Lots of Time Has Passed!!

I cannot believe how long it's been since I checked in here on blogger.com! Woah. Reading my last blog, so much has happened. Yes I created that "album in 3 weeks" and produced it myself. It's called "The Vehicle". I was planning on releasing it independently but a record label came along through an old friend in the UK named Laurie Jay and I signed the deal to release "The Vehicle" worldwide on Right Recordings distributed through Nova/Universal, excluding the States, back in February of this year. It was officially released on April 22nd and the first single called "Good Girl Down" was simultaneously released on that date as well. I can tell you, it's better to have a team behind me. I'm more of a creative type and even though I o participate in social marketing, I wouldn't exactly call myself tenacious about it. I do Facebook mostly, and a little bit of twitter. I'm still not resting on my laurels though, I will continue to do my due diligence when it comes to promo. It's just nice to have a team behind me that has connections to radio and press in the UK and worldwide. I went over to the UK at the end of April after a songwriting week in Santorini, Greece, hosted by a writer and entrepreneur, Leonidas Chantzaras. It was a good writing trip in most ways, especially that I met and worked with some people that I'm still in touch with, one named Paul Drew who is a great writer and sound designer. We wrote two songs in one day with another great writer from Denmark named Marcus Winther-John. I went on to London to do several shows around the country and lots of interviews. I did a popular tv show called "Loose Women" which is very much like "The View" over here in the States and they requested an exclusive on the video for "Good Girl Down"which was good. Then I did the shows with a group of musicians from the Allstars Collective who are all FANTASTIC and I got lots of help from the guy who manages them and even plays a little harmonica, Paul Pacifico. I had a great time. When we all got back home, Paul Drew worked on the demos and really made them sound like records. When it came time to have my newest [about to be released] single mixed, I contacted Paul and asked if he would mix it. He agreed and helped me prepare the files for him to mix which was a bit of a process only because I don't really work in the program that everything was recorded on, Protools. I work in a software program called "Logic", but Paul walked me through it and was able to receive all the necessary files and I have to say, he really did a great job. It needed to be edited down as it was pretty long and now it's much more "radio friendly". Plus I had to add a few more things, some background parts as you know a "painting" is never done and I wanted to add some more colors to the song. What else can I tell you? Our house is like a factory today, here on the Sunday, the day before Labor Day. We've been working on mixing a b-side for the new single and I decided it would be a song I've had around for a while called "I Adore You" which I've always loved. I just never got the demo sounding great. FINALLY, it sounds like I wanted it to sound in my mind. I'm sending it to the label tomorrow or Tuesday to see what they think. Also, speaking of Factory, upstairs my hubby Lance is working on the video for the single which he got a good grip on today, concept wise. Additionally, my APP is finally finished! It's taken about 8 months to complete it, but it's worth it and was created by a friend of ours named Roberto Montesinos who has the mind to do it, lots of minutia to cover, but we are finally there. He's just sent it in to Apple for approval. It used to take 3 weeks for them to get back and approve it but now, apparently, it's only 5-10 days which is great. And my son and his girl friend are working on some animation for the video. Alls' good, b-side playing in the background and I'm leaving for London in about 6 days to do some writing and more gigs around the launch of "The Vehicle". Phew, lots going on, no wonder I'm tired!! But I adore it and the opportunity to continue to do what I love today. As my fortune said in the cookie tonight: You lead a useful life no matter what riches are coming to you. I feel very wealthy and fortunate in SO many ways. Amen!! Peace Out.....xoxoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 14

Yep, it's been a while. About a month actually. I have no idea how that happened. But it's not because nothing's been going on. And by the looks of it I'm gonna need a clone this summer.

New and noteworthy: things are about to get very exciting indeed. My "album" is now turning into a double album, haha! yes, here's how: I'm going into a studio with some of my favorite musicians at the end of this month to do 10 songs which I am producing myself. I wrote some new songs recently, played them to a few people and the report: "this is gonna be funky!". indeed it is. I've got my old fave rhythm section lined up: James Gadson on drums [Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Paul McCartney] Reggie McBride on bass [Keb Mo', Ricki Lee Jones, Taj Mahal], Johnny Lee Schell on guitar [Bonnie Raitt and my old pal, aussie, Renee Geyer and others] Luke Miller on Keyboards, [soulful young LA player around town with the best of the LA musicians, namely saxophonist Paulie Cerra] and additional guitars by the very talented and tasteful Sam Meek, also a member of Paulie Cerra's band. The goal: let's do a 10 song album in 3 weeks, like they used to do it in the old days. YEAH.

