Craig Jeffrey has been in the public eye for less than two years and in that
short time he has definitely packed it in., with only the release of his
debut single to date. (Hard To Say) was dedicated to his Grandparents whom
he lost to cancer, with all proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support.
This young man came into the public eye December 2006, through Rock Against
Racism a competition run by Emap radio. Craig had been entered by his dad
who hear about the event on Radio Borders and didn't tell him about it until
he had made it to the final public vote. That week was a long one and Craig
thought it was great to get into the final five. But when he got the email
to say that he'd won and he was opening for Narina Pallot and Paolo Nutini
at the Tate Hall Kelso he was ecstatic. It was the biggest gig of his life
and when he walked on stage in front of hundreds of music lovers he was more
than a little nervous. But starting the first song that soon went, the crowd
took to him straightaway responding to his quiet manner and boyish charm. He
sang Hard To Say for the first time in front of anyone even his family, and
dedicated it to the two people who would have love to be there but couldn't
his Grand Parents There wasn't a dry eye in the house. I think almost
everyone could relate to what this young man had put into this song and the
emotion behind it. This gig was recorded live and broadcast on the Scottish
Emap radio stations in the New Year. This gave Craig an even bigger boost
and he decided that he wanted to try and help Macmillan as they were a big
help to him and his family at two very difficult times in there lives.
Craig met Tommy Roseburgh who owns Big Sky Studios and was asked to sign a
one album deal with the label. He decided to do that and asked Tommy if he
did would he be willing to record and release Hard To Say along with Bella
and Finally Home on a three track single for Macmillan, Tommy had no
hesitation in saying yes, as like most people he had lost someone to cancer
as well. The single was released on the 14th of September 2007
and is still running to raise money for the charity. Craig's local Radio
station Radio Borders helped out immensely by playing the single on air and
for two weeks it was single of the week. Craig had appearances on Karen
Ingram's The Sunday Getherin, Gino Conti's Afternoon show, and Vanessa
Motion show. It has been played on Emmerdale three times and was run as an
article by ITV Border on their news programme Lookaround. BBC Radio Scotland
at that time had their Soundtown programme located in Kelso high school.
They asked the pupils who they would like to come to the school to play live
for them, when MacAulay & Co came to broadcast live they asked for Craig
Jeffrey. Fred has had Craig back on his show three time and it is possible
he could be going back on in October when his Debut album is released. Craig
was also asked by the BBC to play live from Kelso Square when Soundtown year
was up for pupils of Kelso. This was hosted by John Beattie and was a
massive success, John had a programme(John Beattie in the afternoon ) and
asked Craig up to Glasgow to play live on that as well.
He has also performed via a live link from Radio Borders to Northsound 2 in
Aberdeen that resulted in a spot for Craig on the bill at the Wizard
festival at New Deer near Peterhead, his name was up with people like The
Undertones, Sandi Thom, Macdonald Brothers and The Hayseed Dixie's. He was
also asked when he was up to play live on Waves FM and this year he is going
back to both the festival and Waves to play.
Other Radio Stations that let him play live on air or be interviewed are BBC
Radio Borders, Radio Reverb in Portsmouth, Insight Radio in Glasgow, Clyde
FM Clydebank Glasgow, Real Radio, Smooth Radio, Rock Radio, Sunny Govan all
in Glasgow, Forth FM, Leith FM in Edinburgh, Black Diamond in Newtongrange,
Kingdom FM Fife, Camglen FM in Cambuslang , Southwest Sound Dumfries and
Kilkenny FM in Ireland.
Craig's story has been covered by national and local press The Scottish
Music News, Subba-Cultcha (London), The Scottish Sun, The Mail, The Sunday
Mail, The Scottish Record, The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News, Southern
Reporter, Border Telegraph and a load of local papers nationally put his
story about the single for Macmillan in as letters to the Editor. DG&B Life
magazine also published a big article on Craig and the story behind him.
Scottish singer and songwriter, Craig Jeffrey,
launched his first single 'Hard to Say' on the 14th
September. Craig wrote the single in memory of his two
grandparents who he lost due to cancer. The proceeds of
the single will be directed to Macmillan Cancer Support
to help other people who have been affected by cancer.