AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Bishop Briggs

Artist:Bishop Briggs

Song:River

Album:Church of Scars

The 2016 single River was streamed over 485M times on Spotify. But it never reached the Billboard Hot 100. It's highest chart placing was #3 on the Alt Rock chart. In those days, streaming did not count towards radio play or the Billboard Hot 100. They have changed that. But it's probably too late for British singer songwriter Bishop Briggs as River is her only hit to date. She was born Sarah Grace McLaughlin July 18, 1992 in London, England. Her parents are from Bishopbriggs, Scotland. That's where she got her stage name. Her family moved to Tokyo and she grew up singing karaoke. Then she moved to Hong Kong to attend school. And after graduating from Hong Kong International School, she studied at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. Bishop performed in local clubs and released the 2015 single Wild Horses. After that was used in an Acura commercial during the Super Bowl, it got streamed a lot. Then she released the 2016 EP Bishop Briggs on her own label. The single River became a viral hit through streaming. The problem was Bishop wasn't going to be a star on her own label. So she met with Island Records CEO David Massey and he got her to sign. The first thing Island did was re-release the EP Bishop Briggs. Then they expanded it and released the 2018 album Church of Scars. They released several singles from the album. But River was the only big hit. It just wasn't a big enough hit. And that's because of how Billboard handled streaming. Bishop wrote all the songs on the album. It was produced by Ian Scott and Mark Jackson who used to produce music for MTV TV shows. So she's on her way, right? Then the wheels fell off. She ended her deal with Jackson and Scott due to "constant verbal abuse". Supposedly, they weren't happy that she signed with Island. They sued each other and it appears that both lawsuits were dropped. I couldn't find a resolution. Then Island released the 2019 album Champion. Bishop worked mostly with producer Andrew Wells of the band Eidola. And the album was less than a half hour long. It didn't sell. Then when Massey left Island, Bishop got out of her contract and signed with Arista Records. They released the 2023 EP When Everything Went Dark. It looks like this may have been pulled from release. Her latest album is Tell My Therapist I'm Fine in 2024. It seems to be on her own label with Arista distribution. Wells also produced this album. I think Bishop Briggs has cooled off considerably and it's unlikely she will have another hit. Here's the video for River by Bishop Briggs. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-RAYE

Artist:RAYE

Song:Where Is My Husband!

Album:This Music May Contain Hope

Singer songwriter Rachel "RAYE" Keen has already had success in her native England. She has already had success in the US with the single Where Is My Husband! and she is looking to break through in a big way with her new album This Music May Contain Hope. She was born Oct. 24, 1997 in Tooting, London, England. Her mother is from Ghana. She is the oldest of four sisters. It looks like all of them will be musicians. Rachel attended church as a child. He father was musical director and her mother sang in the choir. After her father taught her piano, Rachel started writing songs. She attended the performing arts high school the BRIT School. But she "felt confined" so she dropped out after two years. She learned about songwriting at recording sessions. Then she uploaded her 2014 EP Welcome to the Winter to SoundCloud. She wrote and produced it. Singer Olly Alexander heard it and sent it to his record label Polydor and they signed her. They released a couple of EPs. Rachel worked with Charli XCX and wrote songs for others including Beyonce. She was also getting positive reviews for her live shows. She recorded an album. But Polydor refused to release it until she had a big hit single. Of course an album is required to support that. Rachel finally had a showdown with Polydor and she was released from her contract. She had a five album deal. Rachel signed with Human Re Sources owned by Julius Erving III. That's right. He's the son of NBA legend Julius "Dr. J" Erving. The label is distributed by Sony owned The Orchard. So that's when things turned around for Rachel. Her 2023 album My 21st Century Blues was certified Gold in England and she topped the British charts with the single Escapism. So the next step is to take over the US. The 2025 single Where Is My Husband! topped the British charts and reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her new album This Music May Contain Hope will be released on Mar. 29. The album can be pre-ordered on Amazon. Both of Rachel's albums were produced by Mike Sabath. The two write and produce everything. He's a veteran producer. But he's really hitching his star to RAYE. We'll see how it goes. It's a crowded marketplace out there. Here's the video for Where Is My Husband! by RAYE. 

