From the left: Jon Lord, vocalists Nathalie Lorichs and Steve Balsamo, conductor Torodd Wigum, and backing singers Karina Hanssen and Nina Brovoll.
From the left: Jon Lord, vocalists Nathalie Lorichs and Steve Balsamo, conductor Torodd Wigum, and backing singers Karina Hanssen and Nina Brovoll.
The song “The Sun Will Shine Again” was originally released on Jon Lord’s “Beyond the Notes” album from 2004. A melodic, simple ballad with an uplifting tune. On the album, the song was sung by Frida from ABBA. There is a story behind it.
I’ll tell it through the words of Christer Lorichs, father of vocalist Nathalie Lorichs, who handled the lead vocals for this concert.
“Knut Morten Johansen knew Nathalie was very familiar with the material. Asking Jon about using Nathalie as singer, Jon swiftly replied “Excellent!”. As Nathalie sung backing vocals on Jon’s concert in the Nidaros Cathedral in 2007, Jon was well aware of her voice.
One question Jon had for Nathalie during preparations for the show was regarding “The Sun Will Shine Again”. Would she prefer doing the original Frida-version, or the current version in a key suitable for Kasia Laska? Nathalie said she probably couldn’t sing in a key as low as Fridas. “Well, no one can”, Jon said with a smile. So the higher key it was.
On the first day in Trondheim, Wednesday before the show, there was a meeting with media and the first meeting with the band. Jon immediately took Nathalie aside from the rest, held her arm, looking very serious, saying: “Nathalie, I want to dedicate “The Sun Will Shine Again” to Ronnie. It is a song I wrote for Frida when her husband died. Do you think you can hold it together?”. “I hope so” Nathalie answered. “Perfect” smiled Jon.”
View the song as performed during the concert.
“Ronnie” was of course the legendary rock vocalist Ronnie James Dio, known from Rainbow, Elf, Black Sabbath, and his own band Dio. Ronnie lost his battle with cancer just a week prior to this concert.
Here’s a performance of the song with Jon and Frida from German television.
https://youtu.be/TydCFLkGr0Q
And it only seems to fitting to add this cut:
Ronnie James Dio singing the beautiful songs “Sitting in a Dream” and “Love is All” from Roger Glover’s “Butterfly’s Ball” with Deep Purple and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in 1999, for the 30th anniversary for Jon’s “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”:
https://youtu.be/lxaCl7Ce95M
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