Air Supply returns to The Ridgefield Playhouse on October 17

After a sold-out show last year, Air Supply returns to The Ridgefield Playhouse on October 17th

Back after a sold-out show last year, Air Supply returns to The Ridgefield Playhouse on Thursday, October 17th at 8pm, part of Pepsi Rock Series powered by Xfinity and sponsored by Advanced Specialty Care with support from Nutmeg Livery. The Australian soft rock duo’s hits include “Lost In Love,” “All Out of Love,” “Making Love Out of Nothing At All,” “Even The Nights Are Better” and more! Join us in the lobby at 7:15pm for a free wine tasting courtesy of Treasury Wine Estates. Visit TerraSole (3 Big Shop Lane, Ridgefield) for dinner before the show and get a free glass of house wine or dessert with your entrée when you present your tickets!

Graham Russell & Russell Hitchcock met on May 12, 1975, the first day of rehearsals for Jesus Christ Superstar in Sydney, Australia; they became instant friends with their common love for The Beatles and, of course, singing. After the shows' performances, they would play pizza parlors, coffee bars and nightclubs with just one guitar and two voices. They quickly gained a reputation for great harmonies and for original songs that Graham was constantly writing. They made a demo on a cassette of two songs, "Love and Other Bruises" and "If You Knew Me" and took it to every record company in Sydney.

Everyone turned it down but one — CBS Records — who admired their unique style. They made a single in one afternoon and it shot to number one on the national charts. Air Supply was born! That same year, they opened for Rod Stewart across Australia and then throughout the U.S. and Canada playing all of the famous huge venues before Rod would take the stage. They found new fans, but did not break the U.S. market. Back in Australia they had to start again and made a record titled Life Support which included treasures like "Lost in Love" which went Top 10 in Australia and somehow found its way to music industry executive Clive Davis in New York. Clive immediately signed Air Supply to Arista Records and in 1980, "Lost in Love" became the fastest-selling single in the world, leaping to the top of all of the charts propelling Air Supply to fame. The second single, "All Out of Love," climbed the charts even quicker.

Seven top-five singles later, Air Supply at that time had equaled The Beatles' run of consecutive top five singles. The albums Lost in Love, The One That You Love, Now & Forever, and The Greatest Hits sold in excess of 20 million copies. "Lost in Love" was named Song of the Year in 1980, and, with the other singles, sold more than 10 million copies.

The trademark sound of Russell Hitchcock's soaring tenor voice and Graham Russell's simple yet majestic songs created a unique sound that would forever be known as Air Supply. However, it is the live shows that always hold audiences captive around the world. They were the first Western group to tour China, Taiwan, and countless other countries that before would not allow pop music across their borders.

In 1983 they recorded "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" by Jim Steinman which solidified the group as a permanent force in modern music. This song was released on The Greatest Hits album which soared past 7 million copies. In 1989, they recorded The Earth Is album selling over a million copies outside of the U.S. This album was followed by The Vanishing Race CD and, with the singles "Goodbye" and "It's Never Too Late", again saw multi-platinum success. The following albums, News from Nowhere, Yours Truly, and Across the Concrete Sky all gave their second greatest hits album multi-platinum status as they traveled the world each and every year.

The new millennium brought forth a new production company, A Nice Pear, devoted to Air Supply's entire future product and giving them complete control of their music. It Was 30 Years Ago Today (2005) celebrated 30 years of success around the world and in that same month, Air Supply smashed attendance records when, in Cuba, at one show they played to 175,000 people. 2005 saw the release of The Singer and the Song, an acoustic album of many of their big hits which received critical acclaim.

In May 2010, the long-awaited album, Mumbo Jumbo –also the duo's first studio recording in eight years- was released. Recorded at Graham Russell's home studio near Park City, Utah and at Odds On's state of the art facilities in Las Vegas with top session musicians and an orchestra, Mumbo Jumbo was produced by Russell and engineered by Odds On's Sean O'Dwyer, whose credits include Pink Floyd, Randy Newman and Blink-182.

Among the 14-tracks, released by Odds On's label, was the first single "Dance With Me," which earned Air Supply a prominent feature article in Billboard Magazine titled "Still Supplying The Hits After 35 Years." A few weeks later, composer and vocalist Graham Russell was honored with a BMI Million-Air Certificate recognizing 3 million performances of the duo's hit "All Out Of Love," Air Supply's new song was the #1 most added track on the FMQB AC40 Chart, and also one of the most added on the R&R (Radio and Records) AC Chart and the Mediabase AC chart.

In 2013, the duo was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association’s Hall of Fame. Air Supply celebrated their 40^th anniversary in 2015 and continue to delight audiences all over the world.

For tickets ($120 - $199) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org.  The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.