Albert Hammond Returns to SA
Singer, songwriter and record producer, Albert Hammond is a prolific music industry giant, who has written commercially successful songs for some of the biggest names in the Music Industry, including Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Glen Campbell. Julio Iglesias, to name a few.
A solo singer in his own right, Hammond will be returning to South Africa in March for five shows in four different cities.
Hammond is a regular visitor of our beautiful country, and over the last decade, has frequented different cities in South Africa to serenade audiences with classic hits like It Never Rains in Southern California, Free Electric Band, I’m a Train and Peacemaker.
This is the very reason Charl Van Heyningen Enterprises decided to bring him back:
“Hammond is one of the greatest song-writers of our time. Audiences love him and it is time for Stellenbosch, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and P.E. to experience this music heavy weight”,
says Producer Charl Van Heyningen.
Hammond has collaborated most notably with songwriters Mike Hazlewood, John Bettis, Diane Warren as well as Holly Knight, Carole Bayer Sager.
He wrote commercially successful singles for artists including Celine Dion, Joe Dolan, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Leo Sayer, Tina Turner, Glen Campbell, Julio Iglesias, Willie Nelson, and Bonnie Tyler, and bands Ace of Base, Air Supply, Blue Mink, Chicago, Heart, Living in a Box, The Carpenters, The Hollies, The Pipkins, Starship, and Westlife. Notable songs co-written by Hammond include "Make Me an Island" and "You're Such a Good Looking Woman" by Joe Dolan, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship, "One Moment in Time" sung by Whitney Houston, "The Air That I Breathe", a hit for The Hollies, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" a Julio Iglesias/Willie Nelson duet, and "When I Need You" by Leo Sayer. In 2015 he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection.
As a solo singer, his biggest (and only Top 20) Billboard hit was "It Never Rains in Southern California", #5 US 1972. Other songs of his include "Down by the River", "The Free Electric Band", "I'm a Train", "When I'm Gone" and others. For a time he was part of the formation The Family Dogg, with whom he had the hit "A Way of Life". He has also produced for a number of artists.
