UK: BRITISH SINGER PAUL YOUNG HOPES TO FORCE HIS WAY BACK INTO THE CHARTS IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS

Record ID: 387298

  • Title: UK: BRITISH SINGER PAUL YOUNG HOPES TO FORCE HIS WAY BACK INTO THE CHARTS IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
  • Date: 25th November 1997
  • Summary: AUDIENCE APPLAUDING AS YOUNG CLOSES HIS PERFORMANCE/ BOWS
  • Embargoed: 10th December 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAB8MYOIAS6JQDEDN7M6Z51VNP2
  • Story Text: - British singer Paul Young - so popular in the 1980's with hit singles such as "Common People" and "Wherever I Lay My Hat" - is hoping to force his way back into the charts in time for Christmas following years in the music business wilderness.

    The latest single from his album "Ball & Chain" is "Make Someone Happy" - and it's due to be released on December 15th - just in time for the festive season.

    Young said he usually avoided releasing a Christmas single, but the song appeared to fit the bill, "I normally pass that season by.

    I'm not so good at that kind of thing. I find it a bit too schmaltzy...it just turned out that way," he said.

    The album is Young's third released within the 1990's, and all of which have had a luke-warm reception. The artist gained most of his following in the mid-eighties, with albums such as "No Parlez".

    He was voted Britains best singer of the year in 1984.

    In recent years, Young appeared to have quit the music scene - touring sporadically and making the odd appearance in bars and restaurants for small gigs.

    But Young said he had been kept busy changing record labels and writing new songs.

    For the new album, Young admits he abandoned his old soulful ballads which gained him a following to make way for his new influences.

    "I'm probably doing the very thing that I accuse other people of, straying away from the stuff that made me famous, but I think there's enough of it there," he said.

    Young said he still listens to old influences such as Crosby Stills and Nash, but had added to his musical taste more up-to-date bands such as The Prodigy and Radiohead.

    Young is keen to shake his "white soul boy" tag, insisting that it is no longer relevant.

    In fact, the new album includes fiddle and accordian drenched numbers that might be more in place on a Garth Brooks album.

    Yet during a performance at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on Tuesday (November 26), Young played many of the old favorites including "Wherever I Lay My Hat", "Everything Must Change" and "Tear Your Playhouse Down".
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