Ladies & Gentlemen: The Songs of George Michael | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | August 1, 2014 | |||
Recorded | May 16, 2014 | |||
Venue | The Palms at Crown | |||
Genre | ||||
Label | ABC | |||
Producer | Toby Chadd, Jon Olb | |||
Anthony Callea chronology | ||||
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Ladies & Gentlemen: The Songs of George Michael is the only live album by Australian musical artist, Anthony Callea. The album serves as a tribute to the songs of George Michael; the title refers to Michael's 1998 greatest hits collection, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael . It was recorded and filmed live with a 9 piece band at The Palms at Crown in Melbourne on May 16, 2014.
The concert saw Callea perform with a number of artists, including a duet with Casey Donovan, whose appearance on stage to sing "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" became a crowd favourite and marked the first time the pair had sung together since the Australian Idol finale in 2004.
In 2013, Callea released the albums Thirty and This Is Christmas , performed in the hit musical Grease and sold his house. He then decided the time was right to take a risk and stage the show that would become Ladies and Gentlemen: The Songs of George Michael 30 years after the release of "Careless Whisper", Michael's first solo single away from Wham!. Originally intended to be a one-off show, the show sold out quickly and his record label, ABC Music, wanted to record and release it, to which Callea agreed.
Callea extended the life of the "one-off" show with not only a theatre performance in each capital city but also a screening of the concert DVD on Foxtel in September as part of the "Anthony Callea Presents: Music Legends" series.
Anthony said, "Like many of us, the music of George Michael has influenced me from a young age. As a singer, his vocal ability is undoubtedly one of a kind. The fact that his music catalogue is full of memorable hits that the audience absolutely embraced and loved on the night makes it even more exciting to now hit more stages around the country and celebrate one of the finest musicians of our time".
Callea lists his top five George Michael songs as; "Patience", "Amazing", "As", "Fastlove" and "Careless Whisper".
Additional musicians
The DVD/CD debuted at No. 1 on the Australian Top 40 Music DVD Chart for the week commencing 11 August 2014.
Chart (2014) | Peak position |
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Australian Music DVDs (ARIA) [1] | 1 |
Chart (2014) | Position |
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Australian Audiovisual (ARIA) [2] | 47 |
Date | Location | Venue |
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One-off show | ||
16 May 2014 | Melbourne | The Palms at Crown |
Additional dates for "The Ladies and Gentlemen" concert [3] [4] | ||
19 September 2014 | Perth | Astor Theatre |
20 September 2014 | Adelaide | Her Majesty's Theatre |
3 October 2014 | Sydney | Enmore Theatre |
4 October 2014 | Melbourne | The Palms at Crown |
11 October 2014 | Brisbane | Convention Centre |
Anthony Cosmo Callea is an Australian singer-songwriter and stage actor who rose to prominence as the runner-up in the 2004 season of Australian Idol. Callea's debut single, a cover of Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's song "The Prayer", is the fastest-selling single by an Australian artist; it held the number-one spot on the ARIA Singles Chart for five weeks, a record for the debut single of an Australian Idol contestant, and was the second-highest-selling Australian single of the 2000s.
Casey Donovan is an Australian singer, songwriter, actress, theatre actress and author, best known for winning the second season of the singing competition show Australian Idol in 2004. She won the competition at the age of just 16, becoming the series' youngest winner. In 2017, Donovan won the third series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. Donovan also hosted the NITV music show Fusion with Casey Donovan.
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