Maltese singer lands US record contract

Maltese Country and Western singer Marty Rivers has signed a two-year recording contract with an American record company, Western Star Records, The Sunday Times has learned.

Western Star Records, based in Clanton, Alabama, have undertaken to publish two of his songs every three months and have already issued the first compilation with his tracks Made in Mexico and Sweet Country Music.

St Paul's Bay-based Marty Rivers, 34, appears to be making a big impact. Even though the compilation contains ten other tracks, he is already the most played artist on the album. And the songs have enabled him to hit the 94 spot in the Worldwide Mainstream Most Played Major and Indie Artists chart for the period February 1-15, compiled by Gary Bradshaw in Phoenix, Arizona.

Marty, whose real name is Martin De Carlo, is a relative newcomer to the genre, having first been more attracted to pop. He started playing the piano at 13 and composes the music of his songs.

The lyrics are by Joe Spiteri, who returned to Malta in the mid-Nineties after working for 28 years in Australia. The two were introduced at the Salad Bowl by Joseph Cutajar and have worked together since, first in pop but, on Joe's insistence, for the past seven years, in Country music.

As Marty observed, "pop music dates very quickly, while country and western, like a good wine, improves with age". The second track on the compilation is in fact taken from a CD, called Marty Rivers, issued in 1998, which was the first original Country album recorded in Malta.

The major impetus for Marty's contract came when he visited Nashville last May and took part in a Memorial Day Festival organised by Goodwill Ambassador Charlie Ray.

"The reaction was incredible," Joe recalled. He immediately received several record contract offers and was asked to perform at peak time on the first day of the festival. Marty said: "I felt like a gladiator going to Rome. Nashville was the last place I though I would be accepted. Certainly, they have no shortage of choice for singers."

Marty's voice and style have attracted the attention of others in the business. When Pat Boone was sent a copy of the Marty Rivers CD, he wrote back to Joe telling him: "It is truly an amazing achievement," and adding that it is "a realistic Country album". Even songwriter Don Chappell told him he would write songs for him any time.

Marty and Joe are working on their next compositions and on increasing Marty's exposure, even in Europe. They look forward to taking part in shows both in Europe and the US organised by Western Star Record and may even consider issuing songs on the compilations as singles in their own right.