My Album - Voice of an Angel

Hey Guys! Today I'm writing a very exciting post about my album! Think of it as a behind the scenes! As most of you know I have an album out called 'Voice of an Angel', loads of you have bought it - thank you so much, and I hope you really enjoy listening to it. I thought it would be fun to write a blog post explaining the album and the songs from my point of view....why I chose certain songs and what makes them special to me, I'd also love to know if any of the songs have special meanings to you...because I think a good song should have different meanings for different people.

Also keep reading and I'll tell you how to win a signed copy!

The Cover of my Album :)

This is the track list of my album: 

1. Voice of an Angel
2. Over the Rainbow
3. Tears in Heaven
4. Someday
5. Pie Jesu
6. Bright Eyes
7. I have a Dream
8. Lift the Wings 
9. Morning has Broken
10. Nella Fantasia
11. You Raise Me Up
12. When She Loved Me  

Four of the tracks on the album are ones that I sang whilst competing on the All Ireland Talent Show, these are 'Pie Jesu', 'Tears in Heaven', 'Bright Eyes' and the one that I sang in the final 'You Raise Me Up'. 

Here's the video of Pie Jesu on YouTube:

It's funny looking at them now because I think I look so young!! The night of the final was a crazy experience I was so nervous that in one of the interviews I said 'I really hope I make it to the next round' but it was the final so there were no more rounds!

I sang 'You Raise me Up' as my last song in the final. Then when I won my family ran on stage and picked me up...so we made it really easy for the newspapers to come up with their headlines for the next day :P 

See what I mean? :)

After seeing my version of 'You Raise Me Up' on the All Ireland Talent Show, Brendan Graham the original composer of the song sent me a lovely letter and the original score of the song. He told me that he loved my version and really hoped that I would record it. 

'Lift the Wings' is a really Irish sounding song and I actually chose it because my brother Thomas sang it in a show back when he was a boy soprano and I really liked it. 

'When She Loved Me' is a song from Toy Story 2. It was actually my album producer David Hayes who suggested this song, at first I was like 'no way!' because it was sung by a girl and it was very different to my usual songs but I grew to really like it and now it's one of my favourites on the album. It's funny because on the Celtic Thunder Tour I sang another Toy Story song, 'You've got a friend in me!' 

This is a link to the original Toy Story version: 

'I have a dream' is an Abba song, but I sing a totally different version! I just loved the words of this song and really wanted it on the album. The finished version is I think really uplifting and happy! 

We chose to put 'Morning has Broken' on the album because it has always been a favourite of my Granny's and she loves when I sing it for her! 

As many of you will know I sang 'Over the Rainbow' on the Celtic Thunder Voyage tour last Autumn. But the version on my album is totally different...I couldn't pick a favourite between the two! I sang 'Over the Rainbow' when I won my first All Ireland medal for singing when I was 9, so it has some special memories for me :) 

We chose the songs 'Someday' and 'Nella Fantasia' because Sharon Browne thought they would suit my voice, so obviously I didn't pass up on that advice! Nella Fantasia took a while to learn because it's ALL in Latin!!

The title track of my album 'Voice of an Angel' was actually suggested to me by my aunt Rosemarie. We thought it was fitting because during the All Ireland Talent Show I was often referred to as having the 'Voice of an Angel' so it seemed like a perfect match! We spoke to Liam Lawton the composer of the song and he said he would be delighted if I put it on my album. 

Another huge part of the album was designing the album artwork! I had to go for a photo shoot and then get someone to design the cover, we went through a few designs but I'm really happy with the finished version! 

This is a picture of the back of my album: 

Here's an insider secret, my sister took that photograph and we liked it so much that we used it on the album!

You can listen to previews of some of the album in this YouTube video: 

I know that a few of the songs on my album have quite sad meanings but I always try to sing them in a hopeful way, I think no matter how sad a situation it's always important to have hope and I try to get that across in my singing. 

So there you have it, all of the insider gossip about my album :P If you have the album already tell me what you think in the comments below! If you would like to purchase it it's available with worldwide shipping from the blog of my friend Michael Londra, who as many of you know is a very successful Irish tenor! 

Michael's Blog: http://wexfordsinger.blogspot.ie/2012/05/michael-londra-presents.html

or you can get it on itunes if you search 'Daniel Furlong' 

If you want to *WIN* a free signed copy leave your name and email address in the comment section below and I'll pick one at random a week from now on the 16th September!! 

**EDIT** You can also enter by emailing your name to danielfurlongpr@gmail.com putting 'Win an album' as the heading!

Bye for now! I'll talk to you soon ;) 

You can like me on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/DanielFurlongSoprano

Follow me on Twitter: @DanielFurlongCT

Also subscribe to my YouTube channel where I post new videos regularly! http://www.youtube.com/user/DanielFurlongMusic

Kilmore :)

Hello everybody! Welcome to my newest blog post! Today I'm going to give you an exclusive insider tour of my favourite place....Kilmore. It's a seaside village here in county Wexford. My Granny Stafford lives there so I'm there a lot, which is fine by me! 

Me and my Granny Eileen on her 94th birthday!

My granny has a dog called Pepper, he's really friendly but a bit of an eejit as my granny would say! 

Kilmore is famous around Ireland for being one of the only places to still have thatched cottages. Thatched cottages don't have normal roofs they have layers and layers of straw instead! They look really cool too. 

Nearly every summer seals come to live in the quay, they're so funny to watch! All the fishermen spoil them and usually throw them a fish when they come back at the end of the day! Sometimes we go crab fishing off the side of the pier, but we always let the crabs go after we catch them - I don't want to anger any crabs! 

Kilmore has looooads of beaches which are always fun!! 

There was a crazy mist rolling in off the sea!

This beach is called 'the burrow'. 

There's a part of land that juts out into the sea and it's called Forlorn Point, when the sea goes out you can pick Mussels off the rocks (not that I would eat them, bleugh)! Overlooking it is a commemorative garden for all the people who have been lost at sea. 

This statue represents all the people who have stood at this spot and waited for someone to return home to them from the sea. 

  

This is a giant rib bone from a whale that washed ashore in 2000!

Another place that I think is really cool (but a bit scary) is a graveyard beside my granny's house. It's one of the oldest graveyards in Ireland! My great granny and great grandad are buried there. The ruins of an old church are in the middle of the graveyard, the church is so old that noone really knows when it was built but people think it was in the 12th century! 

These steps that jut out of the wall are how you enter!! 

The water from this holy water font is said to get rid of warts! My granny swears it actually works!

Granny says the church was a ruin even when she was a little girl!

So there you have it the Daniel Furlong tour of Kilmore! (Maybe I should be a tourguide if the singing doesn't work out hehe!) I hope you have enjoyed getting to see my favourite parts of Kilmore and maybe if you haven't ever been here you might take a peek if you're in the area! Hopefully you can see why I like it so much :)

Bye for now! 

You can like me on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/DanielFurlongSoprano

Follow me on Twitter: @danielfurlongct

And my album 'Voice of an Angel' is available with worldwide shippingfrom: http://wexfordsinger.blogspot.ie/2012/05/michael-londra-presents.html

You can have a listen to a preview of my album here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S62w62n2j9w

Also subscribe to my YouTube channel where I post new videos regularly! http://www.youtube.com/user/DanielFurlongMusic