Greek singer Demis Roussos dies aged 68

January 27, 2015

Greek singer Demis Roussos, who sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, has died aged 68, the Hygeia Hospital in Athens has confirmed to the BBC.

Demis Roussos in one of his famous kaftans. (Photo: George Wilkes Archive / Getty Images)

He was best known for his solo hits in the 1970s and 80s, including Forever and Ever, Goodbye and Quand je t'aime.

He was also a member of progressive rock group Aphrodite's Child.

Roussos was renowned for his off-screen role in Mike Leigh's 1977 TV play Abigail's Party, having provided the party's soundtrack.

He had been in the private hospital with an undisclosed illness for some time, and died surrounded by his family.

His Aphrodite's Child bandmate Vangelis paid tribute in a statement that begins: 

"Demis my friend.

"I have just arrived in London and I've been told that you decide to take the long voyage, I'm shocked because I can't believe that this happened so soon.

"Nature gave you this magic voice of yours which made millions of people around the world very happy."

He added: "As for me, I keep those special memories that we share together those early days and I wish you to be happy wherever you are."

He signed off with the words: "Goodbye my friend goodbye. Love Vangelis.”

Greek singer Nana Mouskouri paid tribute on French radio RTL: "He had a superb voice, he travelled in the world ... he loved what he was doing.

"He was an artist, a friend. I hope he is in a better world."

Finding fame

The singer was born Artemios Ventouris Roussos in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1946, to a Greek father and Egyptian mother of Italian origin.

He was raised there until his parents moved to Greece in the early 60s after losing their possessions during the Suez Crisis.

Roussos began his music career at 17, when he joined the a band called The Idols, where he met Vangelis.

Aphrodite's Child produced three albums including It's Five O'Clock and 666, and enjoyed huge success in Europe in the late 1960s, especially France.

Roussos went on to enjoy a successful solo career, topping the charts in several countries with Forever And Ever in 1973, before doing the same in the UK in 1976.

Memorably he was referred to in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, by the character played by Alison Steadman, who plays his record in an attempt to impress her guests - commenting that he "doesn't sound" fat.

Demis Roussos was still performing on stage in 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

Other solo hits include My Friend the Wind, My Reason, Someday Somewhere and Happy To Be On An Island In The Sun.

Roussos' fondness for kaftans saw him dubbed "the Kaftan King" and he often wore them for his performances on shows such as Top of the Pops.

He was also famous for his vocal adaptation of the score from the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, which had been composed by Vangelis.

In 1978, he decided to keep a lower profile and moved to Malibu Beach in the US - where he shed much of the weight that had seen him routinely mocked by comedians like Freddie Starr.

Famously, he was caught up in a plane hijacking when flight TWA 847 from Athens to Rome was hijacked by members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in 1985.

He and his third wife were held at gunpoint for five days before they were released. Some of his fellow passengers endured 17 days in captivity.

The experience changed his life and afterwards he decided the best way he could help others and promote understanding in the world was by returning to music.

He released his album The Story of Demis Roussos not long after.

The star is survived by his mother, Olga (94), children Emily and Cyril, long-term partner Dominique, brother Costas and ex-wives Pamela and Monique.

A funeral will be held on Friday, 30 January in Athens, his manager Denis Vaughan told the BBC.

"We will miss the amazing Demis, whose singing brought sunshine to the world," Vaughan added.

"He was a legend. He played hard, he worked hard. The world is a less fun place without Demis”.

First published at BBC News, January 27, 2015

Mark Murphy, an Unconventional Jazz Vocalist, Dies at 83

Mark Murphy performing at Birdland in 2005. Photo: Rahav Segev for The New York Times

By Sam Roberts

Mark Murphy, an iconoclastic jazz vocalist who drew inspiration from such varied sources as the sound of his hometown factory whistle and the words of the Beat novelist Jack Kerouac, died on Thursday in Englewood, N.J. He was 83.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, his manager, Jean-Pierre Leduc, said.

