Special thanks to Andy for taking the time to answer the questions that were
sent from fans.
Q: If Shirley was your first choice for "Thank You for the Years" - who was your
second? - Mike
A: No one, we kept it for Dame Shirley although we had interest from other
people. However, If she was still alive and Dame Shirley hadn't wanted to do
it.. Karen Carpenter would have probably been my next choice.
Q: Is this your biggest release to date? Margo
A: ...........Absolutely! and we are thrilled that she has done it. We have some
exciting new opportunities coming up as a result of this.
Q: Did Shirley like the song straight away or did she need persuading?! -
John
A: ....................Fortunately, she fell in love with it as soon as she
heard it.
Q: Are you thanking anyone in particular? Is there a story?! - Mel
A: ........The first verse, plus an instrumental verse was written as an
anniversary present for my wife Elizabeth. I actually had no intention of
sending it to anyone. When a friend of mine Nicky Graham (now A&R Director at
Sony) heard it.. he said that it was potentially a very strong song and that it
needed a bigger audience. We both agreed that Shirley Bassey was probably the
only artist who had the vocal range and power to do the song justice. So, after
talking to my wife about the idea of presenting her 'anniversary present' to one
of the finest female singers in the history of music.. I finished the music
writing and arranging and Elizabeth and I finished the lyrics together.
We wrote the rest of the lyrics especially for Dame Shirley although we still
wrote them from our own personal experience. We had just gone through some very
difficult times personally and were just starting to come through them.
We felt that there were very few songs around that talked about longevity in a
relationship. Most love songs seem to be about short term romance or breaking
up; so we felt that 'Thank You For The Years' could strike a chord with people
who have been with their wives, husbands or partners for a long time and stayed
strong together. And also in Dame Shirley's case, for fans who have supported
her for many years as well. Basically, an ideal anniversary song. Q: Why did it take so long to unite singer and song? - Patrick
A: ...........Politics, a change in record companies, timing. All these things
are factors when placing a song. When the song was first sent to the management
there was no new Shirley Bassey album planned so the song just sat there for 2
years. When Dame Shirley finally decided to do a new album she chose 'thank you
for the years' along with the other songs.
However it took another year before the record deal with Sony was sorted and
then it was left another year after that so that it coincided with her 50 years
in show business. Although it was frustrating at the time I think the timing has
been absolutely perfect.
Q: Do you plan to write any more new material for Shirley in the future?
Mikey Mike
A: ...................I would love to Mikey. If we write something and we feel
it is right for Dame Shirley I will definitely send it to her and see what she
thinks.
However I have no info as to whether or not she will be doing another album.
Time will tell.
Q: Where can we purchase the sheet music for this fab song? - Simon Parker
..................Thanks Simon!.........If the demand for the song is high then
sheet music will be produced. However, at the moment we don't know whether the
demand would justify the cost. As I also publish the song I would have to
organise the sheet music and this is very costly. We will have to see how things
go.
Q: Apart from "Thank you..." what are your favourite all time Shirley
tracks? - Ed
A: .........That's a difficult one as there are so many fantastic tracks over so
many years. People like songs for different personal reasons. 'Something' I
adore, her versions of 'Solitaire', 'Fool on the hill' and 'For all we know' I
quite liked, 'Where do I begin' (the original not the Remix although I thought
that was very clever, (the 'Away Team' guys are good friends of mine). 'History
repeating' worked very well, I quite liked the production. 'Diamonds are
forever' is my favourite Bond song, I also liked the work she did in the 60s
with Nelson Riddle & Geoff Love. So many songs....it must be a nightmare trying
to decide what to do live!