Drawing: Christie Brinkley in Chicago

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Christie Brinkley gained worldwide fame in the 1970’s and 80’s as a supermodel – the first to have three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue covers. She has been married four times, most notably to musician Billy Joel. The ‘Uptown Girl’ appeared in a number of his music videos and illustrated the cover of his 1993 triple platinum album ‘River of Dreams.’ Rolling Stone awarded it the Best Album Cover of the Year. After a successful debut on Broadway as the femme fatale, foxy Roxie Hart in America’s longest running musical, Chicago, the 57 year-old razzle-dazzled West End audiences at the Cambridge Theatre in London during a four-week engagement… va-va-va-voooom! Christie signed my sketch in person at the stage door in August 2011.

Drawing: Katherine Jenkins

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Welsh songbird Katherine Jenkins did a bit of tube busking in November 2011. The mezzo-soprano is more used to performing in front of thousands in some of the World’s major stages.

A 45 minute stint at Leicester Square station for London commuters yielded £16 for a homeless charity, going undercover with a ‘make-under”, hiding her trademark blonde locks behind a scruffy brunette wig and casual clothes. But her distinctive vocal fooled few.

Katherine’s classical crossover style, including operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns has won her two Classical Brit Album of the Year Awards.

After performing with the legendary Dame Vera Lynn at the 60th VE Day Anniversary concert in 2005, the WWII ‘forces sweetheart’ said Katherine should consider performing for the British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. She did just that. Her helicopter was targeted by missiles, but she eventually landed safely when anti-missile flares were deployed.

She came second in the US Dancing with the Stars and this year ran the London marathon in 5 hours 26 minutes, raising £25,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of her father. Katherine also performed at a fundraiser in October 2011 to help relief efforts after the devastation caused by the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

She signed my ‘busking’ sketch at her London office in Chiswick Lane, a couple of days after her underground debut. An earlier portrait was signed in the mid 2000s through the mail.

Drawing: Glen Campbell

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Country music legend Glen Campbell visited my home town of Invercargill on the southern coast of New Zealand in March 1991. An ideal opportunity to get Glen’s ‘graph. As usual, I left it late and in my haste, stuffed up!

In 50 years in show business, Glen has recorded 70 albums with 45 million sales, including hits such as Galverston, Gentle On My Mind, Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman. He made history in 1967, winning 4 Grammys in both country and pop categories. He also tried his hand at acting. In 1969 he was personally selected by John Wayne to play alongside ‘the Duke’ in True Grit.

I was a member of the City Council which managed the Civic Theatre, where Glen was performing that evening. I wasn’t able to get it in person due to a Council meeting – just wasn’t PC to ask for leave to get Glen Campbell’s autograph. So I enlisted the help of the theatre manager, who left the drawing in his dressing room with a request note.

Just before I went into the meeting, I quickly sketched Glen’s head, based on a photo in the ticket office, then attached a body and guitar without reference to reality. I went into the meeting, a lengthy public submission hearing that went long into the night. After the meeting, one of the theatre staff bought me an envelope with the signed sketch enclosed… and the mistake in the drawing noted – obviously using his right hand!

Drawing: Luciano Pavarotti

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Luciano Pavarotti was one of the finest tenors of the 20th Century known for the brilliance and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register.

He achieved worldwide fame as one of The Three Tenors and his rendition of Puccini’s aria Nessun Dorma from Turandot, which became the theme song for the BBC TV’s coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. It achieved pop status and remained his trademark piece. At the end of the Cup Final in Rome, he was joined by the other two tenors, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras for a concert, which was recorded and became the biggest selling classical album of all time.

He was also known for his humanitarian causes, especially his Pavarotti and Friends charity concerts in his home town of Modena, for several UN projects, with the likes of Eric Clapton, Celine Dion, Elton John, Queen, Sting and George Michael participating.

He signed my caricature after his Sydney concert in March 1994. Sadly, he passed away from pancreatic cancer after an international farewell tour in 2007.

Drawing: Victor Borge

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Victor Borge was considered one of the world’s great comedic geniuses. Dubbed ‘The Clown Prince of Denmark,’ he had no significant rivals in a career that spanned more than 7 years. His comic persona and stage routine was tailored to his personality quirks, musical gifts and extraordinary sense of humour.

