Folk Bands and Artists
Graham J
Graham J. Norton is a unique and powerful singer.
On his debut album Wild Is... Graham explores elements of jazz, blues, classical and alternative contemporary. The avant-garde, almost vaudevillian, presentation underlies themes of evolution and transformation which define the work. The strictures of Graham´s extensive operatic career as a rarely found tenore contraltino, though strongly acknowledged, are overthrown by his love of a broader breadth of influences including Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey and Karen Carpenter. A sense of mourning, loss and ultimately resolution permeate Graham´s choice of repertoire echoing the work of truly indefinable characters like Rufus Wainright, Antony and the Johnsons, Bjork.
Graham is a native of Dublin, Ireland.Graham´s debut single “INTO MY ARMS” is due for release in the UK on Friday, 6th May 2016 and is taken from the forthcoming album ‘WILD IS…’ (coming this July). Graham will performs his own headline show at Nell’s Jazz & Blues Club, London on Wednesday, 27th April 2016.
Graham explains why he chose this song; “Paul Murphy, of Electric Penguins, suggested that I try my hand at singing Nick Cave´s “Into My Arms”. I´m extremely grateful that he did. I´d never heard the song before but the words and simple melody struck me instantly. Cave wrote this beautiful ballad after he ended two successive relationships. The first being his long-term relationship with Viviane Carneiro and the second his subsequent brief relationship with English musician P.J Harvey. For me, this is a romantic torch song. When I perform it I remember lovers in the past and the challenges we faced to stay together. I think it resonates with a lot of people.”
