BURBANK, CA (By Luke Burland/ Warner Records) - The amazing success story surrounding the new Warner Bros. Records artist
Daniel Powter - who will release his self-titled debut album on April 11th - keeps growing, thanks to the triumph of "Bad Day," the album's lead-off single. The piano-driven pop track is the best-selling single in the U.S. this week, claiming the Number One spot on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Already Certified
Double Platinum by the RIAA, it is also the most digitally downloaded song on iTunes for the second week in a row, having sold 113,000 copies this week alone and 454,000 to date.
In addition, the album, a blue-eyed soul-pop classic that Rolling Stone describes as a distillation of Powter's "love for old Motown records into sweetly groovy tunes laced with falsetto vocals and buoyed by a hefty backbeat," sits at Number Five on the Digital Album chart. The Vancouver native has enjoyed constant radio airplay ("Bad Day" is also Number One at Hot AC and Adult Top 40) and TV exposure. Fans of Fox's "American Idol" have heard "Bad Day" multiple times over the show's closing montage in past weeks. In addition the video, which has been in heavy rotation on VH1 as a "You Oughta Know, Artist on the Rise" clip, is being promoted on April 3rd to "Gung Ho" rotation, and will receive more than 50 plays a week.
Powter's TV onslaught continues in April when the singer makes appearances on the "Today Show" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on April 14th, on "Live With Regis and Kelly" on April 18th, and on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on April 26th. MTV viewers will also get their first look of Powter performing live when he appears on "TRL" on April 6th at 3:30 p.m. EST.
The excitement about Powter in America comes on the heels of his phenomenal year overseas, where he has already sold a total of one million albums. "Bad Day" was certified as the Number One Radio Airplay song in Europe in 2005, beating out the likes of Coldplay, U2, and James Blunt. He also topped the individual airplay charts for the year in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Australia, among others.
Powter's debut album, which the artist has described as "keyboard music on steroids," was produced by Mitchell Froom, who is known for his work with Elvis Costello, Crowded House, and Randy Newman, as well as being co-produced by Vancouver's Jeff Dawson. American tour dates to support Daniel Powter are currently in the works.
