Marc Almond: Royal Birthday Plans & The Velvet Trail

Marc Almond has revealed his 60th birthday plans of a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Almond releases his new album The Velvet Trail on March 9, but has already begun plans to see in his 60th birthday on July 9, 2017.
He told us: “I want turning 60 to be a great celebration. I’ve already provisionally booked The Royal Albert Hall to play a concert that night.”

There are also plans for a wealth of reissues to coincide with Almond’s landmark birthday, including a Soft Cell box-set, a career-spanning singles compilation and an anthology of Almond’s own favourite songs. He said: “I’m fighting to get some of the rights back to some of my old singles, and that’s slowly going my way. I want to be able to say ‘This is what I’ve done over the past 40 years.’”
He added: “So much of my work has been missed out over the years. I’d love to do an anthology of my personal favourite tracks, as I’ve worked hard to make a good varied body of work. As for Soft Cell, I’d love to do a box-set. I’ve got loads of live concerts from our early days that no-one has heard, even if some of it’s on not-great-quality cassettes.”

Almond’s new single Scar is the first taste of The Velvet Trail, which was made with Lana Del Rey/Rihanna producer Chris Braide, a lifelong Almond fan.
Almond said: “Scar is a big, polished ballad, the type of song I don’t often get to do. I was flattered and honoured that Chris sent me such great songs to write lyrics for and sing. He deliberately picked bits from throughout my career so that it sounds like a Best Of. With me feeling nostalgic, planning the birthday celebrations, I was ready to embrace that.”

Almond goes on a 12-date tour, ending on May 1 at London Shepherds Bush Empire.