Australian Guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, CGP is Featured on the Track 'MUCH TOO SOON' on the new Album From Michael Jackson

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Dec 16, 2010, 10:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Australian guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel, CGP is one of a small number of acclaimed musicians whose talents have been tapped to complete the unfinished recordings on Michael Jackson's posthumous record, MICHAEL, which was released December 14. Emmanuel was asked to contribute a solo to the album's closing track "Much Too Soon" which Jackson originally wrote in 1981 – during the Thriller era –but never released.

Emmanuel almost didn't believe his ears when asked if he would participate in the project: "I had a rather pleasant surprise when my manager called me to say they wanted me to play on a track with Michael Jackson. I thought to myself 'I'll believe it when I'm actually doing it.' Sure enough they called me in England and asked if I could record my acoustic guitar for one of Michael's previously recorded vocal tracks. We agreed on recording my part in a studio in London, and the next day I went in and recorded my part, with the producers listening to playbacks over the phone. It was a moving and powerful feeling to be playing with one of my heroes and who I consider the greatest entertainer of all time."

"Playing on a Michael Jackson track was my 'mountaintop experience,'" said Emmanuel who was recommended for the project by his friend, the Grammy-winning bluesman Keb' Mo'. "I think the track, "Much Too Soon," came up beautifully and I'm thrilled that they used my solo, which I shared with the harmonica. Michael's vocal is timeless and full of emotion. I'm grateful for this honor and the chance to be part of history."

Emmanuel is set to release his all new 2-disc album LITTLE BY LITTLE on February 15, 2011 on the Favored Nations imprint. On Feb. 3, he kicks off a string of U.S. tour dates beginning with three days of TommyFest – a concert series dedicated to the promotion of great acoustic guitar music – in Elizabethtown, KY before moving to shows on both the West and East Coasts.

http://tommyemmanuel.com/

SOURCE Tommy Emmanuel