If you were going to ask what songwriting team have individually toured the world performing, written for The Korgis, Cliff Richard, Slash, Meatloaf, had their songs played on BBC Radio 2, supported Celine Dion, played Jesus on the West End stage, performed sell out shows in theatres around the UK, have won some of the most prestigious songwriting awards in the world and now are writing a song about feeling 17 again! There would only be one name on that list… THE GRAND CRU!
International songwriting team The Grand Cru (comprising of Welsh and American talent) have a brand new single waiting to be embraced by the listeners entitled ’17’ (featuring The Grand Cru member Darren Parry on lead vocal duties) which comes from their 8 track album… ‘September 11 – Music To Heal Your Soul’.
This catchy, memorable, upbeat, Country/Americana influenced track was co-written between three well known Welsh male singer/songwriters and a sassy, female US (Floridian) songwriter.
The Grand Cru includes ex Jesus Christ Superstar lead, Steve Balsamo (who’s written for Slash, Meatloaf, Cliff Richard) and ex member of The Story’s and Balsamo/Deighton. Also on ‘The Cru’ is multi-award winning Welsh singer/songwriter Darren Parry, who’s a former UK Songwriting Contest winner, Billboard, Unisong, ISSA and USA Song Of The Year award winner (who has co-written with The Korgis, Dan and Laura Curtis and others). The third Welshman is Rhondda’s multi-talented Lee Gilbert who is an acclaimed singer /actor. His 25 year career has spanned from theatre, radio and TV work which runs alongside his very busy music career.
The fourth member and brainchild of ‘The Cru’ is Florida based Bonnie Skop, whose family has a long history in music; including her Dad managing Ted Nugent and Bob Seger in their early days! The Grand Cru get their name from the French words… meaning “a wine of the most superior grade”. These songwriters are certainly that!
Darren says of the latest offering: “Steve, Lee, Bonnie and I wrote “17” predominantly on Zoom over the last 6 months or so, we wanted it to have an all American kinda feel to it”. Darren continues: ”We wanted to write something that encapsulated the excitement and emotion of falling in love as a teenager, reminiscing about a time gone by when love captured your heart and the emotions of youth”.
’17’ is the second single from their album following on from single, ‘I Was There’, which was shown on the big screen for the National Guard (EANGUS) 9/11 Remembrance Gala at The One World Trade Centre building in New York on 11th Sept this year for a star – studded event, hosted by Kelsey Grammer (Frasier).
’17’ is was released today (8th November) on all good music platforms. Have a listen below…
Connect with The Grand Cru via:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/p/the-grand-cru-61565108634490/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/the_grand_cru_songwriters_/
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