For Roger Whittaker, it's time to celebrate.
"Celebration" is the latest Whittaker release, and there is a story behind the title."I've been singing for 30 years and felt my 30th anniversary would make a good hook for the album," Whittaker told the Deseret News in a telephone interview. To make it a little more special, Whittaker put 15 songs on the CD version.
And to add to the celebration, Whittaker decided the album would consist entirely of his own works - well, almost.
"I did have a collaborator on one song, but everything else is mine," Whittaker said. "It's nice to do your own things. Each of us looks at life in our own way and we write about things in our own way. It was fun getting my own tunes, my own product down on tape."
Whittaker's deep, mellow voice will be filling the air at Snowbird on Friday, July 2, and the tunes from the new album will be a big part of the new show.
While Whittaker hopes the new album will be successful, he is also pragmatic.
"It's not always easy to let adults know you have a new album on the market," Whittaker said. "But you really have little say about how the album is going to be marketed. The people at the record company make those decisions, and when you consider that kids do most of the record buying. . . you realize which records are going to get the marketing."
Whittaker, whose last major American hit was "The Last Farewell" in the late 1970s, admits it's tough competing for air time given the diversification that has hit music in recent years. "There's so many different music types - hip hop, rap, grunge, heavy metal - it's just amazing."
But the ever-optimistic Whittaker says things are looking up. He said there has been a big resurgence in the popularity of adult music in Europe, and he believes the United States will likely follow suit. He hopes his new American tour, which opened Wednesday, will help. Whittaker tours the United States every 18 to 24 months. That, along with his innovative decision a few years ago to use television to mass market retrospective albums, has helped keep the Kenya-born singer's name in the public consciousness.
Whittaker, who has lived in England since the mid-60s, plans to return to his Kenyan roots for his next musical adventure.
"When we finish this tour I hope to begin recording an album using the African rhythms and mouth-sounds that I grew up with in Kenya," Whittaker said. Whittaker said he hopes to include a booklet (which will probably be written by his wife Natalie, an accomplished writer) that will tell the stories behind each title.
Whittaker is also busy developing a soundtrack for a new movie that will be filmed in Kenya. It will be his first return trip to Kenya since his father was murdered and his mother tortured there in 1989.
"We did our first movie there in 1982 and I loved it," Whittaker said. "We've had this new one ready to go for some time, but it's just been too dangerous to begin filming."
Whittaker said he has enjoyed his 30-year music career and hopes to continue sharing his musical talents for many years to come.
Whittaker fans share that hope.