Sumeria Biography & Awards

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Artist Info

Formed

1978 Paris, France

Disbanded

1978

Members

Jose Souk, Andre Sidebon, Raymond Donnez, Don Ray, G�rard Bikialo, Slim Pezin, Alec R. Costandinos, Chris Padovan

Biography

Similar to Sphinx, another of Euro-disco producer Alec R. Costandinos' one-off projects, Sumeria finds the man best known for his dancefloor-oriented offerings as Love & Kisses exploring more conceptual territory. Rather than looking back to ancient Egyptian mythology as he did with Sphinx or classic literature as he did on his self-attributed Romeo and Juliet and Hunchback of Notre Dame albums, Costandinos instead looks toward contemporary mythology for Sumeria. The group's one album, Golden Tears, loosely explores modern identity in the late '70s without ever moving too far from the dancefloor. Recorded in July 1978 at Ferber Studios in Paris, Golden Tears is notable for being one of the very few Costandinos projects not produced at Trident Studios in London. Nonetheless, it's still a rather typical offering, featuring many of the same vocalists that worked with Costandinos in Love & Kisses -- Stephanie de Sykes, Sunny Leslie, Sue Glover -- and a few of the same musicians, with Don Ray handling arrangements. The album was nowhere near as commercially successful as the preceding Romeo and Juliet album or the DJ-friendly Love & Kisses releases, but it did get released on the high-profile Casablanca label, which ensured some notice. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide