm, was in the Ambassador College Chorale,
was a member of a German Club, was Women's Club President,
worked in the Physical Education Dept., participated in the
College's Outreach program, had a College radio broadcast, and
worked on her studies, in addition to social and athletic
activities. In 1981 Sonia was delighted to win the College's
"Most Valuable Women's Athlete" award. This gives you some idea
of just how busy she was. (It also helps me understand why I saw
so little of her after that talent show.)
The
photograph at the left shows Sonia at an outdoor Resident
Assistants meeting, in a very serious mood.
PHOTO FROM
THE 1983 ENVOY
I've
known Sonia best for her musical endeavors, but athletics has
also been a lifelong strong suit. She had and retains a
reputation of being a formidable opponent in any game involving
a racquet and ball. I found that out firsthand, when she beat me
handily at tennis one day. (I would've liked a rematch -- once I
got some glasses and had a class in tennis -- but we never had
the time.)
Sonia
and I also shared a common passion for volleyball. Sonia herself
participated in Women's Volleyball four years running, and it
took heavy chains to keep me from playing beach volleyball on
student outings -- but so far as I remember, we never found
ourselves together in a casual co-ed match. Oh, well, one must
make time for studies somehow...
This
photo (left) shows Sonia during a 24-mile Sunday bike ride. This
has always been one of my favorite portraits of Sonia, and I'm
glad to know at last of its background.
PHOTO FROM
THE 1983 ENVOY
PHOTO FROM
THE 1983 ENVOY
The
photo on the above left is taken from The 1983 Envoy, which
actually has two graduate photos of Sonia. She was due to
graduate in 1982, but having the opportunity to continue working as
assistant sports teacher in the Physical Education Dept., decided to
defer her graduation date until 1983. This is her 1982 Senior
portrait.
The
photo on the above right likewise comes from The 1983 Envoy;
this is Sonia's 1983 Senior portrait. Call me biased if you wish,
but I like this one better than the 1982 Senior portrait (though I
think both are quite becoming). I think it's because this one is
more complex, in terms of artistic balance, color, and expression of
personality and style...
Here
I take a slight detour in my narrative. As a musician,
Sonia was influenced by a number of European and
American artists in her youth (including one who greatly
influenced me, John Denver, and Karen Carpenter).
However, Nana Mouskouri had the most pivotal
influence (as you'll read on Sonia's
tribute page to
her). It is remarkable that this, the best-selling
female recording artist ever, remained unknown to me
until I encountered Sonia's honorable mention on her Web
site.
While one YouTube video cannot
possibly demonstrate the incredible range of expression
of Ms. Mouskouri, surely a performance
like
this one (also see left) would have caught Sonia's
special attention. Many of Ms. Mouskouri's early instrumental and
vocal stylisms are present in
Sonia's early music...
PHOTO COURTESY OF SONIA KING
After
my own graduation in 1981, my efforts to get Triumph Publishing
Co. to sponsor a recording of Sonia and a group of student
musicians to which she belonged ("Spectrum") came to nothing,
much to my disappointment. Soon afterwards I moved back to my
home town of Tucson. By the time I returned to Pasadena, several
years later, Sonia had gone home to England. We have not seen
each other since.
Sonia
produced her first recording, Sunshine & Rain, on
cassette (1984) and on CD a few years later. The photo (here
left) is on the cover.
PHOTO BY
TIM WELCH
Tim
Welch had a camera at the recording of Sunshine & Rain
and took "candid shots" for posterity. A few of these can be
seen in the CD version (booklet and obverse cover).
From
left to right: vocalist Frankie Gomer, vocalist Lynda Samson
(showing only her hand, knee and the hem of her plaid blue/pink
dress), producer and vocalist/guitarist Sonia King, drummer Josh
Griffin, and guitarist Bardet Lucas (of the group ‘Spectrum’).
Naturally,
I was delighted both to hear about and to receive the cassette
-- but oh, how I wished I'd been in Pasadena so I could've asked
to participate in the project! (Not as a singer -- my voice was
nowhere near good enough for that -- but as a pianist! But it's
unlikely I would have replaced Ray Epperson, whose solid piano
style anchored at least two songs.)
PHOTO BY TIM WELCH
As
the photo on the left says, the album was recorded "live" at Fifty-Four East
Sound Recorders Ltd., Pasadena, CA. on May 14, 1984 (save for "Blue Skies",
which was recorded at Becks Studio, Wellingborough, U.K. in 1977). The male
singer to the far left is Geoff Robertson, who plays a part in this story
later on (as does Tom Crabb, the bass player).
Just
left of Sonia is Lynda Samson, another former Young Ambassador. It was
through Lynda's enthusiastic announcement face-to-face in Pasadena that I
learned about Sonia's album, not long after it had been released.
Not
having a clue as to what I had been studying since the spring of
1982, but remembering my intellectual and musical gifts, Lynda
asked me: "Is it possible that Sonia's somehow 'reconstructed'
the melody for the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32?" For to
Lynda, Sonia's "A Song of Moses" (now called "Give Ear, O
Heavens") had a melody that perfectly evoked the mood of the
words in English. "You're asking the one person in the Church
who could probably tell you," I replied, and then explained to
Lynda about the musical notation preserved by the Hebrew
Masoretic Text and deciphered by composer and theorist
Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura of Paris. I ended by saying something
like, "When I get Sonia's tape from you, I'll listen, compare,
and let you know -- and then you can let Sonia know."
What
I found was rather astonishing to me. Not only had Sonia managed
to capture a reasonable facsimile of the opening minor mode
of the original Song of Moses, but also of the opening melody!
