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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Hall Of Fame - Roxy Roller (1994)

From what little I can piece together, Hall Of Fame began in the Philippines as a cover band fronted by a trio of teenage sisters: Luisa, Tota and Ajie Mendez. After they moved to the west coast of Canada with their parents , Luisa and Tota somehow managed to hook up with vocalist/keyboardist Peter James, guitarist Herb Classens and drummer Steve Marshall. Together with producer James Bowers, the group concocted a pop album that covered all of the genres that were hot at the moment. The title track was a remake of the only hit by Canadian glam-rock band Sweeney Todd (whom Bryan Adams would later become the lead singer of and thus begin his lengthy career). That song was the sole reason that I picked up this album, as it was a childhood favourite. Their version isn't too different than the original, except with a dancier backbeat and a female vocal. They managed to release one single from the album, "Irie", which is a reggae-pop song, not unlike something by Ace Of Base or Aswad. The vocals on the album are shared between the ladies and Peter James. The rest of the independently released album includes a few more reggae-pop tracks, a few ballads, and three great euro-house tracks: "In Love With You", "Feel The Magic" and "You Turn Me On". Those three songs alone make this album worth the price, which was a bit more then I'd planned on paying, but I only had this album on cassette and figured you all would love it, so I got it off eBay and it arrived yesterday, and voila! ;) Anyway, they had absolutely no profile in Canada, never mind the rest of the world, and they came and went with barely a whimper. But fear not, as I discovered that Luisa is now one of Canada's premiere Tina Turner impersonators! In addition to Tina, she impersonates the likes of Donna Summer, Amy Winehouse and Lady GaGa! And she also fronts the Big Night Out Band, a cover band whose members also support her tribute acts and includes her sister Tota and Hall Of Fame's drummer Steve Marshall, whom apparently she is now married to. Go to her websites HERE and HERE for more!

Download Roxy Roller

1
Roxy Roller
2
Irie
3
Grab Dat Butt
4
What Could Be Better
5
It Must Be Love
6
Takin' Our Time
7
In Love With You
8
Down By The River
9
Feel The Magic
10
You Turn Me On
11
Falling In Love Again

3 comments:

  1. How interesting.
    Bebet is actually Luisa's brother. The other sister was Ajie. Nick Gilder has actually a lot of hits. Hot Child in the City is one other.

    Luisa and I are editing a TV show at the moment and found your write up.

    Regards,
    Steve Marshall
    Luisa's husband.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for writing and filling me in, Steve! And thanks for clearing things up a bit. I'm glad you found this tribute. It really is a great album, and it's great to know you're all still working together. And I know that Nick Gilder had another hit, but the version of Roxy Roller that I know was the Sweeney Todd one, when he was with them, not his solo version. Anyway, thanks again for commenting!

    ReplyDelete