By Colin Berry
Any day now, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) will release Whispers of My Heart - his third album. The archconservative chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee has already released two CDs of original tunes that shill his right-leaning politics. Penned with composer Janice Kapp Perry, My God Is Love belts out inspirational tunes, Freedom's Light thrums patriotic songs, and the "Many Different Roads" single pays tribute to Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. (Elton John, beware.)
Though My God Is Love had sold 7,000 copies at press time, Hatch has had trouble scoring distribution. So he did what any media-savvy, direct-marketing songster-at-the-end-of-the-century would do: he appeared on the Home Shopping Network late last year to hawk his wares. Charlie Clendenin, sales manager for distribution giant BMG Entertainment, offered some words of encouragement for the struggling songster. "Some record companies are huge in the religious business," he says. "Sounds as if Hatch hasn't explored all the possibilities."
ELECTRIC WORD
Senator Songster
