- Title: VARIOUS: 1997 HIGHLIGHTS IN MUSIC FROM ROUND THE GLOBE
- Date: 5th January 1997
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (DECEMBER 10, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) ELTON JOHN SAYING, "I DON'T WANT TO BASK IN ANY KIND OF GLORY ABOUT IT, IT WAS A VERY PERSONAL SONG, AND IT WAS A SONG REWRITTEN ESPECIALLY FOR THAT DAY, AND UNLESS I GET A REQUEST TO SING IT FROM ANY MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY OR HER SONS, I'M NOT GOING TO SING IT AGAIN, I JUST DON'T THINK IT'S APPROPRIATE."
- Embargoed: 20th January 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VARIOUS
- City:
- Country: France
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVABPYKQT9SPPYEF3LBZBA2JE06
- Story Text: - The music world has witnessed some phenomenal successes in 1997 - from the Spice Girls rise to "girl power" to the hit single by Elton John for the late Princess of Wales.
Nothing could stop the meteoric rise of the Spice Girls.
Girl power took on the world - advancing from Britain, across the water to Europe and the United States (U.S.).
The feisty five, written off in some sections of the media during the year, in December became the first band in 32 years to have two top UK Christmas hits in a row. Their new single, "Too Much", was the girl band's sixth number one in a row. Last year, "2 Become 1" was their Christmas hit.
In the U.S. the band became the first UK act to score two albums in the top 20 since Elton John in 1975. They also won two coveted Billboard awards for Best Album and Best Newcomers.
The girls are now concentrating on finding a replacement for their sacked manager and preparing for their world tour which begins in Europe on February 19th.
1997 saw musician Elton John donating 20 million pounds sterling (33 million U.S. dollars) from sales of his hit single "Candle in the Wind" to Princess Diana's memorial fund.
John visited Diana's former home, Kensington Palace, to hand over the first instalment of royalties.
It took just five weeks for "Candle in the Wind" to outsell Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and become the world's biggest-selling single.
A tribute album of music dedicated to Princess Diana was released in December with proceeds going to her favorite charities.
Billed as the biggest tear-jerker in the history of modern music, the album's tracks were donated by 36 world-famous artists as diverse as Paul McCartney, Queen, Michael Jackson and Puff Daddy At this year's U.S. Billboard Awards, Rap Artist of the Year went to producer, songwriter and performer Puff Daddy. His hit single "I'll be Missing You" debuted at the top of both the Hot 100 singles chart and the R&B charts.
INXS fans the world mourned in November following the death of the Australian band's lead singer Michael Hutchence whose body was discovered hanging in a Sydney hotel room.
The reason for his death remains a mystery.
Noel and Liam Gallagher's band Oasis released their third album "Be Here Now", which became the fastest selling album ever released in the UK. It sold more than 350,000 copies on the first day of its release.
Music to Russian ears this year was Alexandre Malinin who was top of the charts with his song "Wedding".
In Spain, one of the country's most popular bands, flamenco fusion group Ketama, released a new album and toured Europe with their reworked traditional music.
France's Florent Pagny topped the charts with his music while in the Philippines, Eraserheads music proved popular with the release of a fifth album and in South Korea, Park Jin-Young was flavour of the year with "She's So pretty".
In the western world, the silly season has come round again, with a host of novelty songs.
In the United States (U.S.) in recent years music fans have been entertained by Christmas tunes from the "Jingle Cats" and "Jingle Dogs." This year its the turn of the "Jingle Babies." In Britain, not satisfied with being a hit with Britain's pre-schoolers through their television show, the Teletubbies hit the pop charts with the release of their first single, "Teletubbies say Eh-oh(." The phenomenal success of the children's television characters may seem unusual in markets where they are yet to appear - but the Teletubbies have attained cult status in the UK.
In the light of all these contrasting styles of music...it may be the music world's new year resolution to have material as diverse as what has been heard in the past year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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