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The following is a snapshot of what's
playing on my iPod ... many of the songs remind me of
a particular person, an event or something that has
remained imprinted in my mind. Other songs are just
on my playlist because they put me in a good mood while
I'm commuting to work!
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Artist |
Song |
Preview |
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Thomas Hedley |
My First Love |
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| Thomas Hedley hails from Cospicua,and has been writing songs since he was 10,and started playing the piano and singing thereafter..He sings and plays in hotels,singing anything from blues to country to rock n roll,and has been doing it full time since 2001,when he quit his job at the bank,Although Thomas is a versatile singer and song writer,and has,for year,been thinking about stepping further into country music,he realized the needs of the local scene,and now he has been doing pop rock,blended with some brit pop and alternative, since 2004,where he released 6 singles,that earned him radioplays on all major radio stations,places in their top 40 charts,and even a nominee in both the Malta music awards and the Bay music awards,in 2007..
His 7 th single 'Put your hands up',is due to be released by the end of June..Meanwhile,Thomas,with his band (Carl,Antoine,Patrick and Joseph),has been gigging venues from late last year,and the band is to feature in this year's Farsons beer festival,always improving on their set list,and hoping and working hard to get to play more major events and gathering a good name through the months and years to come...
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Édith Piaf |
La Vie En Rose |
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| Édith Piaf (19 December 1915—10 October 1963) was a French singer and cultural icon who is widely accepted as the country's greatest pop singer. Her singing reflected her tragic life, with her specialty being the poignant ballad performed in a heartbreaking voice. Among her famous songs are "La vie en rose" (1946), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960). A filmed biography on her life starring Marion Cotillard (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying Piaf), titled La Môme (shown in Britain and the United States as La Vie En Rose) was released in June 2007. There have been other dramatized versions of her life, including a Tony Award-winning play entitled Piaf, which was also telecast on the American PBS network.
In 1935 Piaf was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by the nightclub owner Louis Leplée,whose club Le Gerny off the Champs Élysées was frequented by the upper and lower classes alike. He persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness, which, combined with her height of only 147 cm (4 feet 8 inches), inspired him to give her the nickname that would stay with her for the rest of her life and serve as her stage name, La Môme Piaf (The Waif Sparrow, Little Sparrow or Kid Sparrow in Parigot slang). Leplée taught her the basics of stage presence and told her to wear a black dress which would later become her trademark apparel. Leplée ran a large publicity campaign prior to her opening night, which resulted in a number of celebrities including actor Maurice Chevalier attending the opening. Her nightclub gigs led to her first two records produced that same year, with one of them penned by Marguerite Monnot, an ongoing collaborator throughout Piaf's life.
In 1940, Édith co-starred in Jean Cocteau's successful one-act play Le Bel Indifférent. She began to make friends with famous people, such as Chevalier and the poet Jacques Borgeat. She wrote the lyrics of many of her songs and collaborated with composers on the tunes. In 1944, Édith Piaf discovered Yves Montand in Paris, made him part of her act, and became his mentor and lover. Within a year, he became one of the most famous singers in France, and she broke off their relationship when he had become almost as popular as she was.
During this time, she was in great demand and very successful in Paris as France's most popular entertainer. After the war, she became known internationally, touring Europe, the United States, and South America. She helped to launch the career of Charles Aznavour in the early 1950s, taking him on tour with her in France and the United States and recording some of his songs. However, at first she met with little success with US audiences, who regarded her as downcast. After a glowing review by a prominent New York critic, she met with better success and her popularity in the United States was such that she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show eight times and at Carnegie Hall twice (1956[6] and 1957).
