7th December 2007

The Discography section of the website is now live once again. After some exhaustive work in researching and revising the original Discography, we’re happy to say that the latest version is a vast improvement on the earlier work. A lot of mistakes have been corrected and missing information for many releases has helped to fill in the blanks.

Virginia has opted for a much lower profile this year, preferring to focus on writing and restricting public appearances to low-key poetry readings. Sorry for the lack of news as a result but we’re sure that enthusiasts will respect Virginia’s decisions and hopefully 2008 will see some more developments in some of the projects she’s keen on doing.

3rd December 2007

Layla Astley is probably best known amongst Virginia fans for providing backing vocals on the 1985 single Darkness Has Reached Its End. Layla (daughter of Virginia’s brother Jon) was only 4 at the time, but she’s continued to follow a musical path ever since.

Layla’s most recent work has been for Tuesday’s Child – a double CD by various artists released in Northern Ireland in November. The Tuesday Child charity is dedicated to bringing hope to the most vulnerable of children, regardless of their nationality, circumstance, gender or beliefs. Featuring mainly Irish artists, the line up includes amongst others, Ronan Keating, Mary Black & Brian Kennedy. The production has been overseen by Jon Astley and Layla has contributed an original song Take My Leave, which she wrote, recorded and produced. “It’s really a great honour for me to help with this and I’m so stoked to be involved” says Layla, “To be helping to make a difference to someone’s life, if not many people’s lives, can only be a good thing”. The album is due for release in Eire and the UK in 2008. The Tuesday’s Child charity can be reached via their website:
www.tuesdayschild.ie

Meanwhile, more information on Layla Astley’s work is available on her MySpace page here: www.myspace.com/laylaastley.

Finally, the Virginia Astley Forum is now open once again. The message-board was closed for a period due to excessive abuse by spambots. Apologies for any inconvenience and please feel free to continue posting!

30th August 2007

Jocelyn Pook spent some time as a musical collaborator
of Virginia Astley in the post-Ravishing Beauties period. Since then, she’s
become a successful composer and performer. Her more recent work includes composing
the soundtrack to the film Brick Lane based on the
best-selling novel by Monica Ali. Jocelyn has also scored Julio Medem’s new
film Chaotic Ana, released in Spain last August.
Jocelyn’s score features the voices of Melanie Pappenheim,
Parvin Cox and Dessislava Stefanova among
others. More details: www.sogecine-sogepaq.com/caoticaana.
More info on Jocelyn Pook via her website: www.jocelynpook.com.

27th July 2007

Kate St John has collaborated with Damon Albarn of the band Gorillaz for Monkey Journeys To The West, a musical opera based on the classic Chinese tale. More on Kate via www.katestjohn.co.uk.

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