We are excited to introduce a new act, Francesca Young.
Performing soulful based piano and vocal interpretations of modern & classic songs perfect for drink receptions, wedding ceremonies or background music over a meal.
Francesca Young comes as a self contained act, providing all the equipment needed for her performance and is available for events all over the UK.
Please contact us for more information and prices. enquiries@mibmusicltd.com
We recently had the pleasure of performing for the National Graduate Recruitment Awards at the fabulous Grosvenor House Hotel in London. This was our second year performing for this event and it is always a fantastic evening.
The day began with the MIB musicians spending the afternoon rehearsing with guest host comedian Rob Brydon. This was obviously a LOT of fun as he is not only hilarious but incredibly talented aswell.
The evening kicked off with the MIB 12 piece performing a Jazz set in their white outfits as guests enjoyed welcome drinks on the balcony before being called for dinner.
After the dinner, the awards ceremony took place which was hosted by Rob Brydon who was joined by Louis Spence to hand out the awards. MIB performed for Rob’s entrance song ‘Cant Take My Eyes Off Of You’ as well as some preplanned ‘stings’ as the winners came up to accept their awards.
The guests were spoilt that night! With so much fantastic music going on, they were also wowed by the cast of Les Miserables performing a medley of songs from the musical.
After the awards ceremony MIB took to the stage to perform a party set which packed the dance floor and went on till the early hours of the next morning!
A fantastic event and we do hope to be involved next year!
Details for the next showcase will be launched very soon…..watch this space.
Most bands offer a music service for when they are not on stage. We offer the Ultimate Playlist which is a FREE option where you can pick and choose the music in advance. We then have our DJ pre mix your choices to be played off an Ipod on the night. This is a great option as it saves DJ costs however some clients prefer to have the choice on the night to make requests in which case a DJ is needed.
Those with a larger budget could book a different act to play inbetween the main bands set. For example we offer a Buddha Bar Sax set, where our Saxophonist freestyles over Ibiza Style tunes. The idea of having another act works really well but a lot of thought needs to be given to the logistics of the change over between bands as well as the styles of music complimenting each other.
Band Name: Undercover Superstars
Describe what you do in less than 10 words: Undercover singing act (waiters, guests, firemen) booked to surprise and entertain. (That was almost 10!)
Top tune you like to perform: ‘Dont Stop Me Now’ always works well as the begining is slow and often we do that bit from out of site so therefore the guests are thinking ‘where is this voice coming from!?’ then we burst out into view as the song gets going and as it’s a really high impact song, it gets everyone buzzing!
Favourite gig ever: There are so many amazing stories with this act. Because every gig we do involves a different scenario, we have out set scenarios but every event is different so it always involves a little thought. One gig I will be a waitress, the next I’ll be an Army Office! It’s so exciting! My favourite gig however would be one we did many years ago down in Torquay. I think this was actually one of our first events and it was just amazing to see the reaction from people. We had a waitress and a waiter who broke out into an argument half way through service, then after the waitress had stormed off our lovely waiter Tommy decided to make it up to the crowd by singing them a song. The show unfolded from there and we literally had people dancing on the tables. It was madness!
Best piece of advice you can think to give someone planning an event and booking an undercover act: Just to let your imagination run wild! There are so many possibilities of songs and scenarios, think outside the box and make your event different. We can help tailor make the scenario to your event but just give us as much information as you can on the timings/ the types of people at the event / what music you like or think would work well. It is so much fun to plan these gigs!
Tell us one performance you are looking forward to right now: It’s hard to talk about the events in advance as often we are the surprise element, so I don’t want to spoil any surprises by mentioning them however! We have a fantastic Wedding coming up where the Bride & Groom have really thought about the event and created something fantastic with us.
We are often asked about suggestions for 1st Dance ideas and today are concentrating on Motown themed first dances for a Motown Supreme client. Here’s a few we have come up with….
I’ll Be There – Jackson 5
My Girl – The Temptations
Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
For Once In My Life – Stevie Wonder
Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye
Let’s Stay Together – Al Green
Tired Of Being Alone – Al Green
We performed this once for a wedding and lyrically it’s a strange choice however first dances are not always about what the lyrics say, more often than not it’s about the connection the couple has with the song.
Reach Out I’ll Be There – Four Tops
It Takes Two – Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston
Happy International Womens Day!
To celebrate we have put together just a few of our favourite Women in Music:
Beyonce – such a powerful woman who is insanely talented!
Tina Turner – a true entertainer and again, an extremely powerful woman
Chaka Kahn – we get a lot of requests for this tune, and it always gets people dancing!
The late Amy Winehouse – we still get a LOT of requests for this song.
