JUICE NEWTON JOINS WILLIE NELSON, GLEN CAMPBELL, FRANKIE VALLI, OTHER GREATS FOR DUETS: FRIENDS & MEMORIES

AWARD-WINNING ARTIST TAKES ON POP CLASSICS

New Collection, Featuring Fresh Renditions of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Take It to the Limit,” More, Adds Celebratory Note to Extraordinary Career

First single, “Funny How Time Slips Away” with Willie Nelson is out now

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 15, 2010) — Grammy, CMA and Billboard award-winning artist Juice Newton, whose landmark career includes multiple platinum and gold albums, ten million records sold and 15 Top 10 hits, has joined forces with some of her favorite fellow singers to record soulful new takes on a suite of beloved pop songs.

Duets: Friends & Memories (Fuel 2000) finds Newton sharing the microphone with Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Frankie Valli, Randy Meisner, Melissa Manchester, Gary Morris and the late Dan Seals. “For me, it was like making three records,” she says.  “These singers are so wonderful and unique – I really wanted to be on my game.  I lived with my headphones on, studying the songs and preparing my interpretations.”

Despite the challenges, Newton and her gifted collaborators deliver solid, deeply felt versions of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (which she sings with Manchester), “Still the One,” “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” (both with Morris), “Up Where We Belong,” “Without You” (both with Campbell),  “These Dreams” (with Seals), “The Biggest Part of Me” (with Valli), “Take It to the Limit” (with Meisner, the song’s author) and two songs by and with Nelson, “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “Touch Me.”

Some of the memories evoked by the album’s title are bittersweet, notably the passing of Seals. “That was so sad,” she says of his departure. “He was really a cool singer, and just a big presence in the room.”  Newton’s longtime collaborator, Otha Young, meanwhile, died in 2009.

The new Jersey-born, Virginia-bred singer moved to L.A. when her country-infused band, Silver Spur (featuring Young), was signed in the mid-’70s.  But it was with 1981’s Juice that the singer exploded into the mainstream, thanks to hits “Angel of the Morning,” “Queen of Hearts” and #1 country smash “The Sweetest Thing (I’ve Ever Known).”  Juice went platinum and she earned two Grammy nominations for Best Female Vocalist.

More hits followed, notably “Love’s Been a Little Bit Hard on Me” (which scored Newton another Best Pop Female Vocalist Grammy nomination) and “Break It to Me Gently,” which landed her a Grammy statuette for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.  She subsequently landed a Country Music Award for Best New Female Artist and back-to-back Billboard Female Album Artist of the Year honors, and was named Australian Music Media’s #1 International Country Artist.

Newton is preparing to hit the road in support of Duets later this year; dates will be announced shortly.