Her signature song "La vie en rose" was written in 1945 and was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998. |
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Michael Bublé |
The Best Is Yet To Come |
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| Michael Steven Bublé (born 9 September 1975) is a critically acclaimed Grammy-nominated, multiple Juno Award-winning Canadian-Italian crooner, big band singer and actor. While achieving modest chart success in the United States, his 2003 self-titled album has reached the top ten in Australia, the UK and his home country of Canada. In 2004, a live album and video called Come Fly with Me was listed on the Billboard music video charts and reached Australia's top 40 album charts. He found commercial success in the U.S. with It's Time. He currently lives in Vancouver. His third album, Call Me Irresponsible, was released on May 1, 2007, with the first single from that album, Everything, finding success on the adult contemporary charts. He has sold over 11 million albums. Of mostly Italian and some Croatian heritage,[citation needed] Bublé was born in Burnaby, British Columbia. Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records, and on his website he highlights the importance of his grandfather in encouraging his musical tastes. Bublé's career breakthrough came when Michael McSweeney, associate to former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, saw his performance at a business party. McSweeney enjoyed Bublé's performance, and Bublé gave him an album, which McSweeney, in turn, gave to Mulroney and his wife. Bublé was then invited to sing at the wedding of Mulroney's daughter Caroline in 2000, where he sang Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife". At the wedding, Brian Mulroney introduced Bublé to David Foster, a multi-Grammy award winning producer and a Warner Brothers record executive who had worked with Josh Groban previously. |
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Fish |
State of Mind |
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| After a career as a gardener and forestry worker, he came to public attention in 1981 with the British group Marillion, which he left in 1988 following top ten hits in 1985 with Kayleigh and Lavender and in 1987 with Incommunicado. It is widely believed that the name Fish arose from his drinking habits, however, according to Fish himself, the name originates from the amount of time he spent reading in the bath. There are also conflicting stories - that he picked the name up because of a strange fish-shaped ear-ring he once had, and that he chose the nickname as a homage to his hero Chris Squire, bass player for Yes, who was known at one time as "The Fish" (hence his solo album Fish out of water). Recently Fish has been presenting a Friday evening radio show "Fish on Friday" for digital radio station Planet Rock. On August 26, 2007, Fish performed a show in Aylesbury, UK at the Market Square. He was accompanied on stage by four of the members of Marillion, Mark Kelly, Steve Rothery, Ian Mosley and Pete Trewavas, for one song - 'Market Square Heroes', with whom he had not performed in nearly two decades. In a press interview following the event, Fish denied this would lead to a full reunion, claiming that "Hogarth does a great job with the band... We forged different paths over the 19 years." Fish's new album 13th Star was released on September 12, 2007.
Marillion, with Fish at the helm, twice made history on the BBC "Top of the Pops" (1964) programme. Firstly, the top ten countdown was uniquely stopped to introduce the band's performance of "Kayleigh" and when he came to perform "Lavender" he dressed in a drummer boy's jacket (a reference to the front sleeve of the "Misplaced Childhood" album) and wrote the lyrics of the song on a giant paper pad for the audience to sing along.
Fish wrote the song "Kayleigh" about his former girlfriend, Kay, although some of the lyrics refer to what happened in other relationships.
His bandmates in Marillion were guitarist Steve Rothery, keyboardist Mark Kelly, bass guitarist Pete Trewavas and drummer Ian Mosley.
He has performed with the SAS (Spike Edney's All Stars) Band.
He joined the Scottish National Party in 1989.
He is a member of the Anti Nazi League and wrote the song "White Russian" (from Marillion's "Clutching at Straws" album) as a condemnation of the growth of anti-Semitism he encountered in Austria during a tour with the band in 1986.
On his 1993 album "Songs From The Mirror", he covered songs by the Moody Blues, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, Argent, Sandy Denny, Genesis, T-Rex and David Bowie, all favourite artists from his youth.
The physical abuse of women is a recurring theme in his songwriting, with examples such as "Punch and Judy" (from Marillion's 1984 album "Fugazi"), "Lady Nina" (the B-side of "Kayleigh"), "Blue Angel" (from Marillion's 1985 album "Misplaced Childhood") and "Family Business" (from his first solo album, "Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors").
Marillion's 1985 album "Misplaced Childhood" came fourth in Classic Rock Magazine's list of the 30 greatest concept albums of all time. [March 2003]
Marillion were voted the Best New Band of 1982 by readers of rock magazine Sounds.
