AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ednaswap

Artist:Ednaswap

Song:Torn

Album:Wacko Magneto

Ednaswap's claim to fame is that lead singer Anne Preven and guitarist Scott Cutler wrote the song Torn which was a monster hit for Aussie singer Natalie Imbruglia in 1997. Meanwhile, Ednaswap released three albums and had a tough time due to record company problems. There is a happy ending though. Anne and Cutler wrote Torn with British producer Phil Thornalley before Ednaswap was formed in 1993 with guitarist Rusty Anderson, bassist Paul Bushnell and drummer Scot Coogan. I would describe all three as Los Angeles session musicians. The band name came from Anne's dream where the band was so bad they were booed off stage. An acoustic demo got Ednaswap a record deal with Elektra's EastWest label. But the 1995 album Ednaswap had a much harder sound than the demo. I am surprised Elektra released the album. They could have shelved it. They dropped Ednaswap anyway. They signed with Island Records after Island owner Chris Blackwell saw them perform. The album Wacko Magneto was released in 1997. Cutler produced both albums and Anne wrote all the songs. Torn is on both albums but Wacko Magneto is available as a budget CD. This was at the time that Universal was buying Island's parent company PolyGram. So Ednaswap wasn't the only band that fell through the cracks. There was a third album Wonderland Park in 1998. Ednaswap split up after that. Meanwhile, Thornalley was producing Natalie Imbruglia's 1997 album Left of the Middle in London and Torn was a monster hit. The good news is Torn made Anne a lot of money. Anne and Cutler formed the band Annetenna. They recorded an album for Columbia. But after management changes, the album was shelved. Today she and Cutler are songwriters for hire. With Henry Krieger, they were Oscar nominated for the song Listen from the 2006 film Dreamgirls. And they own the publishing and management company Pulse Music Group. And that's the happy ending. There's plenty of money to be made behind the scenes of the music business. That's where Ann Bleven and Scott Cutler found their pot of gold. Here's Anne Bleven and Scott Cutler performing Torn on a 2000 episode of The Howard Stern Show.