news update
October 2004
Hi Everyone,
Hope you had a good summer.
First of all, sorry that it's taken ages to update the site.
The only excuse I have is that the last few months have been manic.
Secondly, I'd like to thank you all for the very kind e-mails
that I've received. I read every single one and I appreciate your
support very much.
Well, the 'Dancing In The Street' tour was a huge success and
it was great to meet so many of you who came to see the show after
reading about it here. We played to packed houses at every theatre
we went to and there are plans to tour it again next year and
transfer to London's West End at the end of the tour. Whether
I do the show again and go with it to London, I've yet to decide.
Over the summer I gigged extensively with my own band. Again,
most of these gigs were private affairs which took us all over
the place from Kew Gardens to Hampton Court to Marbella in Spain.
More on my future plans later.
In July I travelled to Denmark with Shakin' Stevens to play at
the Langelands Festival. The concert was attended by 25,000 people
and we were there to promote the Sony Denmark release of 'Collectable',
a CD and DVD greatest hits package. We also did a live unplugged-style
performance on 'Go Morgen Danmark' a GMTV type of programme on
Denmark's national TV2 station.
This performance featured Shaky (obviously), myself on piano,
Martyn Hope on acoustic guitar (one of my oldest buddies and has
been guitarist in my band since I set it up in 1993) and Bjorn
Jonsson on drums, who Sony Records had provided especially for
the programme. I have to say that this performance was the highlight
of the trip for me. We did 'Marie Marie' and 'Oh Julie' in a good
ole, stompin', back to basics, jamming style. It felt great to
play and the rhythm was infectious. All this at 7 o'clock in the
morning!!!
The album subsequently went straight in at No.1 and stayed there
for a couple of weeks and was certified Gold.
As I said in the last update, I was always a big Shaky fan and
went to see him in concert many times in the 80's. I used to have
that classic teenage daydream that musicians have at concerts,
in my case imagining the piano-player would be taken ill or something,
then there would be the announcement "Is there a piano-player
in the house who can play every single Shakin' Stevens song and
knows all the keys and piano solos and wants to come up here and
save the day?" It never happened!
So you can imagine how it feels to at last fulfil those dreams
and not only is it fantastic to have Martyn there with me, but
for the Langelands concert Shaky employed two other members of
my band; the brilliant Peter Effamy on tenor saxophone (who has
been my mate since we were at school together) and Paul Newton
on trumpet, one of the very best in the UK (who, by the way, very
recently got married. Congratulations mate).
Due to the success of 'Collectable', I'm going back to Denmark
with Shaky in November to do a 5-date tour, details of which are
on his website www.shakinstevens.com.
Sony South Africa have also released the album and I'm sure that
other territories will follow soon.
And as if that wasn't enough, in June, during a rehearsal with
my band, I get a call from the one and only Suzi Quatro inviting
me to join HER band. Another offer I couldn't refuse. Although
she was having her hits a little before my time (sorry Suzi),
I had a vinyl compilation LP called 'Action Replay' when I was
10 years old. The last track on side 2 that I absolutely loved
and played to death was her No.1 duet 'Stumblin' In' with Chris Norman who was the lead singer with Smokie...remember
them? Well, as fate would have it, not only am I playing piano
for her now, but I'm also duetting with her on 'Stumblin' In'
as part of her show. It's a funny old world, isn't it?!? Suzi
and the guys in the band are terrific and the show really rocks.
I'm having a great time.
All of the gigs with Suzi so far, bar one, have been abroad
and mainly in Germany. In August, I was honoured to appear with
her at the Hammersmith Apollo in a tribute concert to the late
Les Gray who was the lead singer with Mud. What a fantastic night
for the 3,000 or so fans who crammed into the place and saw not
only Suzi Quatro but also Slade, Bay City Rollers, Racey, The
Tremeloes, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, The Rubettes,
Sweet (who's guest star was Shane Richie) and of course the remaining
members of Mud.
In February 2005, I'll be making my first trip to Australia to
do a 3-week tour with Suzi. Needless to say, I'm really looking
forward to it. You can check Suzi's schedule at www.suziquatro.com
Finally, this brings me to my own 'thing'.
In between all that's been going on I've managed to get quite
a bit of writing done and I now have a batch of what I think are
good songs sitting and waiting to be recorded. I'd like to record
the new album at the same place that I recorded 'Come
And Get It' with the same guy who engineered, played guitar
and co-produced with me, Darren Loveday, but unfortunately neither
he nor the studio are free until January 2005. So hopefully straight
after the Christmas break I'll begin to make a new album that
should be released by the summer.
After the reaction that 'Two
More Bottles Of Wine' received thanks to Terry
Wogan and Desmond
Carrington on BBC Radio 2, it was obvious to me that the paired
down, sparse arrangement of that track was one of the appealing
factors. So maybe there'll be a few more tracks of that ilk on
this next album alongside the fuller arrangements. Either way,
I hope there will be something there that you'll enjoy.
I'm afraid that I have no news as yet about my own live gigs
open to the public although we are in the process of trying to
get something organised soon. Watch this space!
Once again, thank you for your continued support and for all
your e-mails not only to me but also to BBC Radio 2 requesting
that they keep playing my music.
All the best.
Elio. x
Read the latest news update
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Read the December 2006 news update
Read the September 2006 news update
Read the April 2006 news update
Read the October 2004 news update
Read the March 2004 news update
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