Hayley in ABBA’s All Time Hits

[Joe]

Abba’s All Time Hits
Tuesday 20 December 2005, ITV1
– A countdown of the top 20 Abba tunes using new technology which clinically determines beyond all dispute which were the best songs. Also featuring footage of the Swedish supergroup in action (including a recent performance by Frida and Agnetha), cover versions by Erasure, Steven Gately and Hayley Westenra, and contributions by fans including Girls Aloud, Rachel Stevens, Lulu, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Daniel Bedingfield Bono, Donny Osmond, Andy Bell, Robin Gibb and Neil Sedaka.

[Joe]

Hayley will be performing her version of "S.O.S."

www.mamma-mia.com/broadway/news.asp

[paul]

She sang S.O.S but as this was one of those soundbite type programmes they only showed a couple of clips rather than the whole performance. (Needless to say she sounded very good).

Hayley also spoke about how she admires Abba (what good taste the girl has) and how she met Frida.

I think we should all contact ITV at the following link to ask them to show the whole performance. I know there is very little chance of success but it's always good to make a nuisance of one's self, isn't it.

www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=1215

[Dave]

Well I saw it and recorded it and it was noticeable that Hayley got one of the most prominent segments in this "soundbite show". She was one of a handful of artists to sing anything 'live' for this 90 minute show and hers was one of the most prominent of all. If Hayley can get onto shows like this, she is definitely starting to make a lasting impression on some of the people in TV who matter... and that's very good news for her future career!

Hayley also had a short comment right at the end when the Abba so-called no. 1 song 'Mamma Mia' (selected by some computer program) was announced. I don't think most Abba fans will agree with that computer program!

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Hayley sing Abba! She did rather better than most of Donny Osmond's contributions, I thought (he was on throughout the show) and for anyone who didn't see the show, it's well worthwhile downloading the 11 MB clip I've put together (just over 4 minutes long at 360 kb/sec., including about 2 minutes of Hayley).

Hayley said she is a huge Abba fan.. and so am I !!!

The clip is here! - now uploaded by Gerrit

Dave

[Richard]

Hello Paul and welcome to the Forum. I'm sure you recognise many of the names, and I'm pleased you've joined our friendly 'family'!

I forgot all about this programme last night, so many thanks to Dave for capturing Hayley's delightful performance. I'm sure ABBA's music will live on, and so will Hayley's! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Happy Christmas,

Richard

[gareth]

Hi All,

I have uploaded it to HWI.net:

ABBA SOS

The meeting Hayley refers to was when she appeared on ZDF Sunday Night Classics in September last year. It was her first appearance on the European mainland - and I was probably the only one of the HWI community who attended .

Gerrit

[Richard]

Hello again everybody!

I've removed the date from the title of this thread, because this programme is being shown in New Zealand on New Year's Eve, Sunday 31st December 2006, at 8:45pm on TV ONE.

tvnz.co.nz/view/page/413551/945794

Abba's All Time Greatest Hits

Sunday December 31 at 8:45pm on TV ONE:

[/b]

Abba created and performed some of the greatest pop songs - but how good were they really? In this documentary, Abba songs are tested using a controversial piece of new software - 'Hit Song Science' - which predicts whether a track will turn out to be hit record.

Swedish supergroup Abba created and performed some of the greatest three-minute pop songs. 'Mamma Mia', 'Waterloo', 'The Winner Takes It All', 'Super Troupers', and 'Dancing Queen' are examples of the very best of their kind. But how good were they really, and how would they do in the charts now?

Last year, international record companies reluctantly admitted than many of them are using a controversial piece of software that predicts whether a track will turn out to be hit record.
'Hit Song Science' (HSS) was developed by a Spanish company, Polyphonic HMI, and works by analysing patterns such as melody, harmony, beat, tempo and pitch and compares them against a database containing 30 years' worth of hit singles (3.5 million songs). The computer programme relates tracks to others according to mathematical clusters - for example, it turns out that some U2 songs are in the same cluster as Beethoven.

Big name execs at Sony and Universal say that HSS is the future of pop music and is set to be an industry standard. It predicted the successes of Norah Jones and Maroon 5 before they were heard of, and is said to be used by the producers of artists such as Anastacia, J-Lo and Robbie Williams.

This entertainment special uses HSS to rate Abba songs both against each other and against 21st century chart-toppers of recent years. What emerges is both an Abba Top 20 and a look at how the best of these would fare if released today.

It features the songs sung by Abba themselves, in contemporary videos and concerts, footage of the more mature Bjorn and Benny performing 'Dancing Queen' with U2, and of both Agnetha and Frida recently singing solos.

A host of other performers, such as Robin Gibb, Bono, Lulu, Daniel Bedingfield, Hayley Westenra, Donny Osmond, Sophie Ellis Bextor, and Neil Sedaka describe their favourite Abba hits as they are counted down.

Songs include 'Waterloo'; 'Mamma Mia'; 'Fernando'; 'Dancing Queen'; 'Knowing Me Knowing You'; T'he Name of the Game'; 'Take a Chance On Me'; 'Super Trouper'; 'Chiquitita'; 'Money Money Money'; 'Thank You For the Music'; 'SOS'; 'Ring Ring'; and 'I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do'.[/size][/quote]
Happy New Year! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Richard

[stevemacdonald]

dave said:

... Hayley said she is a huge Abba fan...

I don't doubt this at all. Just look at the tracklisting for her Japanese single of "Amazing Grace":

1. Amazing Grace
2. Beat Of Your Heart
3. Benedictus
4. Amazing Grace (Instrumental)

Maybe she was trying to tell us something?

[postscript]

Regretfully, I came across this too late but for the tale end. Did anyone note what Hayley's preferences were?

Peter S.

[Andrew]

Hi Peter,

I watched the programme when it was broadcast on television last year (just before Christmas 2005) and can clearly remember Hayley being interviewed and also singing an excellent cover of 'S.O.S'. (can't recall whether or not this was her favourite ABBA song though- although her performance justified that it was!)

Hayley described the occasion when she was in Germany and heard that Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad from ABBA was performing. Hayley went to see her and even had her picture taken with her too (see below)

There is a clip from that programme here! (as posted by Dave in reply #3)

Prepare to be amazed...

Andrew

[Stephany]

I recently saw this video and I really like Hayley's version of S.O.S. But it was obviously too short
Any chance of seeing one day the whole performance?

[roger]

Hi Stephany,

I think it is unlikely that we will see more than the clip that Gerrit made available at the time. I believe that was all that was shown when the programme was broadcast and if any more existed, somebody (you!) would probably have found it by now.

Just in case there is any more of it out there somewhere, perhaps we should put out an SOS!

Save Our Stephany!

Roger

[Andrew]

stephany said:

I recently saw this video and I really like Hayley's version of S.O.S. But it was obviously too short
Any chance of seeing one day the whole performance?

'Mamma Mia' Stephany!!! re: a longer cover of 'S.O.S' from Hayley... Only when 'The Winner Takes It All'

Andrew

[Martin]

As there appears to be many Abba fans on this forum (including me) I think we should record for Hayley the hit "Thank you for the Music" as a tribute.

Ah! Wait a minute though - if you heard me sing then Hayley definitely wouldn't thank us for the music.

Martin

[roger]

Hi Martin,

Funniliy enough, in the early days of HWI, "Thank you for the music" appeared as a sort of slogan on the front page. Just those five words, not the whole song!

Roger