7 March 2008
Sky Arts & PRS announce the ‘Songbook’ series featuring Phil Collins, Mick Hucknall & Gary Kemp
8 x 60 in HD from 1 May 2008 on Sky Arts channel 267 & Sky Arts HD channel 268
Sky Arts, the UK’s only dedicated television channel to all areas of the arts, has teamed up with the Performing Right Society (PRS) to produce Songbook, an 8 part series exploring the art and craft of song writing. Made by Liberty Bell exclusively for Sky Arts and sponsored by the PRS, Songbook will feature an eclectic mix of talented musicians who have each achieved enormous success as a result of their captivating song writing. The series will broadcast weekly from 1 May 2008.
Each acclaimed artist will discuss their unique musical inspiration and writing processes before giving an intimate acoustic performance of four of their seminal songs. Filming began on 1 February 2008 and will continue to mid-March. The featured artists are
Phil Collins
David Gray
Mick Hucknell
Squeeze – Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook
Fran Healey
Hugh Cornwell
Ian McCulloch
Gary Kemp
The series will be presented by music journalist and author of Guitar Man and Song Man, Will Hodgkinson. Hodgkinson will interview each artist in either a recording studio or their home.
John Cassy, Channel Manager for Sky Arts, and Commissioning Editor of Songbook comments: “The Songbook series promises to deliver an intimate insight behind the writing craft of some of the UK’s most successful song writers. This series finds a natural home on Sky Arts, a channel that already broadcasts an acclaimed live music strand and an entertaining mix of intelligent arts programming.”
Ellis Rich, Chairman of PRS comments “PRS is delighted to be involved with the Songbook series which provides a rare and welcomed opportunity for songwriters to step into the limelight to discuss their work. PRS represents 50,000 music creators across the UK and we hope that this series will help educate and inspire the creators of tomorrow’s music.”
Songbook is Executive Produced by Stuart Prebble and Paul Toogood. It is a Liberty Bell / JolyGood TV production.
For more information contact:
Samantha Jones, Tel: 020 7705 2842 / samantha.jones@bskyb.com
Notes for editors:
PRS- The Performing Right Society, creating a future for music. As a not-for-profit membership society, PRS ensures composers, songwriters and music publishers are paid royalties when their music is used. Music is everywhere, every day: live performance, TV and radio, CDs, DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. Royalties create a future for music by supporting creators while they continue to write. www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk
Sky Arts (formerly Artsworld prior to 1 March 2007) is the UK’s only television channel dedicated to all areas of the arts offering a distinctive mix of classical music, opera, dance, jazz, architecture, film, design, drama, and literature. Sky Arts is available in millions of Sky homes on Sky Channel 267 and in high definition as Sky Arts HD on Sky Channel 268.
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) is one of the UK’s largest arts sponsors and is currently exclusive sponsor of The National Trust’s Family Programme, and Sky Arts is National Tour Sponsor of English National Ballet as well as Season Sponsor of English National Opera until 2009.