Illusion

Illusion were a British progressive rock band formed in 1977. They released two albums, Out of the Mist (1977) and Illusion (1978) on Island Records, before folding in 1979. A third release, Enchanted Caress (made up of demos for a proposed 3rd album, from the late 1970s), was released in 1990.

Illusion were intended to be a reunion of the original line-up of Renaissance (whose 1971 album was titled Illusion), but because Renaissance was still active with a new line-up, they could not use the same name. Illusion recorded a series of demos (one of which, "All the Falling Angels", has since been released both on Enchanted Caress and as a bonus track on various Renaissance releases) before their singer and guitarist Keith Relf died of a heart attack. Rather than being demoralized, the surviving band members said they were invigorated and inspired by Relf's death, redoubling their efforts to fulfill the band's creative potential. John Knightsbridge (from Third World War, and later of Ruthless Blues) replaced Keith Relf on guitar, and Eddie McNeill was brought in on drums, enabling Jim McCarty to switch from drums to acoustic guitar and vocals. Remaining at their original stations were Louis Cennamo on bass and John Hawken on keyboards, while Jane Relf, who had played both vocals and percussion with Renaissance, now focused solely on vocals.

In 2001, McCarty, Cennamo, Hawken and Jane Relf reunited once again to record Through the Fire, an album of new material, under the bandname Renaissance Illusion.