“Why does it only have drums and vocals?”: Watch Karol G keyboard player Jemma Heigis trying to figure out the chords for Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power Of Love, a song she’s never heard before
Yep, that’s right: she’s never seen Back To The Future
Remarkably, there are still some people out there who’ve never seen Back To The Future, and have never heard Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power Of Love, the movie’s iconic theme song.
It turns out that one of them is Jemma Heigis, currently keyboard player for Karol G, so Pianote did its usual thing of giving her the vocals and drums and asking her to fill in the blanks.
It was certainly a tough assignment - the key change in the middle 8 proved particularly challenging - but Heigis does a pretty good job of re-harmonising, even getting fairly close to the original in some areas.
There’s a spicy Moog synth solo to enjoy, too, though it’d probably raise a few eyebrows at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance.
“Usually when I hear a song I’m good at playing by ear, but you guys gave me no chords so that was pretty difficult,” says Heigis after she’s heard Huey and co’s original song. “I just didn’t want to put all these ridiculous chords over it so it felt a little bit ‘oh my God, what am I doing?’ but we got through it.”
She certainly did, and Heigis also has the good fortune of being able to go away and watch Back To The Future for the very first time, which we’re actually quite jealous about.
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I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.
“I did a demo. I had Sheila E playing on it and Michael sang on it. I played it for Quincy and he said, ‘No.’”: Greg Phillinganes on the Michael Jackson song arrangement that Quincy Jones rejected because it wasn't "sexy" enough
“I was going to buy a Minimoog because Keith Emerson had one. I was in the store and I was trying it out and I hear a voice behind me say ‘you don’t want that’”: Why Foreigner’s Al Greenwood said no to the Minimoog and bought a little-known synth instead