MICHELLE PARTICIPATES IN 2008 CANADIAN COUNTRY MUSIC WEEK
Canadian Country Music Week 2008 takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba from Friday, September 5 through Monday, September 8. This year Michelle's manager of 23 years, Brian Ferriman, is being inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame as an Industry Builder and Michelle has the privilege of doing the induction.
Michelle's public Canadian Country Music Week schedule includes a 12 noon appearance on Saturday at the Forks for FanFest 2008 with Jessie Farrell, Gord Bamford and Jaydee Bixby. At the annual Gala Banquet on Sunday evening, Michelle inducts Brian into the CCMA Hall of Fame. As Michelle says, "What a celebration that will be!"
The final event of the Week is the Canadian Country Music Awards Show, which takes place on Monday, September 8 and is televised across Canada on CBC at 8:00pm. Michelle is a presenter on the show and she's looking forward to being there. She asks all her fans to please tune in to the telecast and join host Terri Clark in honouring all the great Canadian country music of the past year. Oh, and one last thing.... don't forget to wave to Michelle :)
MICHELLE LAUNCHES OFFICIAL RSS FEED!
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, which allows you to receive updates about Michelle's news and tour dates as soon as they are available. For more information, click here.
MAVERICK MAGAZINE PRAISES EVERYTHING AND MORE!
Maverick Magazine, one of the United Kingdom's top country music magazines, gives Michelle's Everything And More CD a Five Star Top Rating in its May/08 issue!
Everything And More has just been released around the world outside of Canada.
To read the Maverick review, click here.
MICHELLE TO PERFORM AT CMA MUSIC FESTIVAL!
Music City residents and visitors alike have a rare springtime opportunity to catch Michelle in concert during this year’s CMA Music Festival when she performs on the Chevy Stage at the Sommet Center Plaza on Friday, June 6 at 12:30pm.
Michelle is excited about this show: “I love playing the CMA Music Festival. Fans come from around the world to enjoy the music. It’s one big four-day celebration of country music. Come join me,” she says. “We’re gonna have us some fun!”
The CMA Music Festival is just around the corner, June 5-8, 2008 in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, check out Michelle’s website tour page, visit the 2008 CMA Music Festival website, or call 1-800-CMA-FEST.
EVERYTHING AND MORE CD NOW AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE!
Michelle's current CD, Everything And More, is now available around the world on the Savannah Music label. The 12-song collection of all new material, which previously had been released only in Canada, is immediately available to every computer-friendly soul everywhere via Wright's website store, plus all the usual digital download sites (including iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic, and WalMart.com) and Amazon.com, and, as of September 29, 2008, Everything And More also will be available in some stores in the United Kingdom with physical product to be available in the rest of the European Union soon thereafter.
The first international focus track is the title song, Everything And More, which was co-written by Michelle, Patricia Conroy, and Gerald O'Brien. In the song, the husky-voiced singer expresses what is truly important in life and how sometimes we don't realize just how good we have it. The idea was inspired by Michelle’s trips to Zambia and Honduras for World Vision Canada. As she explains, “My involvement with World Vision has had a life changing effect on me. I have traveled to Africa as well as Honduras and seen what life looks like when families are really struggling just to survive day to day. I wasn't sure how I was going to communicate this in my songwriting, but I knew that it would eventually surface and it did for me in this song. I have come to appreciate on a much deeper level how fortunate I am and how I have all that I will ever need. Everything and more.”
Filmed on the streets of Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and featuring some spectacular night performance footage shot in the city’s downtown Dundas Square, the video for Everything And More was directed by Warren Sonoda for TwoThreeFive Films.
Like her Christmas album, A Wright Christmas, Wright’s Everything And More CD was produced by the Nashville production team of Russ Zavitson and Tony Haselden. Not only have Russ and Tony been friends and music business partners for eighteen years, they also enjoy a special connection with Michelle: Tony wrote her breakthrough hit, Take It Like A Man, and Russ was the publisher responsible for pitching that song to Michelle.
If you live outside of Canada and would like to hear Michelle’s new music on country-formatted radio stations or shows featuring country music, you can help. Simply call or email your local station or program hosts and ask them to play Everything And More. And don’t forget to tell your friends about Michelle’s new music, too!
