Newcastle-born singer-songwriter, David Aldo, is hoping that a long and successful solo career in South Africa (seven number one singles) will be the catalyst to a successful British chart entry later this month, as he prepares for the release of his first ever UK single, Just You, on November 25, with a self-titled album also planned for late February. It's never easy breaking into a new territory, but if Rod Stewart thinks he's got what it takes, then who are we to argue?
What has brought you back to the UK,
and how much of a challenge is it going to be starting from scratch?
You're right, it
is from scratch. I am an unknown here, for the most part, and that's
going to be a big challenge. A lot of unfortunate incidents happened
to me in the late '90s, that sadly were commonplace in South Africa
at the time; I had a home invasion, I was held hostage in another
scenario, and I realised this was par for the course in that part of the world back
then. I had some very scary moments. Also, it was a very small market
for what I was doing, as I was up against international artists; if I
had been doing local Afrikaans music, I definitely would have stayed,
but I was an English guy kind of doing Elton John style music in
South Africa, so it wasn't straightforward, and after all this awful
stuff happened, I feared for my life every single day, so I just had
to get out.
And headed Stateside, right?
Yes. It seemed the
right move for me at the time, and it was. I'd been over a couple of
times prior; I was brought over by my label, Electra Records, in '97,
and had done some writing sessions with some guys in Nashville, then
I decided that Los Angeles would be the best place, both industry
wise and climate wise. I came for opportunity, and for at least five
or six years, it was a case of survival, and my career went into a
lull, you could say. Then I got a deal with Sony in South Africa, and
everything started up again; that's when I started having successes,
including a world tour supporting Lionel Richie, which was fantastic.
Then last year I decided I really had to release my material in
Europe. I thought, 'what the hell', you know? And here we are...
You've been to hell and back in many
ways, and credit to you for coming through it all with such flying
colours. Is it also scary – although a different kind of scary, of
course – releasing something in your homeland for the first time,
where you must be out of your comfort zone?
[smiles] Yes! But
it makes me feel proud of my accomplishments, as everything has been
driven by myself. I feel good that I have kept kicking the ball
further down the field, and I'm very pleased to bring it home to the
UK. I really do think the UK people are going to get what I do.
How do you replicate that South
African success here in the UK, or in any new territory for that
matter?
It's hard... and the only thing I have is some credibility and
some backing from the success I've had, but nobody really cares about
that. I am only as good as the song I'm about to sing, and the way
I'm singing it. The fact it's been successful somewhere else does
lead me to believe it's going to do well in the UK... I actually
released one of the songs in the US about three weeks ago that was
tested in Idaho, which is kind of farm country, and it was tested at
97% on the radio, which was just amazing. These are people that don't
know me from a bar of soap, and they're getting exposed to this music
from out of nowhere, so that's very encouraging. Also, that's the
audience talking, not the industry talking.
Very
impressive... What's your take on today's industry as a whole?
Oh, they don't
have a clue what's going on! They've been scrambling for such a long
time, and people now know this. I know I have huge challenges coming
my way, but I have to let people know that I'm here by talking to
people like yourself, and try to make some headway on radio; it's
hard, as you've got guys like Robbie Williams, and many more
international artists bringing out new records, and guess what –
radio is gonna jump on their stuff way before mine! So, you have to
work harder, and you have to really jump up and down... higher!
[laughs]
BBC Radio 3 has been playing your
music, which is also encouraging. How would you position yourself in
the UK market?
It's so hard to
know how to answer that, but I think it's more on the mature level.
Saying that, I did an event recently in Houston [Texas] which went
really well, and there were kids of around 23 to folks in their
mid-50s, and they all seemed to be digging it just the same. It's
not a teenage market, that's for sure, and I think the more mature
market is still connected with radio and so on, whereas the really
young ones are more likely to download it on their mobiles and forget
about what they downloaded five minutes later [smiles].
23-55 is a pretty encouraging
demographic, in my book!
Yeah, it is, but I
don't think the record industry is even attacking that market; I
think they're going for the 12-year-old, really, and these kids don't
want to own music, they just want to consume it. And that's
the problem when you're trying to succeed in this industry. My
mission is to expose myself to these new markets, hopefully make some
sales, but more importantly come to the UK and have some sort of a
fan-base that I can then come out and perform to, as that's where I
blow the rest of the guys out of the water... I actually know how to
sing and play!
You must be encouraged by the
success of artists like Ed Sheeran, who's just had a record-breaking
climb to the number one spot in the UK singles chart...
Yes, I think
that's fantastic, and the fact that it took such a long time to get
to the top is even better. Record companies can get things to the top
of the charts by almost bypassing the public, and just using their
connections, but if your record is climbing that ladder slowly, it
means the people wanted to hear it. I wish the industry would
listen to the people, I really do.
You're not the only one... What's
the plan when you arrive in London, then?
I am going to have
to see how it goes, and hopefully that plan will unfold organically.
I'll be doing radio, and as much press as I can, and then I'm going
to come and do some select shows and build on that, hopefully with
some good reviews, then do that groundwork and build it up. Hopefully
I am successful, and it all goes quicker than I think it will, but
you know, it's not that easy...
The fact that you understand the
industry, and have already stood the test of time, must be looked at
as a positive though, surely?
Yes, I think so,
and the thing is, I love what I do. I am a real musician and I
am a soul singer, and that's why I also love the Sam Smith stuff.
He's another huge talent. People can relate to him, too, perhaps in a
similar way to me: I am not going through the mechanics, I am bearing
my soul, and people are feeling it. I am changing people's emotions
when I perform, because I am giving everything of me. It's almost a
spiritual thing... yes, I want to be successful, and want people to
like me, but I have been put on this earth to bring pleasure to
people, and that's why I'm really here.
And let's not forget your celebrity
fan-base...
[laughs] Well,
yes, I grew up with Michael Bolton, and have been trying to sing as
well as him all my life, so when he says he thinks I can really sing,
I take that as a big compliment! And I did get a message from Rod
Stewart about a week ago, actually, saying he and Penny [Lancaster]
really enjoyed the new video, and thought the single was catchy, so
that's another positive [smiles]. We'll have to wait and see, won't
we?
We will... Headliner wishes David all the best with his new single, released November 25.