Rupert Christie signs to Sony/ATV Publishing and Belle Humble has been filming the video for "Cracks" with the Freestylers.
Covert Music News
THE PORT ISAAC FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS NET £1M RECORD DEAL WITH UNIVERSAL RECORDS
Taken from Guardian News - http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/mar/18/cornish-fishermans-friends-1m-deal
For 15 years they have been entertaining locals and visitors in the pretty Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac with their traditional songs of loss and longing.
But now a group of fishermen is going global after landing a £1m record deal that could take their repertoire of sea shanties to the top of the charts.
The Fisherman's Friends have secured an album deal with Universal, the company behind acts such as Lady Gaga, Take That and Amy Winehouse. The 10-strong group, which also has a date at the Glastonbury festival, will issue an album of traditional tunes and folk songs next month.
The deal follows a wave of unusual album hits for Universal in recent years, which have included releases by the Fron Male Voice Choir and the Coldstream Guards. This month the company also released an album of tunes by brass bands.
The album, Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends, was due to be released on the group's own label, Marine Records. But Universal decided to give them a break after record producer Rupert Christie spotted the group performing in a pub while he was on holiday.
The singers have been performing locally for more than 15 years. The troupe – who are or have been fishermen, lifeboatmen and coastguards – perform weekly shows on the harbour front during the summer months in the fishing village of Port Isaac.
Founding member Jeremy Brown, who has two brothers in the group, said: "We all grew up together with the exception of one member of the group, although he has lived in the village for maybe 25 or 30 years so he is almost one of us.
"We get together each Friday night on this area of concrete by the harbour which is a lovely setting – unless it is raining and blowing. Then we just retire to the pub."
Members of the group – who released two low-key acapella CDs themselves – are mainly in their 50s, although one of their number is in his 70s.
Baritone Brown, who is a fisherman, said: "In Cornish pubs there is a tradition of singing and we just all got together with the intention of learning all the words instead of just knowing the first verse and the last verse and making up the bit in the middle.
He said he had been surprised there had been such interest in the group.
"We don't really know what to expect, to be honest – we're just making it up as we go along. We are booked in for a few festivals, we've got a slot at Glastonbury, but I don't really know too much about it. We might just be playing behind the bar."
Despite the size of the deal, the men may not be able to give up their day jobs just yet. The £1m deal includes money spent on marketing the record. "How much they'll get depends on how many they sell," said a spokesman for the group.
The new album – recorded in a 15th-century church in nearby St Kew – will be released on 26 April.
It features a haul of 14 songs from their repertoire, including South Australia and the haunting Cornish robber ballad, Cadgwith Anthem.
Johnny Depp helped to float interest in sea shanties when he developed a passion for them after filming Pirates Of The Caribbean. He was behind an album of shanties performed by artists such as Bono, Richard Thompson, Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker, called Rogues Gallery and released in 2006. The Coral included a sea shanty-style track Spanish Main on their debut album.
Sea shanties were originally sung by the crews of ships while they worked on deck and the term comes from the French verb "chanter" (to sing).
Also check out the following links:
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8573754.stm
Yahoo News: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100318/tuk-cornish-fishermen-net-album-deal-a7ad41d.html
The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/fishermen-seek-to-storm-charts-with-sea-shanties-1923409.html
RUPERT CHRISTIE TO PRODUCE ALBUM FOR THE FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS
The Fisherman's Friends, discovered by Covert Music and Rupert Christie in 2009 have teamed up with Ian Brown from Bright Artist Management (The Priests, Sandi Thom, Words For You, Jason Donovan) who will be managing the group. Rupert Christie is producing their album which will be released in Spring 2010.
COVERT MUSIC DISCOVER THE FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS.
During the summer Covert Music and Rupert Christie discovered a group of singing fishermen in the beautiful Cornish coastal village of Port Isaac called The Fisherman's Friends. After spending a few days (and drinking many ales) with the guys we offered to help them secure a record deal and for Rupert to produce their album.
ONLY MEN ALOUD ARE NO. 1 IN THE CLASSCAL CHARTS
Only Men Aloud's latest album "Band Of Brothers", produced, mixed and arranged by Rupert Christie is number 1 in the Classical Charts and enters the overall charts at number 21.
RUPERT MIXES NEW RHYDIAN ROBERT'S ALBUM FOR SYCO
Rupert Christie is mixing the forthcoming Rhydian Robert's album for Syco records. Rhydian is best known for his 2007 appearance on the fourth series of the British talent show The X Factor in which he came second. His debut album has sold over 600,000.
PALOMA FAITH COVERS BELLE HUMBLE TRACK.
Belle Humble has got her first cut on the new Paloma Faith album with her track "Upside Down". The album is due for release on the 28th Sept through Epic Records. You can check out an acoustic performance of the song by Paloma here: http://www.bebo.com/c/video?FlashBoxId=9799806943
RUPERT PRODUCING ONLY MEN ALOUD ALBUM FOR DECCA RECORDS
Rupert is currently in the studio recording the latest Only Men Aloud album for Decca Records.
RUPERT CHRISTIE WORKING WITH LISBEE STAINTON
Rupert Christie is currently back in the studio producing more tracks for Lisbee Stainton who was recently playlisted on BBC Radio 2.
JASON WILCOCK FINISHING ALBUM
Jason Wilcock is finishing the latest album for Mann Friday.