Biography
The Emergence of A Side Productions
Record Breaking Leona Lewis
On March 4, 2007, a Welsh mobile phone salesman entered the stage in front of the skeptical looking jury of Britain's Got Talent. Ninety seconds later Paul Potts had made YouTube history with his performance of Puccini's "Nessun Dorma". Potts had wowed the jury as well as the 2,000-strong audience which gave him a standing ovation. Four months later, on June 17, the unexpected tenor won the entire competition also recieving a recording contract.
Going straight into the world famous AIR studios in London recording his debut album, now with a full symphony orchestra backing him up, Potts recorded three songs produced by Magnusson / Kreuger, "Nessun Dorma", "Con Te Partiṛ" and "Nella Fantasia".
The album "One Chance" was released in the UK on July 16, 2007. With first week sales exceeding 128,000 copies, Potts shot straight to #1 outselling the rest of the Top 10 albums combined. He held the position for three consecutive weeks.
Per Magnusson and David Kreuger were in 2007 involved in several other projects, including working with Katherine Jenkins, the Welsh award-winning and best-selling classical crossover superstar.
In 2004, at the age of 24, she had become the fastest selling mezzo-soprano of all time with her debut album titled "Premier". By the end of 2005, as the first singer in musical history, Jenkins simultaneously held the number 1, 2 and 3 positions in the UK's Classical Chart with her three albums.
Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkin's fifth album, entitled "Rejoice", was released on November 19 2007. Including four songs produced by Magnusson / Kreuger, it entered the UK's Pop Charts at #3.
In 2006 more than 100,000 hopeful "artists to be" had applied to the auditions for The X Factor season three, the previous season won by Shayne Ward. The 21-year old Leona Lewis was crowned winner on December 16, instantly breaking sales records with her first single. Decided however not to push the young singer's debut album release, Lewis instead went to the US signing a lucrative record deal with Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records.
Set for domestically release in late 2007 the album's recordings were coordinated in music studios around the US as well as in London. One of the songs was "Footprints in the Sand", written by Per Magnusson and David Kreuger together with Richard Page.
Leona Lewis
Leona Lewis' album "Spirit" reached the UK record stores on November 12. With sales surpassing 375,000 copies in its first week of release, it is the fastest selling British debut album of all time. Subsequently it spent seven weeks straight at #1 on the Top 40.
Released in the US almost five months later, on April 8 2008, "Spirit" instantly shot to the top spot. This resulted in Leona Lewis becoming the first British female ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
A Side Productions is currently working on several major projects.
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