What's good everybody? Been a minute since ya last heard from us I know. But we've been pretty busy surfing the globe and building up our air miles again. From performances in Moscow, to summer Festival shows around Europe. Been some special times for sure.
But the real T is what we all have had on the hush for the past several months. Recently, we were chosen to record and perform a re-creation of the Cole Porter classic "C'est Magnifique", for a TV advert for Lancome's new women's fragrance, called Magnifique. This song is perhaps best known for the version by Eartha Kitt(if ya didn't know). But we rocked it with a little BNH swagger though.
Anne Hathaway is the chosen "It" girl to represent the fragrance. A launch party/ event was held in Paris at the Grand Palais for 400 journalists flown in from around the world. And much to the audience's joy and recognition, we performed as surprise guests.
Anne and all the Lancome crew were "Super" cool. We may have all fallen in love with each other's(smile). So much so, we found ourselves jumping back on planes direct to Paris a month or so later, to shoot a music video for the song. Beautiful gesture by way of Lancome. Also intended to ride in conjunction with the TV ad campaign.
We've been to Paris many times. But the experience of doing our video on a boat/cruiser coastin down the Seine River was surreal! So check us out when you hear or see the TV ad or video (which are on youtube). By the way, the fragrance is lovely. Viva La France!!!! Later... NDea-
Prince, The Grammys and Abbey Road Studios!
Current mood: animated
Category: Music
Hi everyone.
Its NDea here reaching out to all of you. Firstly, the boys and I would like to thank you for coming here to our personal myspace page. All of your thoughts and comments have been inspiring, entertaining and one step closer to knowing more about you, and you getting to know more about us. Just wanted to update you all on some current things we’ve been up to so far this year. After a long and needed Christmas break, we headed out to Los Angeles in early February to join forces with 2008 Grammy nominated Vikter Duplaix, KCRW’s Garth Trinadad and DJ Rashida, for a Grammy edition of Kiss N Grind which is a LA based showcase series of amazing live music acts and World class djs. The line-up, was a mashup of excitement for everybody in the house. BNH provided the grooves, then artists like Eric Roberson, Caron Wheeler and also Vikter took things to another level. Djs Garth and Rashida held it down on the 1 and 2’s. Amazing audience! Amazing energy! Considering it was Grammy time, and so many musical celebs hanging that week, we were quite pleased that so many came to check us out. Very namely, the master himself, Prince. A real night for the record books ya’ll. A couple of days later, we all attended the 50th Grammy celebration which was equally as special considering we have never attended together as a group. Our own personal historic moment. Speaking of historic moments, and across the pond in London, a couple of weeks later, we joined legendary producer for the Beatles, Sir George Martin, at a celebration and benefit for Cancer research at Abbey Road Studios. Anybody remember the band 10CC? I think they had hits in the 80’s (Don’t hold it against me if I’m wrong). Anyway, like us, they also provided the entertainment for the night which was an honour for us to do, what we do, for so many prestigious guests.
Right now we’re making plans to get back in the studio and make our 2nd recording of a full length Cd since we got back together after a 10 year separation. We’re ready and willing to make this record be a special one. In the meantime, keep your comments flowing and check for upcoming live dates right here on our page. We really love music and doing our thing together. We’re a unit. A family. And all of you are special extensions of that family. Thanks again for all of your love and support. We’ll be back in touch soon.
You might want to check out our new tour diary that we filmed on the road with Macy Gray. The video has been posted below or you can find it in our 'influences box' on our main page. Many thanks to Ron Yeadon from the band Unkle Bob for editing it together for us.
As an individual who was always starstruck, I wondered how it would be -- how I would be -- to meet a favorite actor, Hollywood crush or favorite band. Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to answer that question with the most incredible first-hand experience in my life - meeting the Brand New Heavies. It was so much better than I expected. I still have not yet returned to earth. The shock has been intense, although it has numbed me to the extent that I'm acting bizarrely normal. Let's get to the story.
So last Saturday, I drove to Atlantic City. After an awesome italian dinner at Specchio in the Borgata with a friend, we decided to kill some time on the casino floor and throw out money before picking up our "special guest tickets" at the box office, which was on the same floor of the Borgata's famous casino floor. After losing some cash to ridiculous casino games, I headed to the Box Office about 30 minutes before the show started. I approached the lady at the Box Office, and she said the tickets weren't available yet. I was getting really nervous, so I decided to call the Brand New Heavies tour manager. I asked him about the tickets, and then he said something, which sent my world tumbling down: "Sorry buddy, we made a mistake. We're out of tickets and they won't give us any for you or any other contest winner, but I'll see what we can do to help you."
I wanted to fade into darkness.
Until....
The tour manager appears behind the desk of the Box Office and starts talking to the people working for the Borgata. A few minutes later, I still don't have tickets, just the backstage passes for after the show...or so I thought. Apparently, the tour manager negotiated with the Borgata people to have me and my friend backstage DURING the concert.
10 minutes later, I'm on stage-right, 10 feet away from Andrew's bass amplifier. I watched the entire concert from the side of the stage -- and no one bothered me and my friend in that little private space. I sang every song word for word and at one point had N'Dea Davenport point at me as she turned around while singing. It was crazy. Flippin' crazy. The Heavies played a lot of old hits off their Brother Sister album and a lot of their new hits off the Get Used to It album. It was just incredible.
Fast-forward. After the concert, I expected to meet them for a few minutes, get my free t-shirt, tell N'Dea I love her and Jan that I wish I had his brain, and then split. Instead, I'm in their dressing room for 2 hours with some of their friends, and their manager mixing drinks. It was an intimate party (last night of their US tour) with a lot of conversation and alcohol. At one point, Simon Bartholomew (guitar god), told me to take some nasty brandy shots with him (check out my pics to see the before, during and after shots). N'Dea was just a sweetheart. I picked Jan's (Keys, Drums, songwriter/leader) brain too. I realized later on that on my web pages (e.g. friendster), I've had his name come up a lot under the "people i want to meet" question. Well, it's done. Andrew (Bass) was a riot. I made connections with the backup singer and the session keyboardist, and most importantly, exchanged information with the band members and their tour manager. Let's just say that it's possible that this isn't the last time that I get to spend some time (no pun intended) with them.
There are just too many details to this most special evening, and no blog entry or novel can truly encompass and express what I've experienced. Incredible. That's all I have to say.
animated