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Grammy Award Winner Jim Peterik Pens Song with Fellow Singer/Songwriter Marc Scherer To Benefit Sandy Hook School Support Fund

 

For Immediate Release

Contact:          Alisa Bay, AB Public Relations

847-266-9053- alisagbay@yahoo.com

Newtown (You’re Not Alone) Now Available on iTunes

100% of Proceeds Support the Victims’ Families and Community of Newtown, Connecticut

Chicago, IL (January 17, 2013) – How does a caring individual begin to process the unspeakable horror that the Newtown massacre seared into our consciousness? If you are Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer Jim Peterik (Founding member of the band Survivor and Ides of March), you put pen to paper, gather a few talented friends and head for the recording studio.

Moved by media accounts of the innocent victims and the teachers who shielded them with their own bodies, the Grammy award winning composer co-wrote Newtown (You’re Not Alone)with lead singer Marc Scherer. The song is available for download from iTunes, with 100% of all proceeds benefiting the Sandy Hook School Support Fund https://newtown.uwwesternct.org/

Calling on the legendary Joe Jammer (first guitarist for Supertramp and studio guitarist for Mick Jagger, Joe Cocker and Ringo Starr) to play counterpoint to Jim’s guitar work was more than just coincidence, since Jammer and Peterik – both Chicago-born musical icons in their own right – never had the opportunity to join forces professionally until now.  Just as Newtown united us as a nation, Newtown (You’re Not Alone) brought two industry giants together for the very first time.

Choosing a singer was simple. Long known for cultivating fresh talent, Peterik is currently crafting an album designed to showcase Scherer’s remarkable 4-octave range.

Instead of a somber, sorrowful ballad, the surprisingly upbeat song cuts against the grain of expectation to offer a lyrical embrace that speaks to life even as it confronts the essence of evil and inexplicable violence. Scherer’s voice is a cry in the darkness, a plea for sanity in a sea of madness, while the driving beat and frenzied rhythm echo the urgency and confusion of a breaking news story.

Newtown (You’re Not Alone) reminds us that as parents, teachers – as human beings -  we were all wounded that day and what matters most in times of tragedy is the bond that joins us all at the heart. And remembering that bond is how we begin to heal.

To download Newtown (You’re Not Alone), please visithttps://itunes.apple.com/us/album/newtown-youre-not-alone/id592554266.  100% of all sales will benefit the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.  LIKE us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/NewtownTheSong

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About Jim Peterik

Peterik started performing in 1964 with some of his schoolmates in Berwyn, Illinois as The Ides of March. Their hits included “Vehicle,” “You Wouldn’t Listen,” and “L.A. Goodbye” in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1976, he released a solo album, Don’t Fight the Feeling, and toured with several of the era’s most popular bands, including Heart and Boston.

Peterik formed his most successful band, Survivor, in 1978. In 1982, Sylvester Stallone commissioned Survivor to write and perform the theme song for Rocky III. This song, “Eye of the Tiger,” became their defining single, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and going double platinum; it also won them a Grammy Award and an Oscar nomination for Peterik and Frankie Sullivan for Best Song. This was followed by their 1984 album Vital Signs, which featured the Top 10 hits “High on You” (No. 8) and “The Search Is Over” (No. 4), plus another sizable hit in “I Can’t Hold Back” (No. 13).

In 1985, Peterik co-wrote the theme to Rocky IV, “Burning Heart,” which was another big hit (No. 2 in early 1987) for Survivor; followed by “Is This Love” (No. 9).  Survivor disbanded in 1988, following their album Too Hot to Sleep.

Booking Information

Northbrook, Illinois-based talent booking agency, Churchill Productions, Ltd., represents Marc Scherer, as well as a variety of other artists including soulful Broadway performer Shoshana Bean, British Idol winner Keith Semple, and R. Kelly back-up singer Maurice Mahon. To book Marc or any other Churchill Productions’ talent, please visitwww.churchillproductionsltd.com or email founder Phyllis Klein atPKlein@ChurchillProductionsLtd.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Players

 

Marc Scherer

 

If you look up “overachiever” in the dictionary, you will see a picture of Marc Scherer. After touring Europe with the psychedelic rock group, Lovecraft, he put music on hold to pursue a passion for creating jewelry. Simply being competent, however, wasn’t nearly enough. His work adorns sports celebrities, movie stars and rock idols and is on permanent exhibit at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

But success didn’t satisfy the hunger that drove him onward. A lifelong martial artist, Scherer’s energy is both tranquil and intently focused. Like some ancient Asian parable, his journey brought him back to where he started – singing.

