sábado, 1 de julio de 2023

Marc Martel - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

 Marc Martel is a Canadian Christian rock musician. In 1999, he formed the band Downhere before going solo in 2013. Aside from his own work, Martel is known for his Queen covers and his vocal likeness to frontman Freddie Mercury. He provided Mercury's singing voice in the film Bohemian RhapsodyHe was born in Montreal, Canada to Michel Martel and his wife Barbara Beresford Martel. He attended Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Saskatchewan where he met his roommate Jason Germain. With him and a few friends he formed the band downhere. Downhere (stylized as downhere) developed their sound while touring on behalf of Briercrest College. After four years of college, the band relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where they signed with Word Records. Downhere went on to win multiple Juno AwardsCovenant Awards and a Dove Award. They released 10 albums, including On the Altar of Love, before going on hiatus effective January 1, 2013. In September 2011, Martel entered a competition to join Roger Taylor's (original drummer for the rock band Queen) official Queen tribute project, the Queen Extravaganza, with a video of Martel singing along with the Queen classic "Somebody to Love". It generated more than one million views on YouTube after being up for only a few days and as of February 2021 it has over 22 million views. This led to an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show a week following the release of the video. Martel went on to be one of the winners of the competition which led to a six-week tour with The Queen Extravaganza in 2012. The Queen Extravaganza had continued to tour with Martel until the end of 2016.

Martel released an EP, Prelude, on February 1, 2013 The EP was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles with producer John Fields. His full-length debut, Impersonator, released on September 30, 2014.

In September 2016, he collaborated on "Last Christmas", featured in the video game, Just Dance 2017. On November 18, 2016 The Silent Night EP, a collection of Christmas songs, was released.

In 2017, Martel left Queen Extravaganza and joined the Ultimate Queen Celebration.

In 2019, Martel recorded a new version of "Silver Bells" with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Christian AC Monitor charts, and the Mediabase Christian AC. This was Martel's first career No. 1 song. He accompanied them on their annual Christmas Tour.

Martel contributed vocal recordings for the Queen biographical film, Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). Film producer Graham King confirmed that Marc Martel recorded vocals for the film in a Rolling Stone article:

Most singing scenes in the movie rely on either vocal stems from Queen master tapes or new recordings by Marc Martel, a Canadian Christian rock singer whose voice is practically identical to the late frontman's. "Literally, you could close your eyes and it's Freddie," says King. "And that's a very tough thing to do."

And in an interview to FilmJournal International he revealed more details about Martel's involvement in the making of the film:

Rami sings a little bit in the film, there's a lot of Freddie Mercury obviously, and a lot of Marc Martel. He sent a video to Brian May and Roger Taylor and he sounds exactly like Freddie Mercury. We knew that we had someone we could use for parts that maybe Rami couldn't do and obviously Freddie didn't do. So we were in Abbey Road recording studio for maybe two and a half months with Marc and with Rami, recording bits and pieces that we knew we needed. It's hard to find someone who can sing like Freddie Mercury and I'm not sure the movie would have happened if we didn't have Marc.


 

viernes, 30 de junio de 2023

Madness - Money Money Money

 Madness es uno de los principales grupos británicos de ska, formado en 1976. Estuvieron en medio del revival del ska del sello 2 Tone a finales de los 70 juntamente con The Specials y Bad Manners. Madness alcanzó la mayoría de sus éxitos a finales de los años 1970 y en la primera mitad de la década de los años 1980, estando más semanas en las listas inglesas que cualquier otro grupo. El álbum, The Liberty of Norton Folgate, alcanzó en 2008 el número cinco en las listas de Reino Unido. Su álbum editado en 2012, Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da, llegó a la décima ubicación en el Reino Unido,​ siendo estos dos últimos distribuidos por su discográfica propia Lucky 7 Records.



