Exchange consisted of a pair of Canadian keyboardists, Gerald O'Brien and Steve Sexton, who created atmospheric music. O'Brien picked up experience playing rock and pop music and wrote the music for the soap opera Generations. Sexton backed many pop singers, including
Dionne Warwick,
Rita Coolidge,
Dusty Springfield, and especially
Anne Murray. The duo met while playing with the rock group Surrender; they kept in touch, and formed
Exchange in 1986, a unit whose original name was
So Ho, until it was discovered that another band had the same name.
Exchange (strictly a recording group since their sound utilized extensive overdubbing) recorded a number of albums in the late '80s and early '90s for Mesa -- Into the Night (1988), Between Places (1990), the TV soundtrack The Legend of Prince Valiant (1991), and the eponymous Exchange (1992) -- that fell into the "progressive instrumental" music genre overlapping with new age. ~ Scott Yanow