Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1997 Part Two – Toni Braxton, Madonna, Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow

Welcome to our show and we are excited to share decades of music with you in 2022.

Here is my second selection of top 1997 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

Toni Braxton – Un-break my heart

“Un-break my heart” is from the 1996 album “Secrets.” It stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 11 consecutive weeks while maintaining the same position on the Hot Dance Club Songs and Adult Contemporary component charts. When Billboard celebrated their 40 years charting from 1958 to 1998, the song was declared the most successful song by a solo artist in the Billboard Hot 100 history and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In Europe the song reached the top five in more than 10 countries while peaking at #1 in Austria, Belgium, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland.

August 7th Garth Brooks performs a free concert in NYC’s Central Park for HBO, later releasing it as Garth: Live from Central Park 

Madonna – Don’t cry for me Argentina

“Don’t cry for me Argentina” was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice while they were researching the life of Argentine leader Eva Peron for the musical “Évita.” The story follows Evita’s early life, rise to power, charity work, and death. The song peaked at #1 on the European Hot 100 Singles, #3 in the UK, and #8 on Billboard’s Hot 100, but topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

August 25th Welsh rock band Stereophonics release their debut studio album “Word Gets Around” 

Now time for my second picks from 1997 and I hope you will enjoy my selection.

Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams – I Finally Found Someone

“I Finally Found Someone” is a song by American singer Barbra Streisand and Canadian singer Bryan Adams. The power ballad was part of the soundtrack of Streisand’s self-directed movie The Mirror Has Two Faces and was nominated for an Oscar.

The song  reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart.  The single was also successful in several other countries, reaching No. 1 in Ireland, No. 2 in Australia, No. 6 in New Zealand and No. 18 in Adams’ native Canada.Barbra Streisand 

September 13th Elton John releases “Candle in the Wind 1997”, a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales in the UK

Sheryl Crow – Every day is a Winding Road

“Everyday Is a Winding Road” is the second single from American singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow’s 1996 eponymous album. Neil Finn, lead singer of Crowded House, provides backing vocals.Paul Hester, another member of Crowded House, was the inspiration for the song. The single was well-received on the radio and peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart and became Crow’s fourth and final number-one single in Canada. Sheryl Crow

September 29th Robbie Williams releases his first solo album “Life thru a Lens” features single “Angels”

Additional sources: On This Day – Music – Hits of the 90s: Playback FM – Wikipedia

Your Hosts for The Breakfast Show

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

Sally Cronin is an author, blogger and broadcaster who enjoyed four years as part of the team on Onda Cero International’s English speaking morning show in Marbella and then for two years as a presenter on Expressfm the local radio station in Portsmouth. She co-presented two ‘Drive Time’ shows a week with Adrian Knight, hosted the live Thursday Afternoon Show and The Sunday Morning Show guests including musicians and authors. Following this she became Station Director for a local internet television station for two years, producing and presenting the daily news segment, outside broadcasts and co-presenting the Adrian and Sally chat show live on Friday evenings.

She and her husband David have now returned to Ireland where they live on the Wexford Coast where she blogs and continues to write books.

Books :Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – More reviews: Goodreads – blog: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Twitter: @sgc58 – Facebook: Sally Cronin – LinkedIn: Sally Cronin

Next week 1998 Part One – We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.

Smorgasbord Summer Music Festival with hosts William Price King and Sally Cronin – Headliners Madonna, Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman

The music festivals such as Glastonbury will not be laid on this year with thousands of fans putting their glamping (and less than glam) weekends on hold until next year.

Whilst not the same as sitting in the rain and mud, amongst thousands of other fans listening to the headliners, over the next three months, every two weeks, we will be staging a summer music festival of our own.

William Price King has been writing the music column for the last five years, showcasing wonderful musicians and singers of the last 75 years and I will be playing music from those series.

I will be also sharing tracks from my favourite music from the last 50 years across the rock and roll, country and pop charts.

We hope you will enjoy the music…

“Material Girl” is from Madonna’s second studio album “Like a Virgin” (1984). It was released on January 23, 1985, as the second single from the album. The song was written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans, and produced by Nile Rodgers. Madonna explained that the concept of the song was indicative of her life at that time. She felt that “Material Girl” was provocative in its content and was attracted to it. The lyrics are very materialistic, with Madonna asking for a rich and affluent life, rather than romance and relationships. She said, “I’m very career-oriented. You are attracted to people who are ambitious that way, too, like in the song ‘Material Girl’. You are attracted to men who have material things because that’s what pays the rents and buys you furs. That’s the security. That lasts longer than emotions.

Buy the music of Madonna: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK

I have days when only classical music and the deep rich tones of Andrea Bocelli will lift my spirits and here is one of my favourite duets with Sarah Brightman… fabulous artists…from the official Andrea Bocelli site that I recommend subscribing to.

“Con te partirò” (Italian: [kon ˈte partiˈrɔ]; “With you I shall leave”) is an Italian song written by Francesco Sartori (music) and Lucio Quarantotto (lyrics). It was first performed by Andrea Bocelli at the 1995 Sanremo Music Festival and recorded on his album of the same year, Bocelli. The single was first released as an A-side single with “Vivere” in 1995, topping the charts, first in France, where it became one of the best-selling singles of all-time, and then in Belgium, breaking the all-time record sales there.

A second version of the song, sung partly in English, released in 1996 as “Time to Say Goodbye”, paired Bocelli with British soprano Sarah Brightman, and achieved even greater success, topping charts all across Europe, including Germany, where it became the biggest-selling single in history. Brightman and Bocelli produced a version with Brightman singing in German and Bocelli in Italian, with this version being available on the CD Time to Say Goodbye.[1][2] That version alone has now sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.[3]

Bocelli also recorded a full Spanish version of the song in 1997, titled “Por ti volaré” (“For You I Will Fly”). Under all three versions, the song is considered Bocelli’s signature song: Wikipedia

You can buy Andrea Bocelli music – Amazon US – and: Amazon UK

Thanks for tuning in this week.. William is on his summer break but will be back with a new series in September.. in the meantime we hope you will enjoy the summer of music.