ORIGINAL LINER NOTES for "On Another Note" ~~~ "My friend, and an enormous talent as an actor... Look out, showbiz. Here comes Nicolas King!" - Liza Minnelli ~ "Nicolas King is always surprising me and exceeding my expectations – and, since my expectations of him are always so consistently high, that in itself is a surprise. I’ve been listening to him for so long - roughly 15 years - that I’m always surprised at how young he is. Not just because he started so young, but even when I was first hearing him – I’m guessing in his early teens – he didn’t seem like a child performer or a prodigy (whatever that may mean) but a nearly-fully-formed adult personality with adult-level talent even at that early age. Since then, he’s consistently improved – and where he started from was pretty amazing to begin with. I most often hear Nicolas at all-star shows and I can tell that from the perspective of both a producer and a member of the audience, he’s a dream for us, but he must be a nightmare for the other performers. Whenever he’s on a show, one thing that isn’t surprising is that he’ll always be the act that gets the most applause, the one you remember – thus producers love him but the other artists have to resign themselves to the sad truth that the best they can hope for will be second place. From a very tender age, Nicolas was able to modulate his energy just to the specifically perfect dynamic, to ratchet your attention and hold it – to take you through the narrative of a song like a journey. Like most younger artists, his specialty up to now was always the high energy numbers, the loud and the fast – no one could compete with him in those departments. But the surprise is that the intimate side of his music, the ballads, the love songs, the slow and the quiet – is quickly gaining traction. This album features young Nicolas at his most warm and intimate, singing love songs bereft of the expected vocal fireworks and acrobatics. And the surprise is that he’s really good at it. Like I say, that’s a surprise because this is usually the last aspect of a male musician’s or singer’s art to develop. Tony Bennett loves to tell the story of how he came in second to his friend Rosemary Clooney on a talent competition circa 1948, and he generously admits that the judgement was correct; Rosemary was by far the better singer, he says, for this very reason. Allan Harris has said the same thing, that male singers usually can’t get in touch with their inner feelings and credibly sing a love song until they’re well past 30 at least. The collage of “Change Partners” and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” is especially impressive. These are two classic songs composed by Irving Berlin for Fred Astaire, and though always romantic, were written to be in dance tempo. Nicolas’s vocal is danceable but in the most romantic way possible, not a flash dance or a tap dance, but a slow and intimate dance between two lovers. I’m also especially moved by “Will She Like Me” (more familiarly known as “Will He Like Me” from She Loves Me; Nicolas has expanded its purview on multiple levels, it now not only sounds appropriate for a male singer, but for a 21st century era of digital dating. The piano tag at the end of the Berlin / Astaire / dance medley – which alludes knowingly to the Sinatra-Jobim “Change Partners” – underscores that Nicolas has a not-so-secret weapon. This is the amazing musical director, pianist and mentor Mike Renzi – I’ve been paying close attention to him since those days when he divided his time between Mel Torme, Peggy Lee, and Lena Horne – and lately the number one “client” on his list is none other than Mr. Bennett himself. I won’t reveal Mike’s age, but I find it comforting that he has found a living and breathing repository for all he’s learned in his long career about the great songs and how they should be sung." - Will Friedwald (Will Friedwald writes about music and popular culture for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL & VANITY FAIR and is also is the author of eight books including the award-winning A BIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO THE GREAT JAZZ AND POP SINGERS & SINATRA: THE SONG IS YOU.) ~~~ Nicolas King has been performing professionally since he was 4 years old — in Broadway productions of' Beauty & The Beast', 'A Thousand Clowns' with Tom Selleck, and Carol Burnett's 'Hollywood Arms' directed by Hal Prince — before the age of 12. He has also appeared in many national TV commercials and talk shows such as "The View,” "The Today Show,” and twice on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. He also traveled the world with his mentor Liza Minnelli as her opening act from 2002-2012. He has performed alongside artists as Liza Minnelli, Jennifer Holliday, Debby Boone, Tony Danza, Jack Jones, to name a few. He is the winner of the 2012 Bistro Award, 2015 AMG Heritage Award, 2010 Julie Wilson Award and 1996 Talent America Award. This is King's third album. Mike Renzi has won 7 Emmy Awards for his musical work on programs as 'Sesame Street', 'All My Children', and 'Guiding Light'. He has served as musical director for Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne and Peggy Lee. He has worked with many icons in the industry as Lady Gaga, Sammy Davis Jr., Sylvia Syms, Liza Minnelli, Diana Krall, Bette Midler, Blossom Dearie, Maureen McGovern, among many others.