AccuRadio Song O The Day-Scotty Inman

Artist:Scotty Inman 

Song:Motel Bible

Album:My God

Southern Gospel fans are likely to be interested in this 2024 album by second generation star Scotty Inman. He was born May 13, 1982 in Morgantown, KY. His father is Clayton Inman who is leader of The Triumphant Qhartet. Scotty started out in 2001 with the group Poet Voices. He quickly became a big favorite and he joined The Triumphant Quartet in 2007. After fifteen years of performing with his dad Inman went solo in 2023 and signed with Daywind Records. The 2024 album My God features the single Motel Bible. The song was written by Levi Bowman, Jimmy Yeary and Liz Hengber of the Southern Gospel group The Isaacs. They performed the song with Inman at The Grand Ole Opry. The song is from the point of view of a hotel bible. The album was produced by Daywind A&R director Dusty Wells. This album is available on CD. And I would say that Motel Bible is a better than average Southern Gospel song. So if you are a Southern Gospel fan, You should check out Scotty Inman. Here's the video for Motel Bible by Scotty Inman. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Colin Donnell

Artist:Colin Donnell f/Laura Osnes

Song:It's De-Lovely

Album:Anything Goes: Original New Broadway Cast Recording

Colin Donnell has played supporting roles on Broadway and TV. He played Billy Crocker in this 2011 revival of the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes. I don't know if it's his biggest Broadway role but the video clip is really good. He was born Oct. 9, 1982 in St. Louis. He got interested in performing while in high school. He graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 2005. He started out doing regional tours of musicals like Mamma Mia! and Jesus Christ Superstar. His first Broadway role was as Hank Majewski in the 2007 jukebox musical Jersey Boys. After more regional theater, he landed the role of Billy Crocker in the 2011 revival of Cole Porter' Anything Goes. It was still a supporting role but more significant than Jersey Boys. Anything Goes was first produced on Broadway in 1934. It's been revived many times. This 2011 revival was based on the 1987 revival. It was directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. The stars are Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. The original cast album is available on CD. Though Donnell is in a supporting role, it got him TV work on the series Arrow followed by the Showtime series The Affair. His biggest TV role to date was as Dr. Connor Rhodes on the NBC series Chicago Med from 2015-19. He continues to appear in Broadway musicals and is currently appearing in the Broadway revival of Ragtime. He still does regional theater. He hasn't had a regular TV role since Chicago Med and he hasn't done films. Here's Colin Donnell and Laura Osnes performing It's De-Lovely on a 2011 episode of CBS Early.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ricky Nelson

Artist:Ricky Nelson

Song:A Teenager's Romance

Album:Hello Mary Lou: The Collection

Of course most are familiar with Ricky Nelson as a 50s pop star and actor. The 1957 single A Teenager's Romance was not his biggest hit. But it was his first big hit after he performed it on his dad's TV show. He was born Eric Hilliard Nelson May 8, 1940 in Teaneck, NJ. His father Ozzie Nelson was a bandleader and his mom Harriet Hilliard sang with the band. His older brother David Nelson acted but lacked charisma. The Nelsons appeared in the radio show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The show was very popular and the two boys played themselves in the latter days of the show. Ozzie wanted to make the transition to TV and he produced the 1952 film Here Come the Nelsons. The TV show debuted in 1952 and ran until 1966. Ricky Nelson made his singing debut on the show on a 1957 episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Nelson's big influence was Carl Perkins. Ozzie got Verve Records to release a single. The Fats Domino hit I'm Walkin' was the A side and A Teenager's Romance was the B side. Once Ricky performed the songs on TV, they became radio hits. But A Teenager's Romance was the bigger hit. It reached #2 on the Billboard pop chart. The song was written by a teaching tennis pro named David Gillam. It's his only credit but I'm pretty sure Ozzie owned the song. Jazz guitarist Barney Kessel produced the record. When Ozzie had a royalty dispute with Verve, He signed Ricky to a five year contract with Imperial Records. Ozzie had to approve everything. That's when Ricky Nelson became a big star. A Teenager's Romance was never released on an album. But you can get it on this 2CD budget comp from the British label Music Club. I may look at some of Nelson's other hits later on. Here's Ricky Nelson performing A Teenager's Romance on a 1957 episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. 

