THE BRILLIANT THINGS Greg French / Marie Junior You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It Shines The Brilliant Things Shine Through Summer Like all overnight successes, the Brilliant Things story took a little while to come to fruition – 10 years, in fact. It’s August 2001, in a large country house near Limerick, in County Clare, Ireland, Sharon Corr of multi-platinum selling global phenomenon The Corrs is getting married, and The Bootleg Beatles have just finished filling the dance floor with their note-perfect renditions of some of pop’s great tunes. Just as the DJ takes over, a blonde figure jumps on stage, commandeering the still-open mic and delivers a spirited rendition of The Corrs’ live favourite Queen of Hollywood. Who was that mystery figure? Marie ‘Junior’ Hughes, daughter of Corrs’ manager John Hughes, himself a long-standing figure on the Irish music scene, having led various bands to local chart prominence before changing direction to become a highly successful manager. Once the dust had settled, John had a serious word with his daughter, warning her of the hard work necessary to beat the odds in the competitive world of showbiz. Marie was resolute – she had decided she wanted to sing, like her father, who had also given up a career in commerce to defy logic on stage and in the studio. Shaking his head, John Hughes did at least resolve to give his daughter all the support necessary, which didn’t stop her from having to undergo a long period of apprenticeship, from singing lessons to song writing collaborations, and spells in the studio recording other people’s songs, all bolstered by her meagre earnings from a series of jobs, since Marie was determined to stand on her own two feet from the start. Another talent that was languishing unnoticed under the noses of the Irish music industry was engineer Greg French. The quietly-spoken, hardworking lad who was assisting engineer Tim Martin at Dublin’s Westland Studios, was around when discussion would turn to song writing, computer programming and musicianship, and he was able to suggest that perhaps he might have a go at all the above. To the surprise of the studio’s organisation, Greg proved himself to be a master of many disciplines, including guitar and keyboard playing, engineering and song writing. Marie had hit the Irish Top 40 with an independently produced solo version of ‘Millionaire’ by UK post-punk band The Mekons, but it was when she got together with Greg that things started to take off. They started to work on their original songs with Corrs’ producer Olle Romo, who in turn introduced the band’s work to legendary AC/DC, Shania Twain and Bryan Adams producer Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange, who endorsed an album track ‘Something To Say’, creating enough interest to get Universal Records Ireland to ink the band. The band’s name came from highly–regarded UK design group Stylorouge, who had been working with Marie and Greg on visuals, and whose reaction to the band’s music had been: ‘They’re just brilliant!’ The combo came to the attention of Rolling Stones, Corrs and U2 agent John Giddings who was impressed enough to put them on his relaunched Isle of Wight festival, a show they carried off with some aplomb, impressing the audience with their high energy rock/pop and securing them a re-booking. Since then The Brilliant Things have continued to impress festival and club audiences in the UK and Ireland, the high spot undoubtedly being Greg French’s demonstration of the iPhone as an instrument in its own right, performing a keyboard solo on ‘Something To Say’ live at the Oxegen festival via an App on his phone. Fast forward to 2012, when, in another fortuitous event, the band’s UK radio promotions team, Fleming Associates showed an interest in a song called ‘Dance’. Written and produced entirely by Greg, it was the last song recorded for the Brilliant Things album, and was completed very quickly. In the spirit of events thus far for the Irish four-piece, when presented to BBC Radio 2, it was instantly accepted, rising from the ‘C’ List to the prestigious ‘A’ list in a few short weeks, an amazing endorsement of the band’s hard work to get where they are now. ‘Dance’ was followed by ‘Pointless’, another Radio 2 A–listed track, more live dates like the recent 2012 Isle of Wight Festival and T Scotland’s T In The Park, and now the latest single ‘Feels Like Summer’ continues to bring their infectious brand of modern pop/rock to the public. Once again written and produced by keyboardist/guitarist/ singer Greg French, ‘Feels Like Summer’ features the unique and distinctive vocals of Marie Jr. The combination of the band’s talents are fast making The Brilliant Things a brilliant new force to reckoned with in the modern pop world. Following the band’s Summer festival tour, where they performed the fast paced Summery single, their familiar hits and brand new tracks, the band’s forthcoming album is due for release in the Autumn.