Check out the Official Music Video for ‘The Prayer’ by John Paciga and Charlotte MacMurray
By now, if youβre in New Jersey or anywhere near it, and if youβve got a propensity for catchy, sharply-written piano pop, you surely already know John Paciga. Other Side Of Town, his recent debut album, startled with its freshness and its ambition: here was a set that sought to establish Paciga as an heir to the tradition of Elton John and Billy Joel. There was plenty of Broadway grandeur in his playing and writing, too, along with the compassion and abandon associated with newer, punk-influenced piano pop-rockers like Andrew McMahon and Ian Axel of A Great Big World. Yet the most astonishing thing about Other Side Of Town may have been John Pacigaβs age. He was only 17 when he made it β still a high school student, in other words β and as of this writing, he still hasnβt graduated (heβs due to don the cap and gown in a week).
For his latest single, heβs joined forces β and voices β with another prodigiously talented teenager. Singer Charlotte MacMurray has already been the focus of local attention: sheβs been the subject of feature stories in the Morris Daily Record and Morristown Green. Weβre sure youβll agree that her voice is bound to carry her far beyond regional notoriety. Itβs a voice meant for the stage β one designed to provoke the same powerful emotional response in the back seats of the theater as it does for the people up front. Much like Paciga, she radiates commitment: to the theater, to the song sheβs performing, to music itself. Theyβd be natural collaborators even if they werenβt fellow performers in the Delbarton Abbey Players theater company in Morristown, New Jersey.
Theyβve chosen a song that plays directly to their strengths as interpretive performers β βThe Prayerβ, a showstopping ballad by David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1999. In its best-known version, βThe Prayerβ was recorded as a duet by pop-opera singer Andrea Bocelli and international superstar Celine Dion. Dion, Bocelli, Sager, Foster: these are gigantic names in entertainment, and itβs a testament to the confidence of these two teenagers that theyβre eager to play at this level. Thereβs no sign of intimidation at all in their version. Instead, they own the material completely, and Paciga, whose piano playing is typically flawless, even sings Bocelliβs verse in Italian. And it wouldnβt have been appropriate to shoot the video for this performance anywhere other than the Delbarton auditorium β a place where theyβve both excelled, but which wonβt confine their mammoth talents much longer.
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