Daryl Braithwaite confesses that his new single Love Songs was originally meant for US singer Pink
Vintage act Daryl Braithwaite has sheepishly confessed that his first new single in seven years is one he nicked from a popular American pop singer.
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Vintage act Daryl Braithwaite has sheepishly confessed that his first new single in seven years is one he nicked from Pink.
Braithwaite, an ARIA Hall of Famer, is also hoping one of his best musician mates doesn’t hear his new single Love Songs.
The Sherbet superstar is bracing for a critique from his longtime sledging partner James Reyne on Love Songs, which he had been asked to forward to Pink’s manager for her consideration.
Braithwaite and Reyne share a running joke of calling each other when they hear the other’s song being broadcast in a supermarket.
Artists used to regard their music becoming store musak – a brand of background music played in retail stores – as career death but instore radio stations now play a wide range of new songs and old hits.
“I haven’t mentioned to him I am releasing a new single; I’ll just sheepishly tell him the record label thought it was time to put something out,” Braithwaite said.
The 71-year-old entertainer was initially asked by a friend to pass Love Songs on to Roger Davies, who originally managed Sherbet and has steered Pink’s career for almost two decades.
But Davies never got the email – Braithwaite blames his lack of digital dexterity – and as Pink wasn’t in recording mode, suggested instead it would be perfect for The Horses superstar.
“I was sending it on as a favour to someone so I do have to thank Roger for passing on it and thinking it wouldn’t be suitable for Alecia (Pink) because she is on a break from recording,” he said.
Braithwaite had cheekily already put Love Songs into his setlist late last year because he, well, loved the song.
He deliberately didn’t introduce it as a new song to his audiences because “I thought I might be losing it to Pink”.
“The fans reacted to it; they would get into the chorus the second time around,” he said.
“Even in the Sherbet days, we would play new songs and take the reaction of the audience as a sign of whether we should continue with it or not.”
While commercial radio dodges playing their new stuff even as their old stuff generates ratings for classic hits stations, Australian heritage artists such as Braithwaite, Reyne and John Farnham, are enjoying a generational refresh of their audiences thanks to their popularity on festival line-ups.
Braithwaite’s first new single in seven years sounds like his early 90s hits including As Days Go By and One Summer, giving him a glimmer of hope he might catch the ear of radio programmers.
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“With all of us in that age group or whatever, it’s about persistence,” he said.
“James Reyne is so persistent, such a great songwriter with great songs, and the thing is he and other artists like Mark Seymour, just keep going because there is a market out there for us.
“Younger fans get the chance to hear what they are doing at these festivals and then go back through what they have done and it regenerates the enthusiasm for them and that keeps fuelling a desire and passion to keep going, to do new things.
“We’ve seen that at the Falls festival, Fire Fight and other big events where the fans know the vintage acts and respect them.”
Like all of Australia’s live performers, Braithwaite and his band are itching to get back on to a stage and give Love Songs a hit out after three months of no gigs in the wake of the pandemic shutdown.
And if you’re lucky, you might hear it on the airwaves at your local supermarket.
“After sanitising your hands, you can dance down the aisle,” he said.
Originally published as Daryl Braithwaite confesses that his new single Love Songs was originally meant for US singer Pink