I'll resume working with Larry Klein after my production is finished. I'll do 5 more songs with Larry. Release date for the entire collection TBD but I'm thinking this fall for sure!!

We'll be filming both adventures and will place footage on youtube as we go as well as making a documentary about it all. So, please stay tuned. Check me out on youtube as well under "Marcella Detroit".

I'm very excited about it all!! And grateful. Thanks for reading. xoxoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 13, lucky?

Yes i am!! very lucky girl, woman, of the human species.

what's new you might ask? well, I'm off to Chicago tomorrow to join Corky Siegel and his group called Chamber Blues. An eclectic mix of his harmonica playing [ps. he know that thing so well, it's really like a mini piano in his mouth, haha!] and a string quartet, plus a percussionist. they are all lovely people and dear friends. it will be a year since the last gig i did with them nearly. always fun to see them and i have to say corky has enough enthusiasm for a million people. what a showman!!

then what? i'm back here in cali to figure out what's gonna happen next with my "record". i'm also planning some very exciting music stuff/rehearsals/possible gigs when i get back.

been doing some writing with a very cool new guy I met named klaus derendorf. v talented. we're writing for some very big artists right now. names will be disclosed later. don't wanna jinx it, hehe!! i know i know, not very evolutionarily evolved to b superstitious; i ain't perfect...:-)

i did a vocal on a "dance" record, co-wrote it with a cool dj who is american via the uk named gina star. that will be out sometime this summer. you know me, I love all kinds of music.

my heart is in my eternal love for "soul". found a cool station on satellite radio called 'soultown" love it.

oh, and sporting a new haircut by a gr8 stylist i just got turned onto named krystal @ guy matthew salon, she roxxxxx!!

all in all, things are good and i am very fortunate. wishing much love and happiness for all our brothers and sisters here in the us in overseas in recent killer storms and quakes.

BIG love, peace and out xoxoxoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 12

Well, I'm up to my usual antics: it's 1:32 am and I'm wide awake...what's new??

i haven't blogged recently cuz there wasn't much new to tell. but just a little update: last week I went to my publishers and we had a "listening" session to the 5 tracks that larry produced. everyone seemed to really enjoy them. there's talk about doing another 5 which will be determined a few weeks from now.

meanwhile, i'm writing some new songs for myself and working on some demos on some of my songs in my home studio which is just great fun and easily transports me to a fantastic mood.

i'm also writing some songs with other writers for other artists which is going well. i'm getting antsy to do some gigs in the LA area very soon, over the summer. I have already been invited to do a gig at a very cool venue which i'll divulge soon....

that's it for now, until i get the next urge to do a new blog..

much love, always xoxoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 11

They call me the night owl; and for good reason. It's 1:31 am, Friday morning. I've just gotten in from going to a jam to hang with some good friends of mine and got up and sang and played some cool old tunes by Denise LaSalle ["I didn't take your man" which was also recorded by the great Ann Peebles] and a woman named Yvonne Fair [ A song called, "It shoulda been me", very cool, very gospel. And no, it's not the same song Ray Charles did. But Gladys Knight recorded it and her version is very good, what a voice. But Yvonne's Fair's is less slick and I like that, yeah]. The latter I haven't sung for many years but thought of it today and how much fun it would be. And it was....Why is it that I feel so awake right now when I have to be like a normal person and get up at a reasonable hour? I was born at night, some things will never change...

So, tomorrow I'm going to the studio, where mixing is taking place. In fact, tomorrow we will be finished with mixing all 5 songs. I heard a few mixes today that sounded really good, just got to do a little tweaking on one or two of them. And that will be that. Then we shall play them for my publishers.


Wish me luck people, if you're reading this. Send me a comment if you like, let me know what you think, how is your world, what kind of music really inspires you; really makes you think, what makes you feel good, excited, what makes you forget what you wanna forget and remember the times you've treasured? Talk to me!!

