CATtales

Power ballad queen Bonnie Tyler is proving that The Best Is Yet to Come still with a vibrant new album brimming with the same dramatic, full-bodied husky vocals that propelled her to fame with Total Eclipse of the Heart, It’s A Heartache and Holding Out For A Hero.

The award-winning singer went on to sell over 20 million records worldwide and now inspires a new generation of female performers, like Mylie Cyrus, who cite Bonnie as an influence. Quite simply, she is nothing less than a national treasure.
As well as her new album, we chat about TikTok, Bonnie singing in front of her contemporaries at the MTV awards, representing the UK in The Eurovision Song Contest, what it was like to sing at The Vatican and meet The Pope, and cooking stuffed figs.

I have a virtual girls nights in with one of life’s true survivors.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Hazel O’Connor rose to fame over forty years ago starring in the ground-breaking film Breaking Glass. Hits and eye-catching appearances followed including Will You, Big Brother, Monsters in Disguise, Give Me An Inch, and of course, Eighth Day, which now seems even more relevant in our present day times.
We look back at how Hazel got the part in the film and how her music career started, about falling in love and her adventures as a dancer in Japan and Beirut, as well as chatting about the dangers of the music business, sexism, her passion for audiobooks, box sets and history, and how she is almost single-handedly renovating her home in France.

In his late teens, classically trained pianist, Jordan Rudess, turned against the counsel of his parents and went on to be one of the most respected, loved and sought-after progressive-rock keyboardist of all time.
He was voted “Best New Talent” in a Keyboard Magazine poll and later “Best Keyboardist of All Time” by Music Radar Magazine. Now, he is best known as the keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire for platinum-selling Grammy-nominated prog rock band, Dream Theater.
But Jordan is also a man with many interests, as his experimental projects with Liquid Tension Experiment and Space Jam demonstrate, he’s worked with David Bowie, amongst others, and now releases his latest solo album A Chapter In Time.

There are stars and then there are superstars. And my guest today is nothing short of a superstar. 
Petula Clark is one of the most successful British female recording artist of all time. She established herself as a child performer during the Second World War and went on to achieve major success as a recording artist clocking up record sales in excess of 68 million.
The enormous popularity of her ‘signature song’ Downtown in 1964 led to an  incredible international career, a series of consecutive Top 40 hits, films and tv specials including appearances with everyone from Dean Martin and Fred Astaire, to Bob Hope and Sammy Davis Jnr.
Actress, singer, composer, stage performer, television star, and more awards and accolades than she can remember, quite simply, Petula is the stuff that legends are made of.

Unleashing his 5th solo album, When Life Was Hard & Fast, Ricky Warwick aimed to deliver a collection of songs with the simplistic melodies of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers charged with the electric hedonistic fury of Johnny Thunders And The Heartbreakers. And, boy, has he done that!
Somehow The Almighty, Black Star Riders, Thin Lizzy frontman has managed to squeeze in the release of the album amidst sell-out live virtual shows and lockdown, all with a little help from his friends. And, of course, these are no ‘ordinary’ friends. 
As well as ex-Buckcherry Keith Nelson producing the record, it features another ex-Buckcherry band member, Xavier Muriel, alongside Black Star Riders’ Robert Crane and guest appearances from: Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor, Thunder’s Luke Morley, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Guns n Roses Dizzy Reed and non other than Ricky’s daughter Pepper.

Rock band Inglorious are nothing short of glorious, fronted by the powerhouse vocals of founding member Nathan James.
With the release of the band’s fourth album, We Will Ride, several new things surround them, not least of all a new line-up, songwriting process and producer. 
We chat about how they managed to write and release a fabulous new album adhering to Covid restrictions during lockdown, the current struggles in the music industry, writing about bad ass women, the joys of being a ‘pet dad’, and being part of a brand new super-group collaboration.

Emmy and Brit Award-nominated composer, Sarah Class, has become one of Britain’s most sought-after composers and is described as having the ‘Midas touch’ when it comes to creating music.  She’s an accomplished musician and highly acclaimed at scoring for film and television, winning a Best Score Award for Sir David Attenborough’s BBC TV series ‘Africa’ and has been invited to performing tracks from her beautifully ethereal album, Natural High, on Songs Of Praise. Exploring nature’s euphoric diversity, the album aligns each track with various deities from myths and legends of different cultures and was instrumental in raising funds to save the last 2% of Equador’s Choco Forest, a cause close to Sarah’s heart.

Evolving from The Housemartins, whose impressive catalogue would keep any chart-watcher busy, The Beautiful South was almost ever-present in the charts from the late 80’s with hits like Song For Whoever, A Little Time, Perfect 10, Rotterdam, and Don't Marry Her. After they split up in 2006, founder member Dave Hemingway retired from live music, working behind the scenes, only to emerge late last year with a brand new band, new songs, and a new sound. Dave Hemingway is back with Sunbirds and their new album Cool To Be Kind is, well, pretty cool. 

It’s been 50 years since German guitar virtuoso, Michael Schenker, made his recording debut with the Scorpions at the tender age of 16. 
From the start it was obvious he was playing at a level that was way beyond many of his contemporaries, a little detail that did not go unnoticed by UK rockers UFO who were quick to poach him.
Michael has influenced an entire generation of guitar players who define the 1980s heavy metal era from Slash and Randy Rhoads to Kirk Hammett, was asked to join Ozzy Osbourne and auditioned for Aerosmith.
Now, he’s back with the Michael Schenker Group and his latest release Immortality and we chat about his career, who influences him, and why he still loves the first song he ever wrote.

Featured tracks:  Drilled To Kill & In Search Of The Peace Of Mind

Rudy Sarzo is a bass playing hero. With a career spanning over 40 years, he’s headlined worldwide tours with Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, and Dio, recorded multi-platinum albums, and appeared in numerous MTV videos.  But, without knowing what he’s been up to for the better part of his life, you’d never tell he’s one of the most fierce bass guitarists hard rock ever boasted by talking to him alone. 

Charming company, entertaining and interesting, there’s a great depth to him that reflects the power behind the many, familiar, classic records he’s been part of.