‘With Love x’ opens with “A Moment Like This”, the sensational debut single from the delectable Leona Lewis.

This brand new collection of heart-felt songs is perfect for Valentine’s Day and Mothers Day 2008 with songs from this century’s biggest selling artists including; Westlife, Shayne Ward, Il Divo, Pink, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce.

If that isn’t enough to tempt you, this compilation also contains timeless and exquisite classics from the greats Nina Simone, George Michael, Billy Joel, Toni Braxton, Elvis and Take That.

Show you care during the season of tenderness…With Love x.

Scheduled for UK release February 4th, 2008 on SonyBMG.

Track Listing: (To Be Confirmed)

CD1

1. Leona Lewis – A Moment Like This
2. Westlife – Home
3. Shayne Ward – Breathless
4. Scouting For Girls – She’s So Lovely
5. Alicia Keys – No One
6. Natasha Bedingfield – Soulmate
7. Il Divo – Nights In White Satin
8. Billy Joel – Just The Way You Are
9. John Barrowman – If You Leave Me Now
10. Pink – Nobody Knows
11. Kelly Clarkson – Breakaway
12. Lemar – Someone Should Tell You
13. Aqualung – Pressure Suit
14. Manic Street Preachers – You’re Love Alone
15. George Michael – Amazing
16. John Legend – Used To Love You
17. Jem – Wish I
18. Nina Simone – The Look Of Love
19. Toni Braxton – Unbreak My Heart
20. Eric Carmen – Hungry Eyes
21. Luther Vandross – Your Secret Love
22. Leanne Rimes – How Do I Live
23. Beyonce – Irreplaceable

CD2

1. Justin Timberlake – Lovestoned
2. The Fray – How To Save A Life
3. Avril Lavigne – When You’re Gone
4. Christina Aguilera – Hurt
5. Newton Faulkner – Dream Catch Me
6. Take That – How Deep Is Your Love
7. Teatro – Love Changes Everything
8. Elvis Presley – The Wonder of You
9. Michael Jackson – I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
10. Dionne Warwick – All The Love In The World
11. The Zutons – Valerie
12. Gloria Estefan – Don’t Want To Lose You
13. Delta Goodrem – Born To Try
14. Anastacia – Left Outside Alone
15. Natalie Imbruglia – Glorious
16. Dido – Thank You
17. Cyndi Lauper – I Drove All Night
18. Savage Garden – Truly Madly Deeply
19. Backstreet Boys – Quit Playing Games (with my heart)
20. John Mayer – Your Body Is A Wonderland
21. Travis – Flowers In The Window
22. Will Young – Leave Right Now

Last Sunday, December 9th, The 79th Royal Variety Performance aired on ITV in the UK. The show took place in Liverpool at the Empire Theatre, in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

One of the standout performances of the night was by Seal. He opened the show with a great version of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. The other performers on stage along with Seal were quite interesting – there was a lot going on. Stilt walkers, acrobats, a choir and more, all with a Beatles-esque ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ feel about it.

For information, and more acts that performed on the show, including Bon Jovi, Teatro and Joan Rivers go to: 79th Royal Variety Performance on Band Weblogs.

Seal also performed his positive and uplifting single, “Amazing” off of his fifth studio album, ‘System’. It’s good to see Seal back on the scene. He really is a class act, no doubt about it. With his white suit and scarf that night, he looked like a million bucks.

It’s no surprise that “Amazing” was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category!

Watch Seal and Heidi Klum video – People Magazine Shoot with “Amazing” as background music:

Seal has a blog! His website is in blog format and features entries and videos. Seal’s wife, model Heidi Klum is in some of the videos that are posted as well – like the People Magazine shoot. The blog is a great place for fans to keep up to date on Seal’s music, news and everyday life.

Video link: Seal and Heidi People Magazine Shoot

Seal’s Blog

Seal on Myspace

By: Jenny May – Band Weblogs

Teatro has released their self-titled debut album, and now they will be performing at one of their grandest shows yet. In front of Her Majesty The Queen, at the 79th Royal Variety Performance on December 3rd, 2007 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.

The first single off of their album, ‘Teatro’ is “Music Of The Night” from Phantom of the Opera. After filming the video for the single, now the ‘making of the video’ is available here at Band Weblogs.

Watch Teatro – the making of the video “Music Of The Night”:

“Music Of The Night” full video link

Related: Curtain rises for Teatro – timeless classics from musical theatre

79th Royal Variety Performance to feature Teatro and more

Teatro Official Website

We are proud to announce that Teatro will be appearing on the 79th Royal Variety Performance in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

The performance will be held in Liverpool at the Empire Theatre on December 3rd, 2007.

Teatro will be on the same bill as Bon Jovi, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, James Blunt, Joan Rivers, Enrique Iglesias, Katherine Jenkins, Al Murray, David Jordan, Russell Brand, Seal and many more.

The show will be hosted by Philip Schofield and Kate Thornton and will be screened on ITV1 on Sunday, 9th December, 2007.

