Dionne Warwick: 60's Unknown Bondgirl

I love James Bond Themes. Dreamy ballads, performed by the world best singers.
You may know the bondmovie Thunderball, and the theme 'Thunderball' performed by Tom Jones. What you may not know is that the original title credit theme to Thunderball was entitled "Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang", which was written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. The title was taken from an Italian journalist who in 1962 dubbed agent 007 as Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The song was originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, but was later rerecorded by Dionne Warwick, whose version was not released until the 1990s. The song was removed from the title credits after producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were worried that a theme song to a James Bond movie would not work well if the song did not have the title of the film in its lyrics. John Barry teamed up with lyricist Don Black and wrote "Thunderball". "Thunderball" was sung by Tom Jones who, according to Bond production legend, fainted in the recording booth when singing the song's final, high note.

Download:
Dionne Warwick - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Charles Aznavour

Hello and sorry for the lack of updates, ive been quite busy. But that just means an even bigger update (in the weekend).
For now, here's some mp3's of (in my opinion) of Aznavour's greatest songs. Be sure to buy his best of cd!

'I intend to work until I am 90 and die at 100'
Aznavour was born Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris, the son of Armenian immigrants. At an early age, his artistic parents introduced him to the world of theatre.
He began to perform at age nine and soon took the stage name Aznavour. His big break came when the singer Édith Piaf heard him sing and arranged to take him with her on tour in France and to the United States.
Often described as the "Frank Sinatra of France", almost all of Aznavour's songs deal with love. He has written more than a thousand songs as well as musicals, made more than one hundred records, and has appeared in sixty movies. Aznavour sings in five languages, which has helped him perform at Carnegie Hall and other major venues around the world.

Charles Aznavour - She

Charles Aznavour - Emmenez moi

By the way - Anyone got the video with France Gall from Eurovision??

NB! The video with Aznavour and Paradis have been fixed. Go download it!

Video: Aznavour + Paradis

Aznavour Special May 19, 2001

Vanessa Paradis sings Retiens La Nuit as a duet with Charles Aznavour, and a short interview (to those who understands french!)

Axelle Red

Belgium has produced a number of famous music stars such as Maurane, Philippe Lafontaine and, of course, the legendary Jacques Brel. These artists have all come from Belgium's French-speaking community, Wallonia. More recently, the country's Dutch-speaking region, Flanders, has also proved a hotbed of musical talent, spawning a number of highly successful groups such as Clouseau and Vaya Con Dios. But now a new breed of artist has emerged on the Belgian music scene in the form of Axelle Red, a young singer who has managed to straddle the country's linguistic and cultural divide, singing in both French and Dutch. Axelle Red's smooth soul style has not only made her a huge hit in her homeland, it has also made her one of Belgium's best-selling musical exports of all time.

First time I heard her song 'Ce Matin' I immediately fell in love with her smooth style. Here is 'Ce Matin' and her biggest hit to date 'Sensualité'

Axelle Red - Ce Matin

Axelle Red - Sensualite

Nancy

I had the pleasure to experience Nancy live in concert in Hamburg April 2005 (I live in Denmark). It was a fantastic concert, and she seems as such a sweet person. She really had connection with the whole audience.

Aaaaand.. the gifts!:

Rare: Kinky Love
Taken from IMDB: In 1976, Nancy had a #1 underground disco smash hit single, Kinky Love, on CBS Records' subsidiary Private Stock label. However, the song was filled with so many sexually-explicit inuendos that radio stations amply refused to give it any airtime. Its only success was in widely-popular clubs such as Studio 54, or in many underground nightspots. In 1998 the long-time banned song was issued on Nancy's greatest love songs CD, Sheet Music.

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood - Some Velvet Morning. Beautiful duet.


Heres a little picture I took of the bootgirl.

French Lolita: Vanessa Paradis

In 87' the young french lolita released her first song "Joe Le Taxi". It was a hit in 15 countries. Later followed a debutrecord, and in 1990 french music mastermind Serge Gainsbourg produced her brilliant second album Variations sur le Meme T'Aime. Now she was a superstar in France and wanted to go international. Lenny Kravitz produced her english album in 1992, which has minor hit songs as 'Be my baby' and 'Sunday Monday'.
Then she took a break from her musiccarrier to pursue a new acting carrier. Most famous for her role in the prizewinning 'La Fille Sur Le Pont' (Girl on the bridge). 8 years passed, and finally in 2000 she released her most beautiful album to date, Bliss. The lolita was gone, Vanessa Paradis was now a sexy 28-year old mother to longtime partner Johnny Depps 2 kids.
I love Vanessa Paradis music and her song 'Dans Mon Café' inspired my blogname.
I really like her sexy husky voice - it has such innocence and honesty.

Bliss - (Live Au Zenith, 2001)

Pourtant

Joe Le Taxi