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The singing telegram is back — and you can get in on the fun with some help from megaproducer Timbaland.
The Western Union Co. plans to launch a new site Thursday – www.wu-singingtelegram.com — so you can send messages of love, congratulations and “Happy Birthday” with a personalized song of your own or with some star power, all via email. Rather than Western Union employees or operators doing the performing, consumers will be able to sing themselves — think karaoke-style — or choose from professionals including Snoop Dogg, Timbaland, K’Naan and Sunidhi Chauhan.
“The singing telegram is a natural fit for us to help consumers around the world virtually connect with their family and friends, giving them the gift of music, their personal image and voice, to make their day better,” said Diane Scott, Western Union’s chief marketing officer and president of Western Union Ventures in a statement. Western Union will offer a certain number of telegrams for free until Dec. 31 and then charge in 2012. Scott said the fees were still being discussed.
To create a singing telegram, users will have to upload an image of their face, select a gender and then pick the artist and song. After reviewing the completed package, the user could then email the personalized duet to family and friends. Scott said the telegram could be sent without a money transfer.
The company first introduced singing telegrams to the world in July 1933. The first one was a birthday message sent from the Western Union office in New York City. The company shut down its singing telegram in 2006.“We’re bringing back something from our history,” Scott told ABC News today. “We’re bringing something old and making something retro almost new. It’s sending a piece of who you are [and] it transcends all cultures.”
The singing telegram is just once facet of the company’s newly relaunched “Moving Money for Better” brand, which focuses on creating “moments of better. ”
BACK
Lyrica Anderson is a Cali-bred singer/songwriter, who has penned songs for a large number of other artists, including
Jennifer Lopez, KeKe Palmer, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, and many more. She has also written a few songs on the movie soundtrack side like “The Princess and the Frog” “Hannah Montana” “Camp Rock” and Dancing with the stars.
Born and raised in Canyon Country California, Lyrica said that by the age of 12 she was already plotting a music career by writing songs. “Music has always been in my blood” my mom used to tour with Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross and Tina Turner doing back up vocals, I’d pretty much be lost without music”.
After her noted success as a talented song writer for major artist, she is now ready to take a run at the spotlight, with major support from her best friend actress Meagan Good, and her main source of inspiration which is her mother.
She caught the attention of Super Producer Timbaland and was eventually signed onto his Interscope/MMG label. She is featured on the song "Mentally," alongside Timbaland. Charting her own course, aside from many other songwriters turned artists, Lyrica is definitely on the industry’s radar as next to blow.
