John Barrowman, much loved actor, singer, TV and West End star releases his long awaited new album Music Music Music on November 24th â out on Epic Records- produced by Simon Franglen.
Music Music Music reveals the quality of Johnâs rich voice across a hand-picked selection of songs, some instantly familiar, others slightly less so. Lead-off single- What About Us- the instantly catchy pop gem written by Gary Barlow will be released on November 17th.
"There are three distinct styles on this record," John explains. "Musical theatre, country and western, and straightforward pop. I wanted to sing songs I've always loved, songs like Bette Midler's From A Distance, Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now and Dusty Springfieldâs You Don't Have To Say You Love Me, alongside things like Keith Urban's fantastic You'll Think Of Meâ
Also present on the new album are beautiful covers of Andy Williamsâ Canât Take My Eyes Off You and the towering I Know Him So Well- first made famous by Elaine Page and Barbara Dickson back in 1985, and here given one of John's by now trademark mischievous twists.
Given the success of his first album, Another Side (the collection of some of John's favourite songs, quickly amassed sales of over 100,000 copies in the first few months of its release, and is now approaching platinum status in the UK alone)- John has high hopes for this successor.
âAnother Side did better than I ever expected," he says, "so who knows, maybe this one will do even betterâ¦" It is, of course, entirely likely that it will, if only because, over the past few years now, John Barrowman has had something of a Midas touch: everything he has been associated with has turned to gold.
After two hugely successful decades as a leading man in some of the West End's and Broadway's finest musicals, John returned to British TV screens in Russell T. Davies's revival of Doctor Who and became, almost instantly, a national treasure. He then took his character, Captain Jack Harkness, into a spin-off series, Torchwood, which became equally successful.
And once he'd established himself as a TV idol, he promptly reinvented himself as a Saturday night talent show judge as well, alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber. Then came his first solo album and, at the turn of this year, his autobiography, Anything Goes.
You'd think that this list of achievements would be sufficient enough for him to kick back on a plump chaise longue and bask in his success, but John has barely begun. He recently fronted How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? on Canadian television, and is currently fielding offers to do likewise in Australia.
And early next year comes the fruition of yet another dream for Britain's best loved entertainer: his own Saturday night variety TV show.