| | | Linda Spa (born on September 4th, 1968 in Vienna) started taking classical piano sessions at the age of 6. The piano, which was located in her parents' tailoring shop, was used for practice every day. Linda Spa's first audience were the numerous clients who came for the shop for fittings. She soon became interested in fashion as well as music and at the age of 15 she started to study fashion desgin. At the same time she discovered her passion for what her parents called a "not very feminine" instrument: the saxophone. Since her parents were very opposed to the idea, Linda Spa started learning to play the clarinet while continuing her studies in fashion design. But when she was 17, she secretly bought a saxophone and discovered her true talent and passion for the instrument. At the age of 18, she owned 100 pairs of high heels -- another passion -- 16 closets full of clothes designed in part by herself and five different saxophones.
In 1987, Linda Spa left fashion behind and started studying composition, performing arts, piano and saxophone at the Vienna School of music. Early in 1990, Edgar Froese and Paul Haslinger met her through their Viennese friends when looking for replacement saxophonist. Linda Spa, who in meantime had started a second career modelling for perfume and cosmetic products, joined TD as a second saxophonist for a live concert in front of an audience of 11,000 in Berlin in February 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall. The musical collaboration worked out better than expected -- and did last until November 1996 as a result of this single concert. For seven years she was constant member of the TD's live line-up, including the 1990 UK tour and the 1992 North America tour, as well as a number of one-off concerts. As Linda Spa was almost always capable of creating a positive, relaxed atmosphere around her, she was on the same wavelength with her positive attitude as Jerome Froese. On record Linda appeared for the first time on the single release I Just Want To Rule My Own Life Without You (1991) and for the last time on the album Goblins Club (1996). She contributed two compositions to TD's repertoire: Story Of The Brave and Elf June And The Midnight Patrol. In June 2005, surprisingly she appeared as guest on Tangerine Dream's concerts in London and Berlin, where she received a warm welcome by the audience. Finally she once more contributed some sax and flute playing on Tangerine Dream's studio recordings starting with Jeanne d'Arc (2005) and was a constant member of TD's live concert line-up from June 2005 to June 2014. |