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Max Casella

Artist:Max Casella w/Tom Alan Robbins and Jason Raize

Song:Hakuna Matata

Album:The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast

Disney started to turn animated movies into Broadway musicals with Beauty and the Beast in 1994. It was so successful that Disney went into overdrive with the concept. So The Lion King was turned into a Broadway musical in 1997. The actors were all in animal costumes and there were these huge puppets. Julie Taymor directed the show. Hakuna Matata was one of several Elton John and Tim Rice songs from the film. And there were songs added by various writers. Hakuna Matata was performed in the show by an ensemble led by Max Casella as Timon with Tom Alan Robbins and Jason Raize. Casella is the best known of these actors from the 90s sitcom Doogie Howser M.D. He was born Maximillian Deitch June 6, 1967 in Washington, DC. His father David Deitch was a Boston Globe columnist. Casella grew up in Cambridge, MA. He has growth hormone deficiency and he needed medical intervention to go through puberty at age 27. This is why Casella was able to play teenager Vinnie Delpino in the 90s sitcom Doogie Howser, M.D. He also played a much younger character in the 1992 film musical Newsies. Disney produced that film and though it bombed, it showed that Casella can sing and that helped in casting him as Timon in The Lion King. The show was very successful though none of the actors are recognizable inside their costumes. The cast album is available on CD with a bonus DVD. Casella appeared in the films Ed Wood (1994) and Sgt. Bilko (1996). Most recently Casella was a regular on the first two seasons of the Paramount+ series Tulsa King. He also does voice work on video games. Tom Alan Robbins plays Pumbaa in The Lion King. He has spent most of his career on stage in supporting roles, most recently as Bert Berns in A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical. Jason Raize played Simba in The Lion King. Though he appeared in some other things, Raize was unhappy with his career and moved to Australia n 2003 to rethink things. After he went missing, his body was found hanging in a shed. Jason Raize was dead at age 28. Here's Max Casella, Tom Alan Robbins and Jason Raize performing Hakuna Matata on a 1997 episode of Regis & Kathie Lee. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Will Young

Artist:Will Young

Song:Leave Right Now

Album:20 Years: The Greatest Hits

Will Young was the first winner of the British TV talent show Pop Idol in 2002. Of course when Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell brought the show to America, it was called American Idol. After winning, Young scored four #1 hits in England. The 2003 single Leave Right Now was his final hit of those four. He was born Jan. 20, 1979 in Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Though he performed on stage and learned to play piano as a child, Young wanted to compete in the 400 meter sprint in the Olympics. So he was an athlete in high school. But he wasn't a great student and he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He joined a theater group and after playing Curly in their production of Oklahoma, he decided he wanted to be a singer. He moved to London and attended the Arts Educational School. Young saw on TV about auditions for the talent show that would become Pop Idol. Initially, a boy band was supposed to come from this show. And yes, Simon Cowell was behind this. But as X Factor has shown, he doesn't understand that you can't put strangers together because they don't stay together. And that's what happened here. The band that Young was supposed to be a part of split up before they got started. So then Young saw an ad for the Pop Idol auditions. And he won Pop Idol and that got him a record deal with RCA. Cowell worked at RCA at the time. Of course Pop Idol was a big hit and it turned into a global franchise. Young's first single Anything Is Possible was his first #1 hit and the song he performed when Young won Pop Idol. That song was written and produced by former Swing Out Sister leader Cathy Dennis. She wrote and produced several songs on the album. The second single was a cover of Light My Fire that Young performed on Pop Idol. That also topped the chart. The 2002 album From Now On was certified 2XPlatinum. The question was can Young have his own hit or will he suffer from what I call the "Idol hangover". The answer is he had success at first. The 2003 album Friday's Child was certified 5XPlatinum. So it did even better mostly because the single Leave Right Now topped the British charts. Most of the album including Leave Right Now was produced by Stephen Lipson who is buddies with Cowell. Leave Right Now was written by Eg White. He led the band Yip Yip Coyote in the 80s. But by this time he was a successful songwriter. Young co-wrote a few songs on the album. His next couple of albums didn't do as well and he left RCA for Island after the 2011 album Echoes. The 2015 album 85% Proof continued Young's slide. He has since recorded for the indie label Cooking Vinyl and on his own label with BMG distribution. You can get all of Young's RCA hits on this comp. I expect he will continue to record. But he has concentrated more on acting in recent years and has had some success. So Will Young did OK but not great. Here's the video for Leave Right Now by Will Young.