"Memories" is a progressive rock song written by Hugh Hopper [1] and recorded by a number of artists.
Hopper wrote the song in the mid-1960s and it was originally recorded by his group The Wilde Flowers, although their versions were not released until many years later. The Wilde Flowers was a predecessor to the group Soft Machine, who also covered the song, as did associated artists Robert Wyatt (released as the B-side of his single "I'm a Believer" and on his compilation album Eps [2] ), and by Daevid Allen (on his album Banana Moon , [3] with vocals by Wyatt).
Several versions by The Wilde Flowers were released on a compilation of their work in 1994. [4]
The song was covered in 1982 by the band Material on their album One Down , [6] which featured lead vocals performed by Whitney Houston in her first-ever appearance as a lead vocalist on an album. It was produced by Bill Laswell. [7] It also features a saxophone solo by Archie Shepp. [5] Music critic Doyle Greene has called Houston's contribution to the song "commanding soul-pop vocals". [8]
The song has also been covered by The Mars Volta, which was included as a bonus track on some versions of their album The Bedlam in Goliath .
"Memories" | ||||
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Single by Siti Nurhaliza and Whitney Houston | ||||
Released |
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Recorded | 1982 (Houston) 2016 (Nurhaliza) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:25 | |||
Label | Yonder Music | |||
Songwriter(s) | Hugh Hopper | |||
Producer(s) | ||||
Siti Nurhaliza singles chronology | ||||
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Whitney Houston singles chronology | ||||
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A cover version of "Memories" was recorded by Malaysian artist Siti Nurhaliza and featured vocals from American artist Whitney Houston taken from the 1982 Material cover of the song, recorded when Houston was 19. Houston had died in 2012. This rendition was first performed live at the Dato' Siti Nurhaliza & Friends Concert on 2 April 2016, a special concert to mark her 20th year in the Malaysian music scene. [9] It was performed as a "digital duet" where Siti sang along with Houston's pre-recorded vocals. [10] [11]
The pairing was the idea of Adam Kidron, CEO of Yonder Music. On 10 December 2016, "Memories" was released exclusively on Yonder Music's streaming app and on the same day, its music video was televised on Astro Ria and published on Yonder Music Malaysia's YouTube account.
"Memories" marked Siti Nurhaliza as the second Malaysian artist to have a digital duet with a deceased musician, the first being KRU, a music group that in 1997 rerecorded a song that was performed by Tan Sri P. Ramlee, "Getaran Jiwa" ("Spiritual Vibrations") [12] for the 1960 movie Antara Dua Darjat . [12]
In January 2016, Kidron revealed that one of his latest projects for Yonder Music was a special duet, where a chosen Malaysian singer will have a chance to have a duet with Houston. [13] Although he did not name the artist, he did disclose that the song was originally recorded when Houston was only 19. [13] He also revealed that in March 2016, a special free concert will be held for Yonder Music users. [13] In the same month, Siti Nurhaliza revealed that she will have a special two-day concert organized by Yonder Music at the Plenary Hall of Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC) on 5 and 6 March 2016. [14] She also told that during the concert she is going to perform a special song by Houston. [15] On 2 March 2016, it was revealed that the two-day concert has been postponed to April and will be held at Stadium Negara for only one day. [16] On 2 April 2016 during her Dato' Siti Nurhaliza & Friends Concert , she performed "Memories" for the first time, [9] where it was performed as a "digital duet" where Siti sang as a duet with prerecorded Houston's vocals. [10]
It was revealed that when Siti was asked by Kidron who are her favorite singers, she disclosed to him that she is a fan of P. Ramlee, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. [10] He later remembered that Houston's "Memories" has never been featured in any of her albums. [10] According to Siti, "After they realized that I idolized Whitney Houston, Yonder suggested to combine my vocals and Whitney's through digital recording. It is a huge honor for me to be able to sing with Whitney even long after she had passed away." [9] [lower-alpha 1]
A pop ballad, the song lasts for three minutes and twenty five seconds. While the 1982 version featured Houston's vocals and Archie Shepp's saxophone solo, [5] in composing the 2016 version, the vocals of 37 years old Siti [9] are paired with that of 19 years old Houston. [5]
The original composition of Houston's "Memories" was produced by Bill Laswell, [7] while the duet version was produced by J-Key and Kidron, with additional production by Aubrey Suwito. [7]
