New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Following the success of his 2019 studio debut At Last, the acclaimed Welsh actor, known for his performances in
Clash of the Titans, Midway, Beauty and the Beast, The Alienist and more, Luke Evans, returns with the new album A Song For You - out November 4th on BMG.
The album's first offering is the irresistible single "Horizons Blue" - out now, co-written by Luke with renowned Grammy-winning songwriter
Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran,
Jessie Ware). Originally premiered on BBC
Radio 2, "Horizons Blue '' is a song of hope, featuring Evans' hushed and high vocals over simple acoustic guitar and gentle strings.
Evans recounts; "I wrote it in Florida during lockdown, as the sun was coming up over the Atlantic. I was sitting on the beach and the horizon was as blue as the sea. You couldn't see the difference between the two. Then three hours later, I zoomed with Amy in Pontypridd and we completed a demo within two hours. That's really amazing for me, because I'd never written. I knew that I could do it, but I just needed to be guided. And who better to do that with than Amy Wadge?"
A Song For You draws its title from the
Donny Hathaway song that's one of Evans' lifelong favorites and with which he opens the 14-song selection. The array of covers, original and Christmas songs are all delivered in his transcendent tenor, with orchestral backing courtesy of Prague's Philharmonic Orchestra, and additional glorious, full-voiced support on key tracks from the world-famous, 130-year-old Treorchy Male Voice Choir.
The foundations are four songs that speak to both his talent and to the respect in which he's held by his peers: the two tracks he's written with Amy Wadge, and two stellar duets, with
Nicole Kidman on "
Say Something" and
Charlotte Church on "Come What May."
Evans' collaboration with
Nicole Kidman came after the actors met during the filming of Hulu mini-series Nine Perfect Strangers in Australia. They spent five months working together, bonding offset, along with Kidman's husband Keith Urban, in their shared love of music. The duet with singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter
Charlotte Church on the Moulin Rouge! epic "Come What May," came about from a longtime friendship with Church. Evans has known the singer since she was 10, and they shared a vocal teacher at the beginnings of their respective careers.
The Welshman is in huge demand as an actor. From cinematic thrill-ride to prestige TV drama, classic big-screen animation, small-screen police procedurals, action, comedy and thrillers, Evans' is a versatile force with prestige appearances. In addition to his recent lead role in Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers, Evans has starred or appeared in
Pinocchio alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hanks, The Hobbit, The Alienist, Fast and Furious 6, Dracula Untold and Beauty and the Beast.
"I just feel really lucky as a singer, my first love, to do it again," Evans concludes, "and to sing these magical songs on an album which I'll have for the rest of my life. I want everyone else to share that joy, too."
A SONG FOR YOU TRACKLIST
1. A Song For You - (Originally by Donny Hathaway)
2. You Raise Me Up - (Originally by Secret Garden)
3. Horizons Blue - (Original)
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water - (Originally by
Simon & Garfunkel)
5. Say Something - (featuring
Nicole Kidman) (Originally by A Great Big World)
6. My Way - (Popularized by Frank Sinatra, Originally by
Claude François)
7. Over the
Rainbow - (Popularized by Judy Garland, Originally by Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg)
8. Calon Lân - (Popularized by John Hughes, Originally by
Daniel James (Gwyrosydd))
9. I Can't Make You Love Me - (Originally by Bonnie Raitt)
10. Come What May - (featuring
Charlotte Church) (Popularized by
Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor, Originally by
David Baerwald and
Kevin Gilbert)
11. Busy Breaking Yours - (Original)
12. Everybody
Hurts - (Originally by R.E.M.)
13. Last Christmas - (Popularized by Wham!, Originally by
George Michael)
14. Silent Night - (Popularized by Bing Crosby, Originally by Joseph Muhr).
