The ever excellent Wayne McConnell interviews Heather for his jazz podcast which is really good – I recommend you subscribe.
We talk about how I got started in music and in particular how I started singing jazz before moving on to tell the story of how the album came about and got recorded in the way it did.
Remember the music and remember your Passport. Top of the touring singer’s checklist.
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On Saturday evening, my boyfriend drove me to a quant, Sussex village pub. It was not actually a date as I was singing at a gig accompanied by an old friend of mine, Steve Thompson. It was coincidentally run by the same landlord as my first ever gig with Steve, which we did together on Valentine’s night a good few years ago. Normally, I would have loaded up the car and driven myself. Before I left, I would have run through my gig check-list. Microphone, PA, power supply, leads, music stand, music pad (charts and lyrics), map, business cards, CDs for sale (that’s a new one!) lipstick and powder. Yesterday, I had it all in the hallway, in front of my washing, which was drying on a rack (ah the glamour). Said boyfriend was a teensy bit late and then decided he needed a shave so that he wouldn’t let me down in public, making us a teensy bit later. I calmly (outwardly) carried on getting the damn plastic off my CDs ready to stick the ‘not for resale labels’ on the jewel case.
This was ready for the big review/radio mail-out which I was intending to do on Monday. When the welcome words “ready” were uttered from the hallway, I rushed out to help carry all my stuff downstairs. Not used to a gallant roadie, I saw that he had gathered up the speaker and cable bags. I laughed, grabbed the remaining music stand and we loaded up the car. We drove for about an hour to get to the village and the aforementioned gallant roadie carried the speakers and bags in. (I could get used to this!) I kissed the lovely guitarist Mr. Thompson who is normally my talented bass player (perks of the job) and we joked and laughed as we set up. I reached for the bag containing my Music Pad (where I keep all my charts and lyrics) and to my horror, I realised that it wasn’t there. ‘Don’t panic Cairncross – it must be in the car’ I reassured myself and ran outside to check…….. Read the rest of this post»
When I was making an album, Nobody’s Heart was the one that got away. You can download this song for free!
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The song is by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart and when I asked David Newton if there were any songs he’d particularly like to record, this was one of the ones he suggested. I was very happy to learn it, as I knew the Doris Day and Andre Previn version, from their wonderful 1962 album called Duet.
In late 1961 they met for the first time and found, according to liner notes, that they shared a love for “sodas, animals, and ballads.” Read the rest of this post»
When making an album, you need to get your CD track names onto Gracenote.
First, I wanted to update you on some other admin tasks that I have had to research – hopefully saving you some time!
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The CDs had arrived and I had to decide the best way to send them out. This involved a fair bit of time spent on office stationary websites (so that wasn’t really a hardship if you remember my previous article). Cardboard envelopes seemed the best way for single CDs – Amazon use those for delivery – they’re not padded, but because they’re so rigid I hope they’ll do the job. I will also wrap the CD in the delivery note for extra protection.
Here’s what I plumped for, weighing 36g and costing under 20p per envelope. I also found a very good adjustable cardboard mailer specially for up to 8 cds in the temple of stationary that is Staples (any excuse!). It costs quite a bit more per unit but is really sturdy when you have to send out a few cds at a time.
(click on the pictures to buy these products). I tootled off to the post office with various combinations and amounts of CDs in both cardboard mailers and bubble-wrap envelopes. I had the options weighed and bought a stock of stamps. That’s the posting sorted, I hope. Read the rest of this post»
The Christmas Market in Munich
Whilst I was sampling a hot glühwein at the Christmas market in Munich, five large boxes of cds were delivered to my sister Nicola’s house in Sussex.
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I was on tour with the LSO and Monteverdi Choir, blasting out Beethoven’s Ode To Joy (in German) with Sir John Eliot conducting. The CD is the culmination of a lot of hard work and it marks the end of years of waiting for me. We were hoping to have it for sale well before Christmas, but various technical hold-ups meant that we were later than we’d hoped.
No matter, it’s here and you can finally buy the finished product.
The next song I wanted to share from the album is Where Do You Start? with music by Johnny Mandel and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
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I’ve talked a little of why I chose to record “Where Do You Start?” in my post about Finalising The Artwork, but when I began to research the song further, I uncovered the writers’ wonderful love story. The music is by Johnny Mandel and the lyrics are by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The Bergmans both grew up in Brooklyn, but they never met until they moved independently to Los Angeles for work. The catalyst for their meeting was the composer Lew Spence. Alan was working with him in the morning and Marilyn was his afternoon collaborator. One day, Lou decided to introduce the two lyricists and a marriage and working partnership that has lasted for over fifty years was born. Read the rest of this post»
Hello – Heather here!
This is the place to ask questions, give me some comments or feedback on the album – just use the “Leave A Comment” box below!
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I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!
I thought I’d tell you about some of the songs from the new Album starting with Our Love Is Here To Stay by George and Ira Gershwin.
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Here’s a sneak preview from our recording. Depending on your browser, if the player won’t play then click on the text link here to listen.
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In 2007 I was asked to put a programme together of Gershwin for the Arundel Festival. I came up with the idea of taking his songs on a musical journey around the coast of South America, fusing the familiar tunes with exciting Latin colours and rhythms. We had a great time coming up with the arrangements and I did a lot of reading and research about Gershwin. Read the rest of this post»
To help a friend in her search for an alternative treatment for Cancer, I just put a piece of her malignant tumour in my freezer.
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looks harmless enough?
A strange request you might think, and it certainly made me think. It looked like a small, harmless, white and pink worm. It had been taken from the lump that had just been removed during surgery and put in a clear jar in a saline solution.How could something so small and innocuous do so much damage to the human body?
Press Play To Listen Instead
My friend Lynne came to live with me in my spare room in 1999. I had just left the Swingle Singers after ten years and with no work on the horizon my savings were dwindling fast. I advertised for a lodger and nobody who came seemed suitable to share my home with, until Lynne arrived. She was a bouncy, happy person, full of life. We chatted about her career as a film and tv background artiste (or Extra, as they were called back then) and she seemed ideal. I agreed that she could move in the next weekend and off she went back to London. Lynne rang me in the week and somehow managed to convince me that it was ok to bring her house rabbit called Rex (who’s hutch would be in her room!), two budgerigars and four canaries that she liked to let fly free and an octagonal fish tower. She even got me to agree to have the fish tank in the sitting room and there we all lived in the Hove Menagerie for a couple of years.
I’m still trying to find out how to license music for a CD and thought I’d update you on what I’ve discovered further.
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You might remember in my first article on this subject that it was very unclear which order you had to do things. Manufacture or Licence.
MCPS clearly stated on their website: If you’re not a record company you need to apply for an MP2 License and the process is as follows:
1. Customer fills in application form.
2. They send an invoice (within 10 days of receipt of application)
3. Customer pays invoice (within 28 days)
4. Manufacture of product can begin
When I tried to do this I was stopped at the first hurdle by questions on the form that I just couldn’t answer.
When I got home from tour, I telephoned a manufacturing company. I explained that I was trying to find out the best way to do things correctly and could they advise me? I told them that my understanding was that I would have to purchase the MCPS/PRS licence before a company would manufacture the CDs but I was finding it hard to fill in the MP2 form. The man was very helpful and told me that because of that very situation, they could manufacture CDs without all the licences in place but I would have to sign an IPR form.
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