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Bruce and Renata were married on the beautiful island of Maui in 2001. They chose the name GEMINI for their duo, as they consider themselves "twin spirits" both personally and musically. Together, they won first prize for traditional singing at the Topanga Banjo•Fiddle Contest in 1997 and have won other prizes for their singing and playing since then.

Bruce Farwell

Bruce started playing the ukulele at age 9 and the guitar when he was 10. Bruce's love for music also sprang from his mother, who sang for several years while playing the piano and later with big bands in the '30's and who also wrote many of her own songs. Starting with the early rock 'n roll and country standards, Bruce became adept at playing the music of the '50's and '60's, performing at various schools and radio stations while still in high school. He became an avid convert in the late '50's, when the folk music craze began, and he started to develop and polish his finger-style guitar playing during this period. He began playing in numerous folk clubs of the time, notably around the Boston and New England area. He later moved to New York City and played some of the folk clubs there as well. Bruce later joined the Bitter End Singers, a group based at the famous New York City folk club. This sextet performed a variety of music from light rock to show tunes to folk music to novelty tunes, and toured the U.S., Europe and Canada for two years. They also appeared on several well-known national television programs, including the Tonight Show, the Today Show, Mike Douglas, Shindig and Hullabaloo, and went on a successful USO tour of Germany and England. They released two albums and several singles. Bruce later resumed a solo career, performing in folk clubs and college concerts throughout the east coast and Midwest, and up in Canada. Bruce returned to college to complete graduate training as a psychologist and to pursue this new career. However, he continued to play regularly in numerous lounges and night clubs both on the east coast and later on the west coast when he moved to California in the mid-'80's. In the early '90's, Bruce joined a musical organization called Songmakers, where he met Renata Decher.



Renata Decher

Renata Decher hails from Europe. Her parents enjoyed singing duets and instilled in their children a love for music and singing. The family spent many enjoyable afternoons singing folk songs, with Renata's mom playing lute and guitar. Renata became enthralled with several of the folk and folk-rock artists when she lived in England as an au pair girl in her teens. For the next several years, she lived all over Europe and even in Africa, developing a deep appreciation of many music genres including French chansons, European folksongs, and exquisite South African harmonies. In the mid-'70's, Renata emigrated to the United States and settled in the Los Angeles area. She joined Songmakers, picked up a guitar and began to express her experiences in songwriting. Displaying a very distinctive voice, Renata originally sang her songs as a soloist. After hearing Bruce play at a few Songmakers functions, Renata approached him to give her additional guitar lessons. Soon she began to bring some of her own compositions to Bruce. Delighted with Bruce's outstanding arrangements and harmonies, the pair realized the potential of the beautiful music they could produce together. They have been singing together ever since.

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