Claims that his dream backing would be John Martyn on lead guitar, Lowell George on rhythm guitar, Jon Lord on keyboards, Phil Collins on drums and Chris Squire on bass. |
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Adriano Celentano |
Dormi Amore |
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| Adriano Celentano (born January 6, 1938) is an Italian singer, songwriter, comedian, actor, and TV host. He was born in Milan at 14 Via Gluck (about which he later wrote the song "Il ragazzo della via Gluck"), his parents were from Puglia and had moved north for work. Heavily influenced by his idol, Elvis Presley, and the 1950s rock revolution, he is also known as the most famous dancer of the Hula hoop fad. For the last 40 years he has retained his popularity in Italy, selling millions of records and appearing in numerous TV shows and movies. In the latter respect, he has also been a creator of a comic genre, with his characteristic walking and his facial expressions. He and Claudia are the parents of Rosita, Rosalinda Celentano, most notable to worldwide audiences for playing the Satan character in Mel Gibson`s The Passion of the Christ, and Giacomo Celentano. "Dormi Amore" is a track taken from his latest album "Dormi Amore La Situazione Non E Buona", release in November 2007. |
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Eagles |
Long Road Out Of Eden |
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| The Eagles are an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s. With five Number 1 singles and four Number 1 albums, the Eagles were among the most successful recording artists of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the ten best-selling albums according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
The Eagles broke up in 1980, but reunited in 1994 for Hell Freezes Over, a mix of live and new studio tracks. They have toured intermittently since then, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
In 2007, the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden, their first full studio album in 28 years.
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Gianna Nannini |
Meravigliosa Creatura |
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| Gianna Nannini (born June 14, 1956) is an Italian female singer-songwriter and rock musician. Born in Siena as former Formula 1 driver Alessandro Nannini's older sister, she studied piano in Lucca and then composition in Milan.
Her first hit was in 1979 with the single America and the album California, which became a success in several European countries. The rise to fame in Italy started in 1984 with the release of her sixth album, Puzzle. This album peaked in the top 10 at the Italian, German, Austrian and Swiss hit-parades. She sang for the videoclip Fotoromanza (directed by Michelangelo Antonioni), won several musical awards and started a European tour, including a participation at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1986 her hit Bello e impossibile was a huge success and brought her more awards in Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Her 1987 compilation Maschi e altri sold over a million copies.
In 1990 she sang Un'estate italiana, the official song of the Football World Cup 1990, together with Edoardo Bennato.
She graduated in philosophy from the University of Siena in 1994. The following year she took part in a protest organized by Greenpeace at the French embassy in Rome against the decision of the French government to pursue nuclear experiments at Mururoa. |
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Will Young |
Leave Right Now |
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| Young was born in Reading/Wokingham, Berkshire, with a non-identical twin, Rupert. He also has an older sister, Emma. He was educated at Horris Hill preparatory school and Wellington College. Young read Politics at the University of Exeter. At university, some of his haunts included Timepiece, The Old Firehouse, and Harry's, where he used to work. In September 2001, he became a student at The Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick, London, starting a three-year course in musical theatre with a scholarship.
Early singles of note, taken from his debut album From Now On include "Light My Fire"(in José Feliciano style) and the double A-side (and official Children In Need single of 2002) "You and I"/"Don't Let Me Down".
Taken from his second album, "Friday's Child" was first the hugely successful "Leave Right Now", for which the writer Eg White scooped an Ivor Novello songwriting award. This second album is often deemed to be Young's most successful, selling over 1.6 million copies (five times platinum) and containing several tracks co-written by him.
His third album, Keep On, was released in November 2005, along with a revamped website, together with the first single from the same, "Switch It On", which confounded much expectation of the singer as it strayed from the predictable successful ballad formula. |
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Amy Winehouse |
Tears Dry On Their Own |
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| Amy Jade Winehouse (born 14 September 1983) is an English soul, jazz, and R&B singer and songwriter. Winehouse's debut album, Frank (released in 2003) was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Winehouse is a two-time Ivor Novello Award winner; once in 2004 for her debut single "Stronger than Me" and again in May 2007 for the first single "Rehab" from her 2006 album Back to Black. On 14 February 2007, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist (she had also been nominated for Best British Album). On 17 July, Back to Black was announced as one of the 12 albums on the 2007 shortlist of Mercury Prize nominees and later that year she was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards and "Mejor artista nuevo internacional" or "best international new artist" in Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica. |
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Bruce Springsteen |
Better Days |
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| Springsteen's lyrics often concern men and women struggling to make ends meet. He has gradually become identified with progressive politics. Springsteen is also noted for his support of various relief and rebuilding efforts in New Jersey and elsewhere, and for his response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on which his album The Rising reflects.
Springsteen has long had the nickname "The Boss," a term which he was initially reported to dislike but now seems to have come to terms with, as he sometimes jokingly refers to himself as such on stage. The nickname originated when a young Springsteen, playing club gigs with a band in the 1960s, took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. |
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