Latest news with #Dignity
Daily Record
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Tall Ships Races Aberdeen set sail as visitors 'wowed' after Deacon Blue opening
Thousands of visitors attended the Tall Ships Races Aberdeen this morning. The Tall Ships Races Aberdeen 2025 set sail today while wowing visitors to the once-in-a-generation event this morning. Huge crowds gathered as the gates opened at 9am to witness the 50 vessels berthed around the quayside. Around 7,000 music fans were also thrilled by Deacon Blue, who took the stage last night to open the Quayside Concert series. Visitors spoke about the rousing fanfare to start proceedings at an official ribbon cutting by Lord Provost David Cameron. Chloe Wright, 37, from Cults came to see the Tall Ships with her husband David, and her two children Benji, 10 months old, and Mack, 3. She said: 'We are loving it, there is just so much to see and not just the ships. And it is nice to see Aberdeen coming out and being in such fine fettle. And it's so good for the kids. 'When we first saw all the ships I just though ' wow '. I was really little when they were last here and my dad took me, so this is the first time I have seen them in years and years and I had forgotten what to expect. 'We are looking forward to going on the boats and the kids are really excited as well.' Mark Foster, 58, from Bridge of Don, who was also an early visitor at the Tall Ships with his wife, Pamela, continued: 'It is quite amazing. I was surprised by the size of them. The one on the other side of the port is absolutely huge. When I first saw it all I could say is 'wow'. Some of these Tall Ships are beautiful. 'That atmosphere here is busy, but it's not too crowded, so it's actually calming. There is a plethora of food bars, shops and craft shops as well, and I daresay a lot of them are from the Aberdeen community, so that's good to see as well.' Even as people were getting their first look at the range, scale and sheer excitement of the Tall Ships this morning, Deacon Blue fans were still buzzing about last night's gig. It saw the iconic Scottish band sing their extensive range of anthems from over the years to the delight of the thousands who filled the purpose-built open-air gig space at Peterson Seabase. And the crowd also gave the warmest of welcomes to local favourites, Little Kicks, as well as rising Scottish star Brooke Combe who played a blistering set. Callum Fitzwater, 47, from Fife, added: 'I came up just for this, I'm a massive Deacon Blue fun. The gig is amazing, it's a great venue and a great set-up, just brilliant. Watching them performing Dignity, one of their top songs, in this venue was so good, I love it. 'The Quayside Concerts as an idea is just brilliant, areas like Aberdeen and Dundee need to do this more often. Edinburgh and Glasgow have had everything but Aberdeen can hold their own.' Carran Legge, 52, from Aberdeen, noted: 'I just love Deacon Blue and the gig has been so good. When they sang Dignity it was just amazing in this venue, what an atmosphere. Aberdeen should definitely do more things like this.' Deacon Blue kicked off the Quayside Concert series of gigs that have created a mini-summer music festival at the heart of the Tall Ships Races Aberdeen. Next up will be Ministry of Sound Classical playing at the venue tonight; Tide Lines and Calum Bowie playing special charity gig as a thank you to Aberdeen RNLI tomorrow Sunday, followed by the Kaiser Chiefs playing out the series – which sold out within days – on Monday evening. The enthusiasm for the Tall Ships Races was shared by Vanessa Mori, Deputy CEO and Commercial Director of Sail Training International which stages the world-famous Tall Ships Races and who is in Aberdeen for the event. She said: 'The whole team at Sail Training International is absolutely overwhelmed with the enthusiasm that Aberdeen has shown over the past two and a half years in the lead up to this event. To see the city come alive with 50 tall ships, international crews and local communities is just a delight. 'It's a pleasure working with the team, in what is and will be an amazing event for the city over the next four days. We look forward to the next one.' And Scottish Government Minister for Business and Employment, Richard Lochhead , also praised the vibrant event when he visited on the opening day. He said: ' The Tall Ships celebrate Scotland's proud maritime history and long tradition of international exchange. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Aberdeen Line, which built more than 100 ships from the Walter Hood Shipyard, in the very place the Tall Ships are berthed today. 'It's incredible to see Aberdeen hosting this spectacle which draws visitors from across the world. