Welcome to the Music Thursdays segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Music Thursdays will feature music related content. Music Thursdays will feature an artist or band and their latest song and / or music video. People love music, and we here at Geek Alabama love featuring artists and bands!
Canada’s iconic trio of family entertainers, Sharon, Lois & Bram, bring never-before-released tracks from their hit ‘80s TV series, The Elephant Show, to today’s families with their new album, Elephant Show Stoppers! Fans of all ages can revisit their childhoods and share treasured memories with their kids and grandkids when listening to this nostalgic gem, which is set for release on vinyl on September 27 and in an extended digital version on October 18, 2024.
Celebrating 40 years since The Elephant Show first aired, this collection of songs captures the wonder and whimsical nature of all five seasons of the award-winning series that so many remember and love. The vinyl edition of Elephant Show Stoppers! is the trio’s first vinyl release since the final season of The Elephant Show in 1988 and includes two tracks that are not heard on the digital version. The extended digital version of Elephant Show Stoppers! includes five bonus tracks, along with expanded versions of two songs from the vinyl edition.
Pre-save or pre-add Elephant Show Stoppers! HERE.
Earlier this year, Kris Stengele and Jacy Dawn Valeras, two longtime fans who have become key members of the Sharon, Lois & Bram team and producers of this album, were searching for material for a different recording project when they discovered a treasure trove of unmarked cassette tapes stored in the trio’s archive. When they started listening, Kris and Jacy were amazed to hear that the cassettes included never-before-released recordings of exceptional quality from The Elephant Show. The rest of the team was thrilled by this discovery, and with the help of master engineer Glenn Morley and Sharon & Bram’s manager, Randi Hampson, this music was beautifully brought back to life. The result? A nostalgic collection of songs arriving just in time to mark the 40th anniversary of The Elephant Show! Along with the cassettes, Kris and Jacy unearthed a collection of unpublished, behind-the-scenes images from the show, many of which are included in the Elephant Show Stoppers! vinyl edition artwork, fold-out booklet, and poster.
Elephant Show Stoppers! pulls out all the stops with 23 tracks (20 on the vinyl edition) of high-energy, singable/danceable numbers that showcase Sharon, Lois & Bram’s delicious sense of fun and spontaneity right alongside their impeccable musicianship and love for the families who sang along with them. The album kicks off with the lively “Elephant Show Theme” and, of course, features Sharon, Lois & Bram’s trademark “Skinnamarink.” Of special note on the vinyl edition is a never-before-heard version of “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby.” The song was recorded by Lois and Bram for The Elephant Show but ended up being sung by Lois and Jayne Eastwood on the show’s broadcast episode. Other highlights include “Talk About Peace,’ written by Sharon’s husband and Randi’s father, Joe Hampson of The Travellers; “We Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” a delightfully rowdy tune that Randi originally brought to the trio; the exclusive digital tracks “You’re Just In Love (I Wonder Why),” “Hop Up, My Ladies,” “Get Out & Get Under,” “Peanut Butter Rock,” and “Circle Of The Sun,” and a true Broadway showstopper, “Another Opening, Another Show,” which is featured on both the digital and vinyl editions.
“How special it has been to unearth these songs 40 years after the birth of Sharon, Lois & Bram’s Elephant Show, which was so exciting to us and the children who watched, and so important to our career,” says Sharon Hampson. Bram Morrison adds, “We are thrilled with the result, and we hope families love it as much as we do!”
.
About Sharon, Lois & Bram:
Multi-platinum-selling children’s entertainers Sharon, Lois & Bram have been actively recording music and entertaining families for over 45 years. Ranked No. 2 on TV Guide’s Top 10 Programs for Kids, the trio’s hit television series The Elephant Show (Nickelodeon, CBC, YTV, Global) and Skinnamarink TV (TLC, CBC, Treehouse TV) aired in U.S. homes for 15 consecutive years. As one of the Top 20 highest grossing tours in the ‘90s, Sharon, Lois & Bram performed at Lincoln Center, Broadway’s Palace Theater, The White House, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and every major concert hall in Canada. The trio also made frequent appearance on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Good Morning America, and CBS This Morning in the United States.
There is magic in the music of Sharon, Lois & Bram. They found a way to reach inside the hearts of the young and the … not so young, with an uplifting and inspiring gift of song that is still going strong today. In recent years, Sharon, Lois & Bram’s viral TikTok videos have received more than 30 million views, while they have also received more than 40 million career Spotify streams. Numerous celebrities have mentioned the impact of the trio, including Tiffany Haddish naming “Skinnamarink” as the one song to listen to for the rest of her life on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and requesting that Kelly Clarkson add “Skinnamarink” to her “Kellyoke Playlist.” Vanessa Williams sang “Skinnamarink” on LIVE with Kelly and Mark as the audience and co-hosts joined in.
Sharon, Lois & Bram were Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF, for which they received the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award. For their years of work providing the best in participatory music for children and their families, the multi-Juno Award winners were inducted into The Order of Canada, their country’s highest honour.
After Lois Lilienstein stepped away from live performing in 2000 and later died in 2015, Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison continued performing together for another two decades. Following Bram’s retirement from touring, and with his encouragement, Sharon and her daughter Randi have continued to share the music of Sharon, Lois & Bram, performing in both live and virtual settings as “A Sharon, Lois & Bram Singalong with Sharon & Randi.”
Categories: Music Talk Stuff
