Margaret Urlich (born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1965) began her career as the vocalist for the new wave group Peking Man with her brother Pat, Tim Calder, Perry Marshall, Jan Foulkes, Neville Hall, John Fearon and Jay F-bula. Peking Man won the 1984 Shazam! Battle of The Bands, (a TVNZ pop show) and had a number of hit songs in New Zealand, "Good Luck to You", which reached #6, "Lift Your Head Up High", reaching #21 and the #1, "Room That Echoes". Later she was a member of an all-girl pop group in New Zealand called When The Cat's Away who released a couple of singles. Urlich moved to Australia during the late 1980s and released her solo debut album 'Safety In Numbers' in 1989. The album peaked at #4 on the New Zealand album charts and #5 on the Australian album charts and went triple platinum in Australia. Urlich winning an ARIA Award in 1991 for Best Breakthrough Artist.
In 1990 Urlich, previous mostly unknown outside of New Zealand, provided backing vocals on a track for Australian artist Daryl Braithwaite, on his second album 'Rise', which released late 1990. The song she featured in was the Rickie Lee Jones ballad "The Horses", which was a #1 hit for Braithwaite. The video clip featured Braithwaite singing on a beach, with a model (riding a horse), lip syncing Urlich's voice. Margaret chose not to appear in Darryl's film clip as she had just released 'Safety in Numbers' and was working hard to establish herself as a solo artist.
In March 1991, Urlich, armed with a half million dollar recording budget, returned to the studio to commence pre-production for her second album, 'Chameleon Dreams, with English writer/producer Robyn Smith, the man behind her highly successful debut. By mid-year, Urlich and Smith had entered Sydney's 301 Studios to record their two songs, plus a third track written by Smith and Barry Blue. The same team had been responsible for two of the best tracks on 'Safety in Numbers' ("Escaping" and "Guilty People"), and their latest offering ''Boy In The Moon'', proved pivotal to the sound of the new album. Other tracks were collected by travelling all over the world.
First Urlich went to London to co-write with celebrated writers like Rob Fisher with whom she wrote the album's title track 'Chameleon Dreams'. She then went on to Los Angeles, where she met up with Grammy Award-winning writer/producer Ian Prince, and with whom she wrote two songs for the album and he produced four tracks. She returned to London again, where she co-wrote a number of songs with Simon Law and Tony Swain before completing the project with three tracks produced by Swain. The success of 'Chameleon Dreams' earned Urlich the Best Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year award at The 1992 World Music Awards in Monte Carlo. She attended the awards ceremony and performed ''Love Train''.
In 1993 Urlich was part of Export Music Australia (EMA) and Austrade's second Wizards of Oz promotion, she toured Japan with fellow singer Rick Price and the group Yothu Yindi. Margaret Urlich and Dale Barlow recorded a version of ''I've Got You Under My Skin'' for Kate Ceberano's 1994 album, 'Kate Ceberano and Friends'.
She spent much of 1994 living back in New Zealand and appeared as Mary Magdalene in a major concert production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Urlich released a version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" which reached #44 on the New Zealand singles charts. For her third album, 'The Deepest Blue' she returned to her long-standing partnership with British Writer/Producer Robyn Smith. Smith and Urlich co-wrote all but two of the tracks on the album. 'The Deepest Blue' was released in August 1995 but failed to have the same impact as her previous two albums, only reaching #18 on the New Zealand charts and #17 on the Australian charts. In 1998, her contract with Sony Music having expired, she moved to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales where she set up home and a new recording studio with her partner.
Here she produced her fourth album, 'Second Nature', a recording project produced by Eddie Rayner from Split Enz that was recorded on and off over 12 months and involved musicians from Australia and New Zealand. The album comprised cover versions of some of Margaret's favourite NZ songs that she grew up with. These included artists like Split Enz, Crowded House, Dave Dobbyn, Max Merritt, Shona Laing, Don McGlashan and Tim Finn. The album was released in New Zealand in 1999 and reached #11 on the charts. It achieved platinum status in that country. This was her last studio album. Urlich made a special guest performance on series 1, episode 6 of The Micallef Program, performing a comical duet of the Carly Simon classic "You're So Vain" with Shaun Micallef. After a two-and-a-half-year struggle with cancer, she died on 22 August 2022, at the age of 57, surrounded by her family at her home in the Southern Highlands.
