Artist to Watch: Olly Murs

I am sitting in a popular cafe up the street from my house, cheese-ily western themed (like everything else in my small tourist town) and I am surrounded by unruly hyper children. The multitude of the hefty brood is overpowering the authority of their parents and their father's story of how the children all vanished onto a neighboring ranch a few days ago forces me to plug in the headphones and power up the tunes.  I truly feel for them, but we all have our problems and today is one of "those" Mondays which we all know and loathe. I can only think of pouring my focus into something else...writing! So here is a new band profile for you, or rather artist profile!

Photo courtesy of BBC News and Getty Image

So for my minions who are feeling the pressure and need a little pop to brighten up their metaphorically thunderous day… I prescribe Olly Murs. Also recommended for summer drives with the windows, Saturdays, and alone-in-the-house dance sequences (I know I am not the only one!)

Now some of my closer friends might be sick of hearing about this Brit import but I can't get enough. Olly Murs was a contestant on the British version of The X Factor in 2009 (also the winner of 10 pounds on Deal or no Deal) and has since gone on to have 3 number one albums and numerous hit singles. Murs has also become a regular guests on BBC entertainment including BBC Radio 1 and quiz shows like Nevermind the Buzzcocks A few of those singles will be appearing on his first American release Right Place Right Time which is due to drop April 16th, 2013. (You can get the deluxe edition for 10.99 on iTunes). As one of my old bandmates like to tease I "may be one of the only people still buying CDs," but I've pre-ordered a copy anyways…Olly has all the great boyish charm of Michael Buble´ with the quirky humor and R&B influence of JT plus great lyrics. I've never seen the beau without his signature smile and he always brightens up the day. Olly is also known for toting a fedora and his newest single Army of Two has generated this new promotional poster for US fans (shown left).

I first heard about Olly on the Chris Moyles show a few years ago and the mention of his name has put a smile on my face ever since. Murs's first American single is entitled Troublemaker feat. Flo Rida and it has begun to generated well earned buzz on radio stations. The upbeat track is a great intro to his catalogue and comes just in time to be a great summer track if enough interest is generated. Olly is the type of artist that makes every girl want to dance on her bed in her pajamas and I sincerely hope he can make it in the American market.