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The Challenge Of Greatness

TO TAKE ON 46 SONGS,
THE CLASSIC HIT SONGS OF BYGONE DECADES

All About My New Album

——— By Patricia Welch

 

I love the old classics. And I listened to many of them as a little girl in West Virginia, longing even then for a life in music. When I was older, I got to work on Broadway, co-starring with Yul Brynner in a revival of “The King and I,” touring with Robert Goulet, singing in Wayne Newton’s show and many other wonderful venues. But despite all these gifts for expressing my talent and ambition, I wanted to create something challenging, exciting and yet entirely under my own creative control, something that paralleled the kind of shows I have been recently performing, showcasing the music I truly loved.

MusicForGr8Ent_group
Presenting My New 3-CD Set


So now I am very happy to present to you my new 3-CD set filled with 46 songs, all of which were blockbuster hits from the 50’s to the 90s. These songs were so popular, they were covered sometimes dozens- and in some cases- even hundreds of times by the most popular singers of the twentieth century. This CD makes the perfect gift for anyone who wants to host a dinner party or to anyone who savors the greatest music from the romantic and talented writers and singers from a bygone era that continues to live vibrantly and powerfully through the magic of electronic media but also through the continuing work of singers and performers who sought to make these songs their own.


It wasn’t all that easy. This is what I did in order to make my own twenty-first century versions of the songs I loved: Nine months of intensive study of numerous versions of the songs and their history  and continual fourteen hour days, mostly in a recording studio or practicing at home,  to give my own polish and shine to these old standards.


Could I create versions of these songs to equal or surpass the versions of artists ranging from great artists like Linda Ronstadt, Sheena Easton, Frank Sinatra, Gladys Knight, Gwen Verdon, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Dionne Warwick, Doris Day… Well, I thought I could. You tell me… Here is a short clip of one of my favorites “Unchained Melody”

“Patricia Welch has a gorgeous voice. I have heard her sing several times in person, and she always thrills the audience.” – Andy Williams

 

 

Speaking of testimonials, another great singer who intimately knows my work is Wayne Newton, Mr. Las Vegas, with whom I toured for two years, also performing in his show.  He gave me this for his testimonial.

 

“Patricia Welch has perfect pitch, no gimmicks, dedicated and disciplined and sings with great heart. She truly has an angelic voice and onstage she is an automatic standing ovation.”- Wayne Newton

Unchained Melody

Now, many people think of the word, “unchained” in “unchained melody” as referring to the powerful range of sound and emotion in the song, but the reality is that the song originated as the key score in a movie called, “Unchained” by the singer, Todd Duncan.


It didn’t really gain its popularity until the Righteous Brothers recorded it again in 1965. Of course it gained even more steam after its appearance in the Hollywood hit, “Ghost.”


I actually performed this song at La Quinta Country Club for a private party some years ago. It so happened that Andy Williams was attending that party and when I began the song, “Unchained Melody,” Andy nudged his companion and said, “She’ll never get to the end of this song in this high key.”


I had started at G and he would have been right except, fortunately, I have a four-octave range. Andy Williams was gracious enough to say this about this CD set before he passed on in 2012.

Fly Me To The Moon

One of my favorite songs is called, “Fly Me To the Moon,” which has an amazing longevity and a very powerful history of being re-recorded as a cover song from its first initiation by Kay Ballard in 1954. It got a tremendous boost from Peggy Lee when she sang it on the Ed Sullivan Show, comparable in a way to our American Idol in so far as it introduced new songs and singers over many years. Back in those days, it was called “In Other Words” from the famous lyric, “In other words, hold my hand.” A few years later, Peggy Lee, asked Bart Howard, the writer, to change it to “Fly Me to the Moon.”

 

 

It went through about 100 cover songs until Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1964. By the time Wall Street, the movie came around, the song, which began the maga-hit film had reached about 300 covers. Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulder of giants.” Well, so if Sir Isaac wasn’t intimidated by standing on the shoulders of others, why should I be?

