The Seckerson Tapes: Kerry Ellis Interview | reviews, news & interviews
The Seckerson Tapes: Kerry Ellis Interview
The Seckerson Tapes: Kerry Ellis Interview
Musical-theatre-diva-cum-rock-chick discusses collaborating with Brian May
Friday, 20 August 2010
Kerry Ellis amassed a legion of adoring fans when she went "green" playing Elphaba in Stephen Schwartz's smash-hit musical both in London and on Broadway. But her pre-eminence as a musical-theatre-diva-cum-rock-chick was secured earlier still when Brian May, the celebrated lead guitarist of Queen, asked her to play Meat in the Queen/ Ben Elton show We Will Rock You. May quickly recognised a symbiosis between them and their CD single Wicked in Rock sprung a rip-roaring reimagining of "Defying Gravity" with Brian May's amazing guitar riffs a key feature.
Now her debut album Anthems from Decca is writ even larger with an intoxicating mix of show and rock anthems giving full rein to Kerry's laser belt and May's impassioned and fabulously distinctive guitar sound. The arrangements are big, the songs bigger with show-stoppers (from Wicked and Chess and Kristina) rubbing shoulders with some May/ Queen classics. May has gone on record as saying that Kerry's voice is proving as powerful an inspiration for him as Freddie Mercury's. That's some compliment.
In this audio podcast (with clips from the album) Kerry talks about her amazing journey, her heroes and heroines of song, and a voice that can just as easily embrace Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady or Nancy in Oliver! as it can cream "No One But You" from We Will Rock You.
- Find out more about Kerry Ellis on her website
- Buy Kerry Ellis's new album Anthems
more New music
theartsdesk on Vinyl 83: Deep Purple, Annie Anxiety, Ghetts, WHAM!, Kaiser Chiefs, Butthole Surfers and more
The most wide-ranging regular record reviews in this galaxy
Album: EMEL - MRA
Tunisian-American singer's latest is fired with feminism and global electro-pop maximalism
Music Reissues Weekly: Congo Funk! - Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River
Assiduous exploration of the interconnected musical ecosystems of Brazzaville and Kinshasa
Ellie Goulding, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall review - a mellow evening of strings and song
Replacing dance beats with orchestral sounds gives the music a whole new feel
Album: A Certain Ratio - It All Comes Down to This
Veteran Mancunians undergo a further re-assessment and reinvention
Album: Maggie Rogers - Don't Forget Me
Rogers continues her knack for capturing natural moments, embracing a more live sound
theartsdesk at Tallinn Music Week - art-pop, accordions and a perfect techno hideaway
A revived sense of civilisation thanks to dazzlingly diverse programming
Album: Lizz Wright - Shadow
Brilliant album from superlative vocalist
Album: Shabaka - Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace
A quiet and reflective breakthrough
Album: Nia Archives - Silence is Loud
Sweeping up generations' worth of influences into a giddy pop rush
Music Reissues Weekly: Patterns on the Window - The British Progressive Pop Sounds of 1974
A nebulous year in music resists easy definition
Album: Fabiana Palladino - Fabiana Palladino
A remarkably sleek and sophisticated debut
Add comment