It was while I was working as a producer at animation indie, Pepper’s Ghost Productions, that I was approached by some record producers with an idea for an Elvis music project. They had got my name and mobile number from one of the Elvis fan clubs in the UK and I was intrigued enough to go and meet them.
My office was in Kingston (Upon Thames) and their studio in north Kensington, so it was going to take something pretty spectacular to make me want to drive all that way across town after work more than the one time!
Their plan was to record a medley of Elvis’ early hits, using my voice to sing the Elvis parts, to which they would add an updated dance backing track. The ambition was for me to sound as much like Elvis as possible, so that when people heard it, they would think that this was a resampling of the real thing.
I explained that I had a demanding day job that often involved travel and that for me, this would be a bit of fun, rather than a career move! With all our expectations firmly in check, I started making the long pilgrimage to the studio on week nights after work, and at weekends, often not getting home before midnight. It was as exhausting as it was exhilarating. For two years, I was plunged into another slightly surreal existence where every day started with a 5.30AM run, before moving onto an hour of weight training. After eight hours in the animation studio, I’d head for the recording studio for a few hours of singing in a darkened booth. Weekends were also given over to the lightless, timeless world of the studio where there is no day or night and time seems to stand still.
We ended up being signed for a three album deal by EMI under the name of ‘Ca$ino Internationale’ (not my idea!). But as he bottom fell out of the cd market, EMI was soon trimming back on any spending other than their sure-fire artists like Robbie Williams, and we never had to produce anything else than two tracks for the final cd.
One for the Money’ was also released on the (extremely classy) dance compilation ‘I Love to Party 2003’ and reached #10 in the album charts in Christmas 2002/03! Maybe the track didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped for, but it was another great challenge I’m glad to have taken on.
Alexander Bar