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Sophie came to Middle C as the winner of the Shenfield X-Block Factor competition which saw its competitors qualify through earlier heats and culminated with the finals in January 2005. With Middle C represented on the panel, the five judges had a hard task in reaching a decision on who was to step up as the clear winner, bearing in mind that all finalists had so much to offer and showed such great talent. However, there could only be one choice and the final decision was unanimous between the judges. Sophie's combination of superb vocal phrasing, soulful tones, and a confident performance way beyond her years meant she was the obvious choice to take first place. She eventually came to us in July and had decided to record the song that gave her first place in the competition. The Alicia Keys song 'If I Ain't Got You' was a great choice and one which we really looked forward to working on. Pre-production work involved tracking the piano part and then putting together a small jazz ensemble arrangement of drums, bass, and sax to recreate the track's intimate feel.
On Sophie's first visit,
when we rehearsed the song and tried out various keys to suit her voice,
she made the comment that Nigel's piano work whilst warming up before the
start of the song sounded really good, and why not keep it on the track?!
Agreeing that this was an excellent idea for a production touch, we took
it one step further and added some When she returned a week or so later, after we had completed the pre-production, Sophie was again on great form and recorded like a true pro - putting us very much in mind of Joss Stone, in as much as she hasn't had any training, either vocally or in a recording environment, but has a natural ability that oozes confidence. So, enjoy the song and we think you'll agree with us that Miss Dunnage has a great future ahead, should she decide to go into music professionally.
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Original song written by Alicia Keys ©2003 |
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