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring our country continues to be the perfect stage for events like this one, which connect communities and bring huge economic benefits.' Beyond the harbour area, there is a Discovery Zone with STEM activities for young and old at the Castlegate, a funfair on King Street, and a Military Village along with other stalls and activities at Union Terrace Gardens. Also, shops, pubs, restaurants and businesses across the city centre have also pushed the boat out, decked out in bunting and posters ready to welcome the 400,000 visits The Tall Ships Races is expected to generate over the four days. Tomorrow will see the carnival atmosphere of the crew parade, with crews, bands and musicians from the Tall Ships, along with the Band of HM Royal Marines, taking to the city streets in a riot of colourful costumes and fancy dress. Monday will have the Red Arrows performing amazing aerial acrobatics just off the coast with the Esplanade as an excellent grandstand for thousands of fans. Tuesday will see the spectacular Parade of Sail as the Tall Ships leave port to muster at sea ready to start their race to Kristiansand in Norway. 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Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Mozart Mozart': New Series Puts Composer's Forgotten Sister Center Stage (Exclusive Trailer)
Bavaria Media and Beta Film have joined forces on Mozart Mozart, a six-hour drama that reimagines the legacy of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of his (real-life) sister, Maria Anna Mozart. The series, from the creators of German costume drama hit Sisi, has received a first-season commission from German public broadcaster ARD and Austria's ORF. More from The Hollywood Reporter Zurich Film Festival Embarks on New Era With Director-Led Buyout A Young Iranian Singer Makes Her Voice Heard in 'Bidad' (Exclusive Karlovy Vary Trailer) Foo Fighters Are Back With First Song Since 2023 to Celebrate 30th Anniversary Set in the late 18th century, the series centers on Amadeus' sister, Maria Anna Mozart, portrayed by Havana Joy (Love Sucks), who steps into her brother's shoes after his dismissal from the Salzburg court threatens the family's future. When Wolfgang, played by Eren M. Güvercin (Druck, Eldorado), proves too volatile to secure favor at the court of Emperor Joseph II, Maria Anna disguises herself as her brother, captivating Vienna's elite and drawing the envy of Mozart's rival, Antonio Salieri. Her deception grows increasingly complex as she attempts to maintain the ruse, protect her family's reputation and navigate her relationship with Salieri. The series stands apart from the upcoming English-language series Amadeus, which Sky has commissioned in the U.K., and will see White Lotus actor Will Sharpe play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That drama is a reimagining of Peter Shaffer's 1979 stage play Amadeus, which inspired Milos Forman's 1984 Oscar-winning adaptation. 'What we definitely didn't want to do was a remake of Amadeus,' Mozart Mozart showrunner Andreas Gutzeit, who created the series and co-wrote it with Swantje Oppermann (Dignity), tells The Hollywood Reporter. 'The desire is to tell a new story for a younger audience, and to tell the forgotten story of Maria Anna, who was a musical genius of her own, perhaps as talented, or more so, than her superstar brother.' 'Mozart's sister isn't a secret, but we don't know much about her life, other than she was also a child prodigy and that she and Amadeus toured together to every royal court in Europe at the time,' notes Clara Zoë My-Linh von Arnim, who is directing the series. 'But she had the misfortune of being a woman and then, when she turned a marriageable age, she was dragged off the stage, in the truest sense of the word. There is a lot of speculation on how big her influence was on Amadeus' music, on his compositions, over the years.' Jessica De Rooij, who composed the award-winning music for Sisi, is back for Mozart Mozart, giving Mozart's iconic compositions a contemporary edge for the show. Gutzeit and Jens Freels (Dignity) serve as executive producers, with Simona Weber producing. The ensemble cast includes Eidin Jalali (The Swarm, Maxton Hall), Verena Altenberger (Wild Republic), Peter Kurth (Babylon Berlin), Philipp Hochmair (Freud), Sonja Weisser (Maxton Hall), Lisa Vicari (Next Level) and Annabelle Mandeng (Vikings: Valhalla). Produced by Gutzeit's Story House Pictures in co-production with ARD, ORF and The Dreaming Sheep Company, Mozart Mozart is being sold internationally by Bavaria Media and Beta Film. Check out the teaser trailer for Mozart Mozart below. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Leader Live
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Deacon blue keyboard player James Prime dies after short battle with cancer
