JAMIE LEE CURTIS DIRECTS NEW MUSIC VIDEO FOR CHANTEUSE JUDITH OWEN

LOS ANGELES — Actress, author and director Jamie Lee Curtis helms the new music video for “Here,” the stunning new single from British chanteuse and pianist Judith Owen, whose fourth CD, also titled Here, arrives in stores August 8 on her own Courgette Records (distributed through ADA).

The video for “Here” beautifully captures the essence of Owen’s song, her personal spirit and strength as she conjures childhood memories of her mother, whose untimely death, when Owen was still young, greatly affected the person she would become. Owen’s mother is portrayed in the clip by singer-songwriter Julia Fordham. It is the first music video for director Curtis.

“I was immediately moved by the song, ‘Here’ by my friend Judith Owen,” Curtis says. “Although specific in its original pain and loss it really serves as a portal for us all, anyone with the universal wound of loss, and who wish the lost loved one could know us now, in our present magnificence. The shoot captures it all, light, love, loss and the luminescent spirit of survival. I so enjoyed collaborating with Judith on it.”

"Making a video of this particular song, with this team and Jamie Lee Curtis at the helm was an amazing gift and a completely cathartic experience,” Owen commented. “It's difficult to make a video about the loss of a loved one but in the hands of Jamie Lee, what was and is my personal story became universally understood."

The clip will be available for viewing online on Judith Owen’s MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/judithowenmusic), YouTube.com and Google Video on August 8. The video was shot in and around Los Angeles and was produced by Pamela Griner in association with IGent TV.

Owen’s new CD, Here, is the follow up to her critically acclaimed 2005 release Lost & Found. Owen co-produced the album with John Fischbach whose credits include Stevie Wonder and Carole King. Here features eight original songs that showcase Owen’s captivating voice and her thoughtful, poetic lyricism, as well as two interpretations including the Ray Davies-penned “I Go To Sleep,” originally featured in the Emmy-nominated HBO film Mrs. Harris, starring Annette Bening and Sir Ben Kingsley and the ‘80s hit “Eye Of The Tiger” that Owen artfully transforms into a slinky, jazz-inflected wonder, in which the original is barely recognizable.

A bevy of esteemed artists join Owen on Here including k.d. lang, who provides vocals on “Worship,” trumpeter Michael Bogart (Tower of Power, Maynard Ferguson), string arranger Grant Mitchell (Seal, Julia Fordham), percussionists, Lenny Castro (Eric Clapton, Barbra Streisand) and Quinn (Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman), and Owen’s stalwart bassist, Sean Hurley (Vertical Horizon, Anastacia).

Owen, who Variety described as “…a charmer and a seducer, a rocker, and a jazz chanteuse,” has collaborated, recorded and toured with some of the world’s finest contemporary musicians, including bluesman Keb ‘Mo, acclaimed saxophonist Tom Scott, British folk-rock legend Richard Thompson, and celebrated jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson, who called Owen “one of the most passionate, mesmerizing, thoroughly creative vocal artists on the scene today.” She tours regularly and has graced the stages of some of the world’s most prestigious venues including Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Owen is married to actor, satirist and kindred creative spirit, Harry Shearer. In 2005, she formed Courgette Records with Shearer and her manager, longtime music business executive Bambi Moé.
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