"Sweet Is the Work" receives special recognition!

I'm very excited that on the first year of entering, my very own version of "Sweet Is the Work" was awarded 'Special Recognition' in the Annual Church Music Submission 2010. Yay!

Some of you will remember that this song made it's debut on my last album "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and I'm really thrilled that it received a special recognition, as the submission receives entries from all over the world! Cool huh?!

You can click (here) to see the list of all the 2010 entries.

You can hear a recording of "Sweet Is the Work" on the "Listen" page of my website (top player) and on the "Shop" page underneath the picture of the "How Can I Keep From Singing?" album, or you can download the sheet music free of charge on my "Sheet Music" page (all at www.jamesloynes.com)

Guess it's time to get back to writing then :)

Thanks so much for your continued support everyone!

Woohoo!...

Just a quick blog post to say thank you so much to all those who voted for me and showed their support during The Stage/Pure Solo - "Mad About Musicals" competition... which I...

**drum roll**... WON! Yay!

I'm really thrilled. The prize is to feature as a vocalist on Silva Screen's "100 Greatest Musicals" album along side stars of the theatre, such as Dave Willetts and Lesley Garrett!

Entrants had to record a vocal for one of three song choices and post it to their "puresolo.com" profile so that members of the public could vote and give however many "hearts" they thought the recording deserved. I chose to sing the "Raoul" part for Andrew Lloyd Webber's "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera.

The first stage of the competition was determined by public votes alone and then the top ten were judged by a panel including Helena Blackman (BBC's "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"), Rick Clark (Manager of new Media and Music Production at Silva Screen Records) and The Stage Newspaper's assistant editor Scott Matthewman.

Runner up in second place was Melissa Cavanagh, singing "Over The Rainbow" - Wonderful company as she has a fantastic voice. You can hear her singing a brilliant version of "On My Own" from Les Miserables on her YouTube channel (click here).

It's very cool to have been chosen as winner from a long list, to record with such well known and respected performers and I can't wait to find out what song they have in store for me!

Thank you again for your votes everyone, I'm so very grateful!

Wish me luck :)

PS - I have recently recorded some songs from musicals, which can be found on my YouTube channel or for MP3 Download at my website (www.jamesloynes.com/music)