A resonant baritone, Mr. Murphy was nominated for six Grammy awards and was cited multiple times by readers of Down Beat magazine as male vocalist of the year.

In his book “A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers” (2010), the jazz critic Will Friedwald wrote that Mr. Murphy and the similarly adventurous singer Betty Carter,  who died in 1998, “were the co-founders of the school of swinging eclecticism in jazz vocals, major influences on virtually all the well-regarded singers of the current generation.”

Celebrated for his interpretations of songs by Cole Porter, Antônio Carlos Jobim and other great songwriters, Mr. Murphy was perhaps equally well known for his own lyrics to jazz classics like the saxophonist Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments” and the trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay,” which he recorded as “On the Red Clay.”

He ranged from bebop to ballads, torch songs to scat singing, from vocalizing Kerouac’s poetry to experimenting with rhythms inspired by the whistle that summoned his neighbors in upstate New York to the local wool mill.

Mr. Leduc said that Mr. Murphy, who spent most of the 1960s in London, was the first jazz singer to record the Beatles hit “She Loves You.”

Mark Howe Murphy was born in Syracuse on March 14, 1932. His parents, Dwight Murphy Sr. and the former Margaret Howe, met at the local Methodist church, where his father was the choir director.

Mr. Murphy died at the Lillian Booth Actors Home, where he had been living for several years. He is survived by his sister, Sheila Bidwell. His partner, Eddie O’Sullivan, died in 1990.

Mr. Murphy was raised in Fulton, N.Y., where his grandmother and aunt were church organists. (His aunt also played in a swing band.) He began taking piano lessons when he was 7 and joined his brother’s six-piece jazz band as a singer when he was a teenager.

As he began performing regularly, he drew encouragement from a chance encounter with Sammy Davis Jr. at a jazz club. After graduating from Syracuse University in 1953, he moved to New York City, where he worked as both an actor and a singer before settling on music as a career. His first album, “Meet Mark Murphy,” was released on the Decca label in 1956.

Over the years Mr. Murphy recorded some 50 albums for various record companies, most notably for the small jazz label Muse from 1973 to 1991. He continued to perform in New York nightclubs well into his 70s. His last appearance was at Joe’s Pub in 2013.

Unlike most male jazz and pop singers, Mr. Murphy “doesn’t adopt the usual masculine poses,” Stephen Holden wrote in The New York Times in 2005.

“Instead of playing the seducer or the comforter when crooning,” he added, “or the preening, self-assured leader of the pack when swinging, he embodies a wandering post-Beat minstrel, a restless soul, world-weary hipster and die-hard romantic ruminating on old loves.”

Musicians can learn improvisation only by doing, Mr. Murphy told the website All About Jazz in 2009.

“The way I learned was, I’d just get up there, and at first the more complex parts of the improv weren’t there,” he said. “But you try them again and it flows a little more. You have to fall in love with it, and that’s what gives you the courage and the inspiration to go on further and further and further. And then, all of a sudden, things start to happen.”

First published at The New York Times, October 25, 2015

Sistine Chapel becomes recording studio for papal choir’s newest CD

Boys in the Sistine Chapel choir are seen as Pope Francis leads a penitential liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in this 2014 file photo. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — One of the oldest choirs in the world recorded a CD of their repertoire of sacred music surrounded by the famed frescoes of Michelangelo, Perugino, Pinturicchio and Botticelli.

Marking the first professional studio recording to take place in the Sistine Chapel, the pope’s Sistine Chapel Choir features on a new CD titled, “Cantate Domino.”

Produced by Deutsche Grammophon and Universal Music Italia, the new 16-track CD was released Sept. 25 with the proceeds earmarked for the poor through the pope’s charitable efforts.

Cantate Domino on Deutsche Grammophon, released September 25, 2015

The Sistine Chapel Choir, made up of 20 men and 30 boys, sings music that had been written specifically for papal celebrations in the Sistine Chapel and for the papal choir during the Renaissance.

