Sunday 24 January 2010

Bigging up the runners up

Two blasts from the past are gearing up their promotional efforts to remind the CD-buying public of their existence, and both are showing quite marvellous levels of chutzpah in doing it.

Tomorrow sees the release of Daniel Evans' debut single - a cover of Journey's Open Arms - ahead of the album 'No Easy Way' released on February 22nd. Don't remember Daniel? Maybe that's because he's better known by his unofficial stage name 'Dead Wife'.

During his painfully successful run on the 2008 series of X-Factor, Daniel managed to reference the fact that his wife had passed away every time he came within six feet of a microphone. Of course, Simon Cowell lapped it up, since he understands the value of a good sob story. But he's also smart enough to recognise that what makes for good TV doesn't always translate into solid record sales - which is why Daniel's record is being released independently.

Even though 18 months have passed since Daniel first bludgeoned his way into the nation's tearducts, he's still bashing away at the grief button - even the promotional write-up on Amazon.co.uk begins: "Released in time for Mothers Day and in memory of his late wife Jackie and also dedicated to his mother Pauline..." You know, just in case anyone had forgotten.

But with a tracklist boasting such unsubtle choices as 'To Where You Are', 'On My Own' and 'She's Out Of My Life' - even someone in a persistent vegetative state would find it all rather cynical. Weirdly, the promotional copy describes the album as being "born in the hills of North Wales using talent from the local area", which makes it sound like some demonic chimera, created by a gang bang of Satan-worshipping farmhands.

Daniel says "We are hoping to show that you dont need to be signed to a massive label or a big management company to make good music heard as long as you have realistic expectations and believe in yourself." But just in case his expectations reach beyond his physical capabilities, he's also pledged 30p from every disk sold to the Help for Heroes campaign, which is rather helpfully plastered all over the album's cover.

Speaking of realistic expectations, say 'hello again' to Lemar, the one-time bank worker who came third in the BBC's Fame Academy. With a smoky voice that sounds like someone blowing air over the top of an empty milk-bottle, Lemar has somehow managed to churn out four reasonably successful albums and is currently putting the finishing touches to his Greatest Hits package.

Now, you may be struggling to recall any of Lemar's hits, never mind the greatest ones, but he's in no doubt of his music's legacy. He told the Daily Record "I do feel, while listening to my songs... that I've influenced the sound that you hear in the charts at the moment."

According to Lemar, it's all part of the musical circle of life: "I was influenced by Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and Al Green then did my thing with it. After you've done it for a certain amount of time you influence other people and inadvertently become a part of musical history."

So there you have it - history has been made by a man beaten into third place by those titans of modern song, David Sneddon and Sinead Quinn. Still, his new song is quite nice in a mid-nineties disco kind of way:

3 comments:

  1. This calls for 2 OMGs...

    1. I cant believe Daniel Evans is still banging on about his dead wife! Let the poor girl rest in peace will u?

    2. Lamar? Music history?? No.

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  2. Its a shame that its people like YOU that keep bringing it up....the album is out now, yes its emotional and yes i dedicated to 2 of the most amazing people i've ever known...and? Thats my choice, its what i wanted to do...Hope you never have to go through what i went through...just sad you have to be so negative but how could you possibly understand?...953 people sent me letters saying how my story inspired them and helped them move on, and help for heroes? yes its a small donation but its something at least...and financing the whole project myself limited what i could donate, but at least i did something...

    You need to lighten up mate, and listen to the album before you judge...thats what songs should be about, heart soul and passion...and not tons of autotune and computer enhancements...but you already judged me from what you saw on the show so unless you heard the album in full how can you know? You cant so go and say something nice to someone you like and stop bitching and being so negative about people like me who are just trying to make a living for their family, seriously, you need to find a better hobby...this garbage helps no-one...just makes you look a bit sad. No its never gonna be mainstream but i'm proud of it and those that have heard it have been pleasantly surprised and thats good enough for me. I know my place, i'm not even z list but you waste you blog on the single dad? Makes you feel good does it? cause i dont see the point otherwise. Good luck for the future, hope you find your happiness...but it cant be in blogging this poo surely?
    Take care dude, maybe one day you'll get what its al about...life etc..its a funny old game...

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