Getting in to the theme of the recent Oscars, our song of the week is ‘Skyfall’ by Adele.
Band Name: Motown Supreme
Describe what you do in less than 10 words: Motown Tribute act, performing at parties & events worldwide : )
Top Tunes you like to play: ‘Hit The Road Jack’ and ‘Can I Get A Witness’ are very much favourites however the Jackson 5 numbers always go down really well. We have recently added a few modern, Motown-esque songs into the set which also work really well along with the oldies. Things like Rolling In The Deep, Rehab…they always get people singing along!
Favourite Gig Ever: There are so many amazing events we play at, it’s extremely hard to choose. There are quite a few bookings where we have been booked back the following year, Trentham Gardens for example. That’s always a fantastic event! It is set in an open air theatre amongst the Trentham Gardens and the crowd are always up for a boogie! We always really enjoy that one, and it is really nice going back to an event year after year.
Best piece of advice you can think of to someone planning an event and booking a band: I think ‘know what you are booking’ is pretty important. It sounds obvious but some people for example book a ‘funk’ band and not realise how obscure funk can be! We are a Motown band, so we specialise in Motown music however we do add in a few modern numbers, but we predominantly are a Motown Tribute band.
Tell us one performance you’re looking forward to right now: We are looking forward to the Spring wedding season as we do love performing at weddings! There is so much love in the room and that really electrifies the audience!
Motown Supreme are available as either the full 7 piece live band line up or the trio of female singers performing with backing tracks. The trio works well for smaller events with space or budget restrictions.
We are reminiscing about some of the wonderful events we have been involved in..take a look at a couple of the Undercover Superstar events..
A couple of years ago in December, our Undercover Superstars Rachael & Damien surprised a Natwest Lunch at Althorp House. Rachael had been working Undercover at the lunch as an events supervisor when all of a sudden a lost German walker came wandering into the room. All the guests were sat down enjoying their after dinner coffees in such a beautiful room, when in walks a man in muddy walking boots and a wooley hat! ‘Excuse me’ he announced in his strong German accent, ‘I am trying to find the Diana Memorial’. When Rachael explained that he was interupting a Natwest Lunch he burst into a rage complaining about how he couldn’t get a mortgage. The guests obviously found him quite humorous and one lady shouted out ‘Step into my office’ as she pointed towards her knee for him to sit on. After a lot of comotion, Rachael ushered him out the room and apologised for the disruption. Then suddenly out of no-where came a voice…’Toniiiight, I’m gonna have myself…a real good time’ and out bursts our German wonderer singing ‘Dont Stop Me Now’ as he runs around the room, pulling people off their chairs and dancing with them. After a lot of applause from the crowd, with Damien milking it with several bows, no one seemed to notice there was another song starting and then suddenly, Rachael burst through the door singing ‘Im So Excited’ by the Pointer Sisters. Everyone stayed on their feet and joined in dancing and singing, some even made it onto the tables! The guests were all so shocked that the event planner had now transformed into a dynamic performer and was now racing round the room belting out a disco track!
After Rachael had sung her song, both the singers announced they were actually the ‘Undercover Superstars’. The crowd joined in and sang along to a finale song of ‘Aint No Mountain High Enough’ and then were left to go back to their coffees. What an entertaining Tuesday afternoon lunch!
The above picture was taken at a recent wedding where we had the Chef, the Event Planner and the Waitress scenario.
At another event we hid three undercover superstars at a Military event, dressed as Military Police! Half way through the meal, three of our artistes interrupted the meal and announced that three people had illegally parked their vehicles (which just so happens to be a HUGE no-no in the military, and they just so happened to be the three top MPs there). The whole audience looked shocked that these three very important people had not parked in the appropriate place, and there was an embarrassed hush as they all got up to leave the room.
Before they made it to the door, all of a sudden, one of our undercover ‘officers’ whipped her beret off, shook her beautiful long blonde hair down her shoulders, and began to sing ‘Santa Baby’ (it was Christmas time)… the whole room went crazy as they realised she wasn’t actually an officer at all! The other two undercover ‘officers’ then burst into song, and before they all knew it everyone was on their feet partying away with our Undercover Superstars!
The great thing about the Undercover Superstars concept is that we can tailor make it to suit your event and ideas. We have our scenario templates we can use however every event is different and needs to be addressed individually. The same applies to song choices, whilst we have our standard ones that we offer, we can be very flexible with this. Often we are asked to learn a companies theme song which as you can imagine, goes down very well at their corporate parties.
Take a look at the website and please do contact us, even if just to brainstorm ideas on whether the Undercover Superstars are right for your event.
