By timesecholife on in All News, Uttoxeter news
A MUSICIAN who entertained Uttoxeter residents from a back garden last year is to play a ‘reunion’ gig this weekend.
Raphael Tate described the garden concert – which will be streamed on Facebook – as a ‘victory lap’ as Covid-19 restrictions lift across the UK. Raphael became a popular figure in the town last year after becoming stranded in the UK while recording a single.
Unable to return to his home in Cyprus, Raphael performed a series of concerts in the garden of friends he was staying with. He also shared his grief with readers of the Echo when his mother, Patricia, unexpectedly passed away.
Now, Raphael is back in the UK, has recorded an EP dedicated to his mom and has new music already in the pipeline. He said: “My mom’s untimely passing really broke my heart. “I wanted to quit, but a small voice told me to keep going. I released the EP on Mother’s Day in the UK with the single Every Day is Mother’s Day, which is a tribute to my mom and my life with my brothers and sisters and her.
“All the songs on the EP are based around her. I knew I wanted a full orchestra playing my composition, a full, live, instrumentation. I wanted to give her the best. I found the resources to be able to do that and there are some world-renowned musicians on the EP, some of whom knew my mother. It’s a beautiful thing.”
The tribute EP ‘Patricia Creations’ will be released on June 4. Raphael added: “I’ve also been working on two reggae songs. The first song is called ‘Blessed’ and is a reaction to everything we’ve all been going through and still being in this pandemic, but still being blessed to be alive and be on this earth.
“The second song, Can You Feel It (Sweet Stuff Riddim) will be released on April 8, which is my son, Micah’s birthday.
“It’s been 11 years since I’ve seen him or even touched him. I’ve had an emptiness within me for 11 years and I am so proud of the young man he has become. “My mother, loved him dearly and before she passed was longing to see him, she missed him so much.
“She wanted nothing more than for he and I to be reunited.”
Production on Can You Feel It (Sweet Stuff Riddim) was done by London’s SkyBeats ‘KraftHouse Studios’ and while Raphael has travelled between the UK, his home in Cyprus and his family in Washington, the creation of his new music has all been done safely in line with restrictions in place at the time.
Now back in Uttoxeter, Raphael will be performing from his friends’ back garden at 4.30pm on Saturday, April 3. The concert will be streamed live as a Facebook event.
We are the only family run, independent newspaper and magazine business in Staffordshire, established 1896. We are home to three weekly newspapers – The Cheadle and Tean Times (aka The Stunner), The Uttoxeter Echo and The Leek & Moorlands Echo.
We also produce Peeps into the Past, a bi-monthly nostalgic glimpse into our photographic archives, and three bi-monthly glossy lifestyle magazines – Stone and Eccleshall Life, Leek Life and Newcastle Life.
T. 01538 752214 or 753162
18 Tape Street, Cheadle, Staffs ST10 1BD
5 Church Street, Uttoxeter, Staffs ST14 8AG
(Uttoxeter Office is a postal address only)
Other useful contacts:
news@timesandecho.co.uk
admin@timesandecho.co.uk
CURRENT OPENING TIMES
Mon & Tues 9am-11am