Music
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A 17-year-old singer and songwriter from Aylmer has a hit single that even Nelly Furtado can't beat.
Budding rocker Rachel Ferguson entered her relationship-rock ballad Joshua into Hot 89.9's "Battle of the Beats" last Thursday. Every night at 9 p.m., the local dance radio station pits two songs against each other, with listeners texting their votes.
Not leaving anything to chance, Ferguson printed up 5,000 business cards reading, "Call Hot 89.9 FM and request Joshua," then handed them out at her old school, Philemon Wright High School in Hull.
That night, the station was swamped with calls and votes for Ferguson's song, beating Furtado's single All Good Things by a 3-to-1 margin.
Ferguson says Joshua -- a bouncy song with bittersweet lyrics, co-written by L.A.-based Canadian producer Chris Landon over the Internet -- is about a "long-distance relationship, kind of sad for love."
Ferguson has been busy marketing the song to ensure that Joshua gets all the votes it needs to win. And win it does, beating Layla and Drake's All Night, Stain of You by Brandon Jones, Bloc Party's I Still Remember and Maroon 5's Make Me Wonder to run for five nights undefeated.
"Strangers are coming up and telling me they've heard my song," Ferguson said while handing out cards at the Rideau Centre recently. "Some kids are jealous, but mostly the response has been positive. I'm blown away."
The station, which normally retires a song after five nights, is keeping Joshua on for an additional five nights or until it's defeated. Hot 89.9 FM's program director Amy (Race) Ballard is so impressed, she's considering adding Joshua to the station's regular playlist.
"The song has great production, and audience response has been massive," Ballard said. "(Ferguson) has the community behind her."
By DENIS ARMSTRONG
- Ottawa Sun
Discography
You can listen to Rachel's music online at the following sites:
www.myspace.com/rachelfergusonmusic
www.garageband.com/artist/rachelferguson
Photos
Bio
Rachel is a 17 year old singer-songwriter living just outside Ottawa, Canada. Although young, she's not exactly a new-comer to the stage having been performing since she was 10. She joined her first band at the age of 14 singing covers of ACDC and Led Zeppelin. Since then, her musical tastes have grown to include a wide variety of styles. Rachel's appreciation of music over different genres has contributed to her development as a vocalist with range, power and depth.
Two years ago she started collaborating over the internet with songwriters and producers in various cities.
A talented up and coming song writer with an instinctive ear for melody and harmonies, Rachel has received honours on garageband.com with four songs named Track of the Day, and both 'Joshua' and 'Never Good Enough' featured as Tracks of the Week.
Rachel is experimenting with different lyrical directions, but strives to write songs that people can relate to, connect with, and have fun to.
Rachel is looking for band mates and collaborators, feel free to drop her line.
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