2010

Putting on Your Top Hat -
A Musical Tribute to Fred Astaire

WEDNESDAY 27 OCTOBER 2010, 7.45pm

Ulster Hall, Belfast

Introduced by Ava Astaire McKenzie

Ulster Orchestra
Benjamin Pope conductor 
Gary Williams & Rachel Weston vocalists 

A musical tribute to Fred Astaire featuring the original film orchestrations and musical dance routines from Top Hat, Shall we dance and of course Puttin' on the Ritz, with The Way You Look Tonight, Cheek to Cheek, Let's Face the Music and Dance and Let's Call the Whole Thing Off.

Fred's daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, joins the artists onstage and shares some memories of her father.

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Rachel's TV series out on DVD

late April 2010

At long last, the series which Rachel starred in when she was a child, Children of Fire Mountain, has been released on DVD.

(Rachel writes - 'Intriguingly, the launch came just DAYS after the eruption of the 'fire mountain' in Iceland.  Ain't that a teeny bit spooky?' ) 

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Rachel's album on iTunes

You can now find Rachel's album gentle rain on iTunes, Napster, Media Net Digital and a few other digital sites besides.  So you can download to your heart's content! 

If you'd prefer actually to own a shiny CD, and to leaf through the album booklet and check out the artwork (which is pretty cool thanks to Greg Jakobek, designer of many of the albums of George Michael, amongst others), simply click here.

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2009

Judee Sill Anniversary Concert

MONDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2009, 7pm

St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London 

This concert will celebrate the life and music of the singer songwriter Judee Sill. She was a direct contemporary of Joni Mitchell and Carole King, toured with Graham Nash and David Crosby, and was the first artist to be signed to David Geffen's Asylum label. Judee Sill died on 23rd November 1979 after a drug overdose.

For this concert at St Bride's, various musicians will perform songs from Sill's two albums Judee Sill and Heart Food, including her UK hit Jesus was a Cross Maker .  Rachel will be singing that particular song, as well as half a dozen others.  She'll also play piano.

Proceeds from the evening will go to HopeUK, a charity offering drug awareness sessions to children, young people and their parents.

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In the studio with Ennio Morricone

October 2009

Rachel writes - 'I've just had the great pleasure and honour of recording some solos with Ennio Morricone.  He conducted each note with such commitment and expression - pretty remarkable at the end of an entire day conducting, but clearly all in a day's work for this extraordinary 80-year-old maestro. 

I've sung Morricone's music on albums before:
Deborah's Theme with pianist Maksim, and Gabriel's Oboe (from The Mission) on the Swingle Singers album Screen Tested.  Only this June I sang Once upon a time in the West onstage with the RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin... little knowing I'd be in the
studio with the man himself in October!'  

An Abbey Road summer... and autumn too!

September 2009

Rachel writes - 'During July and August I seemed to beat a path to Abbey Road Studios pretty regularly, working on 3 different projects: a new children's movie, a 5th ERA album, and the soundtrack of a video game.  Because all of this was happening at Abbey Road, each morning I walked over THAT zebra crossing - 40 years exactly after THAT album cover!  To add to the vibe, ERA V is being recorded in Studio Two, which remains pretty much as it was when the Beatles were there.  All very groovy.'  

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Michael Jackson - This is it

Rachel writes - 'It was Abbey Road again for a session (for which we had only 24 hours notice) to add vocals to a couple of songs which will appear in the upcoming Michael Jackson film, This is it.  It's going to show in cinemas around the world for only 2 weeks from October 28.'  
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