Posted by Garry Herring on January 3, 2015, 3:04 pm
Here where I live in the UK our local radio station has a daily 'sixties at six' hour playing many of the greats of pop. On a Thursday the D.J. has a 'Jim Reeves spot' within that hour playing one or more tracks. However, on one occasion the D.J. said "lay back, close your eyes, and imagine this track by Jim Reeves" and through the speakers came the soft mellow tones of another great artist, Matt Monro, and the song? - "Born Free".
Looking back now I could just imagine the way Jim would have done this song. It would have been tailor made for him.
I dont know when this song appeared in the 1960's, maybe after Jim's passing. Along with another song "If The Whole World Stopped Loving" I feel that Jim would have loved these.
Re: Jim and 'Born Free'
Posted by Larry Jordan on January 3, 2015, 5:04 pm, in reply to "Jim and 'Born Free'"
Matt Monro was a great singer, and Frank Sinatra's favorite. I'm proud to say that Matt's daughter, Michele (who does such a fabulous job of managing her dad's estate such that his label is still releasing new product on him), is a dear friend of mine.
You can see her on YouTube discussing her talented father and she wrote a book about him called "Singer's Singer" which is even larger than my book!
Michele has been a wonderful friend who has given me a lot of help on my book, etc. and also introduced me to her engineer, Richard Moore of Mint Audio, who has become a business partner of mine. In fact, he mastered a new release which will be announced soon (not on Jim).
I can't honestly say, however, that "Born Free" -- to my ears at least -- sounds like it would be a Jim Reeves style song. Matt handled it beautifully, and there are a few songs the two men could have both sung. My personal opinion, however, is that Jim would not have covered that one.
Incidentally, anecdotal evidence has it that Matt went to see Jim's show at a U.S. military base in England one night when Monro had the night off, and I know they were booked at the same lodge around the same time. So Michele and I suspect the two great singers did meet.
My favorite version of "Born Free" can be seen and heard by clicking the link below. It features Matt in a nightclub singing it live. He was so polished.
By the way, this also illustrates the matter we were recently discussing on the Fan Forum about how modern singers rely in auto-tune and can't sing a song all the way through without electronic wizardry to bring them on pitch -- and even lip sync in live concerts! But the "old pros" like Jim Reeves and Matt and others of their era were able to actually SING!
What an incredible artist Matt was, and if you buy Michele's fascinating book, (which she wrote in a bluntly honest and candid style and is available on Amazon), you will learn what a nice man he was. Quite an incredible life Matt had!
Also, I highly recommend a terrific documentary that BBC Four did on Matt that is well worth watching, even if you are not familiar with this artist. I predict you will become a fan.