Trusoundnewyork and Jimmy Cliff Get Happy for Volkswagen

When Volkswagen and Deutsch LA needed a soundtrack to buoy their upbeat entry into Super Bowl XLVII, they tapped the creative team at Trusoundnewyork to deliver a reggae-inflected rendition of the classic Partridge Family theme song, “C’mon Get Happy,” featuring the legendary Jimmy Cliff. The song appears in the VW Super Bowl Game Day Teaser and “Get Happy,” a deliriously cheery spot in Volkswagen’s ongoing “Get In, Get Happy” campaign. A long-form version of the song is also currently available in the iTunes store.

“Deutsch had reached out to a few labels in search of a reggae version of the Partridge Family theme,” recalled Trusoundnewyork founder Camus Celli. “We have great relationships with all the major labels through our other company, Vel Records, so we heard about the project and jumped at the opportunity.” The project couldn’t have come along at a more perfect time for the company, whose co-founder Paul Conte had recently spent time in Kingston, Jamaica composing the music and casting the band to record the Red Stripe Reggae Orchestra “Hooray Beer” multi-spot campaign.

Adding to the excitement was the news that reggae legend Jimmy Cliff had signed on to provide lead vocals for the project. To prepare, the team dug deep into Cliff’s repertoire, eventually recording demos in a variety of styles. “We recorded a classic ‘rock-steady’ version and a more organic acoustic version,” noted Trusoundnewyork’s Co-Founder Paul Conte. “The agency liked elements of both so we offered a few ideas about how we could integrate the two without overshadowing the distinctive personality of Jimmy’s voice.”

From there, the Trusoundnewyork team took to their recording studio in DUMBO Brooklyn to create the track that would accompany the final spot.  “Jimmy came to town after the initial sessions, and we spent a day in the studio working with him on vocals and tweaking the arrangement,” said Conte. “We obviously wanted his ‘stamp of approval’ on the track and he offered a lot of great ideas about the final production.”

Having collaborated with artists such as Nile Rodgers, Tina Turner, David Byrne, Gavin DeGraw, and worked alongside brands such as Nike, GM, Verizon and Visa, Trusoundnewyork offers more than 40 years of combined industry experience tempered by a sophisticated but open-minded approach. “Music for us has always been the key component in creating unique and memorable campaigns,” affirmed Conte. “The ability to make a emotional connection with Jimmy’s soulful interpretation of ‘C’mon Get Happy’ helps people to connect with the VW brand.”

Downloads:

Credits:

Client: Volkswagen
Spot Title: “Sunny Side”
Air Date: February 2013

Agency: Deutsch LA
Producer: Jeff Sweat

Music: Trusoundnewyork

About Trusoundnewyork:

Trusoundnewyork is a music and audio post production company specializing in composition, scoring, sound design and a fully customizable multi-genre based library for licensing for film, television, and web based projects.