jueves, 29 de junio de 2023

Inna Modja - Son of a Preacher Man

 Inna Bocoum conocida artísticamente como Inna Modja es una cantante y modelo franco-maliense, activista a favor de los derechos de la mujer. Su nombre artístico es un tributo a su idioma natal el fula, "modja" era el mote que utilizaba su madre con ella. A la edad de 6 años su padre la inscribió en un coro debido a las aptitudes musicales que posee. Su familia siempre la apoyó para seguir adelante en el mundo de la música. Desde pequeña se vió influenciada por los gustos musicales de sus allegados (Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Otis Redding). Más tarde se unió a la Rail Band de Bamako con su vecino Salif Keita con los cuales realizó su debut a los 15 años. Con la experiencia adquirida hasta ese momento, la joven Inna es capaz de adaptarse a cualquier ritmo africano o disco; finalmente optó por el pop. Después de un dueto con Jason Mraz en la cadena de televisión France 2 con ocasión de la Fiesta de la música, saltó definitivamente a la fama con el single Mister H perteneciente a su álbum debut Everyday is a New WorldVolvió a la actualidad musical en 2011 con la publicación del single French Cancan (Monsieur Saint Nitouche), que se convertiría en uno de los éxitos del verano posicionándose el primero de la lista France Top 40. Al cabo de los meses lanzó al mercado dos nuevos singles igualmente bien aceptados por la crítica y el público (La Fille du Lido y I'm Smiling), consolidando así definitivamente su carrera musical. Durante 2012 recibió la invitación personal del cantante Alain Chamfort, para participar en su nuevo álbum de estudio Elles & Lui con varios singles. En 2015 publicó su tercer álbum, Motel Bamako, un disco homenaje a Mali con canciones en inglés, francés y bambaraEn 2016 se sumó al cartel del Stop War Festibala de San Sebastián.



miércoles, 28 de junio de 2023

Sheridan Smith - Addicted to Love

 Sheridan Smith (EpworthLincolnshire25 de junio de 1981) es una cantantebailarina y actriz británica de teatro, cine, radio y televisión. Sheridan Smith nació el 25 de junio de 1981​ en Epworth, como hija de Colin (1936–2016) y Marilyn Smith, quien era parte del dúo de música country "Daltons". Su tátaratátarabuelo, Benjamin Doubleday, tocaba el banjo en Yorkshire y luego tocó en un trío con sus hijas.​ Smith estudió danza en la Joyce Mason School of Dancing desde temprana edad.​ Luego asistió al South Axholme Comprehensive School,​ donde recibió la nota más alta en un GCSE en Artes Interpretativas.​ Aunque nunca se capacitó en una escuela de teatro, fue miembro de la National Youth Music Theatre desde 1995 hasta 2001, actuando en varios papeles protagónicos en Bugsy MalonePendragon, e Into the Woods.​ Completó su formación académica en John Leggott College en Scunthorpe.

Ha recibido diversos reconocimientos en el ámbito teatral, entre ellos el Premio Laurence Olivier en la categoría mejor actriz en un musical en 2011 por su papel en la obra Legally Blonde - The Musical estrenada en el Savoy Theatre y a la mejor actuación de reparto en 2012 por su papel en Flare Path estrenada en el Theatre Royal;​ adicionalmente, en 2008 recibió su primera nominación a dicho galardón en la categoría mejor actriz en un musical por su trabajo en Little Shop Of Horrors montada en el Duke of York's Theatre y en el Ambassadors Theatre.

En televisión, ha recibido un Premio BAFTA TV a la mejor actriz de televisión en 2013 por su papel en Mrs Biggs,​ por el que también tuvo una nominación a los Premios Emmy Internacional a la mejor actriz el mismo año​ y a los Premios AACTA a la mejor actriz dramática de televisión en 2014.​ Por otro lado, en 2015 recibió el National Television Awards a la mejor actuación dramática por Cilla.​

En 2014 fue nombrada oficial de la Orden del Imperio Británico (OBE) por sus servicios en el ámbito del teatro.​

Sheridan is the debut studio album by English singer and actress Sheridan Smith. It was released by East West on 3 November 2017, and debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart.

Details of the album were first announced in August 2017, with Smith subsequently confirming Sheridan as its title in October. To coincide with its release, she appeared in a one-off television special for ITV, also titled Sheridan, in which she chatted to comedian Alexander Armstrong and performed tracks from the album. The album received a mixed reception. Smith also announced that she would embark on a UK tour in 2018.


martes, 27 de junio de 2023

Start Me Up - Beverley Skeete

 Beverley Skeete  is best known for her  hit “Passion” Which she performed with the Group “Gat Décor” in 1996 on her top 5 debut on TOTP. She can also be heard on the albums of artist such as Tina Turner, Sir Elton John, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings and many more. Beverley’s version of “Love Letters” featured one of the last guitar solos from George Harrison ( The Beatles). Over the years Beverley has performed on films such as Evita staring Madonna, The Beloved which starred Oprah Winfrey, The life of David Gale starring Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet, and  The Hit man’s Bodyguard with Samuel Jackson and Ryan Reynolds where her recognizable sound is evident.






lunes, 26 de junio de 2023

Devon Gilfillian - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Devon Gilfillian is an American soul singer-songwriter based in Nashville, TennesseeGilfillian is originally from Morton, Pennsylvania. He began playing guitar at age 14, and while still in high school played in a band called Black Sheep. He attended West Chester University, where he graduated with a degree in psychology, and also played in cover bands. Growing up, his father, Nelson Gilfillian, was a singer and percussionist in a local band. After moving to Nashville in 2013, Gilfillian joined a local blues cover band. In 2016, he released his debut self-titled EP, of gospel-inspired blues-rock.

