Proud to be part of Roy Orbison tribute

Apr 23 2009 by Debbie Spalding, West Lothian Courier

LOCAL band Reid and Stanners have been invited to play at a special concert to celebrate the birthday of late rock ‘n’ roll legend Roy Orbison.

Reid and Stanners will play a cover version of the classic ‘You’re the One’ at a tribute concert at London’s Gibson Guitar Studio tonight (Thursday).

And the song will also be available to download worldwide on iTunes today, which would have been Orbison’s birthday.

The pair will join acts from all over the world performing their versions of hits including ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘In Dreams’ alongside Roy’s son Alex and Billy Burnett of Fleetwood Mac.

Simon Reid and Louise Stanners are an exciting new song-writing duo.

Simon, from Armadale, and Louise, originally from Newtongrange, Midlothian, are currently working hard to make mark their mark on the music scene.

The pair met while studying at the Ian Tomlin School of Music, part of Edinburgh’s Napier University, and since then have built contacts in LA and Nashville.

In February last year they were awarded one of 60 places on the BBC New Talent/BAC&S Songwriters Academy 2008 and earlier this year they secured a publishing deal with London-based independent publisher Respect Music.

Simon explained how they were asked to take part: "Our publisher Sharon Dean called me to ask if we would be interested in recording an arrangement of a Roy Orbison song of our choice, which would be pitched to be used on a forthcoming release.

“Without hesitation we accepted the amazing offer, despite the fact that Louise and I are primarily song writers, not recording artists.

“We spent much time researching the career of Roy Orbison – an exercise in itself that was extremely gratifying.

“We felt that although we knew of the man's more widely publicised work, we wanted to choose a song that was a little less known, and after much listening I came across a YouTube video of ‘You're The One’ and both Louise and myself instantly realised what an incredible song it is.

“For us this has been an incredible whirlwind project from start to finish and we feel proud of the version we have recorded."

Louise added: “We are excited to have the opportunity to be a part of this celebration and to pay homage to such a legendary figure in pop music history.”

The idea for the event was conceived by Barbara Orbison and Denzyl Feigelson, who wanted to promote new and emerging talent across the world.

For more information visit www.reidandstanners.com