The Pope's choir has 20 adult singers and 30 boy choristers. Photo: Osservatore Romano

The pieces include Gregorian chant and works by Renaissance masters Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Orlande de Lassus and Felice Anerio. It also features a world premiere recording of Gregorio Allegri’s original composition of “Miserere” — found archived in a codex from 1661 in the Vatican Library.

Msgr. Massimo Palombella — director of the Sistine Chapel Choir — said in a press release Sept. 28: “It is my hope that these masterworks will touch millions of listeners worldwide, and connect them to the historical culture and deep spirituality of the Catholic Church.”

He told Vatican Radio that the pontifical choir, which traces back to the 1470s, is dedicated today to making its music known beyond the walls of Vatican City and to helping people experience “the Lord, salvation, evangelization” through sacred music.

YouTube: Sistine Chapel Choir - Cantate Domino (English trailer)

Deutsche Grammophon president Mark Wilkinson hands the first copy of Cantate Domino
to His Holiness Pope Francis, 2015

Meanwhile, San Paolo Multimedia will be releasing sometime in November, “Wake Up!” a rock album featuring Pope Francis’ words and prayers.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters Sept. 29 that San Paolo had permission to use the voice of the pope for the album, which is being distributed by the label, Believe Digital, and is being made available on iTunes.

Layered over original scores of pop and prog-rock music are original Vatican Radio recordings of Pope Francis as he delivered, live, important talks or prayers in four languages.

For example, “Wake Up!”, the title song featured on the album, uses a clip of the pope from his homily during Mass with young people in South Korea in August 2014. Speaking in English, the pope says, “I don’t like to see young people who are sleeping. No! Wake up! Go! Go forward! Dear young people, ‘God, our God, has blessed us.’”

First published at The Catholic Sun, September 29, 2015

The lost genius of Mozart's sister

Nannerl Mozart was a child prodigy like her brother Wolfgang Amadeus, but her musical career came to an end when she was 18. A one-woman play puts her back on the stage, where she belongs.

Mozart family portrait by Johann Nepomuk della Croce, circa 1780

by Silvia Milo

Tue 8 Sept 2015

I am writing to you with an erection on my head and I am very much afraid of burning my hair”, wrote Nannerl Mozart to her brother Wolfgang Amadeus. What was being erected was a large hairdo on top of Nannerl’s head, as she prepared to pose for the Mozart family portrait.

It was that hairdo that drew my attention. Nine years ago I was visiting Vienna for the 250th birthday celebrations of Wolfgang Amadeus, and I was thrilled to explore the city following in Wolfi’s footsteps, many of which turned out to be Nannerl’s as well. At the Mozarthaus Vienna – Wolfgang’s apartment – on the exit wall, as if by an afterthought, there was a little copy of the Mozart family portrait. I saw a woman seated at the harpsichord next to Wolfgang, their hands intertwined, playing together.

I grew up studying to become a violinist. Neither my music history nor my repertoire included any female composers. With my braided hair I was called “little Mozart” by my violin teacher, but he meant Wolfi. I never heard that Amadeus had a sister. I never heard of Nannerl Mozart until I saw that family portrait.

I was intrigued and determined to find out more. I read Wolfgang Mozart biographies, studied the situation of women and female artists during Mozarts’ time and in different countries, read writings of Enlightenment philosophers, conduct manuals … But the richest source of information came from the Mozart family letters. There are hundreds, and we have them because Nannerl preserved them. 

Most are written by Leopold and Wolfgang but some of Nannerl’s letters survived as well. Through these letters, sometimes only from the replies to her lost letters, Nannerl slowly emerged. I was able to understand the Mozarts as people, as a family, and through the lens of the times and the social situation in which they lived. I saw Nannerl’s potential, her dreams, her strength, grace and her fight.

