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Rebecca Ferguson - Lady Sings The Blues |
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#1 |
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Rebecca Ferguson - Lady Sings The Blues
Rebecca Ferguson has announced her 3rd album will be released on 9th March and is entitled Lady Sings The Blues.
It is a song for song re interpretation of Billies Holliday's 1956 album of the same title. This a video about the making of the album http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/ne...p1g6GnYYOpqc9r As it is covers I'm not sure how it will be received but her first two albums were original tracks I think she is entitled to try this. |
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#2 |
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Like Rebecca, but this screams contractual obligation. I hope she finds a new label that will treat her right.
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#3 |
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A cover album? Really?
Terrible decision. |
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#4 |
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This might even end her record contact and her potential to be a major star as she has shown in her first two records which for the record were phenomenal.
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#5 |
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I disagree. I found her pop numbers distinctly average, yet I think she has one of the finest voices ever to have been heard on Xfactor. I just dont think it lends itself to the kind of modern pop that she has been made to perform.
If she is to be covering Billie Holliday's music, I cant think of anyone better qualified to do that. Her voice is pure blues, and thats what she is best at. I would suspect Rebecca might even have asked to perform this kind of material because she knows that's where her voice excels, and I suspect also its what she enjoys doing most of all. If there are any forseeable problems I would think they would be in the area of finding someone who can write new material that is anywhere near as well written and arranged as those old blues numbers for future records. |
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#6 |
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Quote:
I disagree. I found her pop numbers distinctly average, yet I think she has one of the finest voices ever to have been heard on Xfactor. I just dont think it lends itself to the kind of modern pop that she has been made to perform.
If she is to be covering Billie Holliday's music, I cant think of anyone better qualified to do that. Her voice is pure blues, and thats what she is best at. I would suspect Rebecca might even have asked to perform this kind of material because she knows that's where her voice excels, and I suspect also its what she enjoys doing most of all. If there are any forseeable problems I would think they would be in the area of finding someone who can write new material that is anywhere near as well written and arranged as those old blues numbers for future records. |
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#7 |
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I don't watch X Factor and must admit I've never heard of Rebecca Ferguson
But I like Billie Holiday and thought the clips on the video sounded pretty good........very good voice for the style of music. I hope someone posts these when they reach Youtube as I'll have forgotten all about it by then but would certainly give it a listen if prompted I'm sure one of the tracks she was singing on the video was 'That Ole Devil Called Love' which isn't on the Billie LP she's meant to be covering....... |
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#8 |
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I absolutely love Rebecca Ferguson, from the moment she starting singing when she stepped onto the X Factor stage I knew I'd be buying pretty much anything she released. I would definitely say her first album is the best to be released by any X Factor contestant, and I thought the style fit her voice perfectly.
This third album intrigues me... a song-for-song cover album is certainly risky, and I do worry about how the record label is treating her. However I'll just be glad to hear her singing some more! |
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#9 |
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I think she has fallen fowl to the Leona curse where her personal life is starting to overshadow her talent.
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#10 |
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Quote:
I think she has fallen fowl to the Leona curse where her personal life is starting to overshadow her talent.
Same with Rebecca I think this is a very brave and bold move on rebecca's part. But apart of me feels a tiny bit confused about it. According to an interview, she wasn't even aware of the Lady sings the blue album until very recently. Now why do an album of songs you are still rather new to. I would do a covers album of songs I have loved for a long time and connect to as an artist. The problem is, no one can deliver Billie Holliday songs like her. That was a woman who went through so much horror, so much pain and dispair. She put all of this into her voice and music. Can Rebecca really capture at least some of that emotion? I doubt it. I may be wrong. But considering she had a baby and was dumped by the father half way through her pregnancy, you can't tell me that there isn't an album of original stuff to be made through that. |
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#11 |
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Quote:
I don't ever recall Leona's personal life ever overshadowing her talk
Same with Rebecca I think this is a very brave and bold move on rebecca's part. But apart of me feels a tiny bit confused about it. According to an interview, she wasn't even aware of the Lady sings the blue album until very recently. Now why do an album of songs you are still rather new to. I would do a covers album of songs I have loved for a long time and connect to as an artist. The problem is, no one can deliver Billie Holliday songs like her. That was a woman who went through so much horror, so much pain and dispair. She put all of this into her voice and music. Can Rebecca really capture at least some of that emotion? I doubt it. I may be wrong. But considering she had a baby and was dumped by the father half way through her pregnancy, you can't tell me that there isn't an album of original stuff to be made through that. Get Happy is not one of the tracks on the original Lady Sings The Blues recording but I think she has recorded some other Billie Holliday tracks as well as the songs from that album. |
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#12 |
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USUALLY I would scoff at this and thing "oh my god" BUT I will say..all through the X factor I was dying for her to sing Billie Holiday songs because for me, she was the next best thing to her. I definitely believe we saw her at her best on that show, rather than her album material.
