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.