Sylvia Milo as Nannerl Mozart in The Other Mozart

Maria Anna (called Marianne and nicknamed Nannerl) was – like her younger brother – a child prodigy. The children toured most of Europe (including an 18-month stay in London in 1764-5) performing together as “wunderkinder”. There are contemporaneous reviews praising Nannerl, and she was even billed first. Until she turned 18. 

A little girl could perform and tour, but a woman doing so risked her reputation. And so she was left behind in Salzburg, and her father only took Wolfgang on their next journeys around the courts of Europe. Nannerl never toured again.

But the woman I found did not give up. She wrote music and sent at least one composition to Wolfgang and Papa – Wolfgang praised it as “beautiful” and encouraged her to write more. Her father didn’t, as far as we know, say anything about it.

Did she stop? None of her music has survived. Perhaps she never showed it to anybody again, perhaps she destroyed it, maybe we will find it one day, maybe we already did but it’s wrongly attributed to her brother’s hand. Composing or performing music was not encouraged for women of her time. Wolfgang repeatedly wrote that nobody played his keyboard music as well as she could, and Leopold described her as “one of the most skilful players in Europe”, with “perfect insight into harmony and modulations” and that she improvises “so successfully that you would be astounded”.

Like Virginia Woolf’s imagined Shakespeare’s sister, Nannerl was not given the opportunity to thrive. And what she did create was not valued or preserved – most female composers from the past have been forgotten, their music lost or gathering dust in libraries. We will never know what could have been, and this is our loss.

Director Isaac Byrne and I searched for the ghost of Nannerl, and the story she needed to tell in my one-woman play. Period-style movement transports us to the Mozarts’ time using delicate gestures, court bows and curtsies, and the language of fans.

To create the 18th-century world of opulence and of restriction, the set became an enormous dress which spills over the entire stage (designed by Magdalena Dabrowski), with a corset/panniers cage on top. Finally the hair stands as tall as Nannerl’s, after we found the right hairspray to hold it all up-up-up – and yes, it is all my own hair.

Creating music for the show was down to two composers, Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen, who chose, rather than to try to re-create Nannerl’s compositions, to portray her musical imagination, using the sounds she would have had in her ears: the fluttering of fans, tea cups, music boxes, bells, clavichords.

I’ve been touring The Other Mozart for the last two years: this month marks its 100th performance, how fitting that it will take place just a few steps away from where Nannerl performed in London as a girl.

It has been a long journey to bring Nannerl back to England after an absence of 250 years. I sometimes feel like Leopold Mozart – on a quest to show the world this brilliant Mozart.

First published at The Guardian, September 8, 2015

Cilla Black, singer and TV star, dies in Spain aged 72

Cilla Black an 2008. Photo: Suzan Moore / EMPICS Entertainment

Singer and TV star Cilla Black, who enjoyed a 50-year showbusiness career, has died aged 72, her agent has said.

The 1960s singing star became a popular TV celebrity on such shows as Blind Date and Surprise Surprise.

Spanish police said a woman named Priscilla White - Black's real name - had died in Estepona on the Costa del Sol, where the star had a home.

The death appeared to be due to natural causes, but this had not yet been confirmed by tests, police said.

"It is with deep sorrow that I confirm... the passing of singer and TV personality Cilla Black," said her agent, Nick Fiveash.

"Details of her death will be announced following the coroner's report. Her family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time."

Prime Minister David Cameron has paid tribute to the entertainer, remembering her as "a huge talent who made a significant contribution to public life".

Black, pictured with son Robert last year, had a home on the Costa de Sol

Tributes have also been paid by her friends from the world of entertainment.

"I am so sad and shocked by news about my good friend Cilla," tweeted Dame Joan Collins. "She was a resplendent and rare talent."

"Such a shock to hear about Cilla's passing," said Sir Paul McCartney. "She was a lovely girl who infected everyone with her great spirit.

"From first meeting her as a cloak room girl at the Cavern in Liverpool, to seeing her many times since, she always had a fun-loving dignity that made her a great pleasure to be around."

