Craig Stephens - Editorial

Editorial: Paris Session Vocalist - Publication: Entertainment Weekly Back to Editorials

Fuelled by rumors by a range of outlets; from tmz.com, to radar online and even The Howard Stern radio Show Paris Hilton's vocal efforts on her debut have been hailed as a hoax, with the lead vocal tracks reportedly the work of another session vocalist namely Carah Faye Charnow, lead vocalist with LA band Shiny Toy Guns.

Yet, an exclusive interview conducted by (reporter Cs/ EW) with Carah dispels the rumors and reveal that Paris is in fact the rightful owner of the Cd's vocal efforts. “ Basically the rumors are false,” says 22 year old Charnow.

“ I was singing dummy (session) vocals on some tracks for a producer called Spooky Rubin. These are tacks that writers try to sell to bigger names, but they use a vocalist to give the prospective buyer a better idea of what they will sound like. On of my tracks was targeted at Avril Lavine and the other at Paris Hilton. To my knowledge neither of them sold.”

This is how the whole rumor process started,” says Charnow, who has been singing professionally since th age of 6.” Ironically, neither of the dummy tacks were picked up by either artist.” Charnow says she has listened to Paris' album and believes there is no similarity to her vocals whatsoever.”

“As Paris album is a pop album, the vocals are very prominent , it is lyric based, but still I don't see any strong resemblance.” Asked about the more obscure rumors, Cara is amazed, “ There were rumors that I was paid a huge amount of money, that I left Shiny Toy Guns, all of them false.”

Charnow says she has never met Hilton, but takes the whol rumor process as a compliment. “I have never met Paris but it is awesome in a way, she is so popular.” Asked if she would seize the moment in order to garner publicity for her band, Carah says she is more into having her own music representative of her abilities, “ It gets to the point that you just switch off,” she says.

Online blogdigg.com typified the Paris session vocal rumors, when it featured th following info in July this year. According to the site, Paris hired Charnow in January, after hearing the band's disco synth styled single “Le Disko,” one reminiscent of 80's outfits Blondie and New Order.

Thesite attributed the following quotes to another singer who apparently used the sam recording studio as Paris-- “I was using a recording studio down the hall from the band,” the source claimed, “and watched and heard everything happen throughout January and February. Paris does some singing, though it is aided with major effects, including a pitch shift corrector, and other studio equipment to help her voice blend into that of session singer Carah Faye Charnow.”

“Paris Hilton is a lying tart, with no real musical talent,” the insider adds. “She bought her way into the music world, and didn't even have the integrity to let people know that she isn't doing most of the singing on the her music - it's someone else's voice that she laid her voice into, and who's vocal styling's she copied and used outright in her tracks.”

“Check out a son called - Sky Fell Over Me from Shiny Toy Guns, and the end part of a song called Le Disko and any other songs by this band where the female vocal parts are more mellow, this is the vocal style Paris wanted,” the source claimed.

Shiny Toy Guns, a Los Angeles Goth-electronic-rock quartet is co-fronted by Carah Faye Charnow and guitarist Gregori Chad Petree. The band attracted over 400,000 hits on its MySpace page.

Meanwhile, "Stars Are Blind," the debut single from heiress, actress, and newly minted pop star Paris Hilton, is burning up on radio and on MTV.com. The reggae-tinged track was released in Europe on June 2nd and leaked that day by Ryan Seacrest during his morning show on Los Angeles radio station KIIS FM.

Within minutes, Stars Are Blind began to pop up on stations across the U.S., leading Warner Bros. Records to make the song available to radio for digital delivery ahead of schedule on June 5th. It is now in rotation at 50 stations across the country and is already a Top 5 request at Z100/NY and KISS/Los Angeles, in less than a week.

Written by Craig Stephens

Back to Editorials