NOW you're gone, I realise my love for you was strong . . ." As catchy, high-energy hits go, few boast as instant a hook as Basshunter's Now You're Gone.
Every radio, computer and i-Pod is currently blasting out this track, which is guaranteed to be the year's holiday smash, played everywhere from Ibiza to Portobello.
Tonight, however, Edinburgh's teenagers can experience a little bit of that summe
r atmosphere early when Sebastian Westwood, the man whose vocals have made the track such a popular floor-filler performs live at Forth One's School's Out for Summer event, at City nightclub, on Market Street.
Fame has come as a bit of a shock, admits Westwood - hardly surprising, as before his vocals were used on the Basshunter track, he had a job with the Dutch Health Service and only sang on an amateur basis.
"Before my music career began I was working with the elderly and the mentally and physically disabled. I really enjoyed the work. Recently I quit to fully concentrate on my music." Westwood explains in broken English.
He adds, "Now You're Gone was recorded in 2006 with DJ Mental Theo. Six months later the song was the most viewed on YouTube. It was a big shock for me."
The song entered the UK download chart at No 14 in January and reached No 1 on the UK Singles Chart and the British iTunes Chart a few weeks later, staying at the top spot for five weeks.
In many ways, Westwood has Mental Theo to thank for that success. Were it not for him, Westwood could still be working in the Dutch Health Service.
"Mental Theo discovered me," Westwood explains. "Some time ago, I had an opportunity to record a single in Holland. One night I was at a club where he was DJ-ing and he played my song.
"I told him that I was the singer and he didn't believe me – so he gave me the microphone and made me sing along. After that he offered me a job singing on the Now You're Gone track. He was writing the lyrics for the English version of the Basshunter song at the time."
For Westwood it was the culmination of years spent growing up in Den Bosch, Holland, under the influence of his father – a professional singer and musician.
"My father was a professional singer and the lead guitarist in a band," he explains. "I followed in his footsteps and got my first keyboard when I was three, my first guitar at eight and my first saxophone at ten. We were a very musical family and I always dreamed of a music career."
Westwood, like his father, put his musical talents to good use, performing in numerous musicals and playing in a local band.
"When I was about 17 I was in a band called 4am where I played the keyboard," he says. "We played all sorts of music – rock, pop, R'n'B and funk, but dance music was always my favourite."
Which brings us back to Now You're Gone, which the 25-year-old promises he will be performing tonight, as well as his new single, Say You'll Stay.
"It is still very strange for me to hear the ringtone of Now You're Gone," he laughs, confessing that the track's universal popularity has taken him by surprise.
"The first time I heard it on someone's phone was in Ireland. Some people outside the club were getting phone calls and my voice was the ringtone. It was surreal to hear myself singing on someone else's phone."
One person who would appear to be unimpressed by Westwood's new found fame, however, is Basshunter himself, DJ and producer Jonas Erik Altberg.
When the song was first released on YouTube, it featured a video of Westwood singing. That was later replaced by a new video depicting a young couple going through a break up via text message – and while Westwood's voice remained his image didn't. It's a sore point with the singer.
"Basshunter likes to take a lot of credit for himself, which is why the second music video was released - that's why I don't think I will ever work with Basshunter again."
He continues, "At the moment I am working on the new album with DJ Mental Theo, as we want to create our own style of music and be recognised in our own right. Theo writes the music and lyrics and I help produce the tracks as well as putting down the vocals."
And while Basshunter may be gone from Westwood's life now, it seems their association has allowed the singer to create a basis on which to build as one of dance music's most in- demand acts.
Sebastian Westwood, School's out for Summer, City Nightclub, Market Street, tonight, £6 in advance from Radio Forth
How an internet chat room sparked success Now You're Gone is an English version of Basshunter's, Boten Anna, released in Sweden in 2006.
Due to the original's huge popularity, Basshunter became a noted artist in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands.
However, the lyrics to Boten Anna could not be more different to the English version. The Swedish version tells the story of a female internet chat room user mistaken for an IRC bot (a computer programme) by the male singer.
The song was based on a real life incident experienced by Altberg, who admits that he had a similar experience with the Finnish website, Stara.fi. after his friend agreed to create a bot with administrative capabilities to maintain his website, (Basshunter.se).
When a new user called Anna entered his chat room Altberg assumed it was the IRC bot – it wasn't. Months later he realised that Anna was actually real – and his friend's girlfriend. Altberg admits that the embarrassment inspired him to write the song.
The English version follows the story of a couple breaking up by text message.
The full article contains 991 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