Overall, Sonia had indeed captured much of the spirit of
the original. (In time, I had the pleasure -- and privilege,
both for Sonia's and Mme. Haïk-Vantoura's sake -- of singing
first Deuteronomy 32:1 in Hebrew, then the opening line of "Give
Ear, O Heavens" in English, to Sonia over the phone.)
SKETCH BY PHIL HINSLEY & SONIA KING
After
recording under considerable constraints laid down by time,
money and facilities, Sonia released her second recording, A
New World, in January 1988. (It was co-produced by Tony de
Sarcez & Sonia during a very stressful period of her life, and
she has never been entirely happy with the finished product;
thus she no longer made it available for purchase for a number
of years.) It was, she says, very much a learning experience
album.
This
sketch by Phil Hinsley (with the globe added by Sonia)
originally graced Sonia's order form for this album. It was
later placed on the obverse of Sonia’s mini-booklet titled “the
story behind the making of a new world”.
Sonia
was continuing to grow as a graphic artist, and I have always
thought that she did a nice job with the J-card of A New
World. (The elegant logo of SK IntoNational -- the
name itself being a clever pun -- appeared for the first time on
the spine of the J-card.) With Sonia's permission, I present
below the photo of the obverse of my personal copy of the
recording.
SIDE A:
A NEW WORLD
THE SUMMER OF MY LIFE
THE LAW OF THE LORD
GENESIS
SIDE B:
TOGETHER, MY FRIEND
THE GATHERING OF ISRAEL
FATHER, HAVE MERCY
YERUSHALAYIM (JERUSALEM)
PHOTO BY TERRY DEVEAU
In
1991, after selling her house in Welling- borough, Sonia had
both the time and the funds to go to Canada to produce her third
album, A Time For Everything. She was delighted when Tom
Crabb (who had been bassist, vocalist and sound engineer on
Sunshine & Rain) was willing to help her again on her new
album. His musicianship, along with that of Mo Marshall, helped
Sonia achieve a "quantum leap" beyond anything she had done
before.
The
left photo is taken from the obverse of the CD; it dates to
Sunday, March 3, 1991, when Sonia was almost 32 years old.
SKETCH BY PHIL HINSLEY
The
harp arrangement for “O Lord, Who Shall Abide?" on this album,
bears some Influence from me. Sonia had sent me a tape of
herself singing the song to guitar, and had asked me to send
back an accompaniment for her harpist. Upon viewing it, the
Celtic harpist
thought I had spent a long time on the arrangement. "You may
tell him," I told Sonia, "that the recording took me all of 30
minutes to make. What can I say?" (The arrangement actually used
Is
basically Terry's, however. Oh, well. It's closer to Sonia's
original guitar arrangement in its chord progression than mine
was.)
In
the sketch above (taken from Part I of Sonia's printed story
booklet), Phil Hinsley's drawing and Sonia's signature seem to
complement each other aesthetically -- as if the signature
reflects the artiste...
PHOTO COURTESY OF SONIA KING
Tom
Crabb's assistance as a sound engineer was at least as valuable
to Sonia as his support as a musician (see photo on left).
Sonia
made arrangements to record at Mo Marshall's “Woodbend Studio”
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Recording began on May 14, 1991 --
seven years to the day after Sunshine & Rain was
recorded.
COLLAGE COURTESY OF SONIA KING
After
the recording was released, Sonia sent me this photo collage
documenting its production. The original is of course much
larger (it was sent within a clear-cover folder, where I
still keep it).
PHOTO BY PIERO DA VINCI
In
2003, Sonia released her fourth and (I believe) by far her best
album, In The Light. I ordered 2 copies, one for a friend
in Ohio and one for myself. My friend (who got her copy first)
said that I would "swoon" when I heard it.
Not
"swooning" but "holy awe" (sic) was the impression (among many
others) that I first had. No Contemporary Christian Music
recording I had heard in a very long time, not though well-known
"professionals" had written, produced or performed it, had a
more compelling inspirational quality within the boundaries of
its many styles.
The
photo (left) featured on the CD cover, shows Sonia in 1997 when
38 years old. Appropriately enough, she seems to be showing us
something of her dramatic, Italian half...
PHOTO BY GEOFFREY ROBERTSON
Sonia
recorded In The Light in Brisbane, Australia from May
through August 2003 (when it was basically winter "Down Under").
Geoff Robertson (whom we have met way back when Sunshine &
Rain was being made) recorded, arranged, mixed and mastered
the album under the auspices of his own Windsong Corporation
Pty. Ltd. He involved several other family member and friends in
the recording process as well.
While
in Australia, Sonia visited Kirra Beach on the Gold Coast. This
photo (left) captures that moment, on June 14, 2003. It is so
unaffected (and yet personable) as to be endearing. The original
photograph (which is much wider) brings the viewer into the
scene to stand on the beach with the photographer and experience
the happy day with Sonia…
The
little girl is Geoff's 3-year old daughter Victoria, who "steals
the show" on both ends of the last track on the album entitled:
"Children of Tomorrow".
PHOTO BY HUGH ROBERTSON
I
also like the "candid shots" of Sonia as a songwriter (likewise
featured in the CD booklet). This one brings us to Sonia at age
44...
PHOTO BY HUGH ROBERTSON
I
think that this photo (another "candid shot" from the CD
booklet) captures the essence of who and what Sonia is, in an
unguarded moment...
PHOTO COURTESY OF SONIA KING
Time
marches on, and in June 2007, Sonia re-released ("by fan
demand") her 1988 recording "A New World". From the looks of
it, the cover photo is about as contemporary a photo of
Sonia as I have.
This
recording is decidedly unorthodox by Sonia's usual standards
-- less, I believe, due to lack of experience and production
time and more due to a willingness to take artistic risks.
Even the artwork is quirkier and more modernistic, befitting
the frequently jazz- and rock-influenced music of the
recording itself.
