'candle' Ignites Globally Demand High For Elton John Single

A Billboard international staff report.
LONDON--The rewritten 'Candle In The Wind,' performed by Elton John as a moving tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, at her funeral here Sept. 6, stands poised to become one of the biggest-selling global singles ever when it reaches retail shelves worldwide beginning Sept. 11.
With proceeds earmarked to benefit the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, a charity set up in the princess' name after her death, the music-business initiative also promises to resonate well beyond industry confines.
The single release is only one of many music-industry tribute and fund-raising projects expected in the coming weeks and months. Also on tap are several commemorative albums, including an all-star tribute to be released in December, and a planned trans-Atlantic concert to be syndicated worldwide next year. MTV Networks has donated $100,000 from ticket sales of its Video Music Awards to the fund and is airing John's moving funeral performance, taken from the official media pool camera feed, as a music video on VH1 and MTV.
The centerpiece and catalyst of the initiatives, however, is John's single.
'Candle In The Wind 1997,' rewritten by John's lyricist, Bernie Taupin, originally had lyrics referring to Marilyn Monroe. The revised song opens with the lyrics:
Goodbye England's rose
May you ever grow in our hearts
You were the grace that placed itself
Where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country
And you whispered to those in pain
Now you belong to heaven
And the stars spell out your name.
Taupin was initially reluctant to discuss the rewritten lyrics because he didn't want to be disrespectful. He says that John called him Sept. 1, saying that he got a request from Buckingham Palace to perform at the funeral.
'What happened was that radio in England had been playing the original 'Candle In The Wind' constantly, so Elton felt that it might be appropriate to sing that, but not with all the original lyrics,' Taupin says.
The lyricist agreed that the song's original lyrics 'wouldn't really be appropriate to be sung in front of the Royal Family in the confines of Westminster Abbey.'
'As you can imagine, the prospect was pretty daunting anyway. You can imagine the sort of pressure I felt from that. I didn't even know if I could do it. Luckily, as happens sometimes, the muse was in the right place. From the first couple of lines I wrote, it all sort of fell into place,' Taupin says.
'I thought it was very important to project it from a nation's standpoint, as opposed to it being sung by a singular person. I wanted to make it sound like a country, as opposed to being sung by Elton, or anybody who might be singing it. He was sort of a voice for a nation.
'I'm just really happy that it appeared appropriate and that it moved as many people as it did. I'm just glad it worked. It was very heartfelt.'
Mercury Records U.K., which markets and distributes Elton John's Rocket label, says that all artist and composer royalties and record company profits from all three tracks on the single release will be donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
As Billboard went to press, the British government announced that all Value Added Tax (VAT) from sales of the single would be returned to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. VAT is levied at 17.5% on recorded music, and the single will retail in most stores at 3.99 pounds ($6.40).
The move has a precedent: Band Aid's single 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' also received a tax break.
A spokeswoman for the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society and the Performing Right Society says both bodies are examining ways of implementing John's and the music industry's wish for the maximum proceeds from the single to be delivered to the charity.
Proceeds will likely be considerable.
The princess' funeral here on Sept. 6 achieved the highest-ever domestic TV audience for any event, with 31 million U.K. viewers. The ceremony was syndicated to an estimated audience of close to 1 billion viewers worldwide, giving Elton John's song a global audience thought to be unrivaled in the history of the music industry.
Radio, eager to service the needs of its listeners, threw caution to the wind and aired the song the same day, in some instances using a recording taken from the live TV or radio broadcast.
After the funeral, John recorded the song at Townhouse Studios with Sir George Martin as producer. Programmers had that version by Sept. 8.
RETAIL ANTICIPATION
Retailers here and worldwide are already saying that the song, due to be released here Saturday (13) as a double-A sided single with 'Something About The Way You Look Tonight,' is being demanded at store level like no other song has ever been. The CD single will appear in two formats, with the maxi-single featuring the U.S. hit 'You Can Make History (Young Again).'
John's catalog is also proving to be in high demand globally, with older albums reported to be selling out and several re-entering the charts. Interest has also been primed for John's new album, 'The Big Picture,' which had long been slated for a September release.
The single release precedes the launch of 'The Big Picture,' which has a worldwide release Sept. 22 apart from Japan (10), the U.S. (23), and the U.K. (29).
A Mercury Records U.K. spokesman says that Elton John has done all he can to keep activities surrounding 'Candle '97' separate from promotion for his album, noting that he has not promoted that song or recorded a video and that the song will not appear on 'The Big Picture.'
France will be the first country in which the single is released, on Sept. 11. The rest of the world outside the U.S. will release it on Sept. 13, and American dealers will get the single for sale Sept. 23, the same day as John's new album. U.S. release, originally slated for Sept. 16, was delayed due to problems in obtaining the cover art in time, the label says.