For more information visit:

Royal Variety Performance Official Website

Teatro Official Website

Take the outstanding vocal talent of four good looking young men and a unique collection of timeless classics from musical theatre and you have all the ingredients for the success of Teatro, already billed as Theatreland’s first supergroup. Their debut album simply entitled ‘Teatro’ is launched by Sony BMG on 26th November, 2007.

As a vocal group, Teatro captures the current zeitgeist which has elevated musical theatre to new heights of popularity with prime time TV shows like Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria attracting huge audiences and seen seven and a half million musical theatre tickets sold in the UK last year.

The band evolved through a process of four hugely talented and like-minded singers – three British and one American – deciding that Teatro’s moment was at hand and fusing their talents, coming together through a happy mixture of invitation, recommendation and friendships. Each had already achieved outstanding success in the West End or on Broadway – Simon Bailey for instance played the lead in Les Miserables and turned down the opportunity of appearing in Phantom Of The Opera to join the group which the singers believe will do for theatre music what Il Divo has done for opera.

Simon was joined by Stephen Rahman-Hughes who played the lead in the seminal production of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams which brought the glamour of Bollywood to the West End, Jeremiah James from upstate New York who turned down the role of Sinatra for the call of Teatro, and by Royal Acadamy Of Music graduate and classically trained singer Andrew Alexander.

‘Teatro’, the album will feature the great anthems from a century of musicals which have captivated successive generations including numbers such as “Music of the Night” (Phantom of the Opera), “Maria” (from West Side Story) “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” (Evita), “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” (La Cage Aux Folles) and “Love Changes Everything” (Aspects Of Love). Testimony to the album and the musical heritage on which it uniquely draws is the fact the shows from which the songs originate have between them won an astonishing collection of 23 Oscars, 11 Golden Globes, 39 Tony Awards and three Grammy’s.

Not only will the album showcase the outstanding voices of the four singers, it will also feature the backing of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with a new and unique series of arrangements for the universally loved favourites from the West End and Broadway.

The creative team responsible for the album includes Nick Patrick, the producer responsible for global hits for Tina Turner, Marvin Gaye, Russell Watson, Tony Bennett and Catherine Jenkins and Hollywood Arranger Jorge Calandrelli, winner of seven Grammy’s who has arranged for Sting, Barbara Streisand, Paul McCartney and Michael Buble among others.

Nick Raphael for Sony BMG said: “The music of Teatro celebrates the work of some of the world’s greatest ever popular composers and a century of great musical heritage at a time when the genre has reached record levels of popularity. We believe the group will captivate a mainstream and mass audience and has the potential to be a huge commercial success.”

Band Biographical Notes

Jeremiah James, born in upstate New York, and raised in Los Angeles. He has spent the past decade in constant work, and was one of the youngest performers ever to be nominated for a Los Angeles Theater Ovation Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical for his role in “Crazy For You”. Most recently, he appeared on Broadway in a Cameron Mackintosh revival of “Oklahoma!” as Curly, and was about to take the stage as a young Frank Sinatra in “My Way” when he was asked to become a part of Teatro instead.

“The key to Teatro,” he says, “is that we are a little different to what you’ve heard before. Sure, we will be singing songs that theatre fans will be familiar with but our interpretations will be much more individual, so much so that they will completely stand alone.”

Andrew Alexander, a public school-educated graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, who also has a History degree under his belt as well. Born and bred in Berkshire, he has recently played Nanki-Poo opposite Nicola Hughes in a new production of “The Hot Mikado” (which was nominated for a TMA Award), and alongside Marti Webb and Wayne Sleep in “Beauty And The Beast”. He is also a classically trained singer.

“I’ve loved singing since childhood,” he says. “I sang in choirs and as part of a chorus, but the more I grew [he is 6'3"], the more I stood out. In Teatro, though, I’m glad to say, I blend in nicely – in every way.”

Simon Bailey is a multitalented graduate of the National Youth Theatre who has appeared in everything from Les Miserables and Romeo and Juliet at London’s Piccadilly Theatre to a Rock Legends tribute show in South Africa, where he played a very convincing Freddie Mercury and Ringo Starr.

“But being in Teatro,” the Berkshire-born childhood friend of Alexander says, “is something else entirely. The instant the four of us came together, we immediately felt this amazing bond. It was hard not to, really, because the whole project has had such a momentum to it since day one.

Stephen Rahman-Hughes is similarly a man of many talents. Half British, half Malaysian, he grew up obsessed with breakdancing, attended dance school from the age of 18 to 22, and later formed his own award-winning choreography company before getting into acting. In recent years, he has appeared in “West Side Story” and “Bombay Dreams” on the West End stage, as well as several BBC1 afternoon plays. He can currently be seen as world-weary Detective Inspector Dasari on “Emmerdale”.

“Life is constantly full of surprises,” Stephen says, “and I think this might just be the best one yet. We’re getting to sing some really fabulous songs here, songs that have been arranged quite beautifully by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s a privilege, and an immensely satisfying one, to be part of all this.”

Teatro Official Website