10 posts tagged “singing”

On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you sing?

If 1 is an American Idol reject and 10 is Matt Monro, then I would give myself a 6.
   Meanwhile, here’s some real singing from Matt.

‘I Could Be So Good for You’ has been covered by other artists. For starters, a Mr Tom Jones impersonator singing the Minder theme tune with his Welsh accent:

During a quiet moment at work, I put these on. A small tribute to Dennis Waterman, his starring roles, and his singing the ‘feem toon’.

I know hundreds of millions of people have seen this, but who cares? It’s worth watching again. And again. And again.

My friend, photographer Robert Catto, mentioned this performance of ‘Rocketman’ by William Shatner to me many months ago. Who knew the man was a performer of songs? As far as I know, this interpretation was deadly serious, and shows that Rex Harrison does not have the narrowest octave range among celebrities.

It’s time for Tony Ferrino to make a comeback. How about it, Steve? I know this was not that successful back in 1996–7, but I still think it was Steve Coogan’s best character. And trends have shifted: I thought Coogan was always too early with his impression of a fading Portuguese superstar in a pre-Pop Idol world. Just imagine: Tony Ferrino on MySpace! Tony Ferrino on X Factor!
   Coogan can actually hold a tune. Four clips from YouTube are below, one with Kim Wilde exploring the origins of the Tony Ferrino Phenomenon (the title of the show), a number called ‘A Short-Term Affair’ (later performed with Björk), another with Gary Wilmot (‘Fishing for Girls’) with some very bad innuendo, and my favourite, ‘Just Help Yourself’ with Mick Hucknall (saving the best till last here).
   There are far worse entertainers out there with more fame, and a pisstake one such as Ferrino might just work in the 21st century. The issue is: would he be too late now, post-Borat?

Two videos here that are very worth sharing, especially since I am the Sacha Distel of the south. Apart from the being dead thing. And smashing a Porsche during a sex act in the car.
   The first is Sacha and ex-girlfriend Brigitte Bardot, before the world figured out she was a right-wing freak. Sacha figured out she wasn’t the girl for him when he found her in bed with another bloke. Not a good look. But, time heals, and the two of them perform that famous song, ‘Le soleil de ma vie’.
   But the trade mark song is ‘La belle vie’, which Sacha wrote in the 1960s. The English lyrics, ‘The Good Life’, came before the French ones and were popularized by Tony Bennett. But here’s the dude who wrote the song singing it.
   I remember during the (French) heat wave in 2003, Sacha had a bit of a revival, including a local version of This Is Your Life. Every channel I turned to, there he was, singing ‘La belle vie’. It was a bit weird, since it was my own trade mark song of sorts around that time. Hearing the master do it, however, makes me look like an American Idol loser.
   Enjoy these two, in a purer, pre-Spice Girls time.

Regular visitors may have noticed two renditions of ‘Avenues and Alleyways’, the theme from The Protectors, by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander and originally sung by Tony Christie, on this blog. One is from jazz singer Rinaldi, and presented here in full, and the other is a shortened version performed by Chris Moyles on The X Factor—Simon Cowell’s other show.
   I’m not sure if non-Brits know of X, but here’s their chance to see Simon being less of a prick—and realize he does heap praise when the performance is good. Moyles sounds like he fudged the shortened chorus a tad (I believe it is meant to be a mixture of the first and second choruses, and the backing vocalists seem to be singing something different toward the end), but I prefer this key to Christie’s original, plus the arrangement is rather nice.
   Rinaldi lacks the oomph, but the visuals—a parody of The Saint, Get Carter and swinging London—more than make up for it. He delivers a more loungey version, which is very pleasant on the ears.
   It shows that a lot of these old Brit themes are still in the public consciousness after all these years—‘Avenues’ was more of a hit for Christie when he revived it in 2000, and it certainly was a hit for Moyles and Rinaldi. I remember when 1969’s ‘We Have All the Time in the World’ from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service caught on again in the 1980s after it was used for UK TV advertising.
   Interestingly, as I discussed with my Brit friends, the Athertons, after they moved down to New Zealand, I seem to have more in common with them than many of the locals, in sense of humour and tastes. The former is down to the similarities between Cantonese and British humour, but the latter could only have come from being brainwashed by Lew Grade and his TV shows in my formative years. And I still carry a wee passport with Dieu et Mon Droit on the front.

A while ago, I raved about Avidiva, a girl group started by my friend Jennifer Hamilton. You’ll get to see how good they are for yourself this Friday on Good Morning, TV One. However, you won’t see me. I’ll blog more on the show after Friday, since it’s important you see Jen and the girls!

Avidiva demo

Avidiva

[Cross-posted] I met Jennifer Hamilton (née Springgay) when she was a student of mine in 1999, and after she graduated, I hired her for some contract work—she had, and still has, a very refined approach to design. I MCed her wedding a few years ago, and when she formed a girl group—her after-hours gig—it was my pleasure to name it and design its logo. Now, Avidiva, the group, has its own web site, which yours truly designed, though Jen had colours, look, typographic choice and photography ready (in other words, ‘designed’ should be interpreted very loosely). Consider this a plug, and its demo MP3, not on the site yet, is worth waiting for.
   This is not a one-way street: the Hamiltons have been great friends and supporters to me, and the site was the least I could do.