For the first time since her debut, I will be purchasing this album. Rebecca as Billie? Genius tbh. |
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#13 |
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Diana Ross made a double album after her appearance in the film "Lady Sings the Blues" based on the life of Billie Holiday and sang all the same songs.
Mind you that was over forty years ago, so I guess the record company presume the world has forgotten about that by now. So time for another? I'm no fan of Diana Ross but she made a passable effort at it. Lots of tracks on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjODPpMVrjY Even the whole 2hr 40min film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUh6ePH9RZU |
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#14 |
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Quote:
Diana Ross made a double album after her appearance in the film "Lady Sings the Blues" based on the life of Billie Holiday and sang all the same songs.
Mind you that was over forty years ago, so I guess the record company presume the world has forgotten about that by now. So time for another? I'm no fan of Diana Ross but she made a passable effort at it. Lots of tracks on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjODPpMVrjY |
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#15 |
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Quote:
Like you Doghouse, I'm no fan of Diana Ross but I went to see the movie when it was released in 1972 and enjoyed her acting performance as well as her take on the songs.
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#16 |
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The 1st single is 'Get Happy'.
http://x2fr-uk.tumblr.com/post/10850...-php-f-9-t-108 |
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#17 |
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I was a Diana Ross fan.......and it was Lady Sings the Blues that got me diving back in history to the original Billie Holiday recordings......
Just as some of the British blues bands of the 60s got me turning up the US originals like Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Lightning Hopkins etc So........these covers and 'homages' do widen our horizons ! |
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#18 |
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Quote:
I don't ever recall Leona's personal life ever overshadowing her talk
Same with Rebecca But considering she had a baby and was dumped by the father half way through her pregnancy, you can't tell me that there isn't an album of original stuff to be made through that. Leona's personal life did start to eclipse her music career, with her ex boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa selling his stories about her a few times, he actually used her to come an A+R rep for a music company which has made him a millionaire in his own right, whilst Leona had to sell her Beverly Hills house last year. If you follow anything like blind gossip, there have been all kinds of crazy stories about LL trying to keep her contract, whether they are true or not... Rebecca's career from the start had some Daily Mail esque backlash on her, just as Kym Marsh's did way back when. But without standing on a soapbox here, her most recent life events make her more difficult to market. Remember who lost their career in the Alesha Dixon/Harvey/Javine love triangle. At the end of the day Syco seem to only give their artists that first initial push, when they encounter things like kids (Sam Bailey), or negative press (James Arthur), it is just the beginning of the end for them. |
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#19 |
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To be fair i think SYCO just expects their winner to go platinum. If you dont as in Sam, Joe, Matt, James, Steve, Leon's case you are dropped immediately. I think they have to recoup the winners contract that has a £150k advance so if you only sell 100k albums yes thats alot but it doesn't recoup the costs that are spent on you in most cases.
The only one's who were kept on after the winner's album release were Shayne 500k+ Alexandra 800k+ Leona 1.4m+ Little Mix 340k+ They were kept on because they sold are a good number of albums and all their singles seem to perform well in the charts. I'm sure they didn't put as much investment into Sam Bailey for example fobbing her off with a cover's album to be fair, but then again Susan Boyle seemed to do fine with that approach and its possible Sam could have too by that logic. So i guess the key is you need your album to sell at least lets say 300k-400k and have a few successful singles or otherwise you're dropped. I do think Ben will also fall short sadly. |
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#20 |
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Here's a comparison for all of you!
Steve - 150k - dropped Shayne - 500k - kept on Leona - 1.4k - kept on Leon - 140k - dropped Alexandra - 800k - kept on Joe - 98k - dropped Matt - 260k - dropped Little Mix - 340k & international - kept on James - 270k - dropped Sam - 130k - presume dropped. re-release flopped too Then those same people release second albums Shayne - 300k Leona - 800k Little Mix - 200k & international Alexandra - 40k - dropped Then those same people release third albums Shayne - 60k - dropped Leona - 60k - a cause for concern; gimmick christmas album planned next Little Mix - no third album yet released this year What this just shows is how the music industry works, it doesn't matter if you sold 10m albums two years ago if your new record flops you're done. Only 4/10 winners were kept on past their winner's albums ![]() This is SYCO's conveyer belt. Rebecca sold 600k, then 100k. I do hope she can sell 100k at least otherwise i think she'll be looking for a different label if i'm honest. I am one of Rebecca's biggest fans, have both her album, they are both the best ever to come out of the show and even i know if the next record flops she's done with Sony sadly. I think if Freedom had sold more than 100k we wouldn't have been given a gimmick covers album. This is how Syco's head's work. They are after short term gains and not interested in long term potential.
