news update

February 2007

Hello to you all

I'd like to begin by saying a massive THANK YOU to everyone who downloaded my Christmas single What A Day from the iTunes Music Store and for the hundreds of emails we received. The response was frankly, incredible! I'm happy to say that due to the radio coverage the song received and the interest that it generated, I'm currently in negotiations regarding its official CD release for this coming Christmas 2007 - watch this space for further news!

I would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank Terry Wogan, Alan Boyd, Dave Lee Travis, Dominic Busby and Clare Beamond at the BBC, Lars Paaske on Denmark's P4 and all the other presenters (who I'm not aware of) that played ‘What A Day', for championing my song on the radio and for their generous support.

For dedicated 'What A Day' information, click to listen to audio clips & interviews, read credits, or look at photos.

You can also read reviews by clicking here.

So, onto other news. Continuing on from the April 2006 update, here's a look at some of what went on in the year:

April 5th 2006
For Katrina Leskanich, I recorded my piano part and backing vocals for a beautiful yet rare song written by Ellie Greenwich (‘River Deep Mountain High', ‘Leader Of The Pack', ‘Be My Baby', ‘Da Do Ron Ron', ‘Chapel Of Love', ‘I Can Hear Music', etc.) called ‘I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine'. I really hope this single gets released soon.

April 20th 2006
Flew to Moscow for the first time to do a gig with Suzi Quatro. We were there for only one day and night but we crammed quite a lot into those 24-hours: an album signing at a record store; a TV appearance on a programme hosted by non other than the former Soviet leader, Mikael Gorbachev, that went out to 40 million people; the gig itself in the centre of Moscow and a 30-minute, midnight sight-seeing trip to The Kremlin and Red Square! Click here for photos.

April 27th 2006
Played one of my favourite gigs of the year with my band in Portmeirion in North-West Wales. A long drive but well worth it not only for making music with my favourite musicians but also for the spectacular views on offer. A beautiful town, well worth a visit.

April 28th – May 1st 2006
Drove straight from Portmeirion to Stansted Airport to board a flight to Denmark for a 5-date tour with Suzi Quatro. I always look forward to travelling to Denmark having worked there quite a bit over the last few years but this was my first tour there with Suzi. Everyone had a ball and the Danish people were as delightful as ever.

May 6th 2006
Whilst in Zurich for a gig with Suzi Quatro, I got to meet once again one of my piano-playing heroes, Geraint Watkins. He was there as part of Dave Edmunds' band who were on the same show as us. I grew up back in the 80's pouring over Geraint's recordings and is without question one of the finest exponents of rock ‘n' roll piano the UK has ever produced and whose influence on my own playing is immeasurable.

June 22nd 2006
Ireland for the second time in 4 months only this time with Suzi Quatro (Man! do we do some travelling with her!) for the 15th annual European Harley Davidson rally in Killarney. On the gig with us were Whitesnake (with Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody) and the host for the night was the legendary radio presenter, Bob Harris.

July 5th 2006
Saw my favourite singer/songwriter of them all, Billy Joel, live in concert at the NEC in Birmingham on the first night of his UK tour and his first gig here since 1998. He is simply brilliant! There are a very few people left in this business I can think of who could sit up there and deliver almost 3 hours of self-penned, masterfully-crafted, world-famous, monster hit songs that anyone would recognise. He was in excellent form. His voice was rich. His singing was full of musicality. His piano-playing powerful yet effortless and his way of communicating with the crowd and making you feel like you're sitting on the sofa in his front room is unlike any other performer I've ever seen. Come on Billy, give us another new album of your songs. I'd never been to the NEC and I couldn't help thinking during the evening “I'll be on that very stage in December as part of the Jasper Carrott ‘Rock With Laughter Show'. More on that later.

July 9th 2006
Rejoiced in watching Italy win the World Cup Final. I was still on a high from the semi-final against the hosts, Germany which, in my opinion, was not only a better match but was one of the most exciting games of football I've ever seen.

July 10th 2006
Reeling from the previous nights football, I went to see Billy Joel again, this time at Wembley Arena! Hey, I'm not as sad as Peter Kay, he went 12 times… every night of the tour! Good on ya Peter!

July 29th – August 3rd 2006
Spent a glorious week sailing in the Solent during Cowes Week aboard the world's largest Brigantine, the Swan Fan Makkum. At 62-meters long and with a total sail area of 1300 sq m, the ‘Swan' is known as one of the fastest tall ships. I was actually working, providing corporate entertainment, but when we weren't playing you'd find me on deck, flat out listening to my iPod and appreciating how lucky I was.