The Scottish pop-rock band announced the news shortly after Prime, from Kilmarnock, died on Thursday morning. They wrote on social media: 'Dear friends, We announce with great sadness that our brother James Prime passed away this morning after a short struggle with cancer. Dear friends, We announce with great sadness that our brother James Prime passed away this morning after a short struggle with cancer. Thank you so much for the messages of support that you shared over the last two weeks, they meant so much to Jim, his family & us. With love, DBx — Deacon Blue (@deaconbluemusic) June 19, 2025 'Thank you so much for the messages of support that you shared over the last two weeks, they meant so much to Jim, his family & us. With love, DBx.' Founded in 1985, Deacon Blue consist of Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh on vocals, Dougie Vipond on drums, Gregor Philp on guitar, and Lewis Gordon on bass. The group have released 11 studio albums to date, as well as two live albums, eight compilation albums, and an album that features both studio and compilation elements. They are best known for their hit single Dignity, which propelled them to success in their early years. Earlier this month, the band said Prime, who was also a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, was seriously ill. They wrote on social media on June 11: 'We wanted to share some news with you about our brother, Jim. 'Unfortunately, he is seriously ill and undergoing care in hospital. We would like you to join us in wishing him well and to share your love with him. 'We spoke to Jim yesterday about Deacon Blue's plans for the rest of the year, and he encouraged us to continue with love in our hearts and with his full blessing that the shows go ahead, even if it means replacing the irreplaceable James Miller Prime for the time being. 'Together with Jim's family, we want to thank all the nurses, doctors and ICU staff for their ongoing care, professionalism and compassion.'
The Herald Scotland
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Jim Prime, widely admired keyboard lynchpin of Deacon Blue
Died: June 19, 2025. WHEN Ricky Ross was putting his band Deacon Blue together in 1986, he heard of a talented keyboard player named Jim Prime. He rang Prime's number but a woman who answered told him that he had picked a bad time. At length, a breathless Prime picked up the receiver and told Ross that he had gone into the street to 'stop a guy beating up his wife' in a domestic argument. As Ross wrote in 2022, 'the strangeness of the conversation set the scene for the next thirty-five years'. When Prime attended a rehearsal and heard a new song, Raintown, wrote Ross, 'something began to happen to make it sound like a band who had a direction. A lot of that 'something' was about what Jim brought to the arrangement'. Read more: Who was Deacon Blue keyboardist and 'Killie boy' James Prime? Deacon Blue announce death of founder member Jim Prime after short cancer battle Deacon Blue announce new album and huge Scottish shows for 2025 Prime, who has died, aged 64, of cancer, 21 years to the month since the passing of the band's guitarist, Graeme Kelling, also from cancer, was an integral part of Deacon Blue's sound. The band's debut album, Raintown, featured Prime and Kelling alongside Ross, Ewen Vernal on bass, Dougie Vipond on drums and Lorraine McIntosh on vocals. Released in May 1987, it went into the British Top 20 and yielded such classic Deacon Blue songs as Dignity, Born in a Storm, Raintown and When Will You (Make My Phone Ring). Two years later the band released a follow-up album, When the World Knows Your Name, which went to number one and opened doors for them in America. All told, the band enjoyed 12 UK Top 40 singles and two chart-topping albums, and became one of Scotland's most successful musical exports. James Miller Prime was born in Kilmarnock on November 3, 1960. Asked last year on the Australian interview series, The Keyboard Chronicles, when he realised he had a passion for music, he said he had been brought up classically trained and that he came from a 'long line of piano players in my house'. His three sisters played the flute, piano and guitar, but he had 'something else that was going on'; he started playing piano at the tender age of four. 'My mum said, 'I was in the kitchen and you heard Loch Lomond on the radio and you ran through to the piano and you just played the melody - you couldn't even play the piano'. I couldn't even reach it. 'I guess that's something I know inside myself, that I'm kind of joined to this thing', he added, indicating his piano. The bass guitarist Alan Thomson, who had played with John Martyn, was a neighbour, and he would regularly arrived at the Prime household at 8am, drag Prime out of his bed and force him to practice. The US Southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, were the reason that he became a keyboards player; their keyboards player, Billy Powell, was 'outrageously good'. Prime dropped out of college at the age of 20 to join the brilliant guitarist John Martyn's band but, as he told the Deacon Blue biographer, Paul English, he eventually left because he could not stand it. 