One of the first great gigs I got doing my string thing was for Henry Priestman and The Christians, in the 1990s. And I’ve worked on countless pop productions for Henry ever since. Then a year or so ago he came up with the notion of producing his own solo album. At the time, I joked with him he’d be doing Glastonbury before long. I put string arrangements on 3 or 4 tracks and the album was released by Stiff.
But then it started getting Radio 2 plays – Wogan and Walker – and in comes Island Records, part of Universal. Island had been The Christians label. Now The Guardian are writing about him and Island will be giving him a big push in 2009, with the 1st single, Grey’s the new blonde.
Good luck to you Henry! And can I just point out that I seem to remember doing strings on the cheap, so if I see you driving round in a Porsche I’ll be asking questions!