Wednesday 20 December 2006

Tunde: I'd say no to Mariah

I can't imagine there's many red-blooded males who would turn down the chance to get up close and personal with Mariah Carey. As well as being stunningly good-looking, Mariah is also one of the biggest-selling artists of all time. However the idea sends shivers through the spine of former Lighthouse Family star Tunde Baiyewu.

The talented singer - who is going solo on his first tour for four years in January - says he can think of nothing worse than working with the notorious diva. In an exclusive interview, Tunde - most famous for 1995 smash hit single Lifted - said: "I'd have to say no to Mariah if she asked me to do a duet with her. I mean, we'd just want different things. She'd want to sing love songs and I wouldn't. We just wouldn't have anything in common." He added: "I'd rather sing with someone who is not really big and famous. Having said that, she might help me sell lots of records!"

After parting ways with Lighthouse Family due to a "heavy promotional schedule" in 2003, Tunde started work on his self-entitled solo album. He said: "After the second Lighthouse Family record, I thought that we were treading water. I was happy in the group but always felt I wanted to express myself more. I spent a lot of time working on my first solo record. The songs reflect a lot of the stuff I've been through over the past four years, plus my Nigerian heritage is in there too. The lyrics are very personal. I think I'm doing things with my voice now that people won't have heard before; it's more expressive."

Key songs on Tunde's album include Our History - in which he sings about his feelings towards Nigeria, the country of his father's birth and where he was brought up for most of his childhood - and the moving Anaesthetic, an extremely personal song written after the death of his mother some four years ago.

Tunde said: "That was the most difficult song I have ever written. It actually took me about two years before I could even go there lyrically. There's a line in the song, in Nigerian, where I say 'Oluwa Shanu-Mi', which means 'Lord have mercy on me'. That was what my mother was screaming in the hospital as she died. Very harrowing."

But while the star is enjoying his time alone, there is one person Tunde wouldn't mind working with again - his Lighthouse Family buddy Paul Tucker. He said: "We haven't spoken for a while but I'd definitley be interested in reforming with Paul. Hopefully it will happen one day. There have been so many bands who have reformed this year. Take That have done well but a lot of the others have failed. I think some of the groups got back together just to sell records and that's not good. If you're going to get back together you should do things for the right reason."

(The Sun)



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