He provided vocals for the Gary Wells album, Pulling A Few Strings, which was produced by Shoes and covered by Material Issue.

As lead singer for Arc of Ages, Marc began recording at the Burr Ridge studios of Grammy Award-winning songwriter Jim Peterik. Jim was so taken with what he heard that he chose Marc to demo the tunes written for the latest Pride of Lions album, Immortal, to Frontiers Records. Scherer’s back-up singing on the album blends seamlessly with front man Toby Hitchcock’s voice.

One of the songs originally intended for that album, Change Everything, became Marc’s debut single on a compilation of melodic rock artists entitled MRCD9 “15 Years Later”, which is available from www.melodicrock.com.

Soon, Peterik was composing an album designed to showcase Marc’s talent, featuring guest performances by Shoshana Bean and Joe Jammer. This eagerly-awaited collection of songs promises to be the perfect vehicle for Marc’s 4-octave range – a voice of such astonishing clarity and strength that it is hard to believe he isn’t already a major star. Considering his track record for success, that shouldn’t take long.

 Jim Peterik

 

Peterik started performing in 1964 with some of his schoolmates in Berwyn, Illinois as The Ides of March. Their hits included “Vehicle,” “You Wouldn’t Listen,” and “L.A. Goodbye” in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1976, he released a solo album, Don’t Fight the Feeling, and toured with several of the era’s most popular bands, including Heart and Boston.

Peterik formed his most successful band, Survivor, in 1978. In 1982, Sylvester Stallone commissioned Survivor to write and perform the theme song for Rocky III. This song, “Eye of the Tiger,” became their defining single, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and going double platinum; it also won them a Grammy Award and an Oscar nomination for Peterik and Frankie Sullivan for Best Song. This was followed by their 1984 album Vital Signs, which featured the Top 10 hits “High on You” (No. 8) and “The Search Is Over” (No. 4), plus another sizable hit in “I Can’t Hold Back” (No. 13).

In 1985, Peterik co-wrote the theme to Rocky IV, “Burning Heart,” which was another big hit (No. 2 in early 1987) for Survivor; followed by “Is This Love” (No. 9).  Survivor disbanded in 1988, following their album Too Hot to Sleep.

Joe Jammer

Joe “Jammer” Wright has lived the quintessential rock ‘n roll dream. By the time he met Led Zeppelin in 1969, Joe had already been a roadie for acts like Jimi Hendrix and The Who. He struck up a friendship with Jimmy Page and was soon hired as a guitar tech for the group, eventually accompanying them to England. Joe was given his nickname by Page and Robert Plant, who, after hearing him play his guitar backstage one night, said, “Here comes Joe the Jammer”.

In addition to being the original guitarist for Supertramp and founding member of Nobody’s Business, Joe was studio guitarist for Stealers Wheel and has played with Donna Summer, Joe Cocker, Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger and Jerry Lee Lewis. His artistry can be heard on over 150 albums that have sold more than 10 million copies collectively. As a roadie and a musician, Jammer has toured the world and experienced some of the most iconic moments of rock history backstage, onstage and in the studio. When Hendrix thrust his guitar against the amp at The Monterey Pop Festival in June of ’67, Jammer was the guy standing in back, trying to keep it from falling over. His tales of life on the road with the biggest acts of the ’60′s and ’70′s are epic.

After spending twenty years touring in Canada, Joe now divides his time between Europe and his hometown, Chicago. He is an imposing figure of a man, who is fluent in 6 languages and proficient playing any style of music, from Blues to Rockabilly.

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Backstory

It is said that for every action in the universe, there is an equal but opposite reaction…

Like a stone in a pond, the impact of the Sandy Hook tragedy sent ripples through our psyche that reverberated across the globe and sparked a national debate about our violent culture.

