Spread the Rumour!
Soul Kiss
, Olivia Newton John's debut album on the Mercury label had hardly been released in 1985 when John decided she wanted to devote herself to family life. She had married actor Matt Lattanzi and they had a daughter, Chloe.
But after three years absence, John steps back into the limelight with the release of her second album on Mercury The Rumour
, on August 22. With a massive promotion campaign PolyGram International will see to it that this album does not escape anybody's notice...
The whole album revolves around the atmosphere of the life and times of a mature woman. The lyrics tackle subjects John could not possibly have sung about convincingly at the beginning of her career. Can't We Talk It Over In Bed, the second single, is a ballad about how someone with a busy life does not have the chance to talk with her partner until the end of the day.
The mid-tempo track Let's Talk About Tomorrow deals with ecology and environmental pollution, which concern John even more since she has become a mother herself. It's Not Heaven is about being a single parent and Get Out deals with role reversal.
Coinciding with the release of the first single, the title track, on August 1, PolyGram International kicked off a massive promotion campaign. In fact, promotion had already started before that.
John lives in the US but came to Europe recently to make an appearance on Terry Wogan's British talk show,Wogan, on BBC TV.
Sue Wildish, Promotion Manager PolyGram International: She was a surprise guest but somehow people had found out that she would be there and they literally had to carry her through the crowd of people standing out-side the studio.
The first single from the LP, The Rumour, will attract a lot of attention because it was written by Elton John and his long-time writing companion Bernie Taupin. The majority of the album has been produced by Davitt Sigerson, but this up-tempo and danceable track was co-produced by Elton John. This is interesting as Elton John never produces his own albums. Elton can also be heard on piano and backing vocals.
The video accompanying The Rumour was shot in John's LA home. For John it meant teaming up once again with an old friend, Kenny Ortega, with whom she worked on the film Xanadu
. Ortega is well known for his choreography in the film Dirty Dancing
.
Part of the impressive Olivia Newton John promotion campaign is an interview CD available for radio stations. The interview has 41 time codes and speech tracks can be selected individually like the music tracks on an ordinary CD. Track 42 is the single The Rumour. A word for word transcript, including the original questions, comes with the interview CD which features John's voice only.
An interview video for TV is also available; this does not include the video for the single. John also made an hour-long TV special (available on video) about the bicentenary celebrations in Australia this year. Although she was born in the UK, she spent the years between five and 16 in Australia and the country still has a special place in her heart. The special includes a feature on the place where John grew up and the single The Rumour.
PolyGram International has also put together a special media presentation kit. It contains a CD of the new album, a biography, colour slides and a track listing, all packaged in a delux container.
Perhaps even more importantly, John will make a promotional visit to Europe between September 1-18. Wildish again: She is already completely booked for those two weeks. She will be doing a German, a French, a Dutch, a Belgian and two British TV shows.
With such a powerful promotional push on John's new album, it almost sounds like a 'now or never attempt'. After all, her previous album, Soul Kiss, did not do that well in Europe.
Wildish disagrees: I don't think that is so. It's more a case of 'at last, we have a new album'. We did not have anything from John for a while. With our advertising. marketing and promotion we intend to make sure that everybody is completely aware that she has a new album. John seems to hold a very special place in the hearts of the media. Promotion wise we have been inundated with requests, all major UK and European TV shows, radio stations and magazines are interested. So I am absolutely confident we will break this record.
Unfortunately for the fans, rumour has it that John will not go on tour in the near future. John feels her daughter is still too young to be without her for any length of time. But even without a tour, there is no doubt that The Rumour will spread quickly enough.
More from the interview Rumour promo CD.
More from Terry Wogan's British talk show,Wogan.