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D'ARCY is London-based singer-songwriter Ashish Dharsi.Last year, a promotional copy of his demo CD found its way to Radio 2 DJ Janice Long. She played one of the tracks, Say So, which generated massive interest from listeners. A very rare personal request (especially for an unsigned artist) to play a live session on her show followed.
Since then D'ARCY has played live sessions for Adil Ray and Nikki Bedi on BBC Asian Network, supported ex-Sugababe, Mutya Buena, at the BT Digital Music Awards, and was selected to perform at the City Showcase in London.
After featuring in Asiana magazines "Ones To Watch", D'ARCY was nominated for Best Newcomer and Best Unsigned Artist in the Asian Music Awards. A cover version of Ash's "Girl From Mars" recorded for London radio station XFM found its way to actor James Nesbitt who personally phoned Ashish to say that he thought the cover was "f*cking brilliant!"
As music journalist Rahul Verma says: "It seems we might be witnessing the downside of creating and championing a sound and scene (British Asian music or Desi sounds) that is defined by ethnicity.""You can't be a successful pop star in today's day and age without concerted marketing and if all your marketing, radio and TV play is focused on an Asian market is it any surprise that non-Asians don't buy and aren't interested in your music?"
D'ARCY's debut single, Oxygen, recorded and produced by Rainmaker (Ash, Elton John, Roachford) through Stephen Budd Management was released on self-financed record label, Cheam Records.
D'ARCY has played at The Borderline, The Metro, The Marquee, The Bedford, The Troubadour, 12 Bar Club, GuilFest, and supported Jon Allen, Will Young and KT Tunstall.
D'ARCY's debut album will shortly be available to download on itunes. For an exclusive pre-release copy email [email protected].
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