Much love;

Marcy xoxox

The Making of 2011 Blog 10

My tenth blog about this, well, happy 10th blog anniversary!

This coming week: All overdubs are finished. Two mixes have been done, we will go back and review those. Now this coming week I think the last 3 songs will be mixed and done. There may be a few tweaks here and there, but for the most part, finished.

I'll report on the results in a few days.

Thanks for tuning in.

Peace, love and all that good stuff

Marcy xoxoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 9

About to start what will most likely be the last week of recording for these 5 songs. I only have a few things left to add, some acoustic guitar on one of the songs and a few backing vocals on some of the others.

Then it's on to mixing. In fact, they will be starting a mix tomorrow, the last of the overdubs, I will add on wednesday. I'm looking forward to hearing what EL does with the mixes, ie, what he leaves out, leaves in, turns up or down.

In the famous words of Arnold Schwarznegger, "I'll be baaaaaaaaack!" in a few days with an update. Feel free to follow me on twitter @marcelladetroit. I've been tweeting from the stuuuudio.

Much love;
Marcy xoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 8

Ah, Saturday, not a second too soon. It was a good day to catch up on the real world. I did have a great week in the studio doing overdubs and look forward to next week when I'll be doing vocals and a few other things. Then it's time to mix these new babies!!

I've been given permission to officially announce the name of my publishers who are funding my recordings. They are called: Music Sales Corporation. As I mentioned before, this is unprecedented for them and they are all very behind this which is great. So far, I mentioned we've done 5 songs. There's been more talk lately of doing another 5 to complete the album. We shall see..But I'm feeling confident about it all. You can find them online at: www.musicsales.com if you want to learn more about them.

Many people have asked if there will be more filming of the whole process. YES!
I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Lots of love;

Marcy xo

The Making of 2011 Blog7

Friday will be here in less than an hour and I'm pretty tired so I'll keep it short and sweet.

It's been a very good week. We've been cruising through all the overdubs and things are really starting to take shape. Did some more percussion today, some backing vocals that I did and tomorrow, the amazing organ stylings of the incredible Larry Goldings. His list of credits is very long and very impressive so feel free to google him and find out.

looks like next week will be about getting my lead vocals down. oh, and there will be more filming!!

thanks for staying tuned. gotta go, my eyes are crossing!

xoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 6

Happy Monday. I hope it's getting off to a good start although it's difficult to be completely cheery due to the tragedy that's going on in Japan right now. I cannot imagine; my heart goes out to all those people.

I got word from EL yesterday that we are beginning the overdub process tomorrow, Tuesday. We'll be in his studio all this week adding my vocals and backing vocals, some of my guitars, other guitars by Dean Parks, keyboards with Patrick Warren, more percussion with Jay Bellerose. And more next week and beyond if necessary till the "painting" is finished :-).

In the next few weeks I will have 5 finished tracks. I'm also working on some more new songs and got a few upcoming surprises or two.

Mediajag created the first clip of my recording experience for this record. Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTxVHQYcO38

Off into my studio now, got a busy day singing and compiling vocal files...

Much love;
Marcy xoxo

The Making of 2011 Blog 5

Saturday afternoon in southern California happens to be a lovely spring day. How dare nature serve up such a beautiful concoction here after the devastation a few thousand miles away in Japan. My heart goes out to all those people.

This weekend was meant to be my time off; but if anyone knows me, it's hard to do that. last night I was working in my studio till about 1 am on a few songs of mine that I've been wanting to finish. I am desperate to become a better engineer and am determined to be able to make my demos sound like records. I'm also looking to connect with a good studio partner, someone who can help me with that, perhaps write with me and be at the helm of the technical aspect of gaining good quality sound.


re: my record, it's supposed to all start happening on Monday. According to EL we are going to start overdubbing then and "not stop till it's done"; ok, ok, well maybe we'll take some food, bathroom and sleep breaks, but I don't really know what his work ethic is like at this point, so it's anybody's guess.. We've got keyboard overdubs, percussion stuff and I would imagine some guitars and other goodies, and of course, I will do my vocals and backing vocals.

oh, sorry I never told you this, you can't expect me to give everything away, but here are the names of the musicians that have played on the recent tracks:
dean parks: guitar
patrick warren: keyboards
jay bellerose: drums and percussion
brian mcleod: drums and percussion
larry klein: bass and production

if you google all of the above players you will find a wealth of incredible credits. I am honored to be working with all of them.

