It’s been a heck of a year for Harrison Craig. From relative unknown, performing in various concerts and competitions in his hometown of Melbourne to the winner’s podium on last year’s edition of ‘The Voice’.
He’s since scored a No.1 debut album, completed a successful national tour and will today release his second album, no doubt in the hope of capitalising on the busy upcoming Mother’s Day period.
Harrison’s life may have changed immeasurably across the past 12 months, but despite all the added attention, one thing that hasn’t is his ability to stay grounded.
“I’m not the kind of person to change from any kind of fame or anything like that,” Harrison admits. “This might sound really corny, but for me it’s really all about the music and without that, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”
Australia fell in love with the singer last year after he got all four judges’ chairs spinning on ‘The Voice’ as part of the blind auditions. He quickly became the favourite to win the competition outright and, as part of Team Seal, went on to beat out the likes of Danny Ross, Celia Pavey and runner up Luke Kennedy to claim the top prize.
Harrison subsequently released his debut album ‘More Than A Dream’, which premiered at No.1 on the ARIA albums chart and stayed in the top ten for a further five weeks, notching up platinum sales during its chart run. He’s still pinching himself.
“Look for me, to be blessed with that kind of achievement is just incredible,” he says. “To know that it’s been brought about through your hard work… It’s just an incredible feeling, to be honest. Having that kind of support can be really hard to achieve, but to actually know that the fans are there for me is just incredible.”
Though a No.1 album was a great achievement, everyone knows that the music industry moves incredibly fast these days, so the pressure was on to strike while the iron was hot.
“I started to work on this new album around October last year, but I found it difficult to work out what kind of tracks I wanted on there,” Harrison admits. “There were just so many to choose from. I came up with a huge selection of songs, so I had to narrow the list down about three times and this is the result. I spent a good two or three months just on the tracklisting.”
The recording process, he tells us, began earlier in the year with each of the tracks on the new LP holding special meaning to Harrison in one way or another. He does, however, admit to having a personal favourite.
“The one that sticks out for me is ‘Because We Believe’,” Harrison explains. “That’s really the one song I think really captures what I wanted the album to be about. To have that track on there I think really encompasses the ‘L.O.V.E.’ project. It’s an Andrea Bocelli number that I knew needed to go on the album as soon as I heard it.”
But his mum, to whom the album is dedicated, has a different favourite.
“Her favourite track is ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams,” he reveals. “I ran the tracks past her and that was one that she absolutely adored, so I was sort of forced to keep that one. I think it was the one song where if I didn’t include it on the album, I’d have been out of the house!”
Naturally there’ll be some critics who’ll go after Harrison for popping out a second covers set within the space of 12 months, but his latest record company biography suggests that there’s a lot more to Harrison Craig’s future recording career than just a catalogue of covers.
“I can’t go into too much detail, but I will be travelling a lot, writing and recording and just making some incredible things come to life, so I can’t wait,” he teases, confirming that he’s already writing for what will be his third album project.
“I’m working on some new stuff now and making sure that it’s perfect before it sees the light of day, but I’m also hard at work on a few other projects too, so there’s plenty to look forward to.”
Harrison Craig’s second album ‘L.O.V.E.’ is in-stores and at digital retailers from today.
He’ll play three special Mother’s Day shows on the East Coast from early next month;
May 09 : Brisbane (Convention & Exhibition Centre)
May 10 : Revesby (Workers Club)
May 11 : Melbourne (Palms At Crown)
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