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Julia Fordham

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Julia Fordham

Julia Fordham (born August 10, 1962, Portsmouth, England) is a British singer-songwriter based in California. Her professional career started in the early 1980s, under the name "Jules Fordham", as a backing singer for the likes of Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde.


Career

In 1988, she released her first album on Circa Records, Julia Fordham. The album, which contained the memorable UK top 40 single ‘Happy Ever After’ (#38 in, introduced her as a singer with considerable vocal range, and her deeply emotional lyrics endeared her to a small, committed audience. Licensed to Virgin Records America, the album was a minor hit and paved the way for the success of 1989's Porcelain. The single, "Manhattan Skyline", was an adult contemporary radio and VH-1 hit.

Ms. Fordham has had chart success since that time, and she continued to record throughout the 1990s. Three subsequent albums: 1991's Swept which featured the UK Top 20 single "Love Moves in Mysterious Ways" (The Butcher’s Wife Soundtrack – a movie starring Demi Moore), 1994's Falling Forward and 1997's East West received some critical praise. 1998's The Julia Fordham Collection recaps the best-known songs from these five albums and included new versions of recordings including ‘Where Does The Time Go’ which featured the vocals of Curtis Stigers.

Signed in 1999 to a Division One/Atlantic, Julia recorded an album called Concrete Love. The album was produced by Larry Klein who has worked with many artists including Joni Mitchell and with Julia previously on 'Falling Forward'. The release was cancelled when a corporate shuffle caused her label to be closed and her contract was terminated. Promotional copies had already been distributed to the press and fans leapt at the chance to own the album and as a result it was selling for huge amounts on auction websites. This is thought to have affected the albums eventual release in 2001.

The release of 'Concrete Love' featured a re-recording of its title track as a duet with India.Arie as well as different cover artwork. It emerged on Vanguard Records and various other labels internationally including Sanctuary in the UK. Remixes of the single "Wake Up With You" were released and it became a huge hit on Billboard's dance chart. An acoustic club tour played to sold-out shows across America and she visited the UK and Japan. The album gained Julia some of the most favorable reviews of her career.

She followed up this album with her seventh record, That's Life, which was released on her 42nd birthday in 2004. She performed more live shows which included a successful run of shows in Japan at the Blue Note venues.

That's Live, a live album and DVD (filmed in LA with guests India.Arie and Judith Owen), was released in January 2005. Julia then came to the end of her contract with Vanguard.

Also in 2005, Julia’s sister had a book published, Plus One: A Year in the Life of a Hollywood Nobody based on her experiences of being Julia’s sister and living in LA. The rights to the book were duly bought by Pembridge Pictures, and it’s expected to made into a movie.

Without a new record contract, Fordham continued to record, releasing independently a rewrite of debut single "Happy Ever After," in aid of tsunami relief. This was backed by two tracks written and recorded with Aadesh Shrivastava. The single was released to download and then made available to purchase on CD (details on Julia’s Official website). It was also backed by Richard Branson who offered to stock the CD in his Virgin Mega Stores. The project was nominated for an OSSA award.

In 2006, she released her Baby Love EP via AWAL (Artists Without A Label). The EP is a collection of songs inspired by the birth of her daughter, Marley Rose, and is available from a well known music download site. A CD version was available to purchase from Julia's Official site and featured an extra track, 'That's All'. Whilst some of these new songs are very much from the genre in which Julia Fordham has made her name, two of them are firmly in the jazz direction that was rumored to be the focus of her next album.

Also in 2006, Julia appeared in a music video for the Judith Owen track "Here" playing the part of Judith’s mother. The video was directed by actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

In late September 2007, EMI INT'l released Songbook. It's a Philippines only release - but is widely available on import from several retailers. The album features previous studio recordings as well as live cuts and rare tracks. The songs are some of Julia's most popular - but note: songs from both 'East West' and 'That's Life' were not included on this compilation. Julia has written a dedication on the CD booklet thanking her Filipino fans for their support.

In November 2007, it was announced that Julia had completed a new Album which was going to be released via a 'start up' company called NovaTunes. After some delay 'China Blue' was finally released as a download-only album in late January 2008.[1] It's a Jazz album of self-penned songs with the exception of one track which is a cover of a Michael McDonald song. It also includes some re-recordings, 'China Blue' and 'For You Only For You' were originally on the 'Porcelain' album - and - 'Funny Guy' appeared as a bonus track on some editions of 'Concrete Love'. Julia's MySpace page includes previews of two of the tracks.

References

  1. ^ Michael Moran (2008-01-08). "Julia Fordham: happy ever after?". Times Online. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)


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