August 4th 2006
Appeared with Katrina Leskanich at the Cardiff Big Weekend Festival. This was the first time that Katrina had wanted drums and bass to be part of the band so along with Darren Loveday (guitar) and Paul Newton (trumpet) we were joined by Jack Pollitt on drums (who also plays in my band) and Andy Coughlan on bass who I've known for many years and with whom I've played together on many occasions. We all found this night of music inspiring for many reasons and it was driving home along the M4 that I decided to, over the next few days, finally get around to re-writing the lyrics to a song I had written back in 1989 called ‘What A Day' and turn it into a Christmas song.

August 8th 2006
After explaining my intentions for ‘What A Day' to my actress girlfriend, Helen McNee and a writer friend of ours, Matthew Baker, the two of them encouraged me to get on with it right there and then. So with a keyboard on my lap and Helen and Matthew with pens and paper, the three of us sat up for the rest of the night into the early hours and re-wrote the words. Having all agreed on how much we loved Christmas, the premise was simply to write the happiest and warmest lyric that we could about Christmas Day itself. By the time we'd finished it, the vision for how the record should sound had become very clear to me and I couldn't wait to get going with it.

August 16th 2006
Darren Loveday found time in his already busy schedule and together we embarked on the making of ‘What A Day'. Adrian Fry, who I've known since we were 14-years old and plays trombone in my band, would use his expertise in the idiom to write the ‘Big Band' arrangement. Along with two other regulars in my band, Paul Newton on lead trumpet and Peter Effamy on lead alto & tenor saxophones, we recruited the services of three other great instrumentalists, trumpeter Nathan Bray, saxophonist Adrian Revell and trombonist Alistair White to make up the ‘Big Band'. Hearing Mr. Fry's brilliant score come together in the studio was very special for me; the track took on a life of it's own that day and the sound that I had envisaged was brought to life by those talented men. Over the next few sessions we added Darren's guitar, Neil Fairclough's bass, my lead vocal and piano and Sue Acteson and Helen York's backing vocals. You don't need me to tell you what an amazing job everyone did… you can hear it for yourself on the record! If you haven't heard it and would like to, you can download it for 79p from the iTunes Music Store, 365 days of the year. Why wait till Christmas?!

September 7th 2006
I was asked to do an accordion session at Maximum Studios for a French artist called Romane Serda on a track called ‘Ballade Nolita'. As Italy had beaten France in the World Cup Final, I agreed!!! Joking aside, it was great to dust off the accordion and I really look forward to hearing the final product when it's released sometime this year on her new album.

September 9th and September 17th 2006
Played my two favourite gigs of the year with my 10-piece band at Highclere Castle in Berkshire and the Savoy Hotel in London .

September 19th 2006
I was delighted to have been asked to join Albert Lee and Hogan's Heroes. We did five dates around the UK ending up at the prestigious 100 Club in London . As well as playing piano, I also get to sing a couple of my favourite songs in the show. What a fantastic and humbling experience it is to play with one of my musical heroes, Albert Lee. He's just amazing and I'm so looking forward to the gigs with him throughout 2007, starting on February 20th in Birmingham and taking us all over the UK and Europe including my native homeland Italy . He's such a soulful singer and if Rock ‘n' Roll and Country Blues guitar is your thing then I can't encourage you enough to come and see Albert Lee live... no-one in the world does it better! He's one of the guitar greats and seeing and hearing, is truly believing. Click on this link for a full list of tour dates. Click here for photos.

December 1st 2006
Took one of the happiest phone calls of my life and learnt that ‘What A Day' was going to be featured on BBC Radio 2's ‘Wake Up To Wogan' throughout the build up to Christmas and that Terry was going to open his Christmas Day special with it. Santa had come 24-days early!

December 7th and 8th 2006
Travelled for the first time to Lithuania and Estonia as part of Suzi Quatro's band. We played to 10,000-strong audiences on both nights and their reaction was thunderous. Another whistle-stop visit but from what I could gather both capitals looked very pretty and the people extremely courteous. My passport saw quite a lot of action in 2006 and it's nice to go travelling but it was good to know that that was it for security checks and border controls for this year.

December 10th 2006
Played at Alan & Kate Wogan's wedding in Hampshire which was a beautiful and elegant affair. Having played at the wedding of Terry Wogan's other son, Mark, to Sue in 2003, I was honoured to have been asked, once again, to entertain their guests. I was also extremely glad for the opportunity to thank Terry in person for agreeing to play my song on his show and for making my year in doing so. Being the modest gentleman that he is, he told me there was no need to thank him and that he thought the song was great and that he was only too pleased to play it. What do you say to that? Thank you Sir!

