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Wilkinson Returns to Pop/Soul Roots
Dublin-Born Musicals Star Releases 'Some of My Best Friends are Songs'
Billboard Magazine
December 21, 2002
TORONTO - Few would have expected Dublin-born tenor Colm Wilkinson to record
mostly classic soul and pop for his new album, Some of My Best Friends Are
Songs.
After all, Toronto-based Wilkinson is internationally celebrated for such
music-theater roles as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables in London and on
Broadway, Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar in Dublin and London,
and the lead in Toronto's production of The Phantom of the Opera.
But in the '70s, Wilkinson performed around Ireland with one of the best
Irish soul bands of the era, the Action, as well as with the jazz-styled
Jim Doherty Quartet and such showbands as the Chris Lambe Showband and the
Witnesses.
"People will probably be surprised, but I wanted to do something of this
ilk," the performer says. "With the showbands, we were human jukeboxes,
imitating Elvis Presley and whatever was a hit at the time. With the
Action, I did James Brown, Mose Allison, and a lot of blues."
Available since Nov. 7 in select music-retail stores in New York and
Toronto and via his Web site, the self-financed album, released through his own
DC Jass Music Group, is Wilkinson's first solo set since Stage Heroes (RCA)
in 1989. He is now negotiating to have it more widely distributed.
The record includes Wilkinson's take on such standards as "Red Sails in
the Sunset," "Funny How Time Slips Away," and "A Song for You," plus three
superb originals and a song penned by his singer/songwriter son, Aaron. The
combination of Wilkinson's perceptive vocals and the production of Danny
Greenspoon sets the recording apart, but the album also features brilliantly
conceived covers of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son," Clifford T.Ward's "Home
Thoughts From Abroad," and U2's "MLK"/"I Still Haven't Found What I'm
Looking For."
The cover art features a photo of Wilkinson outside his parent's house in
Dublin at age 13, and the recording is dedicated to his parents. "They were
the catalyst for the album," Wilkinson says. "My dad was playing 'Red
Sails in the Sunset' on the piano when he met my mom. Aaron and I used to
perform 'Father and Son' [at] concerts."
Wilkinson says tackling U2 repertoire was daunting. "I had two ideas for
the track, so I went to see Bono. I said, 'This is the way I'm going to do
it, and this is another, gospel, version. What do you think?' He suggested
that I do it the slow way; that really brings out the lyrics."
Music has been part of Wilkinson's life since growing up in Dublin in a
household of 10 children. "I used to steal my father's banjo and play
it," he recalls. When Wilkinson joined the Witnesses in 1968, he began working
abroad; he met Presley in 1969 while playing the lounge at the Paradise
Island Hotel in Nassau. "Elvis sat four tables from the stage," he
recalls. "I did 'I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen,' and I could hear him
saying, 'Oh yeah, man.' He recorded the song later [on the 1973 RCA album Elvis]."
In 1972, Wilkinson took on the role of Iscariot in the Dublin production
of Jesus Christ Superstar. After six months, he took the same part in the
London production, staying for two years. "My mother wouldn't talk to me for six
months after I took the part," he recalls. "She said, 'Do you not realize
what that man did to our Lord?' She eventually came to see the show and
loved it."
For the next decade, Wilkinson worked in musical theater in London and
Dublin. Notably, he co-starred with U.S. singer/songwriter Dory Previn in
Children of Coincidence in Dublin and performed the role of Che on the
1978 U.K. cast recording of Evita (MCA).
Evita co-writer (with Andrew Lloyd Webber) Tim Rice says, "We were so
impressed with him in the London production of Superstar, we thought, 'We
must give him a go.' He has a sensational voice."
During this time, Wilkinson also played cabaret/pub dates throughout
Ireland, billed as "Colm C.T. Wilkinson." He recalls that Les Misérables co-
director Trevor Nunn once asked him where he learned to project his voice. "I
said, 'Trevor, I'm used to working pubs in Ireland with guys with five pints
wrapped around themselves, screaming at the top of their lungs.' "
In 1977, Wilkinson had several Irish pop hits, including "There Was a
Dream" and "First of May," both on the Release label. He issued the album Colm
C.T. Wilkinson on the Solo label in Ireland. A year later, he represented his
home country in the Eurovision Song Contest.
It was Rice who, in 1985, suggested Wilkinson be brought in to play
Valjean in the London production of Les Misérables. Rice recalls, "They were
having trouble finding someone, and I said, 'Surely you've tried Colm
Wilkinson?' They hadn't. He got the role, and the rest is history." Wilkinson went on
to debut the role on Broadway in 1987 and performed it last summer in
Shanghai.
In 1989, Wilkinson came to Toronto to take on the lead role in The
Phantom of the Opera. Initially contracted for six months, he stayed in the wildly
successful production for five years and then moved to the city. "We
brought 22 suitcases with us," he recalls. "I liked Toronto very much. It's a
hard city to replace, because it has so much going
for it."
By Larry LeBlanc
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