IN Music

Marcia Hines has paid tribute to a favourite musician by recording the songs from the classic album Tapestry.

When Marcia Hines bought her first copy of Carole King’s Tapestry it was on vinyl. It was 1971 and she sat next to the record player and followed along with the large included lyric sheet.

“It was like she was just singing to me,” says Marcia, one of Australia’s most-loved singers.

The album went on to be one of the most influential in the singer’s collection and when Marcia was offered the chance to record the songs off Tapestry she jumped at the idea. The result is Marcia Sings Tapestry And the songs of Carole King, as they’ve added three more King songs at the end.

Tapestry – an undeniable pop classic – was released in 1971 by American singer-songwriter Carole King and features such classics as I Feel The Earth Move, You’ve Got A Friend, So Far Away and its marquee track (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. It remains the longest charting album by a female solo artist and has sold more than 25 million copies.

“When Carole wrote this album, she was a young woman and she spoke for all of us,” says the Member of the Order of Australia and former Australian Idol judge. “She had a lot to say and was living her life and it was the first time I had heard stories about women being on the road. She touched certain parts of our lives that people never spoke about. Something like Will You Love Me Tomorrow was a huge admission.”

When Marcia was first approached with the idea she thought “cool, that could be interesting”.

“I also thought it would be a challenge,” says 57-year-old Marcia, who this year also celebrates 40 years as an entertainer. “Tapestry is one of those albums steeped in tradition so you really have to harness lightning and decide what you are going to do with it.

“The album was released in 1971and there have been immense changes in music since then, so we wanted to introduce it to this century but keep it real.”

The singer says the warmth on the album has much to do with the fact that both she and the musicians were in the studio together. The results are a better sounding album than she could ever have hoped for.

“It’s funny to hear something a zillion times and never think that you are going to record it. I looked at it from a fan and an audience’s perspective. So I put the album on non-stop for a month just to feel it again and I realised how cool it was going to be to re-do. My family were very patient!

“There’s no one who sounds like Carole but I know putting my voice to it will change it, plus the instrumentation we chose will do that too. That’s the stamp we put on it.

“Keeping it real was what I wanted. This album is very conversational, not about how clever you can be with your voice.”

Marcia Hines Sings Tapestry is out now. See Marcia Hines and Leo Sayer perform at Perth Zoo on February 12, 2011.

WIN, WIN, WIN!

Thanks to Universal Music Australia we have five copies of Marcia Sings Tapestry to give away…
To go in the draw, simply become a fan of Realmark on Facebook at
facebook.com/realmarkre.