The News Archive

WARNER AND ZTT SPLIT, SEAL GOES WARNER

In a further development to the Seal / Trevor Horn rift, the UK music industry site dotmusic has reported that Seal has left the independent label and moved to Warner Music. The move was prompted by a separation between ZTT and Warner, which was finalised on 4th November when ZTT bosses Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair flew to Warner's New York headquarters.
ZTT have received an unspecified sum for Seal, and are said to be interested in the possibility of becoming a wholly owned indie label.
Warner have made no comment at time of upload.

NEW PRODUCER, TOP PLAYERS FOR SEAL3

It's been confirmed that Seal has a new producer and is working hard on his belated third album at a Vancouver studio.
Straight from the Powerbook keyboard of bassist Tony Levin is the news that Seal is now working with producer Stu Levine, who has previously produced for Simply Red, Joe Cocker, Genesis and many other great artist.
Principle players on the forthcoming album include the luminaries Vinnie Colaiuta on percussion, Heitor Pereira and Michael Landau on guitar, David Sancious on keyboards and, of course, Tony Levin on bass.
Seal's split with his former producer Trevor Horn in early September shocked many fans of both Seal and Trevor Horn, and muddied the future of the already delayed album.

Tony Levin's diary can be found on the PapaBear site at http://papabear.com/tlev.htm

Many thanks to Dhugael McLean bringing this new to our attention.

POST-PRODUCER PROGRESS

In the wake of the apparently ballistic departure of Trevor Horn, producer of Seal's previous two albums and ex- of his third, news is filtering through of Seal continuing work, sans-producer, on material for the ill-fated third album.
The album, which was originally slated for a November release has been knocked back to January 1998. This sounds a little far fetched considering that Seal will probably want to re-record all the material previously produced by Horn for the forthcoming album. However, our source informs us that Seal is working on stripped down, acoustic tracks at an undisclosed studio, making that January release look a whole lot more realistic.

Finger, toes, legs, arms and eyes crossed...

SEAL FIRES PRODUCER

Shocking news comes from the Vancouver-based studio where Seal has been busy recording his third album.
It's reported that Seal has fired Trevor Horn, producer of the current and his previous two albums. The disagreement is alleged to have culminated in a fist fight between the pair, with Horn returning to England where he may press charges against the artist. The cause of the split was due to Horn's over-production of the as yet untitled album, which has left Seal feeling discontented with the producer.
This isn't the first time that a Seal release has been delayed due to over-production. His first album has a little-known 'premix' version which was changed because the two felt it wasn't finished. One might also speculate that the three year interlude between the first and second albums was also due to the same extravagant production.
This latest news no doubt comes as a surprise to seasoned fans, who will recall Seal's claims that this third album would get a much faster turn-around. His intention was to record the album as a one-off session with orchestral backing, rather than a finely honed studio affair.

TENTATIVE DATE FOR NEW ALBUM

Latest news on the release of Seal's third album has found its way to FLP in the last couple of days. A contact in Italy reported that a record trade paper states that WEA is planning the release of the album during November this year.
This puts the album's release almost a whole year later than the date originally planned by Seal, which was Christmas 1996. The last touted release date was the third quarter of 1997, which means the November date is still over a month late.
Over the next few weeks I'll be trying to find more on this release date, and will report any updates or more specific dates on this very page.
At last! We're nearing the edge of the void.

FLAE GOES INTERNATIONAL

Today sees the release of Fly Like An Eagle in the UK. The question is, why did it take so long to get here? It's been available in many parts of Europe for nearly a month, so what makes the UK so 'special'?
Well, it appears that it's been released to coincide with the release of the movie from which it is taken - Space Jam.
One could suppose that it's a marketing ploy to get more sales of the single on the back of the movie, but seeing that MTV Europe were giving it big licks over a month ago and have since dropped it from there usual 10 video rotation, that seems unlikely.
The UK's national rock and pop station, Radio 1, appears to be poking a stick at the track and playing it a once or twice a day, so that's not going to be any big help. The independant stations have welcomed it more openly where it enters the airplay chart at No. 20 with 707 plays (46 stations) last week, that's up from 517 the previous week. That puts it at No.30 in the overall airplay chart with 763 plays.
With this kind of airplay I really don't expect it to do very well in the UK. Surely it would have been better to pre-empt the movie with a February release, send out the promos in January and also benifit from MTV's 5 times a day airplay, but I reckon that would be asking too much.
Airplay data is © Music Control UK.

