Dramatico Entertainment Artists

Mike Batt:

"Katie is a fantastic discovery for me to have made. I was auditioning to find a singer who could sing jazz and blues in an interesting way, but I never expected to find someone quite so unique, - quite so obviously on her way to greatness. She is one of the most intelligent singers I've worked with for a very long time, - there are little reminders in her voice, of all sorts of other singers like Eartha Kitt and Edith Piaf, - of whom she has never heard. She exudes a modest confidence, is completely sure of herself and has a maturity far in advance of her age. She's a charismatic stage performer and has beautiful, hypnotic eyes"

Visit Katie Melua's official website here.

One of Britain's best-known songwriters and composers, Mike Batt's consistent track record of success also includes production, composition and conducting, on projects as diverse as Watership Down, Phantom of The Opera and The Wombles.

He has conducted many of the world's great orchestras including the London Symphony, The London Philharmonic, The Royal Philharmonic, The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the State Orchestra of Victoria and The National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland.

As a singer, his solo albums include Schizophonia and Tarot Suite (both with the London Symphony Orchestra), and songwriting credits include work for David Essex, Art Garfunkel, The Hollies and of course Katie Melua.

Visit Mike Batt's official website here.

Introducing Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu...

Dramatico has secured the UK and European release of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu's album 'Gurrumul', a top 3 platinum release in Australia. The deal, a partnership with Skinnyfish Music, is set to spread the success of the album to an international audience.

"Yunupingu possesses one of the world's sweetest voices, a pure natural instrument...Gurrumul is a gentle masterpiece of remarkable beauty...Quite simply it's the most impressive Aussie indigenous album in quite a while."

Seth Jordan, Songlines Magazine UK

Read Gurrumul's Dramatico Artist Updates here. Visit Geoffrey's official website here.

In modern pop, Sarah Blasko is a rare beast. On the one hand, she is a fiercely-independent free spirit whose haunting music critics have run out of superlatives to describe. On the other, the 33 year old Australian is a multi-platinum selling star whose mantelpiece houses an ever increasing array of awards and who performed at the closing ceremony of Sydney’s Commonwealth Games.

In April, Europe will have a long overdue introduction to Blasko with the release on Dramatico of her ARIA Award-winning, third album, ‘As Day Follows Night’.

Recently voted Album Of The Year by Triple J, Australia’s biggest national radio network, and nominated for a mighty five ARIAs (Blasko picked up Best Female), ‘As Day Follows Night’ is already Blasko’s biggest seller. Written over several months in 2007 while she was simultaneously composing the score for the Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet – in which she also performed – it is her most lyrically direct, musically simple and emotionally affecting album to date.

Read Sarah Blasko's Dramatico Artist Updates here. Visit the official website here.

After the release of her debut in 2005 Jem has joined Dramatico, with Katie Melua and the first lady of France Carla Bruni, along with label-owner-maestro Mike Batt as label mates. She comments “I was so impressed with Dramatico and their set up, they had me at hello!” adding "I am thrilled to be working with music-loving, enthusiastic, intelligent, passionate, humorous, lovely people who thankfully possess the essential ingredient of having 'balls', what more could an artist ask
for?"

If her debut album showcased a stunning new talent on the music scene, one who used a background as boss of a dance label to craft lush pop electronica using ingenious samples, or trip pop to some, ‘Down To Earth’ expands her sonic horizons even further, with Latin, gospel and African influences.

Down To Earth was released in the UK on February 2nd, 2009.

Visit Jem's official website here.

Dramatico has released ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’, the 22nd album from Marianne Faithfull, featuring guest appearances by an array of fellow artists including Keith Richards, Antony Hegarty, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker and Nick Cave.

‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ is the third album of Marianne’s to be produced by Hal Willner, and all the songs have been chosen by Marianne and Hal, ranging from Billie Holiday’s ‘Solitude’ to ‘The Crane Wife’ by current band The Decemberists.

Other tracks are ‘Sing Me Back Home’ by Merle Haggard, ‘Children of Stone’ by Espers, the title track ‘Easy Come, Easy Go Blues’ by Bessie Smith, Morrissey’s ‘Dear God Please Help Me’, Dolly Parton’s ‘Down from Dover’ and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s ‘Salvation’.

Read Marianne's Dramatico Artist Updates here. Visit Marianne's official website here.

Two years after setting to music an anthology of English-language poems from the 19th and 20th centuries, Carla Bruni once again took up her pen to write a new album of original songs, following her inaugural and highly successful CD, Quelqu'un m'a dit (Someone Told Me), in 2002 and No Promises in 2007.

What immediately strikes you when listening to Comme si de rien n'était is its lush instrumental palette. After recording two CDs with an uncluttered, folk-blues style, the singer explores a wide spectrum of genres ranging from pop to bluegrass, with nods to jazz and flamenco. Bruni’s touch, however, is immediately apparent in these compositions that again focus their gaze on emotion. “I've been following the same thread since I started writing songs, she says.

Comme si de rien n'était was released in the UK in July 2008.

Visit Carla Bruni's official website here.

Asa’s (pronounced Asha) debut self-titled album was released in February 2008 in the UK.

Having grown up in Nigeria listening to an intricately diverse mixture of African music and some of the best known and loved artists from the West, Asa's sound is as perfectly unique as she is herself. Asa fuses pop, r&b, world, funk, soul and reggae in an album where she sings in both English and Yoruba.

With themes that reflect Asa's ire at the indifference of the modern world ("Fire On The Mountain"), to the track 'Jailer' (a morality tale denouncing slavery in all its forms) - Asa's music has created a platform for us to hear how she feels about the world and herself in today's society.

The buzz that is already sweeping France has crossed the Channel.

Buy now from Itunes.

Released in the UK on Dramatico Entertainment

Visit Asa's official website here.

Andrea McEwan is a songwriter, singer, musician and actress. She completed a Bachelor of Dramatic Art at N.I.D.A. – Australia’s premier drama institute, and then worked extensively in theatre and television in Australia. In 2006, after moving to the UK, she was signed to Dramatico Entertainment as a songwriter when a demo of her songs found its way into the hands of Mike Batt. Early in 2007, she collaborated with Katie Melua on some songs for her then upcoming album. Out of their successful sessions came two tracks, “What I Miss About You” and “Dirty Dice”, which appear on the album “Pictures”. Andrea is currently working on her own album which will be released by Dramatico this year.

Batt says: There is a strong, womanly thread to Andrea's lyrics, and her tunes and voice lend her work something of a Joni Mitchell quality.

Visit Andrea McEwan's official website here.

Dramatico signed Florence Rawlings to a 5 album record deal, 6 years after she first contacted Mike Batt at the age of 13!

"She had a phenomenal voice even way back then," says Batt, "but it did not seem sensible for her to be recording until she had developed and finished her education. In the same week, I had just met Katie Melua, and it was she who I signed on that occasion, but I always remembered Florence, and kept checking her out every couple of years, asking her Mum to bring her in and sing stuff."

2009 sees the first fruits of Florence's relationship with Dramatico taking shape, with her debut album now recorded. A mix of six quite obscure soul covers and six specially-written Mike Batt oroginals, the album is due for release this summer.

Batt continues, "The album has been recorded in an unusual way compared to most albums these days. We performed each track with live rhythm section, horns and backing vocals, to get a really authentic "soul" atmosphere. Florence's voice and musical leanings are well suited to a raw soul-based approach."

Visit Florence Rawlings' official website here.

Mike Batt - Robert's producer - has known Robert for over twenty years. In fact it was Robert who sang Mike's song "When Flags Fly Together" which was commissioned as the official anthem for the opening of the Channel tunnel a few years ago. Robert (singing) and Mike (conducting) performed it with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for an audience including the Queen, President Mitterrand and many other senior politicians at Dover, during the opening ceremony.

Recently, Mike suggested they ought to make an album together, and "After A Dream" is the result. It is a collection of mostly classical songs that Robert chose and Mike arranged for strings and voice. It was recorded in Dublin with the strings of the Irish Film Orchestra.

Visit Robert Meadmore's official website here.

The Planets were formed in early 2001, releasing their debut album 'Classical Graffiti' on EMI Classics in February 2002, entering the Classical chart at number 1.

The eight-piece band was formed and managed by Mike Batt, partly inspired by 80s band Sky and Dutch band Flairk, with an emphasis on strong live ability rather than the 'backing track' approach of previous Classical/Pop fusions.

The Planets took this live extravaganza around the world before moving on to other musical projects.