MICHELLE WELCOMES TWINS TO FAMILY!
Michelle and Marco recently gained two new additions to their household - twin brother and sister Persian Siamese kittens weighing 2 1/2 pounds each. While Michelle was out on her recent Christmas tour, Monica, her mom, rescued the twins from who knows where, and Marco agreed that they should be added to the family. Everyone decided to wait until Michelle got home from the tour before naming the kitties. Now we can tell you that their names are officially Castor and Pollux.
According to Wikipedia, Castor is from the Greek for 'he who excels' while Pollux means 'very sweet'. Michelle says the names are perfect: "Castor is the brave explorer. He was found first. Pollux is really sweet. The two of them are just so curious, cuddly and affectionate. It's been a special Christmas vacation around our house this year!"
Michelle and Marco's new kitties, Castor (the short haired one) and Pollux (the longhair).
To see a short video of Castor and Pollux, click here.
MICHELLE RELEASES CHRISTMAS CD, SINGLE AND VIDEO IN THE UNITED STATES!
Michelle's first album of Christmas music, A Wright Christmas, is now available in the United States.
Produced by Tony Haselden (the writer of Michelle's biggest American hit, Take It Like A Man) and his production partner, Russ Zavitson, A Wright Christmas is a joyous twelve-song collection of eleven holiday standards and one original composition. A Wright Christmas includes stunning interpretations of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Joy To The World, Mel Torme's classic Christmas Song, and Irving Berlin's timeless White Christmas; fresh arrangements of Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful and Winter Wonderland; the uptempo favorites, Jingle Bell Rock and Go Tell It On The Mountain; a funky Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer; and a reggae version of Little Drummer Boy. Michelle's good friend Patricia Conroy contributed a new song to the project, the bouncy holiday swing tune I Know Santa's Been Here, which has been released as a single to every American country radio station.
Look for A Wright Christmas at Michelle's website store and at all the usual digital download sites as well.
For more information about A Wright Christmas, click here.
To listen to all the songs on A Wright Christmas in their entirety, click here.
To watch the video of I Know Santa's Been Here, click here.
To purchase A Wright Christmas, click here.
WELCOME TO MICHELLE'S NEW WEBSITE!
Thanks for visiting Michelle's new website! Many new features are available here, such as Michelle's travel journals, photos, album info, and much more. Also available to watch for the first time ever is Michelle's ENTIRE VIDEO CATALOG! Be sure to check back for new updates and features in the coming weeks.
NEW CANADIAN SINGLE FOR MICHELLE: I Don't Wanna Be That Strong
Icon Records has just released I Don’t Wanna Be That Strong, Michelle’s new Canadian single from her Everything And More CD.
One of her favorite songs from the album, here’s what Michelle has to say about I Don’t Wanna Be That Strong: “This song for me harkens back to my early country influences. Merle Haggard. Tammy Wynette. It’s simply a great country song. I like the narrator’s admission of her vulnerability: for those of us that have had to deal with a broken heart over the loss of a relationship that didn’t work out, it’s hard to be strong and put up a front like you’re doing fine when really you’re shattered. In this song the relationship hasn’t come to an end yet, but the woman realizes that she may have to be strong and move on - even though the thought of that is just so painful and the leaving would require great strength. But she knows she has the strength and has proven it to herself in the past. Still, maybe it’s easier to stay rather than go through the break-up and all the emotions that accompany it.
Written by my good buddy, Tony Haselden, and Tim Mensy. Tony, of course, wrote Take It Like A Man for me and co-produced Everything And More.”
I Don’t Wanna Be That Strong is a great traditional country song. Check out Michelle’s awesome phrasing at the very end of the final chorus!
And remember, if you want to hear this song on your favorite Canadian country station… don’t forget to call and request it!
MICHELLE AND KIM POSSIBLE WORK TOGETHER ON YOU TUBE!
Check out this cool YouTube clip, featuring Michelle singing 'Your Love' along with video footage from Disney Channel's Kim Possible kids' cartoon show! The resulting video won the RS.net July 2006 Kim Possible Fandom Video Contest under the shippy theme (whatever that means).
Watch the video now!