FLYING LIKE AN EAGLE IN THE CHARTS

As reported way back in October (which, due to lack of news, is the last news item), Seal's cover of "Fly Like An Eagle" was released in the US with an excellent response. The track, which features on the original soundtrack of the Micheal Jordan/Bugs Bunny movie "Space Jam", entered at 17 in the chart and continued up to a high of number 10.
For those outside of the US, the single is set for release on Monday 10th February to coincide with the release of the movie. If media programmers around the globe take as much notice of the single as those in the US have, expect heavy rotation on both radio and TV. With the news that CJ Mackintosh has been working on special mixes of the single, the possibility of a club hit and a wider ranging audience not witnessed since the heady days of Crazy and Future Love Paradise could well ensure an international top 10 hit for Seal.
More news on the singles progress as it happens.

NEW RECORDINGS AVAILABLE

We've had numerous reports from the US of a new Seal recording which is apparently receiving much airplay from coast-to-coast.
The track is a cover of Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like An Eagle", which was recorded by Seal for the soundtrack of the movie "Space Jam".
The album is reported to be released on or around the 5th of November in the US, so expect imports to be available world wide soon after.

On a different compilation album, Seal covers another classic - "Puff (The Magic Dragon)". The track can be found on the Pediatric AIDS Foundation album "For Our Children, Too" (Kid Rhino) which was released on 3rd September. I'd really like to see what this one sounds like.

Also, look out for Seal's rendition of Hendrix's "Hey Joe" on the soundtrack to "Set It Off" (Electra). The album is available as I write.

Lastly, there's mention of Seal, along with Wendy & Lisa, featuring on the feastive compilation album "Just Say Noel" (Geffen). At a guess, we reckon it's the track "Closing Of The Year" as featured on the "Toys" Soundtrack.
Street date for the US is October 29th.

Thanks to mikep3099@aol for supplying much of these details

SEAL UNPLUGGED RESHOWN ON MTV EUROPE

Europeans who missed the debut and second showing of Seal's Mtv Unplugged session can catch a third showing of this excellent performance on Mtv Europe on the 3rd October between 19:00 and 20:00 (BST - probably 20:00 & 21:00 CET)

SEAL TO PLAY AGASSI / SHIELDS WEDDING

Seal today told Radio One's 'NET' that he would be performing at the wedding of Andre Agassi & Brooke Sheilds. He told the entertainment news-bite show that whenever the pair decide to get married, he would like to perform at their ceremony.
This news comes during a trip to the UK. He also revealed that he does a bit of commentary for tennis tournaments in the US - a sport which he's a great fan of.

EUROPEAN HIT MIX/MTV UNPLUGGED EXCLUSIVE

European Seal fans will be blessed with a double dosage of Seal's work later this June.
Sky One's music show, "The Hit Mix", features tracks from the '91 and '94 Seal albums - both of which were top 5 hits during the month of June. The show airs on Saturday June 22nd at 13:00 'til 14:00 GMT.
Later the same day, as part of MTV's Unplugged Weekend, is Europe's first showing of Seal's much talked about Unplugged session. Recorded in April, the one hour session airs at 19:00 GMT, with a repeat showing at 15:00 GMT on Sunday 23rd June.

MTV UNPLUGGED AIR DATE

The latest details on Seal & band's MTV Unplugged session has just filtered it's way through the nets to FLP.
Our source informs us that the acoustic session, which was recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in early April, will be aired on the 4th of June in the US.
The session features 8 cello players and the legendary trumpet player Jon Hassell who, aside from his 20 years of solo material, is also well know for his work with Eno, Talking Heads and David Sylvian.
Seal's band members for the session are:
Chris Bruce - Guitar, Earl Harvin - Drums, Reggie Hamilton - Bass/Backing Vocals, Jamie Muhoberac - Keyboards/Backing Vocals, Suzi Katayama - String Arrangements

NEWS ON NEW ALBUM

The latest info on Seal's as yet untitled third album is that he's aiming for a release before Christmas 1996.
Because Seal and producer Trevor Horn are inflicted with the music industry's equivalent of 'feature creep', and are notorious for their constant remixing, redubbing and refining their work, Seal is planning to record the whole album with a live band. By doing this, he hopes to skip much of the production time and stick to the pre-Christmas release schedule.

GRAMMY CLEAN OUT

It's that time of the year again, and '95 was a good year for Seal.
With nominations for 'Best Male Pop Vocal', 'Best Song of the Year' and 'Best Record of the Year', Seal took all three Grammy awards back to his new Beverly Hills home.
Not only did he do exceptionally well with the awards, but he and Annie Lennox performed a stunning rendition of the Marvin Gaye classic "What's Going On?".

UNPLUGGED IN APRIL

It has been reported that Seal will be performing live for one of MTVs unplugged sessions in April this year. We'll keep you posted with more details as we get them.

