Hi °C | Lo °C Pop legend Sir Cliff Richard, who is at the Odyssey next Monday, has recorded a track on his new album with a singer who died 21 years ago.
The Young One has revived the voice of crooner Matt Monro who passed away in 1985.
With the approval of Monro's family, Sir Cliff has joined Matt - the star once described as the British answer to Frank Sinatra - in a digitally remastered version of the old standard Let There Be Love.
The duet is on Richard's new CD Two's Company which is being released here to coincide with the concert.
"Segments of separate recordings of the song by Cliff and Matt have been linked together with amazing results," said Sir Cliff's secretary Jill Snow today.
"There are so many technical advances in the recording business that almost anything is possible."
Let There be Love was a hit the first time around for the late Nat King Cole in 1961 and, 26 years after the American star's death in 1965, his daughter Natalie used the remastering technique to join her dad in a duet of another standard, Unforgettable.
And the voices of Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline, who both died in air crashes, were joined in harmony on a hit recording in 1991 of Have You Ever Been Lonely? many years after their passing.
Monro, real name Terry Parsons, became a pop star after he left the Army. He was an occasional visitor to the Opera House in Belfast with hits like Portrait of My Love, Born Free and Love Walked In.
"I've never got used to hearing my own recorded voice," said Sir Cliff today.
"So when I hear myself dueting with voices like Matt's, which I've always loved, it's hard to describe how I feel."
On the Two's Company album he also duets with artists who are still very much alive, like Daniel O'Donnell (Yesterday Once More), Sir Elton John (Slow Rivers), Hank Marvin (Throw Down a Line), Olivia Newton-John (Suddenly) and Helmut Lotte (Danny Boy).
There are still tickets left for Sir Cliff's Here and Now show at the Odyssey on Monday night at the usual Aiken Promotions agencies and from Ticketmaster.
