| Blood Brothers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cast recording by | |
| Released | 1995 |
| Genre | Showtunes |
| Length | 60:42 |
| Label | Relativity Records |
Blood Brothers: The International Recording is a 1995 studio cast recording of the Willy Russell musical Blood Brothers . The album features David Cassidy, Shaun Cassidy, and Petula Clark, with Russell himself as the Narrator.
The album was the third release of a Blood Brothers cast recording; the earlier versions featured the original 1983 cast (including Barbara Dickson as Mrs Johnstone) and 1988 cast (with Kiki Dee as Mrs Johnstone).
In 1995, a recording of the then London cast, including Stephanie Lawrence as Mrs Johnstone and Warwick Evans as the Narrator was also produced. Many of the instrumental tracks appeared on both the International and London recordings.
Blood Brothers marked the first time Shaun Cassidy and David Cassidy appeared together on an album, having both previously had successful careers as pop artists. (The next would be only a year later when they sang in a trio with brother Patrick on "You Could Drive A Person Crazy", released on the live recording "Sondheim A Celebration). Blood Brothers is the first time Shaun Cassidy had appeared on an album in 15 years. His fifth appearance on an album was in 1980 during his teen-idol career when he released his fifth solo album, Wasp . To date, Blood Brothers was the fifth time Shaun released new material on an album.
David Cassidy (Shaun's half-brother), however, had released solo albums throughout the 1990s, and Blood Brothers represented his first musical-theatre album. Following Blood Brothers, David (unlike Shaun) continued to perform as a headliner of musical theatre throughout the 1990s, including the Las Vegas shows EFX and At The Copa.
Petula Clark also continued to perform as a headliner of musical theatre, including an extensive tour of the musical Sunset Boulevard .
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David Bruce Cassidy was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge, in the 1970s musical-sitcom The Partridge Family. This role catapulted Cassidy to teen idol status as a superstar pop singer of the 1970s.
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Blood Brothers is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell. The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family. The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers. Russell says that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers."
Barbara Ruth Dickson is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include "I Know Him So Well", "Answer Me" and "January February". Dickson has placed fifteen albums in the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a number of hit singles, including four which reached the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The Scotsman newspaper has described her as Scotland's best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976.
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Shaun Paul Cassidy is an American singer, actor, writer, and producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including American Gothic, Roar, Cold Case, Cover Me, The Agency, Invasion, and Emerald City. Cassidy currently serves as executive producer and writer for NBC's medical drama New Amsterdam.
Someone Like You is a musical with a book by Robin Midgley and Fay Weldon, lyrics by Dee Shipman, and music by Petula Clark.
Yvonne Ann Burgess, stage name Jackie Trent, was an English singer-songwriter and actress. She was best known for co-writing several hits for Petula Clark in the 1960s and the theme tune to the Australian soap opera Neighbours in 1985.
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Stephanie Lawrence was a British musical theatre actress.
Bernadette Therese Nolan was an Irish actress, singer and television personality, formerly lead vocalist of the girl group the Nolans. She was the second youngest of sisters Anne, Denise, Maureen, Linda and Coleen. From the age of two, she was brought up in Blackpool, Lancashire, England.
Lyn Paul is an English pop singer and actress. She came to fame as a member of the international chart-topping pop group the New Seekers in the early 1970s. She has more recently found success and critical acclaim starring in the long-running West End musical, Blood Brothers.
Dee Murray was an English bass guitarist, best known as a member of the Elton John Band.
Andrew Schofield is an English actor best known for starring as the Narrator in Willy Russell’s original production of the musical Blood Brothers in 1983.
Rebecca Storm is a British singer and musical theatre actress. Her 1985 hit single "The Show" was the theme to the ITV television series Connie.
Marta Ribera is a Spanish theatrical actress star born in 1971. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the Frank Wildhorn musical Jekyll & Hyde (musical) in the starring role of Lucy Harris and her most recent role as The Lady of the Lake in Monty Python's Spamalot. She has also appeared as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (musical), amongst other roles.
Amanda-Jane Manning is an English actress, singer and recording artist. She is best known for her appearances in various musical theatre shows in the West End, Germany, across Europe and the United States. She also appears as a solo artist on Petula Clark's Album In Her Own Write singing "My Love Will Never Die" for Sepia Records in 2007.
Blood Brothers: The 1995 London Cast Recording is a studio album featuring the score of the musical Blood Brothers by Willy Russell.
