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Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.
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Author:  Marian [ Sat Aug 22, 2015 9:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo

Marian wrote:
Some time after the demo was made, Crowded Rooms was selected as a finalist in an International Song Contest.
Anne performed the song perfectly at the event and it was announced as 2nd, the runner-up. The Turkish song was announced the winner. Kathy Durkin, who had been entertaining as the cabaret star, came to me after the contest had ended and said that she would like to record Crowded Rooms on her forthcoming album. This was great news and I was really thrilled that a dream was going to come true. :-)

video removed now but, as before, thankyou for watching/listening.

Author:  Marian [ Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

Some time later, I heard the news that the very popular S.African singer Bles Bridges was going to record Crowded Rooms. He was rehearsing the song in English and Afrikaans and I was so excited that another commercial recording was to be released of Crowded Rooms and this time by a male vocalist.

Then there was the devastating news of a tragic accident when Bles was returning home from a concert one night. It was a dreadful shock, not just to me and my publisher at that time, but to all Bles Bridges fans.

The album he had been preparing was released some time later and Crowded Rooms was included twice, once in Afrikaans and then again in English. The tracks which had never been finished by Bles were digitally mastered by the studio and I was proud
that this had been done.

Needless to say, the tragedy was something which took a very long time to sink in and I have never really spoken about it
publicly before. Reporters in newspapers may report these things but, somehow, it didn't seem right for me to speak about it
as it was the tragic accident which was more terrible than the fact he was preparing to record my song. To bring the news out in public could have looked as though I was 'cashing in' on what was a tragedy and so, as said previously, I have never spoken about it. Therefore, the last albums which included Crowded Rooms brought more sadness for me personally but I think, now, I can be proud that he liked the song enough to want to record it.

RIP Bles. Not forgotten. x

Author:  Jon [ Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

Very sad. When was this?

Author:  Jon [ Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

Cancel that... just read about him on Wikipedia and I see it was in 2000.


Author:  davrob [ Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

Thank you for posting the video. I've heard a few versions of this song now, and I'm pleased to have been able to listen to this one. I never tire of listening to it, whatever the version.

Author:  Marian [ Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

Thankyou from me too, Jon.

There was an album before this one and think it was called This Time Tomorrow. That was the one which had the two versions Afrikaans and English.

Thanks for finding The English Album and uploading it. It was a surprise.

Marian

Author:  Marian [ Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

davrob wrote:
Thank you for posting the video. I've heard a few versions of this song now, and I'm pleased to have been able to listen to this one. I never tire of listening to it, whatever the version.


Thankyou for your comment, too, Davrob. It is good to know that the song is still liked after all this time.

This version was not actually completed as I was asked to try to adapt some of the words, making it slightly different because of it being a male singer, but they were never finished and so the recording was as the song was at an earlier recording stage.

Thankyou again
Marian

Author:  Jon [ Sun Aug 30, 2015 7:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

My mum and dad have just stumbled across your Fanfare March on one of my memory sticks. They just LOVE it. They've played it over and over. I couldn't stop dad going on about how brilliant he thinks it is.

Author:  Marian [ Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crowded Rooms - demo and story of the highs and lows.

Jon wrote:
My mum and dad have just stumbled across your Fanfare March on one of my memory sticks. They just LOVE it. They've played it over and over. I couldn't stop dad going on about how brilliant he thinks it is.


Oh, that is so nice to read. Thankyou :-) to your Mum and Dad.

I have sorted out one of my favourite versions which you recorded and uploaded on Photos (and recordings). I wonder if that is the one they liked?

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