Current mood: BUT TRUE...
Category: BUT TRUE... Music
'The evening before we were due to record the song, I looked in the local paper to see if any bands were playing. It was Wednesday, the worst day of the week for gigs, and the only one I could find was at a pub in Newcastle, an hour by train from the city. Hoping to find a decent group, I went there with the spare air ticket and a demo cassette of the song, but all the bands were dreadful and the pub smelt of vomit. I went outside and stood on the balcony where an attractive young guy was smoking a cigarette.
'Can you sing?' I asked him,
'I don't really know' he replied
I gave him the air ticket and the demo and said 'If you learn this and come to Melbourne tomorrow afternoon you might end up a star'
In the morning I flew to Melbourne with Ted Albert and recorded the backing track. I was afraid the kid wouldn't show up, but i told Ted 'You'll love him - he's a superstar'. When ted asked me his name I couldn't tell him. I'd forgotten to ask.
At 3pm he arrived and sang the song in one take. His name was John Paul Young and three weeks later he was No. 1 in Australia. Later he was No. 1 all over the world with a song called 'Love is in the air'. In interviews he's always been generous enough to credit me with being somewhat of a talent spotter.'
(C) Simon Napier-Bell 2001 Pub Ebury Press
 | Currently listening : Giant Steps By The Boo Radleys Release date: By 22 January, 2001  |
11:45 PM - 0 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
No comments:
Post a Comment