Will report more on Monday.

Much love xo

The Making of 2011 Blog 4

Back from my trip into studio world where time flies by marked by rehearsals, retakes, trying this and that till it's right and before you know it, it's 10 pm again. Last night ended with food being delivered. El had to leave the session early due to family issues.

I think all in all it went very well yesterday although I had a problem with one of the keys of one of my songs. I'd been so used to singing it higher and El suggested I do it a whole 4th lower so I ended up feeling like I was singing in my boots! but after all that I understand the suggestion; he thought it would sound more personal to sing it in my chest voice and in fact, after trying it back up in E where I used to sing it and all points in between A below E and up to E, we went back to B!!

Tracks are all sounding v cool, laid back memphis soul. One went really well yesterday, better than I'd even imagined it would.

We r due to start overdubs either this Friday or next Monday. I wait with bated breath. But in the meantime, gonna put a vocal on a track for someone in the uk in my home studio....

Till next time.

Much love xo

The Making of 2011: Blog 3

Countdown to recording tomorrow, yee haa! I have a feeling this is going to be something completely different for me. I enjoyed my meet with EL the other day. He emailed me today and all is moving forward.

Bringing my lovely acoustic guitar for tracking tomorrow. It's the one Eric Clapton picked up for me while we were on tour many years ago. We were on the road in the San Francisco area. Eric said, "I'm going guitar shopping, do you want anything?" kind of like you do when you're going to the market or something, ha ha!. I said, "sure, please pick me up a nice warm acoustic guitar". So, he brings me back this amazing Martin 0018, made in 1949! I covet that guitar. It's very warm and fuzzy and it's been my musical friend and inspiration for so long.

Off to run some errands and prepare, rehearse. I'll try to do some tweeting from the studio. check it out at:
www.twitter.com/marcelladetroit

Much love;
Marcy xo

The Making of 2011: Blog 2

Just a few days before we actually start the recording process. I had a meet with EL [larry klein] yesterday about the songs and we discussed the keys. I sang them all in the original keys for him and we lowered a few of them. I have to say they do sound a little more conversational and personal. Whether they stay in the new keys, we shall see on monday!!

Got some great musicians playing on them; and it's going to be a slightly different approach to my music production wise. I don't want to give away too much right now, but this will be a very fresh approach.

Sorry to b so brief, but it's a summer day today in the LA area. gotta get out there and n joy it!

Much love;

Marcy xo

The Making of: 2011 Blog 1

Welllll, dare I say, I'm about to start a new series of blogs about my upcoming recordings. I suppose I'm afraid of saying anything in case it doesn't come to fruition, [this is known as jewish "superstition" and that's an "oy and a vay"] but as my husby pointed out, it's all part of the story, all of it, the good bad and the ugly. And so it is.
It really hadn't sunken in till today while we were in the midst of having to replace our 36 year old air conditioning and heating unit, ouch!! but luckily for us, we have a very good friend in that industry who quickly came to our aid to help. we are very fortunate.
now, you may ask, so, what didn't sink in? Well, the fact that plans have been made for the start of new recordings for me. At the end of 2009 I signed with a very good publisher that specializes in tv and film licensing; in other words, for those of you who are not familiar with what that means, they are experts at getting music into films and television for shows or advertising. When I signed with them I told them, "I'm an artist and during my term with you, I may want to do a record or two". They immediately said, "we are not a label". understood. However, last year, they funded one song for me and now they want to do a block of 5 songs to be produced by a very well known producer named Larry Klein. Larry was married to Joni Mitchell and actually produced several of her records from the mid 1980's through to the early 2000's. [a quick stop to make a cup o tea to warm up my hands and body; it's cold in here! i know, southern cali, boo hoo, but it's quite cool today. we won't have heat till thursday.] So, Larry is at the helm. He's reviewing my songs again now whilst he's in New York for the week. When he returns, we'll discuss which songs we want to do. I love all of my songs, some more than others and I already have an idea of what needs to be done.Today, I got confirmation that the studio is booked and sessions set up for next Monday and Tuesday at a very cool studio in LA that I've worked at many times before back in the Clapton days. I am very excited about this. Larry has some great musicians lined up which I'll talk about soon. Of course, I'll be playing my geetar along as well. We're going to put down 2 tracks on Monday and 3 on Tuesday. After that, we'll start working on adding vocals and whatever else needs to go on the songs. Those, my friends, are called "overdubs". Fun.
We're going to film the whole process and the plan is to have a little "rockumentary" at the end of it that will be part of the release with possible interviews from some of my coworkers from the past. As I said, at this point Larry is going to do 5 songs; I have a really talented producer in New York that will do an additional 5 songs to make it a complete album.
I'm also in the middle of writing my autobiography. OOOO, it's hard to know what to put in there; I mean, do I really want to give myself completely away??? I'm up to 22 chapters now and that takes me up to around 1994. Got a lot more writing to do!
Today, I've been in my studio finishing up some songs that could also possibly be included on the album. BUT, I already have lots of songs for it; these new ones could be B sides or part of another or additional release. We are going to give the world my MUSIC, very soon, and LOTS of it. It's time.