Also Ella Fitzgerald, Bobbie Gentrie, Emmylou Harris, Lizza Minelli and Johnny Mathis. Why not? Oh, yea, Elvis Presley. Here’s a small piece of Dionne Warwick’s performance: Here’s my version of “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”

I’ll Never Fall In Love Again

Another song that I loved working on was “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.” It is a wonderful tribute to the eternal ambiguity of many love relationships. Not mine, thank God- but I still enjoy taking different roles in my songs- and this one came straight out of a musical, “Promises, Promises.”

 

 

It contains one of the world’s strangest lyrical rhymes.

“What do you get when you kiss a guy?
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia
After you do, he’ll never phone ya-“

 

“Pneumonia-“ “Phone ya-“????????  This is a stretch, but such a clever, funny line, developed by lyricist Hal David while his composer/partner, famed composer Burt Bacharach, was in the hospital. David supposedly denied any connection, but who knows. Did I enjoy competing with the song performed by Dionne Warwick, which became an international best seller and won Dionne a 1971 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Female Performance. You bet’ya…

Eden Ahbez Version of  “Nature Boy”

Nature Boy

Perhaps one of the most unusual songs in my collection is “Nature Boy” by Eden Ahbez, an American singer/songwriter with an unusual lifestyle, focused on living in Nature and eating raw nuts, fruits and vegetables. Here’s  picture of his album, which was produced somewhat after his hit song became famous.

 

The result was that the song was recorded in 1947 and eventually sold a million copies, allowing Cole to become appreciated by the white audience and its market and earning Ahbez royalties. Here is Nat King Cole’s beautiful version.

Here’s my version of “Nature Boy”

“Music for Great Entertaining”
Forty-Six Songs CD Project (Hit Songs From the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s & 90’s)

Purchase CD’s “Cocktails, Dinner, & Dessert With Patricia”
(Hit Pop Songs of the 50’s, 60’s,70’s 80’s & 90’s)

“46 Songs CD Set” Contents
Nearly 3 hours of Be
autiful Music

Add style to your Cocktail Hour!
(This collection of songs is available ONLY in the 46 Song COMPLETE SET)

1. Almost Like Being In Love
2. If We Hold On Together
3. Valentine
4. Night & Day
5. So Far Away
6. Unchained Melody
7. One Less Bell To Answer
8. What The World Needs Now Is Love
9. La Vie En Rose
10. A Whole New World
11. I’ll Never Fall In Love Again
12. Unforgettable
13. You’ve Got A Friend
14. Midnight Blue
15. The Way He Makes Me Feel

Add dazzle to your dining experience!
(This collection of songs is available in the 46 Song COMPLETE SET and ALSO SOLD SEPERATELY)

01 Evergreen
02 Valley Of The Dolls
03 Fly Me To The Moon
04 Just One Lifetime
05 That’s What Friends Are For
06 Orange Colored Sky
07 Someone That I Used To Love
08 Do You Know Where You’re Going To
09 Ooh Baby, Baby
10 Top Of The World
11 The Rose
12 Come In From The Rain
13 Woman In Love
14 Sentimental Journey
15 Someone Like You
16 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Add panache to your after-dinner conversation!
(This collection of songs is available ONLY in the 46 Song COMPLETE SET)

01 Whatever Lola Wants
02 Save The Best For Last
03 Can’t Help Lovin That Man
04 Embraceable You
05 The Boy From Ipanema
06 People
07 Nice Work If You Can Get It
08 The Way We Were
09 Crazy
10 Under The Boardwalk
11 Nature Boy
12 Touch Me In The Morning
13 Danny’s Song
14 Misty
15 The Wind Beneath My Wings

3 CD Set (46 Songs) $7.95 S & H will be added to your order
Dining CD - (16 Songs) $4.90 S & H will be added to your order