Sir Bruce Forsyth said Black would be "sadly missed", while presenter Christopher Biggins described her as a "national treasure".

Broadcaster Noel Edmonds told BBC Radio 5 live she "captured the hearts of the British people" because "she was our Cilla - there were no airs and graces".

Songwriter Burt Bacharach, who worked with Black, said: "It will always be a most special memory for me of recording her on Alfie in Abbey Road Studios in 1965."

Other tributes have come from comedian Jimmy Tarbuck, who said she had "warmth in bundles", and Ringo Starr, who remembered her as “a good friend.”

Des O'Connor called her "a very special lady", while broadcaster Gloria Hunniford - who saw Black two weeks ago at a friend's barbeque - called her "a true icon".

Dale Winton said Black had been "a dear and close friend" and "the most loyal person", as well as a "true 'star' and genuine national icon".

Cilla Black with the OBE she received in 1997. Photo: John Stillwell / PA Archive / PA Images

Lizo Mzimba, BBC entertainment correspondent continues:

The phrase "national treasure" is often overused. But Cilla Black was one of the small group of entertainers who genuinely deserved it.

Long before she became a presenter she had an extraordinarily successful music career, with a string of top 10 hits.

She then did what few have managed and became equally successful in another arena, as a TV star.

Her easy going, natural manner endeared her to people, whom she famously addressed as "chuck".

And that unaffected charm was the reason millions of viewers welcomed her into their homes in shows like Surprise Surprise and Blind Date.

But it wasn't just audiences who loved her.

She also had the admiration and respect of fellow entertainers, some of whom had known her in Liverpool when she was still the teenaged Priscilla White.

Despite her success over the decades, she remained in many ways the same person to them - hard-working and passionate about performing.

That's what made her such a remarkable star.

Born Priscilla White in Liverpool, Black changed her name to launch a singing career with hits such as Anyone Who Had a Heart and You're My World.

Her career focus shifted to television in 1968, when she was given her own BBC One primetime series, and she went on to host a number of shows for ITV.

Black's journey to stardom began at Liverpool's famous Cavern Club, where she started work as a part-time cloakroom attendant.

It was there she met her husband-to-be Bobby Willis and went on to perform alongside such acts as The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

She was soon brought to the attention of manager Brian Epstein and released her first single, Love of the Loved, in September 1963.

The following year she released the ballads You're My World and Anyone Who Had a Heart, both of which went to number one.

She and Willis wed in 1969 and remained married until his death in 1999 at the age of 57.

The couple had three sons, one of whom, Robert, succeeded his father as her manager.

Last year Black received honours from Bafta and the Royal Television Society in recognition of her lengthy career.

A recent ITV drama series about her early years saw her played by the actress Sheridan Smith.

Holly Willoughby, who took over Black's role as Surprise Surprise host, called her "one incredible lady", while the actor Russell Crowe expressed “ thanks for everything.”

Gordon Burns, with whom Black worked on Surprise Surprise, told the BBC she was a "larger-than-life figure" and "a lorra lorra laughs" - a reference to one of her famous catchphrases.

Lord Grade, former executive chairman of ITV, said Black was a "natural performer of the highest quality" and "one of the all-time greats in showbiz".

The Cavern Club in Liverpool paid its own tribute with a sign announcing the death of its "famous cloak room girl".

Black was photographed by a fan at Gatwick Airport on Friday, shortly before she flew to Spain.

Amy Kelly said: "She looked so glamorous but frail. Everyone was talking about her but no one was asking for pictures.

"I said all of my family loved her and took a picture with her. She gave me a massive smile. She was so lovely."

Speaking to the BBC last year, Black described herself as "a lady of leisure" who was "living disgracefully" in semi-retirement.

"I'm going to enjoy myself," she told entertainment reporter Natalie Jamieson. "If it be in television then so be it, but I've had my time.”

First published at BBC News, August 2, 2015