"Memories" was first performed live by Siti as a tribute to Houston at Dato' Siti Nurhaliza & Friends Concert on 2 April 2016. [9] [11] During the performance, Siti sang live while being accompanied by prerecorded Houston's vocals and Houston's images and pictures that were projected on the backdrop. [10] While donning a striped sequin gold dress with a red base and side panels by Rizman Ruzaini, [17] Siti performed "Memories" as a "digital duet" right in front of more than 7000 people who attended the concert that night. [10] At the end of the performance, she cited the influence that Houston's songs had on her in order for her to learn proper vocal techniques. [18] She also added, "With the advancement of modern technology today, I am able to sing a duet with my idol." [18] [lower-alpha 2]
The debut live performance of "Memories" was well received by critics. Siti Athirah Dzulkifly of Utusan Malaysia called the duet as "unique", [19] Bissme S. of The Sun reviewed it as "one of the highlights of the night", [10] and Jemang Rahman of mStar praised it as "Siti continues to spellbind thousands of her audience with her impressive vocals" [20] [lower-alpha 3] and the performance "will be remembered by the audience". [20] [lower-alpha 4] At the end of the concert, music video for "Memories" was shot and recorded. [21]
On 9 December, two video teasers for its music video were uploaded to Yonder Music Malaysia's official YouTube account. [22] [23] On 10 December, the single version of "Memories" was released for exclusive streaming on Yonder Music streaming app. [24] On the same day, its music video premiered on both Astro Ria and Astro Ria HD [25] and was published on Yonder Music Malaysia's official YouTube account on the same day. [7]
Directed by Anusha Peterson with the original concept by Adam Kidron, [7] the music video for "Memories" was recorded at the end of the Dato' Siti Nurhaliza & Friends Concert on 2 April 2016. [9]
"Memories" music video was recorded separately for both Siti and Houston. All scenes involving Houston and her young look-alike were shot in black and white. The music video begins with audio and visual movie projector effects where places where Houston grew up in East Orange, New Jersey [26] are shown – including images of New Hope Baptist Church, Dodd Street road sign (where her childhood home is located), [27] her former elementary school, Franklin School (renamed to Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative and Performing Arts in 1997) [27] and her childhood home. [27] In the next scene, a young Houston is shown to preparing herself in front of a mirror before heading outside of her childhood home where a taxi is waiting for her, ready to take her to a recording studio. In the next scene, preparations for Dato' Siti Nurhaliza & Friends Concert are taking place in Stadium Negara. The 1982 scenes in the United States and 2016 in Malaysia are shown one after the other before the title card for the music video is shown. Throughout the introduction, a male narrator narrates the song's background, history, and the historic collaboration between Siti and Houston in Bahasa Malaysia and English.
In the main portion of the music video, it begins with a scene showing a backdrop where a video of Houston singing the first lines of the song in a recording studio is projected. Later, Siti is shown to join Houston's video projection in singing the song back in Malaysia while she is being backed by a group of musicians on a stage. In between the scenes where Houston is in a recording studio in the United States and Siti is on a stage in Malaysia, scenes showing the audience waving their mobile devices (with their lights on) in the air are shown. Throughout the video, Siti and Houston took their turns in singing the song as a solo and as a duet. The music video ends with Siti concluding the performance and a picture of Houston is shown right behind her on the large backdrop to the cheers of the audience who are in attendance.
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Malaysian Production Team
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Credits adapted from "Memories" music video credits. [7]
Dato' Sri Hajah Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin is a Malaysian singer, songwriter, actress and businesswoman with more than 300 local and international awards. She made her debut after she won a local singing competition show, Bintang HMI in 1995 when she was 16. Her debut single, Jerat Percintaan, won the 11th Anugerah Juara Lagu and another two awards for Best Performance and Best Ballad. Her debut album as of 2005 has sold more than 800,000 units in Malaysia. She has recorded and sung in multiple languages, including Malaysian, Javanese, English, Japanese, and Mandarin.
