KUALA LUMPUR: Singer-songwriter Awi Rafael is thrilled to be given the honour to cover two songs by his music idol — J. R. Richards, the former lead singer of American alternative rock band Dishwalla.
The 33-year-old Singaporean artiste said that this was a big deal for him since he had always been a huge J. R. Richards fan.
“I wanted to explore and expand my music further. So one day, I contacted Richards and before I knew it, we were recording two of the songs from his days with his band. Can you imagine how exciting this is for me? He’s my idol,” he told NST when met at the launch of his digital branding company Newsantara, which he is the chief executive officer and co-founder, at Four Seasons Hotel here recently.
Awi said that together with the 52-year-old American singer-songwriter, they recorded tracks from Dishwalla’s 2002 album — Angels Or Devils, and Every Little Things.
Turning both songs into a duet, Awi also took the liberty to give Malay lyrics to them.
Recording of the songs was done at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London last month.
While no date has been fixed for the release of the songs, Awi hopes to put them out by January next year.
Meanwhile, Richards, who was also present at the launch, said that he got to know Awi less than a year ago but even then, their communication was via telephone and text messages.
“We only met in person a day before we hit the studios.
“It is an honour to do this duet with Awi, especially when he told me how he had been following my musical career from those days when I was still with Dishwalla,” said Richards who left the alternative rock band back in 2005 to pursue his own solo career.
Last week, the two put up a one-night JR/AR “Stripped” Acoustic showcase at Hard Rock Cafe here.
The showcase was a special prelude to the official tour set for April next year, which will see them performing in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, besides Malaysia.