Thanks to Jason Hirschhorn <jason@hirschhorn.com> for the info

ERRONEOUS F.L.P. EDITOR IN SCANDAL

OK, that may be a little over the top, but the story below (SEAL BRIT '96 NOMINATIONS) hasn't a scintilla of truth in it. I guess that's what you get for believing what you hear on BBC radio's 1FM.

Apologies to anyone offended by the error

SEAL BRIT '96 NOMINATIONS

The 1996 Brit Awards sees Seal with 3 nominations. They are for;

• Best Record
  
• Best Single
  
• Best Male Pop Vocal

DON'T CRY IN U.S.

Latest news on the release of the 'Don't Cry' single has the U.S. shipping date as 26th Jan '96.
Thanks to Mark Wasiel for passing on this info.

MTV EUROPEAN MUSIC AWARDS RESULT

Seal was nominated for the 'Best Song' category on the 1995 MTV European Awards with his last single release, 'Kiss From A Rose'.
The award ceremony, which took place yesterday (23rd November) in Paris, found the winners to be The Cranberries with 'Zombie'.
On the whole, the list of winners in all categories was a bit disappointing. Nothing new there then ;-)

NEW SINGLE

Seal's new single, Don't Cry, will be released as a double A-side on 27th November. The second A-side track on the single will be Prayer For The Dying.
Quite why 'Prayer For The Dying' is being re-released as an A-side track totally beyond me. I'd have rather had a funked up guitar thrashing version of 'Bring It On'. But there you go. Can't have everything...

SUPER BOWL PERFORMANCE?

It has been reported that Seal will be peforming during the half-time show at the '95 Super Bowl.

More details as the come in.

SEAL TO PLAY HARD ROCK CAFE, PHEONIX

Seal is to partake in a free outdoor concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in Pheonix on Saturday, 21st October.
The show is described as 'an afternoon with...' and also features special guests The Rembrandts and Denny Dent

If you live in Pheonix, get down to 26th Street and Camelback between 11:00am and 5:pm and have a great afternoon.

Thanks to Mike Howerton <mike_h@ttx.com> for supplying the details.

NEXT SINGLE SPECULATION

Following the huge success of Kiss From A Rose, there has been some confusion surrounding Seal's next single release. In the UK, the track If I Could was chalked for release on Monday October 9th. That date came and went, and a quick word with an assistant at the Leeds HMV record store revealed that there were no forthcoming Seal releases on their weekly updated sheets.

Soon after this, Mike Howerton posted an article to the Usenet newsgroup alt.music.seal regarding the new single. According to a WEA rep, the release of If I Could has been called off and the next single will infact be Don't Cry.
Look out for it in mid-November.

MTV AWARD SHOCKER

The winners of the Mtv Video Music Awards were announced this evening, and it came as somewhat of a surprise for Seal to find that the video to Kiss From A Rose had won an award.
The category for "Best Video from a Motion Picture" had him pitched against U2 for the their video to "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill me". Both videos were from the movie Batman Forever

UK TOUR ANNOUNCED

UK fans will be pleased to hear that Seal will be touring Britain later this year.
In an pleasantly surprising e-mail, he announced that the tour, which kicks off at the Plymouth Pavilion on Septemeber 13th, will consist of 11 dates around the UK.
Current details are scant, but it was mentioned that the third and four dates will be at the London Hammersmith. A date in Sheffield is also confirmed.

A full venue listing will be available imminently, so please check back here soon.
Alternatively, check out the Usenet newsgroup alt.music.seal as we will be posting the list to the group as soon as we recieve it.

SEAL ON BATMAN SOUNDTRACK

In more movie news, Seal just shot a video for "Kiss from a Rose" -- which is on his latest album, and will appear on the soundtrack of the movie "Batman Forever," which opens next month. Joel Schumacher, who directed the movie, also shot the video. Seal told us how his song found its way into the movie.

SEAL: I originally wrote the song about seven years ago, maybe 6, 7 years ago. Actually, before my first album, but it wasn't right to put on the first album -- so I saved it for my second one. And it just so happened, that Joel heard it and he liked it. And now knowing the script for the movie and seeing snippets of it, I can understand why he liked it.

Seal's tune will be joined on the "Batman Forever" soundtrack by a new song from U2, and by a Brandy track on which she worked with Lenny Kravitz. Seal, by the way, kicks off a US tour with Des'ree on May 13th in Sunrise, Florida.

Thanks to Jason Hirschhorn <jos5899@is.nyu.edu> for passing us this info.

