Described by the BBC as “commanding massive respect worldwide”, Gavin Monaghan is on the other side of the mixing desk for the first time with his new band Mama ft. Antonella.
Antonella Gambotto-Burke Image credit Derek Ridgers
“I’ve been in the industry forever and yet nothing could have prepared me for this,” the legendary producer, who has over 30 gold and platinum records, tells Female First.
Gavin, who has worked with Led Zeppelin, the Elvis Presley estate, the Duane Eddy estate, Tony Christie, Editors, Paolo Nutini, The Twang, Ocean Colour Scene, The Cult, Jimmy Somerville, Aswad, and Elvis Costello, among hundreds of other luminaries, has had music featured in multimillion pound productions ranging from the Austin Powers and Twilight franchises to American Horror Story, Gangs of London, Luther, and Peaky Blinders.
This year, he worked with multiple Grammy Award-winner Robert Plant to create the Wolverhampton Wanderers FC’s new walk-out tracks.
Out of all the singers he could have worked with, Gavin chose Antonella on the basis, he told Express and Star, of her “genius”.
Antonella, the author of various books, only started singing in late 2021 on the insistence of the man who discovered Oasis, Creation Records CEO Alan McGee, who first approached her in her late teens to sing with the Jesus and Mary Chain. Then “too shy”, she turned him down.
As Gavin says, “I understand why McGee asked. Antonella’s voice is pure emotion and her lyrics are up there with the best – Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, you name it.”
Some Love, he says, is “about the way we think we can control love, only to discover it can tear your life apart.”
As Mama ft. Antonella prepares to release its first album, lauded in this month’s Electronic Sound as “a riveting stone killer”, Gavin goes from strength to strength.
“He’s in the thick of organising a landmark project with major, major names, but I’ve been sworn to silence!” Antonella laughs.
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