VON MEMERTY RELEASES SOLO ALBUM

When Ian von Memerty, Port Elizabeth-based TV host (Strictly Come Dancing), reality TV series judge (SA’s Got Talent) and multi-award winning performer and theatrical creator, embarks on a new project, he does it big.

Von Memerty’s first commercial CD includes “24 of the hottest musicians, and 18 of the grooviest original songs in one world class package.” The majority of the band members were sourced from the Eastern Cape’s pool of talented artists. According to von Memerty, “Our soloists can hold their own against any musician in the country!”

Entitled You Are Fantastic after his TV catch-phrase, von Memerty’s album is available in stores as well as for download for all his “my tech-savvy fans.”

The first song from the album was released to stations across the country the day after Valentine’s Day. “This is one special song,” says von Memerty. “It is the perfect Valentine’s antidote entitled Out of my Life.” The rest of the album includes a wide range of songs which showcase von Memerty’s versatile vocals from swing, to funky put downs, bopping through pop and soaring through ballads, the songs explore the full range of emotion from the sassy to the sentimental.

According to von Memerty, he never thought of releasing a solo album until he met Debbie Everard – the musical director on the CD. “I have sung about a 1000 songs over the last 25 years, and have written over a 100 songs for other projects and different people, but I have never thought of going the singer/songwriter route.” However, after observing Everard’s work on a project last year, von Memerty felt the creative juices flowing and decided to embark on this ambitious project.

“Every gender, age, and race came together sharing one common gift – superb musicianship. One of the things that attracted me most to using Eastern Cape musicians is the unique sound of the brass section that we put together. Also, our bass player, Andrew Warneke, is as good, if not better than any I have worked with in the last 30 years!”

For more information visit www.urfantastic.net