'There was drink everywhere, paranoia and violence. I was too young to be with these really heavyweight musicians. I left under the guise of joining Altered Images, and eventually ended up on tour with them in America when I was 22. We toured right across America, it was absolutely stunning. People like Blondie and Nile Rodgers came backstage and I ended up with a load of tips on how to be a pop musician'. Returning to Glasgow after the break-up of Altered Images, he got a job in a Southside pub, The Granary. An encounter with the owner of the nearby Park Lane Studios led to a recommendation to contact a Ricky Ross. 'When we met, I immediately thought there was something about this guy', he told English. 'Not only was he writing songs on the piano, but he had gear, and he was dead set. And I fell in love with the idea that he wanted to put keyboards at the centre of his songs'. Prime's career with Deacon Blue spanned world tours, bestselling records and many memorable moments. One early such highlight came at Sir George Martin's AIR Studios in London, during the making of the debut album: the piano he was sitting at turned out to be the same one used by Stevie Wonder to compose his hit song, Superstition. In 1990, at a John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool, Prime met Yoko Ono, Lennon's son Julian, and the Superman actor, Christopher Reeve. That same year, Deacon Blue headlined the massive Big Day event on Glasgow Green, part of Glasgow's European City of Culture celebrations. Deacon Blue broke up in 1994 and the band went their separate ways before reconvening in 1999. Prime toured with the colourful French singer, Johnny Hallyday, and played in the band that accompanied Bill Bryden's 1994 epic promenade production of a Govan regiment in the Great War. He was also involved in the establishment of a School of Music and Recording Technology in South Ayrshire. Away from Deacon Blue, Jim Prime was also a popular lecturer in music at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). He spoke about his time teaching there, sayinG: 'You can imagine a class with me doesn't come from any book. I try as much as I can now to tell people about the power that their music has for other people, not just writing songs in bedrooms and being on the stage. I do a lot of work with Alzheimer's Scotland, and I've done stuff with special needs and I try to encourage kids to get out there and talk to all people and help them with their memory'.
South Wales Argus
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Argus
Deacon Blue's James Prime dies after cancer battle
The Scottish pop-rock band announced the news shortly after Prime, from Kilmarnock, died on Thursday morning. They wrote on X: 'Dear friends, We announce with great sadness that our brother James Prime passed away this morning after a short struggle with cancer. 'Thank you so much for the messages of support that you shared over the last two weeks, they meant so much to Jim, his family & us. With love, DBx.' Dear friends, We announce with great sadness that our brother James Prime passed away this morning after a short struggle with cancer. Thank you so much for the messages of support that you shared over the last two weeks, they meant so much to Jim, his family & us. With love, DBx — Deacon Blue (@deaconbluemusic) June 19, 2025 Deacon Blue keyboardist James Prime dies aged 64 Deacon Blue consists of Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh on vocals, Dougie Vipond on drums, Gregor Philp on guitar, and Lewis Gordon on bass. They are best known for their hit single Dignity, which propelled them to success in their early years. The group has released 11 studio albums to date, as well as two live albums, eight compilation albums, and an album that features both studio and compilation elements. Earlier this month, the band said Prime, who was also a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, was seriously ill. They wrote on social media on June 11: 'We wanted to share some news with you about our brother, Jim. Recommended reading: 'Unfortunately, he is seriously ill and undergoing care in hospital. We would like you to join us in wishing him well and to share your love with him. 'We spoke to Jim yesterday about Deacon Blue's plans for the rest of the year, and he encouraged us to continue with love in our hearts and with his full blessing that the shows go ahead, even if it means replacing the irreplaceable James Miller Prime for the time being. 'Together with Jim's family, we want to thank all the nurses, doctors and ICU staff for their ongoing care, professionalism and compassion.'