His major label debut album Black Hole Rainbow was released on January 10, 2020, on Capitol Records.  It was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The album features production from Shawn Everett, and co-writing from Jamie Lidell. Three of the album's singles reached the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart: "Unchained" peaked at number 7, "Get Out and Get It" peaked at number 12, and "The Good Life" peaked at number 5.

On October 22, 2020, Gilfillian released a track-by-track cover of Marvin Gaye's 1971 album What's Going On.

On April 7, 2023, Devon released his 2nd full-length studio album Love You Anyway via Fantasy Records. Produced by Jeremy Lutito (Joy OladokunNEEDTOBREATHE), the album includes the single “All I Really Wanna Do” which peaked at #6 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Songs chart.Gilfillian performed at Newport Folk Festival and Montreal Jazz Fest, and at the 2018 NFL Draft in Dallas. On March 7, 2020, he made his national television debut on CBS This Morning, performing the track "The Good Life". He opened for Brothers Osborne on their 2019 tour, and Grace Potter on her 2020 US tour. He has also opened for Mavis StaplesGladys Knight, and Michael McDonald. He performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on October 23, 2020, and performed "The Good Life" on Jimmy Kimmel Live in December 2020.


domingo, 25 de junio de 2023

Gregg Martinez - Sign Your Name

 Gregg Martinez  ( August 2, 1956 in Lafayette, Louisiana) is an American rhythm and blues singer and purveyor of the south Louisiana genre called Swamp Pop. He is also referred to as "Mac Daddy" and is a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Martinez began singing in public at the age of eight in his home church in Carencro, Louisiana. He began his professional music career after graduating from Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1974 by performing in the local nightlife scene of South Louisiana. From 1981 through 1984 Martinez was frontman and bandleader of Gregg Martinez and Kingfish. In 1985 he began to tour nationally with a new backing group called the Heat. Within a few months he landed an exclusive contract with the Donald Trump casinos in Atlantic City, NJ, where he would appear regularly through 1988 and relocated to in 1986. He signed a recording contract with multi-platinum songwriter/producer/musicians Victor Carstarphen and Keith Benson - veterans of the Philadelphia, PA recording scene which included Teddy Pendergrass, The O'Jays, and Patti LaBelle. His recordings were not released. Martinez relocated briefly to Nashville in early 1989 but by the end of the year had moved to north TX near Wichita Falls.

In 1990 Martinez began a new chapter in his musical journey in the Contemporary Christian Music field. He released three Christian albums from 1991 to 1997. With the releases of For the Ages and All the Days, 1999, 2001, he began to blend the Christian music with the Rhythm and Blues of his earlier days. He formed Gregg Martinez Outreach in 1998 which most notably consisted of a public school anti-drug program which reached many thousands of students around the country.

By 2006 Martinez had relocated back to his native Louisiana and had also returned to the R&B/Blues/Swamp Pop genre with the release of Big Bad Daddy. At this time he also joined the legendary blue-eyed soul group the Boogie Kings. He wrote the title song for The Boogie Kings' 2007 release Never Go Away. Martinez'CD, Soul of the Bayou, was released April 30, 2016 on Louisiana Red Hot Records. It reached #2 on the national soul chart and #4 on the national R&B chart according to RootsMusicReport.com. Soul of the Bayou was also voted #8 of the top 50 albums in Louisiana 2016 by Offbeat Magazine. Martinez has been nominated five times for Best Male Vocalist by Offbeats' Best of the Beat Awards. On February 9, 2019 he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. On July 17, 2020, he released "MacDaddy Mojeaux" on Nola Blue Records. It has been critically acclaimed and receiving extensive airplay worldwide. He is the leader and tours regularly with Gregg Martinez and the Delta Kings.

His vocal style has been inspired and influenced by the soul crooners of the 60's/70's including Sam CookeMarvin GayeAl Green, and Louisiana artists G G Shinn, T K Hulin, Big Luther Kent, and Johnny Adams.