Mars Lasar
Platinum award-winning composer/music producer
An accomplished visual artist and fine art photographer.
He boasts an impressive list of credits in both the mainstream and broadcast marketplaces.
Biography
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Born in Germany and raised in Australia, Mars Lasar is a prolific keyboardist and composer. Predominantly electronic, his music also contains elements of jazz, pop, world, ambient, and rock. Mars started playing the piano at 11 years old, and over a few years of extensive classical and jazz training, he rapidly became drawn to all kinds of music. At 14, Mars began composing, recording, and publishing his own music professionally.
To date (2022) Mars has successfully released over 33 solo albums and has a full arsenal of production credits to match. Currently, Mars' music can be heard on NBC's Conviction, The Medium, Extreme Makeover, the Bachelor, Disney, Law And Order SVU, America's Got Talent, and Fox's Emmy Awarding winning show "24". Mars' first solo album Olympus was frequently used by CBS during their broadcast of the Winter Olympic Games from Albertville France 1992, and the record reached Top Ten in the Progressive Adult Contemporary radio charts. His second solo album The Eleventh Hour represented an adventurous future path for Lasar; pushing the boundaries of what is considered New Age into areas of avant-garde, dance, acid jazz, industrial, and world beat. The Eleventh Hour is still considered cutting-edge in composition, style and production, this record reached American Billboard's Top 10 NAC. The fourth CD, Olympic National Park, showcases yet another dimension of Mars' talent. Celebrating America's national parks, Mars fuses the sounds of nature with his composition, producing an uplifting and provoking musical journey. Escape & Sapphire Dreams quickly followed. His 8th release in 2001 Karma hit #4 NAV (New Age Voice) Top 100. His music is frequently heard on television and in films, including Jason's Lyric and the 6th Man. Songs from Mars' solo albums have also been heard on television shows including Baywatch, Young & The Restless, General Hospital and Hard Copy to name but a few. November 2021 His album Coastal Escape hits #1 on the New Age Notes Radio Chart. His songwriting and production talents span a multitude of genres including New Age, Pop, Rock, Metal, Jazz, Classical and Electronica.
Mars has been featured in such publications as The LA Times, Spin, The Chicago Sun-Times and Billboard Magazine. Mars has appeared on The Discovery Channel's Movie Magic for his technical wizardry and received numerous awards, including two platinum records. The first for his work on "Crazy", the hit record by England's recording artist Seal, and his second for, "Love Is Still Enough", a song Mars wrote and produced with America's Savoury. "Love Is Still Enough" was featured on the soundtrack from the movie Jason's Lyric. Mars has worked with such Artists as T.a.t.u, Divinyls, Jon Stevens (INXS), Rick Dufay (Aerosmith), Steve Balsamo, Erin Williams, Xavier, and Siedah Garrett (best known for her collaborations with Michael Jackson and The Brand New Heavies). He has also produced Herbie Hancock, John Sykes (White Snake), French Diva Liane Foly and Savory. In 2002 hit Russian band T.a.t.u hired Mars to write and produce songs for their project. As a result of their collaboration, one of the tracks was entered into the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest earning third-place amongst the 26 countries entered.
Mars' production BigBox was licensed to Apple Macintosh for their promotion of the IBook Computer. This album has received much attention, with multiple tracks reaching #1 on MP3.com's Industrial Electronica charts. BigBox was recently joined by Vertical Velocity, an equally cutting-edge yet slightly more melodic album. Also, in this style are Organized Chaos 1 & 2.
Mars' follow up to The Eleventh Hour. Aptly titled 11.02 was eagerly embraced by fans both new and old. 2000 saw the release of Mars' 7th CD eclectic groove release When Worlds Collide. Then followed by Karma, Mars' 8th release, takes you into the genre of 'world music'. Karma is an embracing and energetic album that takes you places you haven't been before.
The ever-popular MindScapes Meditation Series, Created in 1985 and still purchased today 35 has years later. Popular with meditation enthusiasts around the globe. Mars continue's to create his dedicated MindScapes series with a new release in 2020 MindScapes Beyond.
Upon popular request, Mars released his first Christmas album in 2001 titled Christmas from Mars. This collection of classic Christmas songs fused with Mars' production and songwriting genius is something for your Christmas collection.
In late 2003, Mars completed his newest set of albums 11.04-Panorama, the fourth in the "Eleventh Hour" series, Final Frontier, the first in the motivational series, and Nocturnal Diaries, another eclectic tribute to Nature & Collaborations, a sound diary of Mars' collaborations with friends over the years. Not only does Mars create the music but he also creates the artwork for each album. In most cases, each album image is from his fine art collection.