The four plants of PolyGram-owned PMDC in the U.K., Germany, France, and the U.S. have all been pressing copies of the single.
British dealers confirm that demand for the single will be great, with expectations that sales may exceed Band Aid's 1984 single 'Do They Know It's Christmas?,' which is certified as having sold 3.5 million copies in the country.
Andy Smith, buyer at Ainley's, an independent store in Leicester, says, 'I would say, for once, that the hype is true. Our biggest single inquiry this week has been the Elton John single.'
Tower Records in the U.K. says it has placed its largest-ever order for a single in its 10 years of trading. Although it will not specify numbers, it says its order is 30 times larger than any other single order.
Anticipation is equally high in the U.S., where Pat Jordan, national director of operations for A&M Associated Labels, which handles Rocket, says that, as of press time, 3.4 million copies of the single were going out to stateside stores alone.
The U.S. release will be available on CD, CD maxi-single, and cassette. The singles will carry a retail price of $3.49; no price had been set for the maxi-single at press time.
The CD single has 'Something About The Way You Look Tonight' (from John's forthcoming album) and 'Candle In The Wind 1997.'
The U.S. maxi-single has a third track, 'I Know Why I'm In Love,' recorded during the 'Big Picture' sessions but not included on the album.
With consumer interest sky-high, many retailers plan to hold midnight sales for the release.
With a first order of 120,000 units, Pat Marschman, assistant buyer for the 315-store Camelot Music in Canton, Ohio, says, 'I think we will sell out.'
Some consumers apparently have the same thoughts. Says Jerry Smith, a Camelot manager, 'We've had about 25 calls about it today alone. People are calling to put it on hold. They are offering to give us credit card numbers over the phone, which is unheard of for a single. Everyone's afraid there won't be enough to go around.'
Dave Goist, singles buyer for the 150-unit, Carnegie, Pa.-based National Record Mart chain, says, 'This looks like it will be the biggest single of the year, if not the last five years.'
The chain bought more than 60,000 copies. 'I was a little apprehensive when I was first ordering. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to sell out of the product,' says Goist. 'But some of our stores started taking names and reservations yesterday. Within five hours, stores had 30 or so names. So I'm not that worried anymore.'
The single could top the previous U.S. best seller in the SoundScan era, Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You,' which has moved 4.6 million units since its 1992 release. The 'We Are The World' benefit single, released in 1985, before the launch of SoundScan, has also been certified for U.S. sales in excess of 4 million units, according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America.
RADIO SATURATION
Radio stations worldwide, which have been on the song even before its revision, can be counted on to further stoke interest in 'Candle In The Wind 1997.'
Copyright issues appeared to take a back seat when radio stations lifted Elton John's version from the various live TV and radio broadcasts of Princess Diana's funeral and immediately playlisted it in heavy rotation.
John Dash, PD for Key 103 FM (top 40) and Piccadilly 1152 AM (AC) in Manchester, England, recalls, 'We weren't sure of the implications (of recording the broadcast for airing), but there was no way we could not playlist it right away.'
At Radio Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, northern Germany, head of music Stephan Hampe says, 'We simply recorded 'Candle In The Wind' from the television and immediately started playing it.'
Paris-based top 40 network NRJ is giving the song significant airplay even though it does not really fit into the broadcaster's format.
In the U.K., studio recordings were delivered to broadcasters by Mercury promotions executives late in the morning on Sept. 8. Most stations placed the track in heavy rotation.
The following day, Mercury Germany's marketing director, Boris Lohe, organized a satellite feed in order for German stations to obtain a quality recording of the studio version. Meanwhile, the BBC distributed the recording, through the European Broadcasting Union's satellite network, to hundreds of stations in about 50 countries.
Even though most programmers concur that the single will be a major retail success, they say there is a danger of a quick airplay burnout for 'Candle In The Wind 1997.'
'Will this phenomenon have a long life, especially in France, where (most) people don't understand the lyrics? I'm not sure,' muses Alain Tibolla, program manager at French full-service broadcaster RTL.
John Rosborough, PD at full-service Downtown Radio and Hot AC Cool FM in Belfast, Ireland, says, 'In a month's time, if the mood has ebbed substantially, it might sound a bit strange to keep referring back to (Diana's death).'
In the U.S., the single debuts on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart at No. 35 this issue, based on pre-release spins.
As Billboard went to press, a worldwide simulcast of Elton John's single was being arranged for 5 p.m. London time, noon New York time, Sept. 12. Organizer Terry Underhill of MFM Radio in the U.K. is attempting to get as many stations as possible worldwide to air the single at the same time.
The rush-release of 'Candle In The Wind 1997' in the U.K. has overshadowed the release of other projects.