In March 1991, Urlich, armed with a half million dollar recording budget, returned to the studio to commence pre-production for her second album, 'Chameleon Dreams, with English writer/producer Robyn Smith, the man behind her highly successful debut. By mid-year, Urlich and Smith had entered Sydney's 301 Studios to record their two songs, plus a third track written by Smith and Barry Blue. The same team had been responsible for two of the best tracks on 'Safety in Numbers' ("Escaping" and "Guilty People"), and their latest offering ''Boy In The Moon'', proved pivotal to the sound of the new album. Other tracks were collected by travelling all over the world.
First Urlich went to London to co-write with celebrated writers like Rob Fisher with whom she wrote the album's title track 'Chameleon Dreams'. She then went on to Los Angeles, where she met up with Grammy Award-winning writer/producer Ian Prince, and with whom she wrote two songs for the album and he produced four tracks. She returned to London again, where she co-wrote a number of songs with Simon Law and Tony Swain before completing the project with three tracks produced by Swain. The success of 'Chameleon Dreams' earned Urlich the Best Selling New Zealand Artist of the Year award at The 1992 World Music Awards in Monte Carlo. She attended the awards ceremony and performed ''Love Train''.
In 1993 Urlich was part of Export Music Australia (EMA) and Austrade's second Wizards of Oz promotion, she toured Japan with fellow singer Rick Price and the group Yothu Yindi. Margaret Urlich and Dale Barlow recorded a version of ''I've Got You Under My Skin'' for Kate Ceberano's 1994 album, 'Kate Ceberano and Friends'.
She spent much of 1994 living back in New Zealand and appeared as Mary Magdalene in a major concert production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Urlich released a version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" which reached #44 on the New Zealand singles charts. For her third album, 'The Deepest Blue' she returned to her long-standing partnership with British Writer/Producer Robyn Smith. Smith and Urlich co-wrote all but two of the tracks on the album. 'The Deepest Blue' was released in August 1995 but failed to have the same impact as her previous two albums, only reaching #18 on the New Zealand charts and #17 on the Australian charts. In 1998, her contract with Sony Music having expired, she moved to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales where she set up home and a new recording studio with her partner.
Here she produced her fourth album, 'Second Nature', a recording project produced by Eddie Rayner from Split Enz that was recorded on and off over 12 months and involved musicians from Australia and New Zealand. The album comprised cover versions of some of Margaret's favourite NZ songs that she grew up with. These included artists like Split Enz, Crowded House, Dave Dobbyn, Max Merritt, Shona Laing, Don McGlashan and Tim Finn. The album was released in New Zealand in 1999 and reached #11 on the charts. It achieved platinum status in that country. This was her last studio album. Urlich made a special guest performance on series 1, episode 6 of The Micallef Program, performing a comical duet of the Carly Simon classic "You're So Vain" with Shaun Micallef. After a two-and-a-half-year struggle with cancer, she died on 22 August 2022, at the age of 57, surrounded by her family at her home in the Southern Highlands.
''Escaping (#17) / God Bless The Child'' 1989 CBS
''Only My Heart Calling (#46) / Something In The Air'' 1990 CBS
''Number One (Remember When We Danced All Night) (#24) / Room That Echoes'' 1990 CBS
''Guilty People (Maera Mix) (#99) / Give Me Some Credit'' 1991 CBS
"Boy in the Moon" (#21) 1992 Columbia
"Human Race" (#55) 1992 Columbia
"(I Don't Want to Be) Second Best" 1993 Columbia
"Burnt Sienna" (#33) 1993 Columbia
"Man Overboard" 1993 Columbia
"Where Is the Love" (with Rick Price) (#31) 1993 Columbia
"All by Myself" (#100) 1994 Columbia
"Gonna Make You Mine" (#29) 1995 Columbia
"Every Little Thing" (#50) 1995 Columbia
"All for the Love" 1996 Columbia
'Safety in Numbers (#5) 1989 CBS
'Chameleon Dreams' (#5) 1992 Columbia
'The Deepest Blue (#17) 1995 Columbia
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Urlich
I'm the person she wrote 'Crime to be that cool' about and possibly the topic of t'he deepest blue'.
ReplyDelete