Cindai is the third album by the Malaysian pop singer Siti Nurhaliza released in 1997, and her second album that year. Cindai was the first attempt by Siti to sing traditional Malay folk songs. It was the most memorable album in the 1990s for its impact on the Malaysian music industry. The eponymous first track has been nominated for the best song in the 1990s. The album was Nurhaliza's first album to have a title track.
This is a list of albums and singles by Siti Nurhaliza where she has sold an estimated of more than six million records in Asian market especially in Malaysian and Indonesian markets out of her 15 years of singing career. Within five years, the sales for her first six albums have already reached 1 million units in the Malaysian market and another 500 000 units from the Indonesian market. Her debut album was revealed to sold more than 800,000 copies and eight out of 15 of her solo albums have received either Gold, Platinum or multiple platinum certifications from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Konsert Lentera Timur was a concert residency by Malaysian recording artist, Siti Nurhaliza. Held on four non consecutive nights in September 2013 at Istana Budaya, this was her first concert in which the songs performed were mainly driven by traditional Malay and folk music genres. Many of the songs were taken or derived from her four solo traditional albums: Cindai (1997), Sahmura (2000), Sanggar Mustika (2002) and Lentera Timur (2008). During the course of the four-night concert, she performed more than 30 songs and was backed by 40-piece traditional Malaysian orchestra, Orkestra Traditional Malaysia (OTM). The musical backing included an amalgamation of sounds from different traditional musical instruments, including strings and percussion that are synonymous with Malaysia's multiracial culture – Rebana, Er-hu, Sitar and Sapeh.
Siti Nurhaliza In Symphony – Live With The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra was a concert residency by Malaysian recording artist, Siti Nurhaliza. Held on three consecutive nights in July 2013 at Petronas Philharmonic Hall, this was her first solo concert to be backed entirely by 80-piece Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). The concert marked her 18th year involvement Malaysian music industry with more than 20 albums, where most songs that were performed were taken from her solo albums and couple of songs as tribute to Malaysian singers and artists who have inspired her.
Fragmen (Fragment) is a 2014 album by Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza. It was her 17th studio album and her 16th Malay-language album, released physically on 30 June 2014 by Universal Music Group (Malaysia) in a collaboration with her own record company, Siti Nurhaliza Productions. Most of the songs in the album is inspired by her life and experiences. The production of the album saw a collaboration between Malaysian and Indonesian composers, lyricists and producers.
"Lebih Indah" is a single by Malaysian artist, Siti Nurhaliza. The song is composed by Aubrey Suwito, with its lyric written by Ad Samad. This is her first single from her 17th studio album, Fragmen. Originally intended to be a background song for one of the commercials for her SimplySiti product, it was later promoted as a proper single when it was performed live during her Siti Nurhaliza in Symphony concert in July 2013.
"Jaga Dia Untukku" is a second single by Malaysian artist, Siti Nurhaliza from her seventeenth solo album, Fragmen. Written by Rozisangdewi, the song is composed and recorded by Aubrey Suwito in January 2014.
Dato' Siti Nurhaliza Unplugged 2015 was a concert by Malaysian recording artist, Siti Nurhaliza. It was held on 7 April 2015 at Istana Budaya and marked her twentieth year in the Malaysian music industry. Almost all the songs performed during this one-night concert were from her own repertoire, covering her hits and popular songs from the beginning of her career to more recent ones.
"Terbaik Bagimu" is a single by Malaysian artist Siti Nurhaliza. The third single from her seventeenth solo album, Fragmen, the song was composed by Ade Govinda, an Indonesian songwriter and lyricist.
Unplugged is a live album by Malaysian recording artist Siti Nurhaliza. It was released in multiple formats, both physical and digital in Malaysia on 30 June 2015. The main live tracks were all taken from her 2015 unplugged concert at Istana Budaya on 7 April 2015. The CD, digital download and LP record versions of the album however come with three new bonus songs, "Menatap dalam Mimpi", "Engkau" ("You") and "Mikraj Cinta". All were recorded specifically to accompany the three audio releases.