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#21 |
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Well James was dropped for his behaviour, not his sales. His label were more than happy for a second album.
Alexandra wasn't dropped, she got a better offer elsewhere. Too many creative differences behind the scenes. Or if she was, they covered it up nicely. But i know what your saying. You do need to be contually sell your albums well, otherwise you can be dropped by your second album. It can apply to all artists, not just reality contestants. I recall Paloma Faith and Lily Allen saying if their second albums flop, they will be dropped. But then there could also be a reason why albums underperform. I didnt like Rebecca ferguson's second album because of the material. She didn't do a lot of promotion for her first album but managed 600k. She didn't do a lot of promotion for her second album (one reason may of been pregnancy) and yet managed 100k. So it goes to show promotion was irelevant, it was the material that did not click with a lot of people. |
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#22 |
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Quote:
Well James was dropped for his behaviour, not his sales. His label were more than happy for a second album.
Alexandra wasn't dropped, she got a better offer elsewhere. Too many creative differences behind the scenes. Or if she was, they covered it up nicely. But i know what your saying. You do need to be contually sell your albums well, otherwise you can be dropped by your second album. It can apply to all artists, not just reality contestants. I recall Paloma Faith and Lily Allen saying if their second albums flop, they will be dropped. But then there could also be a reason why albums underperform. I didnt like Rebecca ferguson's second album because of the material. She didn't do a lot of promotion for her first album but managed 600k. She didn't do a lot of promotion for her second album (one reason may of been pregnancy) and yet managed 100k. So it goes to show promotion was irelevant, it was the material that did not click with a lot of people. On the subject of the third album I don't think that this is just another covers album. A lot of money and thought has been put into this project as they used the iconic Capitol recording studios in Los Angeles which was used by many legendary performers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. They also used some of the best musicians in Los Angeles on the recording although this may cause a problem in replicating the sound when performing live shows. Maybe she will use the Jools Holland Band.
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#23 |
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Well James was dropped for his behaviour, not his sales. His label were more than happy for a second album.
I really doubt that. Plus we don't know. They always say the label wanted a second album but i left due to creative differences. As if! Everyone uses that line. James didn't sell enough despite releasing 4 singles off the first album for a winner. Simple as. The negative press/attitude didn't help. Either way he would be dropped. Lets just say if the album sold 600k Syco would have looked past his poor attitude..! If they wanted him to do another album he'd be doing it right now. Do not believe any of James 'claims'.Alexandra wasn't dropped, she got a better offer elsewhere. Too many creative differences behind the scenes. Or if she was, they covered it up nicely. The second album was a huge flop. Her first was a huge success. She didn't even do 10% her first record in sales - about 40-60k last i heard. Nothing to do with a better offer. Album flopped simple as. Now they could have looked past it but obviously they didn't as we were not given a third album under Sony. But i know what your saying. You do need to be contually sell your albums well, otherwise you can be dropped by your second album. It can apply to all artists, not just reality contestants. I recall Paloma Faith and Lily Allen saying if their second albums flop, they will be dropped. But then there could also be a reason why albums underperform. I didnt like Rebecca ferguson's second album because of the material. She didn't do a lot of promotion for her first album but managed 600k. She didn't do a lot of promotion for her second album (one reason may of been pregnancy) and yet managed 100k. So it goes to show promotion was irelevant, it was the material that did not click with a lot of people. It's not fair Olly and 1D have raked up just under half a million each and nearly 600k for 1D. Now would they have achieved such a tally without the XF promo slots and Xmas timed release? NO. Both are fairly big and would have still done well but not as well. It's a poor albums climate right now, Ella Henderson is luckily over Xmas she has pushed herself from 120k sold to over 300k. So she's safe. Rebecca deserved a proper launch for the third album - a XF performance. Sadly right now even if she goes Top 10 she won't sell much doing it - last week's album at 10 sold only 8,000 copies. She's going to have quite a good chart run to rack up anything decent in sales. I'm afraid this will give the label justification to drop her. Cher Lloyd suffered the same fate, in Xmas she may have fared better well perhaps also if they hadn't delayed her album so much that no one in the UK and USA virtually was interested anymore....! |
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#24 |
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is it a cover of the Billie Holiday album?
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#25 |
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Quote:
is it a cover of the Billie Holiday album?
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If they wanted him to do another album he'd be doing it right now. Do not believe any of James 'claims'.