I first became aware of Mandy Patinkin's amazing voice when I listened to the Original Broadway Cast album for Evita. By the time I saw him in Sunday In The Park With George, I was buying his album, and ready to run off with him forever, as long as he would sing to me. So I thought I would offer up a couple of Mandy tunes to make your Sunday just a little bit prettier than before. In the first clip, Mandy delivers a gorgeous song in under two minutes, and still gives me goosebumps. Here is I'm Always Chasing Rainbows.
In the second selection, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Mandy hits notes very few men can even attempt, and delivers this classic with a such beauty and emotion, I could almost cry.
Hope your Sunday is relaxing and quiet. For more about Mandy, check out his official website here.
A young man from Manchester with Irish root, Shayne Ward took the second season of Simon Cowell's The X-Factor with strong performances. Handsome, sexy, and talented to boot, I discovered him on YouTube following the final when he sang Over The Rainbow, and his control and range just blew me away.
After the win, Shayne was placed under contract, and was managed by Louis Walsh, his mentor from the show. They soon released his debut, the eponymous Shayne Ward. The first single was the typical coronation song, That's My Goal. He sang it rather well, considering the lyrics are, well, inspiring... And it did what it was supposed to do, reach #1 on the UK chart. It was followed by No Promises, an R&B flavored ballad, much more in keeping with Shayne's voice.
In 2007, he released his second album, Breathless. I thought it was a much more complete album, more of a pop collection than an offering to appease fans of the show. The first single was If That's OK With You, and fun and jaunty little song, with this odd Ska feel. Not what I would have put out there first, but they didn't hire me, so I guess they could also do without my input. However, I like it well enough. So did the public, as it made it to #2 on the Pop chart. And I think Shayne looks really fantastic in the video.
The third single was the title song, Breathless, one of my favorite songs from the album. It's another R&B-styled ballad, and just a lovely one, too. Shayne uses his voice so well, moves up and down the range with such ease. And he has fantastic control, adding shade and nuance with the turn of a note. If more proof is needed at how little I know, this song only made it to #6 on the UK chart.
Plans are to release a third album soon, and I am looking forward to it, since I own and enjoy the first two so much. For more information about Shayne, check out his website here.
I was drawn back to the music of Eva Cassidy when I received word on Sunday that my cousin's husband had passed. In fact, rather than meeting my friend Tom Goss for dinner, or writing my review of American Idol tonight, I am in Philadelphia attending Jackie DePre's funeral. He had been battling cancer for some time, but that did not lessen the blow. And knowing the loss Margie feels, knowing the man she had spent the last decades with is no longer here to share her life and her space, it is just heartbreaking. And I will admit that as I grow older, my thoughts on the matter have changed. There was a time when I would have railed in anger, and now I have more acceptance, as well as an awareness of my own mortality. But what does all this mean? Seems to me, it's time to crank up the Eva Cassidy.
Cassidy was a singer and musician from Bowie, Maryland, who achieved some success on the Washington, DC circuit. In the mid-80s, she was working with some bands and doing studio work in DC. Soon her talent was recognized, and she started playing with the Eva Cassidy Band. Her interesting and jazzy take on some standards, applying her gorgeous voice with an aching behind the phrasing and the very emotion of each song. She put out a duet album in 1992 with musician Chuck Brown called The Other Side, which included a version of the Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg song, Over The Rainbow.
In January 1996, the material for a live album was recorded at a club in DC, Live From Blues Alley. A friend was at the show, and recorded it with a camcorder, and a compilation of those tapes were edited together to make a DVD, Eva Cassidy Sings, and all the clips used in this post are from that DVD, including this haunting and gorgeous cover of Autumn Leaves, the classic song by Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer and Jacques Prévert.
In the summer of that year, Cassidy noticed some pain in her hip, but wrote it off to the trials and trevails of an itinerant musician. No amount of rest seemed to help with the pain, so she went to see a doctor. During this period, she continued to play shows, and play songs like Time After Time, the brilliant and touching song by Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman (of the band The Hooters).
The test results came back, and it was not good. In 1993, Cassidy had a malignant mole removed from her back. The results showed the melanoma from the mole had invaded her body, and was not given long to live. She played her last public performance in September, and on November 2, at the age of 33, Cassidy passed away. But she left the world with a rich legacy of music, including this version of the Curtis Mayfield song People Get Ready.
In 1998, a compilation of tracks recorded was put together. The album, called Songbird, was released and sales were languid at best. Then, in 2000, a show on the BBC played one of the tracks and within weeks, sales of the album topped 100,000. Around Christmas, the UK show Top of the Pops 2 played the video from the Blues Alley DVD for Over The Rainbow, and it quickly became the most requested video ever on BBC2. In 2002, skater Michelle Kwan utilized Cassidy's recording of Sting's Fields of Gold for her Winter Olympic Gala performance, exposing more to Eva's music. Soon, the whole world was talking about and purchasing her music. While the story is incredible and reminds us all of the incredible loose grip we have no life, it is also a victory when the artistry of a great singer can be celebrated no matter how humbler her career might been, much like many of the artists we follow here on this blog. All it takes is the right song played at the right time on the radio, and a mark can be left forever. And why despite the inherent melancholia of Eva's recordings, they enable us to remember the incredible life and gift she left to us all. There is a website put together and maintained by her family where you can learn more about the woman, and be directed where to buy her music. To life, everyone!