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think...
Lots of love;
Marcy xo

"STay" topping the UK Charts Now!

I cannot believe that "Stay" is now officially in the UK BBC Radio 1 charts at #9! It's obviously thanks to a young girl named Cher Lloyd who did a cover of it on X Factor this past weekend. I first heard it was topping the UK itunes charts but was quite surprised that it's actually the Radio One charts! We worked very hard many years ago to get it into the top 40 and now it's got legs of it's own thanks to Cher. Who would've thunk???!
All I can say is, God Bless the UK! I hope to get back there very soon, who knows maybe sooner than I think!

Much love;

Marcella xoxoxoxo

MuSIC BIZ TODAY

I received something from the Huffington post today @ www.huffingtonpost.com. it was something posted by Macy Gray, the great singer/artist talking about the problem of being a woman over 40 and putting out music. record labels have said, on record, "we don't know what to do with a record by a woman over 40, we can't get it played". ridiculous!! i responded to her post, please feel free to check it out. I also wanted to divulge this bit of info:
Earlier this year, while I was in the uK show, "Pop Star to Opera Star", someone representing me went to see someone at a very big record label in the UK to talk about getting me a record deal. They said they were only interested in signing artists who were "younger, that didn't know much about the music biz". They said that now, they are only signing artists that would be willing to give up some of their publishing and also an additional 10% to the label for management [the latter, i've never heard of and should be against the law, fact both of these things should be].. I would not qualify because, I'm older and "I know too much". This is simply OUTRAGEOUS! Artists should unite against this sort of thing. It's like the early days, back in the 50's and 60's where artists, lots of blues and soul artists, gave away all claims to royalties and songs they'd written. I frankly this it HEINOUS! but the only reason the labels get away with it is because artist's are desperate and they LET THEM! Every artist young and old should seriously consider this when signing any kind of contract: Be Aware, be informed and take control! After all, it's a big wide web world out there and we can do this independently. You can get distribution, hire good pr people at reasonable costs, get art work done, etc much easier than you could say 10 years ago, AND, you don't have to be NAKED in a video either to get attention-unless you want to of course.
Time to Stop the madness!!
Said with LOVE xo

Marcella xo

london may 2010

what a week! accomplished so much. just to think, at the end of february of this year i had finished "pop to opera star", went back to l.a. and took about a week off [after all, what's a careeraholic to do??]. then, i looked at the irish prayer that dear michael bradley sent me some time ago and suddenly, the melody came to me. I had been wanting to write music to that prayer for the longest time. i also had a title for a song called, "all is forgiven" and put the two together, and the song was born. i then asked my friend ed shearmur [who co-wrote one of the shakespear's sister songs with us, "i don't care"] if he would help me with it, doing an arrangement and if he could help me record it to which he replied yes. he did a fantastic job; i wanted the production to be more on the classical side which he did very well, though it still has a sort of pop sensibility. i wanted to do this as an "homage" to the pop to opera experience which rekindled my love and appreciation for classical music. ed recreated some of the song and i wanted to give him some writers credit. so, here we are, may 17th, i came to england on the 8th of may, and I've been doing loads of promo for "all is forgiven"; a fantastic radio day last week that my pr person set up. bbc breakfast last monday and they actually showed a good snippet of the video. i think I was on for about 15 minutes which was much more time than i thought I'd be on. it was great, is great, and I'm grate-full! so, then I did the moonwalk event for the walk the walk charity and played "all is forgiven" just after the moment of silence. I decided to officially release it on the day of the gig, may 15th. i also decided to give walk the walk 25% of the proceeds for their cause, raising funds for breast cancer causes. such a great and humbling experience.
now, in my hotel/apt. contemplating this week; i did "smooth radio" network interview today. this goes out all across the midlands of the uk. on friday I'll be doing "magic" radio network with the amazing dave lee travis. more stuff coming this weekend which i'll talk about once it's confirmed.
now it's time to rest my careeraholic brain. attending an event tomorrow, having a meet with a good friend to talk about my doing a surprise gig in london before i leave on may 31st!

