Mark Pentleton

After yesterday’s Come fly with me and the talk of Frank Sinatra’s 1957 album of exotic songs, I thought I’d play another travel-related theme today, and it’s one of the most-requested songs from when I used to play in hotels. New York, New York was written in 1977 by John Kander and Frank Ebb and [...]

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Originally performed by British rock group Badfinger, this song has apparently been officially covered by over 180 artists. The two most famous versions were probably by Nilsson in 1971 and then by Mariah Carey in 1994. However, more recently another cover has been popular especially on YouTube… It’s the version by Valentina Hasan on the [...]

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Today’s song is the traditional Scottish song The Skye Boat Song dating from the 1870s. It recalls the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie from Uist to the Isle of Skye after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. I’ve done something a bit different with the song, building on the pentatonic verse, and [...]

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This beautiful song is especially for Frank and Johanna in Canada who apparently tune in every day at breakfast to my songs. I missed Frank and Johanna’s wedding anniversary in August, so I asked them what they’d like me to play for them and this is what they came up with. Both sides now was [...]

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Today’s song is the 1987 Diane Warren and Albert Hammond classic Nothing’s gonna stop us now, performed by Starship and used as the theme song of the film Mannequin. It made #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK charts, and rightly so in my opinion!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:07 — 4.3MB)

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Today’s song is the beautiful Someone else’s story from Chess. It was not in the original concept version of the musical when it was first released, but added to later versions and has now become one of the best-loved songs from the show.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:32 — 4.9MB)

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Thirty years ago today the recording of this Abba classic (and one of my favourite Abba songs) began in the Polar Music Studios in Stockholm. At this stage it was called The Story of My Life and no particular musical style had been identified during the recording session. Benny and Björn took the recordings home [...]

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I’m really struggling on a very flaky internet connection tonight, so I hope this works! Today’s song is the Gloria Estefan song Anything for you from 1987. It was also recorded in Spanish as No te olvidaré (I won’t forget you). I hope you enjoy this, if it posts correctly!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:13 — 5.8MB)

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Today’s song is one of my favourite Abba songs. Written in 1981 for The Visitors album it was inspired by Agnetha and Björn’s daughter Linda who was seven at the time. It was also used in the Mamma Mia musical and film when Donna is helping her daughter prepare for her wedding day. The song [...]

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This is my version of the original song taken from the film The Prince of Egypt. The song was later reworked by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston without the “Hebrew chorus”, but it was the full version which we used to do back in the Mearns Castle Senior Choir (= “Glee Club” before Glee Clubs [...]

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This song was written by Rolf Løvland and Brendan Graham and was originally included on the 2002 Secret Garden album Once in a Red Moon. Since then it has been covered by many famous artists including Josh Groban and Westlife who recently sang it at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize concert celebrating Barack Obama’s win. [...]

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Today is the final day here in London at BETT and I’m absolutely shattered. It’s been an enjoyable few days working with Oscar and Joe and everyone on the stand, but I’ll be really glad to get home tonight! Today’s song is The Wind Beneath My Wings. It was first recorded by Roger Whittaker in [...]

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