"Because You Loved Me"

Up Close & Personal is an American romantic drama film, that stars Robert Redford as a news director and Michelle Pfeiffer as his protegee. This film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song "Because You Loved Me" which was written by Diane Warren, produced by David Foster and performed by Celine Dion.

Back in 1996 this session was actually my first recording for that year, I was called to sing backgrounds on "Because You Loved Me" with a host of great LA Singers. I remember this session as if it were yesterday. There were 8 singers, including myself, and we went to the studio and rehearsed before David Foster got there. Once he got there we recorded the backgrounds over Celine Dion's gorgeous vocals. I will tell you about more Celine Dion's recordings that I've worked on in a future BLOG. 


"Because You Loved Me" is a song from Celine Dion's album Falling into You, released as the first single in February / 1996. This song, as I mentioned, was written by Diane Warren as a tribute to her father for his encouragement.

"Because You Loved Me" is one of Celine Dion's biggest hits and signature songs. It reached #1 in the United States, Australia and Canada.

The single of this song has sold 1,345,000 copies in the U.S. and was certified platinum. In addition to being nominated for an Academy Award, this song was also nominated for A Golden Globe Award, as well as four Grammy Awards. It won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The song was also nominated for 'Record of the Year', 'Song of the Year' and 'Best Female Pop Vocal Performance'.

You can tell that this is a great song not only because of everything that the song accomplished but also because the song has been re-recorded by many different artists including Johnny Mathis and Clay Aiken.

I originally met Diane Warren, the songwriter, when I used to sing song demo's. I sang some song demos while her career was taking off as a songwriter. It's really nice to be a part of such a huge hit. Every once in a while a song comes along that you wish you had written, the song 'Because You Loved Me' definitely falls into that category.

Until Next Time - Phillip

CHRONICLES OF THE PAST - "King of Wishful Thinking"

Back in the late 1980's early 1990's I had become the vocal contractor for Peter Wolf. Peter and I had met on the Dennis Edwards project where he wrote a song and played keyboards. As Peter's productions were gaining notoriety, I sang background on a lot of the songs he produced, such as "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" which I spoke about on this BLOG on February 20, 2011.

Go West was an up and coming group from England who formed back in 1982. They had many successful singles in the UK but at this time they were not that well known in the United States. Go West was a duo made up of Peter Cox and Richard Drummie. Together with Martin Page they wrote a song called  "King Of Wishful Thinking", which Peter Wolf produced and I, with some serious singers, sang background on.

The song was released in 1990 and it ended up being used in the film Pretty Woman. The song scored Go West a Top-10 US hit, and in 1991 this song also received an ASCAP award for being one of the most played songs in America the previous year.

In 1992 the band released the Indian Summer album which included "King of Wishful Thinking" as well as the song "Faithful" which became another hit in the US, peaking at #14, and also a UK hit, peaking at #13. The song "Faithful" later received airplay recognition awards in the US in both 1992 and in 1993. I also had the privilege of singing backgrounds on this song as well. Since Go West was gaining recognition in the US they were doing quite a bit of the Late Night Shows such as The Tonight Show, which I got to perform on the show with them and sing backgrounds.

Since that time I haven't seen Richard or Peter. I do know that Peter went on to record some solo albums from 1997 up through the 2000s. As usual we all had fun in the studio and it was great listening to their English accents. I did do a lot more work with Peter Wolf, the producer, which you will hear from time to time.

Pretty Woman came on TV the other day and in the beginning of the film you'll hear the song "King of Wishful Thinking", it took me back hearing this song again, so I thought I'd share a piece of nostalgia with you. Enjoy the video above :-)

Until Next Time - Phillip

COMMERCIAL BREAK: "Sizzler"...Sounds Good

As I mentioned from time to time I'm going to take a commercial break. Over the years I've sung on quite a few commercials and had some great sessions and so I'll share some of the stories from time to time.

Back in the early 90s Jim Gilstrap, Mark Campbell, Phil Perry, and myself sang on a series of Sizzler commercials. The idea musically was to have some guys do a 'do wop' street vibe. The campaign was a huge success. The commercials would show a steak sizzling and then you would hear, "I like the sound of a sweet juicy steak, Sizzler...sounds good". There were other commercials showing different food items as well. This was all sung a capella. Mark Viegha of LANY music put together the music for this brilliant campaign. Mark Viegha was also the one responsible for the 'Peter Pan Peanut Butter' campaign that I spoke of  in this BLOG on April 17, 2011.

