At the Solar Radio party Gary Spence said to me... wouldn't it be good if I could make a record, maybe like Steve Walsh did back in the day! You Wot, You What, You What!!!
The first thing we had to do was get the concept of the song together, with the idea that Santa forgot to arrange his own party (yes it is the REAL Santa), Nigel Lowis & myself over the coarse of three weeks has been gathering sound bites, voice drops from all the DJ's that wanted to become involved for this charity single. Now all we needed was a catchy song, something bouncy and some singers ....
Nigel Lowis started to hum the song, putting some lyrics to paper, Leanne McCrei came and laided down some vocals, followed by Minster, Gospel singer, Roger Samuels who has his debut single released early next year.
(Vocal Radio Mix) The pantomime mix features Gary Spence answering Santa, as a guide for you to maybe to the same on the DJ Tools Mix, which has gaps for you to vocally fill in! Also included is the 7 inch mix of the song which only features the vocals without all of the fun of The Panto Mix... Thanks to everybody involved in the making of this Christmas Song, which Gave producer, Nigel Lowis many sleepless nights piecing the parts together, Now back to the Christmas Jigsaw ...
McCrei were formed in 2012, when the two UK Soul sisters, Leanne and Shannon McCrei began sharing their life experiences through song writing and started gigging on the Camden acoustic circuit. Fast forward three years and the sisters have performed at over 250 gigs including the O2 Academy, The Hope, Caister Soul Festival, The Cavern, Camp Soul Festival, Funk Is Back, Distillers, Kensington Roof Gardens, Charlie Wrights and various other venues throughout England .
In 2014 the record producer Alan Glass (whose credits include Aretha Franklin, Misteeq and The Lighthouse Family) discovered McCrei on social media and requested to co write with the girls. McCrei wrote four songs to Alan's beats including the song 'I'm Missing You' which is featured on the film 'Last Round', for which McCrei performed in April at the premier in London.
In January 2015 the record label Disco Soul Gold Music (DSG Music) heard McCrei's music being played on Hugh Williams Soulded Out radio show and approached then McCrei resulting in, '' Show Me'' being released as a single through DSG on the 8th June 2015. The song was also remixed by Nigel Lowis (production credits include Dina Carroll, Eternal, Take That) and reached, #1 on the Soul / R&B sales chart, plus Number 2 in the UK Soul Charts. The track also appears on the new Expansion records,' Soul Togetherness album''. Look out also for a limited edition 7 inch vinyl of Show Me which is now in the shops.
(Picture taken by Alan Harding posted with thanks)
McCrei's second single release of 2015; 'Take My Hand' is now released on DSG Music, with mixes by Yuki T -Groove, Alan Glass the producer of the song & Nigel Lowis who is also the co-writer along with, Glass & McCrei themselves.
(Picture taken by Alan Harding posted with thanks)
Inspired by an introduction into traditional Soul, Disco and Funk, their music takes some direction while staying true to their signature style. McCrei's musical influences include James Brown, Whitney Houston, Teena Marie, Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone and ArethaFranklin. The girls recently supported Jean Carn at the Camp Soul Music festival, when the Philly songstress requested the girls to sing to her privately in her changing room. At the last Caister Soul Weekender the UK Soul Sisters supported Joey Negro, by singing to a crowd of over 3,000 at the sold out weekender.
In December 2014, Leanne and Shannon were introduced to an experienced musician trio consisting of Tom O.Mitchell, Charlotte Whiting and Neil Cornwell who have since become McCrei's backing band for live shows.
McCrei - Take My Hand is currently climbing both the Soul Charts and download charts, currently #1 on Amazon sales chart and now available to download below.
