DAVID McAlmont took more than a passing interest in the live televised Proms performance on Saturday night, celebrating 75 years of MGM musicals.
Among the movie classics reverberating around the Royal Albert Hall was Harold Arlen's Somewhere Over the Rainbow, from The Wizard of Oz, originally sung by Judy Garland.
Tomorrow night (Friday), David will be in Rustington, dipping into Arlen's songbook on the latest leg of a tour paying tribute to the composer who worked on a string of hit movies in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1950s, writing the music for numbers including Stormy Weather, Let's Fall in Love, Blues in the Night and One for My Baby.
The flashback to more than half a century ago might seem a strange direction for soul singer David, whose contemporary credentials include acclaim as one half of the pop duo Thieves, with Saul Freeman, and two years later, in 1994, more plaudits for his solo album McAlmont.
Soon afterwards, a collaboration with revered guitarist and producer Bernard Butler created a top 40 album, The Sound Of McAlmont And Butler, and the top 20 hits Yes and You Do.
But his willingness to embrace wider musical tastes saw David work with Grammy-winning, film composer David Arnold, re-recording Diamonds Are Forever for Arnold's popular 1997 release Shaken and Stirred.
The single was another top 40 smash and famously ruffled Dame Shirley Bassey's boa when some critics ventured that the new version rivalled the original.
The partnership continued with the co-writing of the song Surrender, nominated for an Ivor Novello Award, with Arnold and Don Black, performed by KD Lang for the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.
He has also worked with an array of other musicians including, Craig Armstrong, Jeff Goldblum on piano, Max Beesley on percussion and BJ Cole.
Rarely can Rustington have welcomed such a talented individual with such an eclectic outlook.
David McAlmont, accompanied on piano by Natasha Panas, appears at Coastal Coffee, Churchill Parade. Doors open 7.30pm. Telephone 01903 775755 for tickets.
-------------------------------------
Click here to go back to leisure and entertainments .Where are you? Add your pin to the Herald's international readers' map by clicking here.Email the Herald: letters@worthingherald.co.ukClick here for the Herald staff directory.Want to read this page in French, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Urdu or 48 other languages? click here for Google translate.