Since Sizzler was a franchise they would have their corporate events in various places around the United States. Well once Mark, Jim, Phil and I were invited to one of the corporate meetings in Boston. The idea was to re-create the commercial right on the spot by pulling some people out of the audience to come up and sing the commercial. The franchise owners didn't know we were there at the time. I was dressed as a waiter and Phil Perry had a 10-gallon western hat posing as a franchise owner. We were all scattered within the audience.

Cliff Eidelman from the advertising agency, who was responsible for putting this campaign together, was speaking at this corporate event. He called up Mark Veigha to talk about how this campaign had come together, with his phone call to Mark, the music, everything since it was so successful. As they were talking they asked if there were any in the audience who could sing, I raised my hand, remember I was dressed as a waiter going around pouring water into people's glasses. I got called up. Then one by one Mark Campbell, Jim Gilstrap, Phil Perry and myself were onstage at this corporate event singing one of the Sizzler commercials that we had recorded. That was pretty cool. The audience LOVED IT, and we had a great time. The flight from LA to Boston took longer than our singing. Still we got to spend about 3-days in Boston enjoying some of it's sights.

You really don't see too many Sizzlers in the US anymore, it seems that the whole Sizzler Corporation was purchased by an Australian company and now Sizzlers are going strong in that part of the world. It was great to have been a part of a huge advertising campaign for Sizzler....sounds good. 


Until next time - Phillip

$200,000 raised for Petluma Children with Serious Illnesses

Sheena and the Band performing at the 24th Annual Carousel Fund Casino Night

October 1, 2011, I had a show in Petaluma, CA with Sheena Easton. I knew we were performing at the Petaluma Veterans Building, but I didn't know exactly what the function was for.

Well the function was the 24th annual Carousel Fund Casino Night where they raise money for children with serious illnesses. Over 1,300 people showed up and were reminded why they had come.  For reasons like seven-year-old Ella Stewart who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and spent several months in a coma, during which her family would have lost their house if not for the help of the Carousel Fund. That's why they came, the Sheena Easton performance was a bonus.

The Carousel Fund is an all-volunteer organization whose mission is to raise funds to help Petaluma families pay for the medical expenses of children with catastrophic illnesses or injuries. Since it's beginning in 1986, they have raised more than $3.5 million. On October 1st, they raised over $200,000.

Sheena, concluded the evening with a 90-minute performance. One of Sheena's songs is "For Your Eyes Only" from the Agent 007 James Bond film with the same name. The evening took on a James Bond Theme, "Shaken, Not Stirred," complete with dancing "Bond Girls" above the crowd at the rear of the main room. We had a great time performing, but the real stars were the children

Money was raised through the live and silent auctions, and other functions throughout the night. One of the big-ticket auction items was the use of a new Aston Martin automobile and a two-night stay at Solage Calistoga. There was also some sports memorablila, including a baseball signed by 13 members of the Hall of Fame. There was also a baseball bat signed by Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson and Ernie Banks to help raise funds.

From Left, Rob Stone, David Hart, David Pack and Myself

We flew into the Oakland Airport and interestingly enough we ran into quite a few musicians. It seems that the Bay Area was having a Jazz Festival as well as other musical functions. I ran into David Pack. David Pack was the lead-singer of the group Ambrosia and David and I have worked on numerous projects together. It was nice to see him and while we were talking, a lady comes up to David Pack, and it was one of the members of Manhattan Transfer, They were up in the Bay area for a different show. It was pretty cool running into various musicians. I ended up flying home on the same flight as Manhattan Transfer and got to meet the whole group at the airport before we left. David Pack, stopped for a quick photo that you see here on the right when we first arrived in Oakland.

All in all, it was a great weekend. As usual I had some of my friends whom I hadn't seen in a while at the show and we got to hang out and have dinner and get caught up before and after the show. They really appreciated the Carousel Foundation because they too have a special needs child.

Glad to have been a part of such a worthy cause, and to know that they were able to raise over $200,000 for the Petaluma Children with Serious Illnesses.

Until next time - Phillip