SEAL INFO AVAILABLE BY E-MAIL

So you want to get hold of the details held on this site, but don't want to wade through hypertest links to find the info?
Well now you can get the latest news, FAQ, lyrics or Seal'ography, all in plaintext, from my mailserver.

The server holds the same files as the FTP site, but allows you to download files offline into your mailbox.

Please note: The info on the mailserver may not be as up-to-date as this site.

ANOTHER CONCERT DATE...

Another date has been announce for Seal's un-publicised 1995 tour. This time it is to held in Orlando on May 16th. At the moment, we have no information as to the venue, but will hopefully soon have these details.

Please check the tour page for a full list of known dates.

Date supplied by Stephen M. Rhodes <sr9453@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>

TWO CONCERTS ANNOUNCED

It has been announced that Seal will be performing on two dates at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on June 29th and 30th.
No other information or dates are know at the moment, but we will let you know a soon as we hear it.
Thanks to Mark Wasiel <hbrtv015@huey.csun.edu> for the info.

SEAL WINS NO GRAMMYS

As "predicted" by those in the know, Seal didn't win an award at the Grammys. Here're the results for the categories in which Seal was nominated;

• "Album Of The Year" ............ "MTV Unplugged", Tony Bennett.
• "Male Pop Vocal Performance" ... "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", Elton John.
• "Pop Album" .................... "Longing in their Hearts", Bonnie Raitt.

SEAL ON-LINE

On Monday, 6th Fabruary, AOL users were treated to on on-line conference with Seal.
The forum, known as Cyber-Talk(TM), is described as "Warner/Reprise Online's weekly interactive talkshow".
Unfortunately, news of the conference came to our attention too late to be featured in this news page.
Thanks to Jason Hirschhorn <Chronic94@aol.com> we now have a transcription of the conference for your enjoyment.

Please check out the new On-Line page for the transcription.

3 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS FOR SEAL

For those of you who have been searching for this info, I've finally found somebody kind enough to furnish me with the details of the 37th Grammy nominations.
Many thanks go to Supan Tungjitkusolmun <stungjit@eniac.seas.upenn.edu> for the details.

Album Of The Year

"MTV Unplugged", Tony Bennett
"The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994", Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti with Zubin Mehta
"From the Cradle", Eric Clapton
"Longing in their Hearts", Bonnie Raitt
"Seal", Seal

"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", the artist formerly known as Prince
"Said I Loved You... But I Lied", Michael Bolton
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight", Elton John
"Prayer for the Dying", Seal
"Love the One You're With", Luther Vandross

"The Sign", Ace of Base
"The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994", Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti with Zubin Mehta
"I Love Everybody", Lyle Lovett
"Longing in their Hearts", Bonnie Raitt
"Seal", Seal

BRIT AWARDS - RESULTS

The hot over the wire are results of the 1995 Brit awards.
The 1995 Brit awards were held at Alexandra Palace, London. These details were received via a live radio broadcast of the ceremony.
As you may know from earlier news, Seal was nominated for two Brits.

The results are as follows;

• "Best British Male Solo Artist" ... Paul Weller
• "Best Video By British Artist" .... Blur for "Parklife"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAL

February 19th marked Seal's birthday.
Here's wishing Seal a happy 32nd birthday from all at the F.L.P. web site.
Let's hope he wins those Brit nominations, it would make a great birthday present.

SEAL NOMINATED FOR 2 BRITS

Seal has been nominated in 2 categories in the 1995 Brit awards.
The nominees are chosen by people in the British record industry (BPI, media & distrubuters) and the award ceremony will be held on Monday, 20th February. The categories and the other nominees are as follows;

Best British Male Solo Artist

Eric Clapton
Elvis Costello
Morrisey
Seal
Paul Weller

Blur for "Parklife"
Jamiroquai for "The Return Of The Space Cowboy"
The Rolling Stones for "Love Is Strong"
Seal for "Prayer For The Dying"
Suede for "The Wild Ones"

Ed Buller for Pulp's "His N Hers", Suede's "Dog Man Star".
Flood for Nine Inch Nails' "Downward Spiral".
Nelle Hooper for co-production of Madonna's "Bedtime Stories"
Trevor Horn for Seal's "Seal"
Stephen Street for Cranberries' "No Need To Argue" & Clur's "Parklife".

FAN CLUB NO MORE

If you were considering joining the Seal fan club, we regret to inform you that it has now disbanded.
The fan club has been running since the release of Seal's debut album. It's address was printed in the liner notes of both the debut and second album and should now be ignored
With any luck, somebody will pick up their work an continue the club.

UK TOUR DATES?

At the time of upload, there has been no news of the UK leg of Seal's tour.
On the alt.music.seal newsgroup there has been talk of another US tour sometime during 1995.