V2 Records has said it is assembling an album, due to be released in the first week of December, that will feature material from Sting, Seal, Bryan Adams, and Paul McCartney, among other artists.
There was initial confusion over who was releasing the 'official' tribute album here. PolyGram said on Sept. 5 that it would be issuing a tribute album assembled by the Chicken Shed Theatre Co., a children's theater company of which the princess was a patron.
After the funeral, Richard Branson stated that his record company, V2, would also issue a tribute album and that he had secured the support of key artists, including McCartney, Seal, Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, and Sting.
It is understood that several other projects were being planned and that the subject came up at a regular council meeting of the British Phonographic Industry Sept. 8.
On Sept. 9, the fund's solicitors said that a tribute album will take place with the support of all the record companies and that it will be put out on a label specially created for the purpose. That label will contract directly with the artists.
The statement says that Branson 'has been invited by the trustees of the Memorial Fund to assist . . . Mr. Branson's music company, V2, shall also be assisting the fund in coordinating the making of the record for international release.'
BBC Worldwide Music will release a CD and abridged cassette of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, including the hymns, prayers, speeches, and readings. The album, released by PolyGram Classics, will be available in the U.K. in the week beginning Monday (15). All BBC and PolyGram profits from sales will be donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
Additionally, an all-star trans-Atlantic concert is planned for Sept. 6, 1998; the event will originate from London's Hyde Park and a New York site still to be determined.
INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
Although interest is greatest in the U.K. and U.S., because the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, was a global TV event, the music spinoff has been as far-reaching, with its effects being felt outside the English-speaking world. Dealers across the world are expecting heavy store traffic in weeks to come for the Elton John single.
The service was broadcast live in virtually every Asian market. Four of the five national channels in Indonesia broadcast the service live, and eyewitnesses said the usually congested streets of the capital, Jakarta, were deserted.
'Diana is very popular in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong people have great compassion for Diana,' says Tower Records store manager Ambrose Au. 'We have put in unusually large orders for it.'
HMV Singapore store manager Matty Chow says the live broadcast, watched by a large number of people in that market, has generated intense interest in the single and in John's music. 'We've had a lot of customers inquiring about the single. And all the Elton John albums are gone.'
In Australia, the live five-hour telecast of the funeral was easily the most watched television event in the country's history, with more than 6 million people (the country's population is 18 million) watching it.
PolyGram expects the record to debut at No. 1, according to Tom Enright, label manager at Mercury.
Retail response has been enormous, says Enright, with Target ordering 30,000 and Sanity 22,000. 'It's going to be the biggest thing we've ever seen,' predicts Jordan Clark, national product buyer for the HMV chain, who adds, 'It'll probably be the biggest single ever in Australia, with a million units at least.'
With more than 4 million German viewers watching on TV broadcaster ZDF and nonstop reporting on all other TV channels and radio stations, 'Candle In The Wind 1997' has become one of the most sought-after songs in record stores there. Some retailers have been reporting new interest in the entire John catalog.
Dietmar Glodde, managing director of Mercury in Hamburg, reported Sept. 9 that 2 million advance orders had been received for the single. 'Germany is united in its interest in this song as a memorial for Diana,' he says.
France has been deeply moved by the events, not least because the tragedy took place there. While radio took to the single, there are doubts as to whether retail demand will be as strong for a song where the lyrics are not readily understood.
Nevertheless, Mercury France is reporting record orders. 'In less than 24 hours, 250,000 singles have been pre-ordered,' says Yvan Sellier, Mercury international manager. 'This is unique,' he adds. He expects total pre-release orders to reach 350,000.
Public interest and sympathy for the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was also overwhelming in Italy.
Alfredo Conti, managing director of the Messaggeria Musicale mega-
store in Milan, says that there is great anticipation for the release of the single. 'The public just can't wait to buy it so that they can personally revisit the strong emotions that Elton John's performance created at the funeral service,' says Conti.
In Holland, 150,000 copies of the CD single had been pre-ordered by retail. At major retail chain Free Record Shop, with 140 stores across the country, buyer Jean Broeks reports, 'It's a complete madhouse here. We get phone calls coming in from some of our shops asking for 100 more copies on top of the 200 they already had ordered.'
This story was prepared by Dominic Pride, Mike McGeever, Jeff Clark-Meads, and Mark Solomons in London; Craig Rosen, Carrie Bell, and Brett Atwood in Los Angeles; Geoff Burpee in Hong Kong; Christie Eliezer in Melbourne, Australia; Wolfgang Spahr in Hamburg; Mark Dezzani in Milan; Rƒmi Bouton in Paris; and Robbert Tilli in Amsterdam.
(c) BPI Communications, 1997 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED