exclusive sotw interview with phil harding ( 2007)

1. You worked with many of the artists from the PWL hit factory days, how did you get involved with Sonia's debut album everybody knows?
My first involvement was mixing the first single - 'You'll Never Stop Me Loving You', which I believe is the first track the boys recorded with Sonia, after that Pete (Waterman) asked myself, Ian (Curnow) and Bill Clift to write some songs for the album, with a mind to myself and Ian producing those.

2. Were your tracks written especially for that album with Sonia in mind, or had you written them for another singer?

The songs were written especially for Sonia and were overseen and approved by Pete every step of the way, including probably rejecting a few until we agreed on the three that appear on the 'Everybody Knows' album.

3. What were your first impressions of Sonia as a singer at a young age?

First impressions were that she had a confident and potentially powerful voice with lots of character and bubbliness, much like her character.

4. How would you compare her vocals to some of the other singers to that label at that time? e.g., Kylie etc.

Sonia always had a little more natural power than most of our other singers - except for Rick, who had loads of natural power!

5. Many fans Love 'Now I'm without you' and 'Someone like you' both these tracks would have made great singles. Were they ever intended to be singles or just album tracks?

The philosophy at PWL at that time was that there were no album tracks! Nothing (or very few songs) would have been written as album tracks - Pete's philosophy was that everything had to be a potential single, otherwise it wasn't worthy of going onto the album!

6. Were you happy with the three tracks you worked on 'everybody knows'?

We were very happy, as I believe Sonia was too. I guess it may have been slightly disappointing at the time that 'Now I'm Without You' wasn't chosen as a single. I've made a start on a book about my days at PWL, I hope to have it finished next year some time, I'll reveal more about decision making process behind the scenes in the book rather than here, sorry!

7. Did you record any other tracks at that time (unreleased material)?

I'm not aware of any other tracks we did with Sonia at that time, there may have been some discarded song demos, but they're unlikely to have Sonia's voice on. I will be thoroughly checking my tape library as research for my book, so if I find something I'll let you know!

8. You then got involved with Sonia's 1993 Song for Europe, how did you get involved?
I believe we were approached by Simon Cowell at the time, it may also have been our publishers idea (BMG Music)

9. What involvement did Simom Cowell have with your song?

Well, someone suggested that we work with Shaun Imrie (lyricist) on the song, it may have been Simon, I can't quite remember off the top of my head. Simon did remain involved throughout the recording process and was very encouraging all the way through the competition. I was very disappointed not to have progressed beyond that stage as I'm personally a big Eurovision fan and as you may know, Ian and I got to that similar UK final stage a few years later with 'I Need You' by 'Deuce'.

10. How did you think Sonias vocals in 1993 had changed compared to her PWL days?
Her vocals improved and matured as Sonia's career went on, always a great professional to work with in my opinion, I don't think her vocal character changed from her PWL days though.

11. 'A little Love' was a great song did you think you could have won eurovision with it?

Yes, we felt it could have gone all the way, we felt it was in the classic 'Eurovision' mould

12. Were you happy with Sonia's performance of the song?
We were delighted with Sonia's recorded and TV performance of the song.

13. Over 55,000 people voted for 'A little Love' on the night, do you think this would of been a good single to release?

I think it would have needed to win to justify being a single, though we wrote it as a single and always felt it could have been a hit.

14. Did you think 'A little love' against the other 8 songs could win on the night?

We thought we had a good chance but we knew there were other good songs, especially 'Better the Devil you know'

15. What did you think when 'Better the Devil you Know' was chosen?
We weren't surprised, we did know the writers well, they were also based at PWL for some time and we had recorded with them as artists (they were known as 'The Buskers') and they were great guys, so we were delighted for them as it was their first break in the Industry.

16. D id you watch Sonia's performance on the night of the song contest?

We were there in the audience, a great but nerve wracking experience!

17. Have you recorded any other music with Sonia that has not been released?

Not that I'm aware of but I am going to check my tape collection (I keep everything!)

18. What was your experience like with Sonia?

I got on great with her, Sonia such a bubbly character, you couldn't help but love her!

19. Would you ever like to work with Sonia again? If so what kind of track/music would you do?

Can't see that happening

20. What are you up to these days?
I've stopped working on main stream pop and have been semi-retired for the last 7 years, just doing development projects and songwriting for new or local artists in East Anglia, where I now live with my family. I did produce a track for 'Liberty X' last year with Ian Curnow, we don't generally work as a team anymore. The song was 'Everybody Dance' (chic cover) for the 2005 bbc children in need program, the track turned out well but on reflection, I didn't really enjoy the whole process.
I also guest lecture at many Universities and colleges around the UK and am a director of the uk Music Producers Guild

I now work with mainly acoustic instruments with no use of samples or sequencing. I've gone back to traditional methods of recording with real musicians, much as I did before PWL in the 70's, before we had drum machines and music sequencers. I'm finding this and songwriting with a new partner very enjoyable these days. I've just completed a project called 'CARO FEAT CHARLIE BATCHELOR' which is available to listen to and buy on myspace.

I'm also currently recording my own solo album with me playing acoustic guitar and singing! And I'm backed by many great musicians such as Blair Cunningham on drums, who used to play for Paul McCartney and The Pretenders, amongst others! This should be finished by the summer, details will be on myspace soon.

Watch out for my book next year 'Stories From The Bunker'.

All the best
Phil Harding

Credits
Interview conducted by Neil Brown. April 2007.