UK: CANADIAN SINGER ALANNAH MYLES WHOSE FIRST ALBUM GENERATED AN INTERNATIONAL HIT IS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM

Record ID: 387235

  • Title: UK: CANADIAN SINGER ALANNAH MYLES WHOSE FIRST ALBUM GENERATED AN INTERNATIONAL HIT IS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM
  • Date: 25th September 1997
  • Summary: (RTV - ACCESS ALL) ( SOUNDBITE ENGLISH ) MYLES SAYING, "WE KNEW WE HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL. BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT WAS BEING PLAYED ON RADIO AT THE TIME, WE THOUGHT IT WOULD GET MISSED. WE REALLY DID THINK IT WOULD GET MISSED. WE KNEW THE SPECIAL VIBE IT CREATED IN US. WE KNEW HOW PRECIOUS IT WAS, BUT WE THOUGHT IT WOULD JUST FALL BY THE WAYSIDE BASED ON IT WAS SO DIFFERENT.
  • Embargoed: 10th October 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAEMBWJI88C0FI9KY4DV928DSX7
  • Story Text: Six years after her first album generated an international hit and won her a Grammy, Alannah Myles is ready to make her mark again.

    Her fourth album "Arival" (sic) will be released on October 13.

    With two less successful albums preceeding it, Myles decided to change record labels, take control and let her spirit come through.

    The first single "Bad For You" was released this week and according to Myles, typifies what she was trying to achieve with the record.

    "Instead of having the loud twanging guitars, I wanted the voice to rock," she said.

    "I wanted the rock to come from my spirit or from my voice, from my vocal cords, so I pushed the vocals up front, perhaps like the first record." That album, Myles' self-titled debut, sold more than five million copies worldwide, made "Black Velvet" an international hit and earned her a Grammy award for best new female vocalist.

    It also set off a gruelling two-year tour that left the singer physically and emotionally drained.

    Myles says she was pushed to release her next release "Rockinghorse" before she was ready and the sales -- 350,000 -- reflected that.

    Portrayed as a sharped-tongued egoist, Myles criticisedher record company Atlantic for, in her opinion, poorly promoting her second album.

    She says she was forced to sing tame and softy -- without the fierce rock and roll savvy and raspy voice that first captured her fans.

    Myles decided to take control again and stared the break with Atlantic. She teamed up with a new manager, Miles Copeland and got back to her roots on the next album "Alannah".

    "Arival" continues the collaboration.

    The mispelling of the title is intended to be ambiguous.

    Myles says it reflects the fact that she feels she has "arrived" again and also that the work is a piece to "rival" her previous recordings -- and other artists.

    "This is a comeback record. I have been away for a long time," Myles said.

    "I felt I was in creative prison for the longest time signed to Atlantic so on this record, it is a comeback. I've come back with a new label who will rival all others." Myles' straight-talking style and arguments with her former record label helped generate titles like "difficult" and "Canada's sexy icepick of rock." The singer laughs at those descriptions, conceding she is a strong woman who refuses to give up artistic control inher career again.

    And she says she has mellowed -- a bit.

    "Grammys don't make great cuddlers in the middle of the night.

    They're pointy and they hurt," she said.

    "I'd rather have someone to love me and hold me than a pointy Grammy in the long run. And I'd give it up." Myles may have had some years in the rock wilderness but if determination counts for anything, Myles may not have to give anything up.
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