"Mikraj Cinta" is a single by Malaysian artist, Siti Nurhaliza. It was released on 21 June 2015 as the lead single from her live album, Unplugged. Composed by Hafiz Hamidun and Fedtri Yahya, the song is included in the album as one of the bonus tracks. Originally a song by Hafiz for himself, it was given to Siti for her performance of "Sirah Rasullulah" in conjunction with Prophet Muhammad's mawlid on 3, 4 and 7 January 2015. The studio version of the song was later included to accompany the release of Unplugged.
Konsert Satu Suara, Vol. 2 was a two-day concert residency by Malaysian recording artist, Siti Nurhaliza. She was accompanied by the Indonesian recording artist Hetty Koes Endang, and Singaporean recording artist Ramli Sarip. The concert was a continuation of her 2010 concert project, Konsert Satu Suara.
"Kau Ilhamku" is a promotional single by various Malaysian and Indonesian artists. It serves as an advertising jingle for a collaboration between streaming music service Yonder Music and telecom provider Celcom Axiata, with a view to promoting the former's music streaming service exclusively available on the latter's mobile telecommunication services in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Yonder Music Live Series: Dato' Siti Nurhaliza & Friends Concert was a single day concert by Malaysian recording artist, Siti Nurhaliza. Sponsored by Celcom and Yonder Music, the free concert was only available exclusively to Celcom users who are subscribers of the Yonder Music mobile app. It was held on 2 April 2016 and she was supported and accompanied by five Malaysian artists and three Indonesian artists. Staged at Stadium Negara, the supporting acts during the night of the concert were Faizal Tahir, Hafiz Suip, Jaclyn Victor, Joe Flizzow, and SonaOne of Malaysia and Afgansyah Reza, Anggun, and Cakra Khan from Indonesia.
"Dirgahayu" (Perpetuity) is a duet single by Malaysian artists, Faizal Tahir and Siti Nurhaliza, released on 12 August 2016. It was released to serve as a theme song for a 100-episode Malaysian television series, Lara Aishah. Co-written by Faizal himself, it was recorded in July 2016 before it was released a month later.
"Inspirasi" (Inspiration) is a duet sung by Malaysian artists, Hafiz Suip and Faizal Tahir, released on 25 August 2015. The song is a special project between Era FM and Raku, a music streaming service under Astro. It was composed specifically as a tribute to Siti Nurhaliza for her achievements in the Malaysian music industry for more than 20 years. Co-written by Faizal Tahir, the song is only available for listening on Era FM and Raku.
"Menatap dalam Mimpi" is a single by Malaysian artist, Siti Nurhaliza. It is the second bonus track from her live album, Unplugged to serve as a single after "Mikraj Cinta" in 2015. Music for the song is written by Aubrey Suwito while its lyrics are provided by Rozi Sang Dewi. A tribute to her late father, Tarudin Ismail, thematically the lyrics for "Menatap dalam Mimpi" revolves around her longing feelings for him. On 2 November 2016, its final official music video was uploaded to Siti Nurhaliza's official Vevo account after its first music video was retracted in less than 12 hours it was published in August.
SimetriSiti is an eighteenth studio album and seventeenth Malay-language album by Malaysian singer, Siti Nurhaliza. It was released by Universal Music Group (Malaysia) in collaboration with her own record company, Siti Nurhaliza Productions on 10 May 2017. Recorded in March and April 2017, the album was a collaboration between Malaysian and Indonesian composers, lyricists, and producers.
Dato' Sri Siti Nurhaliza On Tour is an Asian concert tour by Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza. The concert was held on February 21 to March 16, 2019, to coincide with 24th anniversary of Siti's musical career. Estimated at a budget about RM10 million, Siti Nurhaliza on Tour was touted as the most expensive concerts in the Malaysian entertainment history. Siti went on planned to embark her concert tour in London which scheduled in April.