Tips for the Top

The Sound of Sunday has played several unknown singers over the last few years, some have gone on to become well known, others not so. The show was almost certainly the first in the UK to play Delta Goodrem, and who else was playing Celine Dion in 1991? Here's a few other Tips for the Top that we've played over the years who have gone to have varying success.

Our newest Tip for the Top is the biggest selling download artist of 2008 in the USA and the country artist who has had the most download sales ever - meet Taylor Swift...

Taylor Swift is already being compared with Dolly Parton, has mammoth record sales and all by the age of 19

Last year, Swift was the bestselling artist in America. She shifted more than 4 million albums at a time when the music industry was in meltdown.

Her second album, Fearless, was sitting atop the Billboard 200 for the seventh week last week, keeping Beyoncé at bay. Swift is unlike any country star before her, her mainstream pop aesthetic attracting a devoted young audience in what is a traditionally a middle-aged market. Bob Harris, who hosts a weekly country music show on Radio 2, has no doubt about her pedigree: "She's definitely the real thing. There's a driving force in her. She was destined to be a singer. The degree of her success is sensational; she's had a huge impact on the pop charts."

Adrina Thorpe

We first came across this American singer in 2005 and played her song "Did you think" quite a few times on the show. Her album "Elusive" is well worth a listen and is available from www.cdbaby.com

On the CD Baby web site, you will read all sorts of excellent reviews about this album, and the description is as follows:

Singer/songwriter and pianist, Adrina Thorpe, is a refreshing sound in adult alternative pop. Her style reflects the softer side of music, but that doesn't mean it doesn't shake people up. With a haunting voice and delicate touch at the piano, Adrina captures every audience and sends them on an emotion filled journey with her heartfelt lyrics.

Adrina has been writing songs almost as long as she can remember. Her first song was written on a rainy car ride home when she was six. "All I can remember is looking through the foggy streaked window at little bursts of light outside in the pitch black sky, hearing the sound of the car's engine, and coming up with a song that brought me to tears that night. It was a song about a friend of mine who left our school without ever saying goodbye." From that day on, Adrina's love of the more introspective melancholy song was established, as Adrina's list of favorite artists goes to show...

Adrina has been inspired by artists on all ends of the musical spectrum, including Sarah McLachlan (Adrina's all time favorite artist), Coldplay, Five for Fighting, Tori Amos, Paula Cole, Dido, Evanescence and Chantal Kreviazuk. However her sound still retains its uniqueness. This may quite possibly be attributed to the fact that during Adrina's formative years she was completely immersed in classical music and musical theater.

Sometimes beauty must emerge from ashes and that is, metaphorically speaking, how Adrina's musical career began. Adrina's father, a stunning classical pianist, died tragically young due to an unexpected heart attack at the age of thirty-four... three weeks after Adrina was born. After his death, Adrina's mother sentimentally decided that Adrina must learn to play piano. Throughout the years, Adrina went on to learn piece after classical piece, winning competitions statewide for performance. But it was the love of writing that held Adrina's soul. Often, Adrina would slip into the front room of the house and play her emotions out on the piano to the simple moonlight falling on the piano keys through the vaulted windows.

Adrina's debut album, "elusive" is full of intricate, poignant, honest, and gentle emotion. Delicate piano melodies and lush vocals weave in and out of each other, drifting amid the punchy bass and drum lines. Wild and tame, strong and simple... the songs find their way into the deepest crevices of the heart. Like paper-thin china...like sunrise on the gray ocean waves...Adrina's melodies captivate listeners with their distinct beauty.

Perhaps it was inevitable that Adrina would be a musician. And perhaps today, it was inevitable that her music found you.

Christine Evans is an American singer yet to secure a UK deal but in America she has delivered on the promise of her hit, debut singles with a powerful song cycle of evocative modern pop. Take Me Home is a well-crafted CD collection of original love songs bathed in a dozen lush soundscapes produced by Seattle studio wizard, Tom Hall, distributed by Warner Music Canada, and featuring several orchestrations by acclaimed arranger-conductor Paul Buckmaster.

You can listen to her songs and watch the videos at www.christineevans.com and listen out for her on other radio and TV soon as we believe a UK promotion and record deal is imminent.

The Sound of Sunday's 2004 Tip for the top. was a singer from Kent who performed for Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest. She was 16 year old Lisa Andreas whose song and performance were both excellent and we thought the song stood out as a potential future hit.

It hasn't been officially released yet, but you can find it on the official album of the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.

These were our tips for the top from the past - there was Celine Dion in 1991, The Honeyz, The Corrs and then in 2002, Delta Goodrem...

IDELTA GOODREM

David Sneddon - was another Sound of Sunday tip for the top...

The winner of Fame Academy in 2002 has since had three big hits and a hit album and is now pursuing a song writing career.