Julia Fordham
(born 10 August 1962, Portsmouth, England) is a British singer-songwriter based in California. Her professional career started in the early 1980s, under the name "Jules Fordham", as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde.
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JULIA FORDHAM TICKETS
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Career
In 1988, she released her first
album on Circa Records,
Julia Fordham
. The album, which contained the
UK Top 40 single "Happy Ever After" (#27 in August), introduced her as a singer with considerable vocal range, and her deeply emotional
lyrics endeared her to a small, committed audience.
[1] Licensed to
Virgin Records America, the album was a minor
hit and paved the way for the success of 1989's
Porcelain
. The single, "Manhattan Skyline", was an
adult contemporary radio and
VH-1 hit.
Fordham has had
chart success since that time, and she continued to
record throughout the 1990s. Three subsequent albums: 1991's
Swept
which featured the UK Top 20 single "Love Moves in Mysterious Ways" (#19 in February 1992) (
The Butcher’s Wife
soundtrack – a
movie starring
Demi Moore), 1994's
Falling Forward
and 1997's
East West
received some critical praise. 1998's
The Julia Fordham Collection
recaps the best-known songs from these five albums and included new versions of recordings including "Where Does The Time Go" which featured the vocals of
Curtis Stigers.
Signed in 1999 to a Division One/Atlantic, Fordham recorded an album called
Concrete Love
. The album was produced by
Larry Klein who has worked with many artists including
Joni Mitchell and with Fordham previously on
Falling Forward
. The release was cancelled when a corporate shuffle caused her
record label to be closed and her contract was terminated.
The release of
Concrete Love
featured a re-recording of its title track as a
duet with
India.Arie as well as different cover artwork. It emerged on Vanguard Records and various other labels internationally including
Sanctuary Records in the UK.
Remixes of the single "Wake Up With You" were released and it became a hit on
Billboard's dance chart. An acoustic club tour played to sold-out shows across
America and she visited the UK and
Japan.
She followed up this album with her seventh record,
That's Life
, which was released on her 42nd birthday in 2004. She performed more live shows which included a successful run of shows in Japan at the
Blue Note venues.
That's Live
, a
live album and
DVD (filmed in
Los Angeles,
California with guests India.Arie and
Judith Owen), was released in January 2005. Fordham then came to the end of her
recording contract with Vanguard.
Also in 2005, Fordham's sister
Claire Fordham had a book published,
Plus One: A Year in the Life of a Hollywood Nobody
based on her experiences of being Julia's sister and living in Los Angeles.
Without a new record contract, Fordham continued to record, releasing independently a rewrite of debut single "Happy Ever After," in aid of tsunami relief. This was backed by two tracks written and recorded with
Aadesh Shrivastava. The single was released to download and then made available to purchase on
CD. It was also backed by
Richard Branson who offered to stock the CD in his Virgin Megastores. The project was nominated for an OSSA award.
In 2006, she released her
Baby Love
EP via AWAL (Artists Without A Label). The EP is a collection of songs inspired by the birth of her daughter, Marley Rose.
Also in 2006, Fordham appeared in a
music video for the
Judith Owen track "Here" playing the part of Owen's mother. The video was
directed by the
actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
In September 2007,
EMI released
Songbook
. It was a Philippines only release and included previous
studio recordings as well as live cuts and rare tracks.
In November 2007, it was announced that Fordham had completed a new album which was going to be released via a 'start up' company called NovaTunes. After some delay
China Blue
was released as a download-only album in late January 2008.
[2] It was a
jazz-based album of self-penned songs with the exception of one track ("I Keep Forgettin'") which is a
cover of a
Michael McDonald song. The album was subsequently released on CD.
Discography
Albums
- 1988 Julia Fordham
(UK #20)
- 1989 Porcelain
(UK #13)
- 1991 Swept
(UK #33)
- 1994 Falling Forward
(UK #21)
- 1997 East West
- 1999 Julia Fordham Collection
- 2002 Concrete Love
- 2004 That's Life
- 2005 That's Live
- 2008 China Blue
(download only)
Singles
- 1988 "The Comfort of Strangers" (UK #89)
- 1988 "Happy Ever After" (UK #27)
- 1988 "Woman of the 80s" (UK #83)
- 1989 "Where Does the Time Go" (UK #41)
- 1989 "Lock and Key" (UK #80)
- 1989 "Genius"
- 1990 "Girlfriend/Manhattan Skyline"
- 1991 "I Thought it Was You" (UK #64)
- 1992 "Love Moves (in Mysterious Ways)" (UK #19)
- 1992 "I Thought it Was You" (re-issue) (UK #45)
- 1994 "Different Time Different Place" (UK #41)
- 1994 "I Can't Help Myself" (UK #62)
- 1995 "Hope Prayer and Time"
- 2002 "Wake Up With You"
- 2003 "Nothing I Wouldn't Do"
- 2004 "Kid Gloves"
- 2005 Happy Ever After (re-recording)
- 2006 Baby Love (EP)
References
- Chartstas.com UK Chart discography
- Julia Fordham: happy ever after?