''Call off the Search'' is the debut studio album by Georgian-British

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer

Katie Melua Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of comp ...

, released in 2003.

Recording and release

British songwriter, producer and arranger

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Having achieved substantial ...

signed Melua to his

Dramatico Dramatico is a record label founded by Mike Batt in 2000. Artists on the label include Mike Batt, Robert Meadmore, Sarah Blasko, Katie Melua, Leddra Chapman and Alistair Griffin. Dramatico has also established a publishing company in New York ...

recording and management label after she performed at a showcase at the Brit School for the Performing Arts in early 2003. Batt was looking for a young artist capable of "performing jazz and blues in an interesting way". Melua went into the studio soon after with Batt as the producer. She recorded songs written by Batt,

John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...

, Delores J. Silver, herself,

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early Americana (music), Americana-influenced songs (often ...

, and James Shelton. Melua wrote "Faraway Voice" about singer

Eva Cassidy Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first albu ...

. "Belfast (Penguins and Cats)" refers to Melua's upbringing in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

: "Penguins" referring to

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

and "Cats" to

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. ''Call off the Search'' was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on 3 November 2003. It became a hit, reaching number one on the UK album chart in January 2004 and the top twenty of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n album chart in June 2004. It spent 87 weeks in the ARIA Top 100, certified Platinum for shipments of 70,000+. First single " The Closest Thing to Crazy", written by Batt, reached the top five in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, top ten in the UK, top twenty in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, and top fifty in Australia. The second single from the album was the title track, "

Call Off the Search ''Call off the Search'' is the debut studio album by Georgian-British jazz and blues singer Katie Melua, released in 2003. Recording and release British songwriter, producer and arranger Mike Batt signed Melua to his Dramatico recording and ma ...

", which gave Melua her second UK top twenty hit. The third single, a cover of Mayall's "

Crawling up a Hill "Crawling Up a Hill" is the debut single by English blues rock band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, released in 1964. It was written by the band's founder and singer-songwriter John Mayall. A live version is included on the band's 1965 live alb ...

", was released on 18 July as the third single in the UK. In the UK the album sold 1.8 million copies within its first five months of release, making it six times

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

. It spent six weeks at the top of the UK chart.

Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, ''Call off the Search'' was the 5th best selling album of 2004 with 1,356,962 copies sold,Chartwatch Annual Chart Booklets->Year 2003
Retrieved August 4, 2010. and has sold over 1.9 million copies in the UK as of January 2013.

Track listing

The Japanese release has the extra track "

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

Personnel

*Katie Melua –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

–

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, conducting, arrangements,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Jim Cregan James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a r ...

– guitar *

Tim Harries Tim Harries (born 1959) is a British bass player, who has played with various folk rock and jazz bands in his career. Biography Harries studied music at the University of York, graduating in 1981 before going on to study double bass with Tom ...

– bass *The Irish Film Orchestra – orchestra *Michael Kruk –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Alan Smale – leader *

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his st ...

– guitar *

Henry Spinetti Enrico Antonio Giorgio Spinetti (born 31 March 1951) is a Welsh session drummer whose playing has featured on many prominent rock and pop albums. Career Spinetti was born in Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, Wales. His first band, aged about ...

– drums ;Technical *Steve Sale – engineering *Simon Fowler – photography *Michael Halsband – cover photo

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Katie Melua albums 2003 debut albums Albums produced by Mike Batt European Border Breakers Award-winning albums