Biography

Under the name Liquid Mind, Los Angeles-based musician and composer Chuck Wild creates ambient instrumental music with a therapeutic focus on relaxation, meditation, sleep aid, and other aspects of wellness. Since debuting in the early-'90s, Wild's ongoing Liquid Mind series has remained a consistently popular staple of the new age charts and an award-winning tool within the field of music therapy. Prior to launching the project, Wild had already enjoyed a varied and colorful music career first as a member of new wave band Missing Persons, then as an industry songwriter and session keyboardist for high-profile artists ranging from Frank Zappa to Michael Jackson. He has composed music for television and film including the Academy Award-winning documentary The Panama Deception. During a stressful period in the late-'80s while he and German composer Michael Hoenig were co-scoring the Emmy-winning television series Max Headroom, Wild suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks. In addition to the stress from long hours of work, he also lost a large number of friends, family members, and acquaintances to AIDS and cancer in a short span of time. As a form of personal therapy, he began composing slow, tranquil new age and ambient pieces, which later became the first Liquid Mind album. Inspired by his own emotions as well as classical music and ambient composers like Brian Eno, he was encouraged to share his new music with others and released the series' debut, Ambience Minimus, in 1994. Over the coming decades, Liquid Mind became Wild's most successful and visible endeavor with a prolific array of albums like Liquid Mind V: Serenity (2001), Liquid Mind IX: Lullaby (2009), and Liquid Mind XI: Deep Sleep (2016). Along the way, he worked directly with music therapists, making his catalog directly available to them and designing pieces for specific treatments, tempos, and experiences. At a 2009 conference for the American Music Therapy Association, he was honored with the President's Award for his efforts in the field. A perennial new age chart staple, Liquid Mind albums have also topped iTunes' new age chart. Still going strong into its fourth decade, Wild released his 13th Liquid Mind album, Mindfulness, in 2020. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi