Live from Ireland
It will be recalled (well, ok it will not be recalled, I had to use the “search” button to find out that) over one year ago we wrote about Calvin Harris. We are pleased to hear (literally) that he is still active.
Mitchell Brothers feat. Calvin Harris - Michael Jackson
Lighthouse Family were a British duo of Vocalist Tunde Baiyewu and keyboard player Paul Tucker. Lighthouse Family was active from the circa 1995-2003. The two men formed the act in 1993 in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK after meeting at university. Their 1995 debut album Ocean Drive sold more than 1.6 million copies in the UK alone and established them as a popular easy listening duo throughout Europe.
Although none of their singles reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, they did reach number one on the Australian Singles Chart with the song “High”.
The voice of Tunde Baiyewu is pleasing to listen to. I have a theory that singers are born lucky, with the “right” voice; it must be pleasing to listen to as a speaking voice, and it must be controllable by pitch as a singing voice.
I have a please speaking voice, and have done voiceovers for radio commercials here in Ireland, but alas I think I am not blessed with a singing voice. I can hear the sounds in my head but I cannot make my voice output what I want. This is a common complaint, I suppose I am lucky I realise my weaknesses.
At secondary school I was exposed to the Lighthouse Family in my friends first car. It was an old Volvo with no aerial and so the radio could only receive long wave, in Ireland there were only two stations receivable on long wave; BBC Radio 4 (Long wave version), and Long Wave 252. The latter was actually broadcast from Ireland, but was peopled by american accents talking to a British audience. In 1995/1996 the station must have suffered from budget cuts because they played Lighthhouse family constantly; or was it just how it seemed?
Getting back to facts Lighthouse Family split up in early 2003 because of what they called a “heavy promotional schedule” following the release of Whatever Gets You Through the Day in 2002. This led to both men pursuing individual projects. Baiyewu is now a solo artist, while Tucker joined a rock band, The Orange Lights.
According to their manager, the band has not split up despite being inactive; “there is always the possibility of another Lighthouse Family album one day.”
Long time readers - or even short time readers who have looked at the archives - will know I am a fan of olde time music such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and even Enrico Caruso.
This week I discovered a modern artist onto which I can apply my seal of approval. I found him by accident when searching for either “Enrico” (Caruso) or “Marta” (a Bing crosby song), I ended up a discography of one Enrique Iglesias who happens to have a song called “Marta”, gee wiz Batman the internet truly is a door opener.
Enrique Iglesias (1975-) is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award-winning Spanish-born, Miami-based singer. He is the son of the famous Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, whose work I am already a semi-fan of. He is not to be confused with Ricky Martin.
Iglesias’s career started on Indie label Fonovisa who helped turn him into one of the most popular artists in Latin America and in the Latin market in the United States selling more Spanish albums than any other artists in that period of time. Just before the turn of the millennium he made a crossover into the mainstream English market and signed a unique multi-album deal with Universal Music for an unprecedented USD 48m with Universal Music Latino to release his Spanish albums and Interscope to release English albums.
Iglesias has had five Billboard Chart #1 singles in English and holds the record for most ever Spanish language #1s on Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks with Seventeen. He is also the best selling Latin act in the United Kingdom as well the Best Selling International Artist in India
In 1995, he released his first album Si Tu Te Vas, but it is his 2001 Album Hero that was his first major success. The titular track was adopted by producers of9-11 montages and entered the public consciousness as a staple.
These are ingenius, well ok some are cheesy, but consider the effort;
James Bond
Back to the Future
Jaws
Batman
Superman
Continuing in my audiorial quest for the sweetest 80s synthesizer sounds this week I have mostly been listening to Calvin Harris. (his myspace page has a flash player with a few tracks)
His name is by now familiar to most thanks to populatity of the debut single “Acceptable in the 80s” which recently reached No 10 on the UK Singles Chart, receiving coverage on the radio and music channels such as MTV.
His next single “The Girls” is scheduled for release at the end of May.
Harris uses an unashamed British accent on his tracks, like a Male Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and this is to be admired as so many singers put on the same American accent. Although Harris does not use the thick Scottish accent perhaps as he could never equal the Proclaimers dualing vocal chords.
The Who’s 2006 album “Endless Wire” includes a song entitled “God Speaks, of Marty Robbins.” The song’s composer, Pete Townshend, explains that the song is about God’s deciding to create the universe just so he can hear some music, “and most of all, one of his best creations, Marty Robbins.”
Marty Robbins (1925 – 1982) was one of the most popular and successful American country and western singers of his era. For most of his nearly four decade career he was rarely far from the country music charts. Several of his songs also became pop hits. He recorded many pleasing bob-along melodies with a tear in his voice and a smile on his face
Singing the blues
Time goes by
Call me up
Don’t let me hang around
Pretty words
Gossip
Lucky Lucky Someone Else
I can’t quit
At The End of a Long Lonely Day
Devil Woman
El Paso
Continue reading ‘Marty Robbins’
Louis Prima (1910–1978) was an American entertainer, singer, actor, and trumpeter. He was the “King of the Swingers”. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, but his sytle was always influenced by New Orleans and Sicily. In each of his musical endeavors, he incorporated his exuberant personality into his act.
I wanna be like you, from the Jungle Book (1967)
Oh Marie (1957), a very lively performance
Just A Gigolo (1956)
I’ve got you under my skin, with Keely Smith
On Band Parade
Enrico Caruso (b. Italy 1873– d. Italy 1921) was one of the most famous tenors in the history of opera. Caruso was also the most popular singer, in any genre, in the first twenty years of the twentieth century and one of the pioneers of recorded music. His voice had a good range, power, and beauty.
Enrico Caruso - Over there (1918)
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