I can remember the Cameo tune but they always seemed like a watered down version of Prince's music. I didn't realise that the jazz arranger Clare Fischer wrote the orchestrations for a good proportion of Prince's compositions but I must admit that I always really liked Prince's music which just seems so savvy. It is curious just how many pop artists in that decade seemed to employ jazz musicians either for their own bands as was the case with Sting or use their writing credentials such as the case with Mike Gibbs who was employed by Witney Houston and Peter Gabriel amongst others. A number of pop acts from that decade came out of a jazz background including Nile Rodgers, Sting and Chaka Khan. I believe that Cyndi Lauper started out by singing blues covers - she actually toured about 7 years ago with a group that played blues material and the results were not the disaster zone I had anticipated when I saw her.
Talking about Dads and famous Sons, who is this person and who is his famous son [great video segment]**.? I love the fact that he looks so much like his son [or the other way around, I suppose]. He also had a hippie time: please log in to view this image
Oh that's easy for an Elvis Costello nut like me TSS, His father was really a trumpeter, but found himself as a singer for the Joe Loss orchestra singing "covers" of the popular hits of the day. Elvis tells the story of when his dad was one of the acts of the Royal Variety Performance in 1963. Also on the bill were a young group from Liverool, The Beatles (who Elvis asked his dad to get autographs from) and Burt Bacharach. Elvis went on to work with Sir Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach!.
Happy Birthday to Kate Bush who is 59 today, I could've posted any songs of hers, but here are some that hold personal memories...
Who else would have the imagination to write a song from the perspective of an unborn child during an atomic blast?..
Glad you brought up Kate Bush. I thought of the first song I heard from her which made me go out and buy The Kick Inside. The Man With the Child In His Eyes famously written when she was only 13 and heard by Dave Gilmour, who produced the album. I first heard the song late at night on the radio. That was clever. The rest is history:
We nearly got tickets but couldn't make it. If only. I could have seen Fable and Gary Numan. Maybe next time.
Something very different from me. Was out last night with my friend Damian - he's an extraordinary vocal talent, but (imho) has never really been packaged right (he could do the Ed Sheeran thing, and he'd destroy him vocally!). He was Jean Valjean in Le Mis for a bit. He wrote this song about his girlfriend and mother of his two sons, who died when they were both 26 years old. It just makes me cry so I thought I'd share.
I remember the first time I ever saw this (think I was about 16 at the time) I desperately wanted my hair like Ian's! Properly inventive, lovely performance and totally unlike anything else around at the time. Not going to be everyone's cuppa though.
Can't play this as I'm in work but anyone who can do the Jean Valjean part must have an amazing voice - saw Colm Wilkinson in the role a handful of times, it's an incredibly difficult part but is the heart of Les Mis. I'm going to keep an eye out for your friend Damian