For melodic rock legend Jim Peterik, the senseless shooting triggered alarm bells in his mind. Walking down the street shortly after the incident, the Grammy Award-winning songwriter was stopped in his tracks by a newspaper headline that read NEWTOWN: YOU’RE NOT ALONE. Ready to burst with emotion, he realized he had to do something – anything – to relieve the angst that tormented him. He decided then and there to respond in the style that he knew best, by writing a song. Rather than evoking a somber, sorrowful response, however, the experience elicited a creative primal scream.

And that epiphany was the moment of conception for Newtown (You’re Not Alone), a tribute that is available for download on iTunes, with all proceeds going to help the victims’ familieshttps://newtown.uwwesternct.org/.  Peterik sees the surprisingly punchy number as a wake-up call for our nation’s complacent attitude toward violence.

Peterik’s career spans five decades, from his early days with the Chicago-based Ides of March, when he co-wrote the hit Vehicle, to his current affiliation with Pride of Lions, Lifeforce and Jim Peterik’s World Stage. Along the way, he helped write two of the most iconic motion picture theme songs in history, Eye of the Tiger (from Rocky III) and Burning Heart (from Rocky IV), and collaborated with Cheap Trick, .38 Special, Lynyrd Skynyrd, REO Speedwagon, Sammy Hagar and The Beach Boys, to name a few. Jim is also the co-author of Songwriting for Dummies and enjoys mentoring new talent in a variety of genres.

One of Jim’s protégés is Marc Scherer, a singer whose astoundingly clear and powerful, 4-octave voice was the perfect instrument to breathe passion into the concept that was taking shape in the maestro’s head. When Scherer offered some ideas of his own, the two decided to co-write the song. Scherer is also front man for Arc of Ages, who record at Peterik’s Burr Ridge studios. One day, Jim stuck his head in the door to listen to tracks the group was laying down and the rest, as they say, is history. Peterik is now writing and producing an album to showcase Scherer’s talent.

One of Marc’s friends, guitarist Joe Jammer, happened to be in town on a rare visit from England, where he spends most of his time, touring. Jammer started life as a roadie for some of the biggest rock acts of the ’60′s and 70′s, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Led Zeppelin. A frustrated guitar player, Joe was jamming backstage one day when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant overheard him and were so taken with his style that they invited him to join the group at their mansion in London. Aside from his role as the original guitarist for Supertramp, Jammer has contributed to over 150 albums, working with Donna Summer, Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr, Jerry Lee Lewis and Joe Cocker. Scherer suggested that they enlist Jammer as guest guitarist for Newtown (You’re Not Alone), and the team was complete.

Ironically, although Joe and Jim are both Chicagoland natives, they had never found the right project on which to join forces – until Newtown. After decades of passing each other in the night, the stars had finally aligned in a way that brought everyone together for a common cause.

Newtown (You’re Not Alone) is the creative response of three artists united by tragedy and fate. It is a clarion call to exorcise the demons from our culture and save our children. Most of all, it is proof that for every act of evil – no matter how horrific – there is an equal but opposite reaction of humanity and compassion to serve as counterbalance in the universe.

To download Newtown (You’re Not Alone), please visithttps://itunes.apple.com/us/album/newtown-youre-not-alone/id592554266.  100% of all sales will benefit the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.
Find us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/NewtownTheSong

Lyrics

Newtown (You’re Not Alone)
By Jim Peterik and Marc Scherer

Words unspoken
Hearts and promises broken
Tributes – Flowers
Vigils – Countless Hours
The loss of our innocence
Hopes and dreams
The cold voice of violence
Softly screams

Chorus
Newtown – Our Town
Could have been just ‘bout any town
Lie low – Get down
Try and cover up your head
Newtown – Blue town
26 gone – Just look around
The nation mourns as one
And like the headline read
You’re not alone
You’re not alone
You’re not alone
you’re not alone

Childhood memories
Fallen like the new leaves
Precious – Fleeting
The sound of young hearts beating
Gone in a moment – We all feel the same
Wrapping our arms around
The sorrow and pain

Chorus
Newtown – Our Town
Could have been just ‘bout any town
Lie low – Get down
Try and cover up your head
Newtown – Blue town
26 gone – Just look around
The nation mourns as one
And like the headline read
You’re not alone
You’re not alone
You’re not alone
You’re not alone

 

      The Video

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