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people,” he would say. Victor publicly ridiculed Adolf Hitler in his native Denmark just before WWII. When the Germans invaded, he managed to escape to America, obtaining a visa due to his American-born wife. He learnt to speak English and gained an understanding of American humour by watching movies; quickly rising to prominence with The Victor Borge Show on NBC from the mid 1940s. At one time he was the highest paid entertainer in the world.

Victor’s Comedy in Music one man show on Broadway reached 849 performances – the largest solo run in the Great White Ways history. It was based on a routine that became synonymous with his style, announcing that he was going to play a piece, but seldom actually getting around to doing it because of his hilarious interaction with the audience.

Ironically, his most famous pieces aren’t musical. Phonetic Punctuation recites all of the punctuation marks as exaggerated onomatopoeic sounds. Inflationary Language uses the incremented numbers embedded in words such as “once upon a time” becoming “twice upon a time”, “wonderful” – “twoderful”; “tennis” – “elevenis” and so on.

He toured New Zealand on many occasions. I can’t recall the exact year, but I sent him this caricature and some copies at Dunedin’s Regent Theatre either in the late 1980s or the early 1990s and received these two copies back signed. He kept the original. Not sure what the inscription is all about…

Victor performed to the end. After returning to his Greenwich, Connecticut home from a December 2000 concert in Copenhagen, he died the next day aged 91.

Drawing: Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David are amongst the greatest composing duos of all time. One of their most memorable songs was Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head from the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, for which they won the Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Grammy Awards.

A number of their hits were written especially for Grammy winner Dionne Warwick, including Walk On By, Alfie, I Say A Little Prayer and Do You Know The Way To San Jose. She ranks amongst the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock and pop era. She’s second only to Aretha Franklin as the most charted female vocalist of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962-1998.

In September 1995 she performed in New Zealand, including Auckland’s Aotea Centre, where she signed my sketch. Burt Bacharach was scheduled to do a New Zealand tour in early 2007 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, but broke his collar bone and was unable to travel. Dionne Warwick replaced him, saying “That’s what friends are for”.

It was to be her final performance visit to the country. Burt rescheduled for July later that year, the ‘ultra cool cult hero of the contemporary music set’ played a number of gigs, including Auckland’s Vector Arena with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra.

I was in Auckland at the time, but couldn’t go to the concert. I was, however, very keen to get his ‘graph, but only had half and hour, so did a lightning fast sketch based on a poster pic of him at the Vector Arena and left it at the stage door with a note and a return envelope. It was returned, signed, along with a signed copy of his “At This Time” CD.

Drawing: Leonard Cohen

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen was on the third leg of his 2008-2009 World Tour when he visited New Zealand in 2009. He signed this sketch for me at the TBS Arena in Wellington after his concert on the 21 January.

Drawing: Cliff Richard

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The Peter Pan of Pop started life as Harry Rodger Webb before becoming Cliff Richard and a career spanning over 50 years. He is the third top selling singles artist in UK history, selling 21 million units and 250 million worldwide.

As part of his “Hit List Tour” in 1995, Sir Cliff played New Zealand in January/February. While in Dunedin he freely walked around in the southern city wearing a T shirt with “No, I just look like him” printed on the front. He signed my sketch at his hotel.

Drawing: Neil Diamond

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Neil Diamond is considered one of the greatest pop songwriters/performers of the modern age. ‘The Jewish Elvis’ has sold over 125 million records worldwide and is the third most successful adult contemporary artist ever on the Billboard Chart behind Barbra Streisand and Sir Elton John.

He originally wanted to be a Laboratory Biologist and find a cure for cancer, but in his senior year at New York University a music publishing company offered him $50 a week to write songs, and the rest, as they say, is history. Medicine’s loss was music’s gain.

The Solitary Man himself simply sums it up “I write these little songs and go and sing them in a recording studio and later, in front of a lot of people. It seems an odd way to gain an inner sense of acceptance of the self. But, it’s what I do.”

In March 1996 he broke a 3 year touring hiatus with a world tour, starting in New Zealand and signed my sketch after the Westpac Centre concert in Christchurch.

Drawing: Chris Isaak

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

One of my favourite performers and all round good guys, Chris Isaak loved the the sketch and signed it at the Wellington Town Hall, New Zealand, in July 1995 as part of his Forever Blue Australasian Tour that year.