Can you tell me why you decided to create The Unsung Singers?

Celebrating the art of backing vocals seemed way overdue for Gina Foster and myself. We’ve been fortunate to have performed live and in the studio with some of the biggest artists in music. Working closer than close with an artist and being comfortable in the supporting role is in many ways a dream job. All the wonderful aspects of a Rock and Roll lifestyle without the full force of the spotlight. Backing singers require specific skills that many lead singers do not possess. Strangely though, there is a perception that somehow backing singers must have failed in some way to become artists themselves. That the supporting role is somehow not as worthy. This is absolutely not the case and Gina and I felt it was time to set the record straight and have written our show to reveal and celebrate the hidden history of Britain’s backing singers. From the 1950’s to the present day. It’s a story that’s never been told.

Did you ever dream of being at the front of the stage or are you happiest in a supporting role?

Interestingly my dreams, as a kid, always focused on becoming a singer. I didn’t really consider what area that would take me into. My attempts at a solo career were not fruitful and I realised quickly that I was much more suited to the supporting role. For me, helping to make an artist’s records or live performances sound as best as they can is the most rewarding job. To be famous was never my mission, but to be the best at what I did, was.

How much can you put your own personality into backing singing?

This is a great question because people imagine that backing singers may not be able to add their own personality to the job at hand. If you’ve recorded the vocals on a record, it’s likely that you have a relationship with the producer. Very often discussions take place about arrangements, style and intensity with the singer/singers. sometimes the singers come up with arrangement ideas. Understanding what role backing vocals play on a recording is very important. Being able to cover an array of genres is also key. Great ‘bvs’ (backing vocals) boost the chorus of a song and are very often the part that everyone sings along with. Surrounding the artist in a wall of sound allows the song and main artist to shine. In live shows the backing singers are very often a feature. Working with artists like David Bowie, Eric Clapton and Robbie Williams was always a joy. There was never any question that you were expected to mask your own personality.

How much influence do you have on the songs that you perform on and record?

One of the key skills you can have as a backing singer is the ability to work with very little instruction. It is expected that you have a wide variety of abilities. The artist has their own unique sound but the backing singers must be able to complement that sound in whatever way they can. From opera to gospel from soul to rock, a backing singer must be versatile! Very often a live performance can be very different from the original version. Case in point was Layla by Eric Clapton. For his now classic MTV performance, Eric, chose to rework his famous song to great effect by pairing it down as a sexy shuffle. The b.v’s were arranged on the spot in rehearsals by the singers.

When I worked with David Bowie for the Live Aid concert, David consulted the band as to which songs he should perform. Being a mahoosive fan I wasted no time in piping up with my personal favourite, Rebel Rebel. We performed Rebel Rebel as one of the 5 songs at the legendary concert. I’d like to think I’d influenced the decision!

Are there any shows that you’ve performed at or people you have worked with that really stand out to you as memorable?

‘Pinch me, am I dreaming?’ moments for me were:

• Live Aid with David Bowie
• Nelson Mandela birthday concert with Sting
• Knebworth Concert with Robbie Williams
• Shea Stadium Concert with The Police
• Unplugged with Eric Clapton
• Hearing my vocals on Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It? for the first time.
• Recording with Paul McCartney in the studio. Him picking up an acoustic guitar during the tea breaks and he and I singing Beatles songs together. Literally died!

Peter Darling is a singer songwriter from Kent. So Peter Darling is some bloke strumming his acoustic guitar and singing yearning odes to countryside times gone by, probably with too much facial hair like the rest of them? Ha.

They say that every song has already been written, but that doesn’t stop so many artists just replaying them. On Limehouse the musical canon has been well and truly absorbed, the best of it all being seemingly seamlessly merged into striking song writing, to plug back in again to the ever evolving musical cloud.
Having a seemingly symbiotic relationship with his craft, from the opener Sunland (Intro) that quivers and quakes its way across the strings to final song Never Outstay Your Welcome, a fun and frantic acceptance of the frustrations of teenage life, this is the sound of someone coming of age, and realising that amongst the dichotomies of black and white exist shades of grey and that can be damn good fun.  Honest Again is engrossing and energetic whilst Venus sounds like George Michael’s best ballad – in a wonderful way. Changer chugs along with real grit, the strong  vocals adding a layer of almost menace to the melody. A rampant and random amalgamation of hooks, fuzzy electronics and striking styles abound, and startle with the conviction and ability with which each is grabbed.
The entire EP (bar a cover of Air’s Venus) was written and produced by Peter himself, and is available to download for free from his bandcamp page. Talented and generous.

Reviewed by Francesca Baker

For me this is pure scribal porn. Writing about my two favourite things in the same review – London and music. Only if I was sat at a desk with a ink well, glass of the finer stuff, windswept hills in front of me and my muse awaiting behind me could my writing fantasies be fulfilled any further. Before the writing is that crucial bit, the bit that is even better. The listening. I already know that despite themed compilations being usually a bit, well, sucky, London: Songs To Define The City is going to rate pretty highly, due to the fact Pulp’s Bar Italia features. A song makes me smile, and can lift a mood better than Calpol can.
As an album of songs that reference, pay homage to, are inspired by or criticise the capital city, this is a collection that aims to mirrorsthe thousands of Londons that there are. A question I often ask myself is what is the real London?
Is it the view from Embankment Bridge, the spires of St Paul’s and the London Stock Exchange stretched out ahead after a stroll with Roxy Music’s Do The Strand or watching a Waterloo Sunset serenaded by The Kinks. The myriad shops selling foods unidentifiable to my born and bred British eyes, down in Brixton’s Electric Avenue (Eddy Grant) and the hubbub of languages I don’t understand, not too far from where you might find one of Simple Minds’ Chelsea Girl. The place of hopes and destinies fulfilled, streets paved with gold where anything can happen, so long as you’re with The London Boys (David Bowie). Or dreams shattered, realisation dawning as you come to in the late night lighting of Bar Italia. A place to live or just exist, rolling along purposeless, as in the Streets of London Ralph McTell informs us of.
It’s all these, and London: Songs To Define The City does a good job of being its soundtrack.