NEW YORK (EMI) - EMI
Music artists Liz Phair,
Joss Stone and
Keith Urban have been selected to appear in Gap's two-month long Fall 2005 television and print campaign called, "Favorites," which begins this August. While this marks Urban's first appearance in a Gap campaign, this is the second time that Phair and Stone have appeared in one. Phair was in Gap's 2001 Holiday campaign, and Stone appeared in Gap's Summer 2005 campaign featuring white denim.
For the new campaign, which focuses on how jeans and songs are individual expressions of personality and style, Virgin Records' Stone and Capitol Nashville's Urban recorded one of their favorite songs exclusively for Gap. Stone turned in a soulful rendition of the
Beach Boys classic, "God Only Knows," and Urban recorded a rocking country version of Billy Thorpe's "Most People I Know Think I'm Crazy."
Both of these tracks will be available as part of a limited edition CD at Gap stores and Gap.com beginning
September 1. In addition, Stone and Urban will perform their rendition of these classics while wearing their favorite Gap
Jeans in the upcoming television campaign. Capitol Records' Phair, Stone and Urban will all appear in the print element of the campaign.
When reached on the road, Phair and Stone offered their thoughts about participating in the upcoming Gap campaign:
"Gap is the definition of American casual style. They are the mavens of confident cool." -
Liz Phair "Working with Gap has been really great. The people are so sweet and have been really easy to work with. They let me be myself and record my music my way. They are such a music driven company. They get it. I think it's a rare find. Plus, the clothes are really comfortable. Cool!" -
Joss Stone Throughout her acclaimed career, Phair's elicited strong reactions for her work. With her brash 1993 debut,
Exile in Guyville, she took on one of the most cherished albums of all time, the Rolling Stones'
Exile on Main Street, writing answer songs to each of the tracks from a female point of view - with notorious frankness that made her an instant indie icon. On 1994's Whipsmart she challenged her own status by moving into the major-label world. After a break, she returned with 1998's Whitechocolatespaceegg married and with a young child, injecting an adult orientation and distancing herself from her earlier works. And with 2003's Liz Phair, she truly polarized fans and critics alike by injecting mature wit into gloriously frothy pop settings, and vice versa - and scored her biggest radio hit with the Gold single "Why Can't I." Phair is currently on an eight-city, sold-out acoustic tour to support her new album, Somebody's Miracle, which will be released on October 4th.
At the age of 18, soul siren
Joss Stone already has the bio of a veteran. Hailed by Newsweek as "supremely talented," Stone counts one gold-certified album - 'The Soul Sessions' and one platinum-certified - 'Mind, Body & Soul' (both S-Curve Records/EMI releases) - and three Grammy nominations to her credit. She has performed on several major television programs, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, and won rave reviews for her show-stopping Janis Joplin tribute with
Melissa Etheridge at the GRAMMY(R) Awards in February 2005.
Considered one of the music industry's most electrifying live performers, as well as one of its most gifted songwriters,
Keith Urban has sold over 6 million albums worldwide, is the 2004 Country
Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year and 2005 Academy of Country
Music Top Male Vocalist with a remarkable track record of six No 1 songs and nine Top 5 hits and has racked up an international collection of gold, platinum and double-platinum sales achievements - all accomplished with three solo albums. Urban's most recent release, BE HERE was recently named Album of the Year at the 2005 Academy of Country
Music Awards (ACMs).
Other artists appearing in Gap's new campaign include Alanis Morissette, John Legend, Michelle Williams,
Jason Mraz and
Brandon Boyd.