December 15th 2006
‘What A Day' got its radio debut at 8.26 am on BBC Radio 2's ‘Wake Up To Wogan' to 8 million listeners. Click here to listen to the clip

December 16th 2006
Dave Lee Travis played ‘What A Day' on his Magic AM breakfast show. Click here to listen to the clip

December 17th 2006
I was invited by Dave Lee Travis to be his guest on his BBC Three Counties Radio show to do an interview and play a live session. With Darren Loveday on guitar and myself on piano, we performed three songs: two of mine ‘Addicted To The Phone' and 'Still Want You' and Delbert McClinton's ‘Two More Bottles Of Wine'. The first and last time I met DLT was about 16-years ago when he was still at Radio 1 and I was just starting to record my songs as demos.
I'd sent him a copy of some of the demos and he had very kindly invited me to pop into the Radio 1 studio (whilst he was on air doing his show) to say hello and have a cuppa. He was very kind about my music and encouraged me to keep writing. It's very important to hear that sort of thing when you're starting out and I've always been very grateful to him for that. It was fantastic to see him again and apart from his now ‘silver' hair he hadn't changed one bit. As well as introducing ‘What A Day' as “one of those records that could become a Christmas classic”, DLT conducted a fun interview and was an all round fantastic host for the duration of our stay. Hope it isn't another 16-years till we do it again! Click here for photos, here for the song receiving airplay, and to listen to the interview click on parts one, two and three.

December 18th 2006
At midnight , ‘What A Day' went on sale world-wide at the iTunes Music Store and at just before 8 am , Terry Wogan played it for the second time. I've got to tell you, as a songwriter, the thrill of hearing your ‘baby' appear from nowhere, on the radio, is indescribable and a feeling that I can imagine won't diminish over time. Click here to listen to the clip

December 20th 2006
At 8.15 am , whilst packing my suitcase for the next 4-days of gigs at the NEC with Suzi Quatro, Terry Wogan played ‘What A Day' for the third time in 6-days. Click here to listen to the clip.

As I was continuing to get ready for Birmingham, Lars Paaske from Danish national radio called and told me that ‘What A Day' had been receiving extensive airplay in Denmark and could we do a quick 5-minute interview. Well, Suzi would have to wait. Click here to listen to the clip.

When I arrived at the NEC later that day to set-up, the first thing I did when I stood on that stage for the first time was clock where I had been sitting watching Billy Joel only 5-months earlier. Just when I thought the thrills were done for one day, along comes Jo Rowden, an old friend of mine who I hadn't seen for 4 years. Jo is a great singer and actress who was there to perform as Frida from ABBA (the dark one!) with Bjorn Again who along with Suzi, Lenny Henry, Jimmy Carr, Roy Wood, Tony Christie, Jimmy Tarbuck, Jethro, The Birmingham Royal Ballet and Ben Mills from The X-Factor, were also appearing on Jasper Carrott's ‘Rock With Laughter' Christmas Show. As you can imagine, the show was spectacular and sold out every night. Suzi did her 20 minute set at the end of the show at which point the rest of the company joined us on stage for the inevitable finale which was, of course, ‘White Christmas'… second only to “What A Day' as the best Christmas song of them all!!! Click here for photos

December 21st 2006
Did another live interview, this time for BBC Radio Solent on the Richard Cartridge Show. Richard was away, but standing in for him was Dominic Busby. Growing up in the Solent region, I appeared on the station quite a few times but this was my first ‘meeting' with Dominic Busby and I really did enjoy talking to him and luckily for me, he really liked ‘What A Day'. So much so, he announced on air that he would “play it again tomorrow morning” on another BBC radio station he works for. Click here to listen to the interview

December 22nd 2006
True to his word, Dominic Busby played ‘What A Day' on his BBC Radio Oxford Breakfast Show and what an introduction he gave it. Featuring songs you don't normally hear at Christmas, he declared "this is my pick of them all". Thank you Dominic! Click here to listen to the clip

December 23rd 2006
Dave Lee Travis played ‘What A Day' on his Magic AM breakfast show. Unfortunately we don't have a clip for this.

December 24th 2006
For the forth time, Dave Lee Travis played ‘What A Day' on his BBC Three Counties Radio show and once again gave it a plug like one could only wish for. Thank you Dave! Click here to listen to the clip

December 25th 2006
“THE MAGIC IS HERE”
Just after the 9 o'clock news, Terry Wogan kicked off his Christmas Day radio show with ‘What A Day' introducing it as “one of the best”. Four months earlier back in August, Helen, Matthew and I had re-written a lyric specifically about Christmas Day to a melody I had composed in 1989 when I was 21-years old. And now here it was, 17-years later, starting off the Christmas Day special by the most listened-to radio broadcaster in Europe . Doesn't get much better than that… but it did! About one hour later I asked my actress girlfriend, Helen McNee to become my actress wife… and she said yes! Click here to listen to Terry Wogan's Christmas Day clip

So there you have it, I hope you enjoyed reading that.

Once again, let me say a huge thank you to all of you for your continued support. We very much appreciate all your emails and promise to reply to every one of them. Watch out for further news updates very shortly and let me wish you all the very best for 2007.

Elio. x

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Read the February 2007 news update

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