Mars' 2006 release Yosemite Valley of the Giants, hit the top 10 positions on the NAR top 100 charts. This transcendent musical adventure is a multi-sensory journey through one of the world's most magical creations of nature, Yosemite Valley. You will smell the pungent wildflowers, feel the glacial winds on your face, hear the roar of the sky-scraping waterfalls and experience deep inner peace and mystic contemplation inspired by the spirit of mother nature's most awesome masterpiece, Yosemite. Awash in a symphony of multicultural rhythms, melodies and organic sounds that will soothe and inspire you to the core. Truly a living, breathing musical experience for your soul, from the home of the Valley of the Giants via the extraordinary Mars Lasar. Tahoe Spirit was released in 2009 to accompany Yosemite. This is an adventure into the Tahoe Nevada region with a Native American Indian flare.
By popular request, in 2011 Mars released the sequel to Final Frontier, named Final Frontier 2. This collection follows the motivational formula loved by Final Frontier fans.
In 2013 Mars releases AfterWorld, the sequel to Karma. This is an eclectic fusion of world instrumentation and dramatic styles. Be sure to check it out AfterWorld. If you're a Karma fan, you're going to like this one.
in 2015 Mars releases his piano collection Piano Moods From Mars II inspired by the success of the original Piano Moods From Mars and Sapphire Dreams. Piano Moods from Mars II depicts the core nature of Mars' classical and modern style. Simple evocative and memorable pieces for your Mars Lasar collection.
In 2017 Mars releases his 26th solo album Utopia. This album uses combinations of textural synthesis with vocals to create an eclectic electronic hybrid. A nice addition for your chilled electronic collection.
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Mars' 2020 27th solo release MultiVerse. was created during the Covid lock-down and takes you on a theatrical sound journey. MultiVerse is a collection of uplifting and inspiring adventures featuring elegant electronic and vocal textures along with a raw powerful rock undercurrent.
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2021 Rolls out with 2 new releases. UltraChill Mars' explores the popular "lo-fi" genre with this packed album of 17 songs of electro-chill, great for focus and study. The second release Coastal Escape written during multiple exhilarating road trips to the rugged epic pacific coast.
Be sure to check out Mars' fine art photography catalogue at www.picsfrommars.com. His fine art modern landscapes and vistas are prominently displayed in galleries, businesses and homes around the country. You can see his most recent fine art pieces at his Recently Added gallery.
More History
Composer and technologist Mars Lasar has had a unique career that has influenced the evolution of technology and its relationship to music and composing. Mars was obsessed with gadgets as far back as he can remember, going so far as to pull apart watches to figure out how they worked. At 11, his mother, who was an artist from Germany, introduced Lasar to music. His love for both music and gadgets quickly fused in harmony. According to Lasar, "I'd had extensive classical training and composed many themes on the piano, but I needed more and technology was the answer. So back in 1978, you'd find me with a simple cassette player, a shortwave radio, and a stopwatch. I put the cassette player in pause record, searched for the correct sound on shortwave, then hit record on the cassette player and used the stopwatch to determine when to stop. I'd do that over and over again for an hour to get a rhythmic sample of a shortwave radio sequence. I'd try all kinds of shortwave sampling combinations together with time combinations as long as a full second and down to 1/4 of a second with really neat results. Sequencing and sampling became my obsession." Multi-track sequencing which did not exist at that point and sampling was where Lasar was destined to go."
Shortly after, he was introduced to synthesizers and monophonic sequencers by another student in his high school who was obsessed with electronics, mathematics, and music. Unknowingly, Lasar was perfectly situated to become a pioneer in the music sequencer explosion that occurred in the late 70s. Lasar remembers that by 1981, he was deep in the synthesizer/sequencing world along with Kraftwerk, Tomita, and Tangerine Dream. I was in a band, IQ, with one other keyboard player, Ken Davis, and singer, Darpan. They dressed up in space suits and played space music on street corners, pubs, discos and open auditoriums. The band became such a popular spectacle we opened for Midnight Oil, Split Enz (featuring the Finn brothers of Crowded House) and eventually Mike Oldfield during the Tubular Bells tour.
As struggling artists, the band huddled in a small house and perfected their unusual craft using only synthesizers, drum machines and vocals. Until In 1979, they met Kim Ryrie founder of Fairlight Instruments, the first computer software-driven musical instrument manufacturer. Kim hired Mars, knowing he might be a good addition to the Fairlight team. He worked for Fairlight for eight years. During that time, Lasar worked with their R&D team to help create the first multi-track sampler/sequencer "Page R". "I spent countless hours building the first sample library and making demo compositions. I composed countless compositions using my sequencing method which was sent out to the world with the machines at $80,000 apiece. I demonstrated the Fairlight at audio trade shows AES, NAB and others, and to many artists and producers including Alan Parsons, Hans Zimmer, Kate Bush, Duran Duran, Herbie Hancock and many others."
After Fairlight, Lasar came to Los Angeles in 1990 and worked with Seal and Hans Zimmer. He sequenced Seal's song "Crazy" with Trevor Horn and worked on Days of Thunder with Hans Zimmer. Lasar relates, "At that point in my career I was focusing on composing and sound design. The reason I got to know all these guys is that they all loved music technology and the Fairlight." Technology and music was and still is our future.