Well, July finished much as it had started, working flat out on two albums on two different continents.
Myself and producer, Nigel Wright have almost finished Andrew Johnston’s debut album, which we have been working on at Sphere Studios in South London.
However, at the start of June, I was given the chance of swapping the mixed delights of an English Summer for two weeks in Los Angeles working with Grammy Award-winning producer, Walter Afanasieff.
Holed up in a lovely hotel just off Sunset Blvd, on my third night there, I and the other guests of the hotel were entertained by Stevie Wonder playing piano and singing for the guests of a private party at the hotel.
It was a real privilege to see such a world-renowned entertainer at such close quarters.
Walter’s studio is at the back of his lovely house which like many in LA, has a pool, so in between sessions, I got to sunbathe by the pool.
We finished recording and I had to dash to the airport to make my late evening flight back to London, where the following day I was at this year’s XFactor Bootcamp.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so tired as when my alarm went off at 6am the morning after I’d got back from Los Angeles. Jet lag was not an option!!!
Bootcamp was at the lovely, Indigo Theatre inside the O2. We were booked into a hotel across the river and this was the view that greeted me when I opened the curtains on the morning of Bootcamp (which also happened to be my 40th Birthday).
We finished at 10.30 on Friday night and I headed across London to my hotel close to the BBC, where we were doing the first live shows of Last Choir Standing on Saturday night.I finally got home on Sunday night for my first night in my own bed for over two weeks.