more to follow

love, peace, gratitude;

marcy xo

long time, no bloggy.....

ah, what happened???? i haven't blogged since february, since the pop to opera star experience. i guess i've just needed some time to wind down, or is it, to continue getting wound up??? i tried to relax and in fact, i've really started a relaxation regime and it's really helping. now, as of today, i was supposed to be going to england tomorrow to do lots of things, songwriting, gigs, photo shoots, etc but it's all come to a grinding halt due to the massive volcanic ash cloud over the uk and europe! it's unknown when i'll be able to depart now. incidentally, the last time that volcano erupted [200 years ago] the eruption lasted for a whole year! thousands of people are now stranded, unable to get home due to this catastrophe. this is the first time in my life I can say that a volcanic eruption prohibited my air travel. wow, pretty freaky. but, it's better to be in the safety in my own home with my loving family than up in a steel tube in the sky with the chance of dropping out of it! so, here i remain until they announce my "tour of duty" so to speak.
this past week was very exciting and exhausting. what i did was work on my upcoming single called, "all is forgiven" with a great film composer and songwriter, ed shearmur. ed actually cowrote one of the shakespear's sister songs with us, "i don't care". i wanted to do a classical/crossover song for the single so i wrote this song. what i did was, took part of the irish prayer and wrote a melody to it and came up with a chorus for it. we added all the instrumentation and vocals this week, now it just needs to be mixed. the good news is, now that i'm staying, I will be able to attend the mix with ed which will be good fun. then i can take it over to the mastering house down the street from ed's studio. once it's all mixed and mastered i can put it up on 101 d distribution, an online only distribution company. after they receive it, it will be up on itunes within 2 weeks and some other media downloading sites. my goal was to have the single ready by may 15th to coincide with my performance in London at the "moonwalk, walk the walk" event that happens annually, bringing awareness to breast cancer. following performances, there's a huge marathon that begins at midnight going through the streets of london for 24 miles. in case i don't make it to london due to mother nature, i'm still aiming for the release date of may 15th.
i thought i was leaving so had to cram in lots of activities. now i realize how exhausted i am. i need to take it easy, so, tomorrow, i am taking the day off!!!!! not sure what i'll do with myself!
before i go, in case you didn't know, i have my own webisodic called "careeraholic". the second webisode was just uploaded this evening. check it out at: www.youtube.com/marcelladetroit.

i hope you'll enjoy it. nitey nite!! xx

week 4, pop to op star

ok, wtf! can't believe i made it thru, what a blessing! it was pretty scary being in the bottom two last night. i thought, well, if this is the way it has to be, i'll just have to accept it. i was hoping i would go thru and thank goodness i did. katherine and meat saved me, the judges were split,then it was down to the audience vote. i have to say, I was pretty worried about my performance yesterday; it was so stripped back,[just me and the harp, which was beautifully played by the way, and my first instrument choice as a kid which parents squelched due to heaviness and expense, so i took up violin instead]. i had trouble connecting with it at first but in the end i felt it. very hard watching everyone else with their huge productions, but that's showbiz. the good news:i made it thru! and now, I made it to the initial goal i set: the semifinals, wow! who would've thunk??????! so, this week, i'm gonna dig VERY deep and do this and get into the finals! i welcome the challenge and am enjoying every little bit of this!

much love;
marcy xoxoxoxoxox