Marco Pierre White may be a dab hand in the kitchen, but can he cook up a storm in the studio? That’s what the former TV chef is finding out as he follows one of his other dreams – to make music.
White, 64, has released his first-ever single with father-son duo Chris and Reece Wilson, paying tribute to Scotland’s national drink of whisky.
The track, titled “Scottish Whisky”, features White speaking the lyrics over an electric guitar riff, produced by the Stirlingshire-based Wilsons.
When asked why he wanted to work on a single, White told The Times: “If you have a dream, then you have a responsibility to yourself.
open image in gallery“If you don’t make your dream come true, then you’re just a fantasist.”
Meanwhile, Chris Wilson told the publication that they thought White would be the perfect voice for the track given his love of food and drink, with the chef telling them after hearing it: “It’s very sexy.”
“We are simply telling the story of drinking whisky,” he continued. “We wanted to do it with Marco. He is the rock-and-roll chef, after all, the first TV chef. Thank God he liked the song.”
Reading out the lyrics in the song rather than singing them, White says: “Red sky this morning, I gave you your last warning/ Blood moon going down, like Scottish whiskey.”
White rose to fame after becoming one of the youngest British chefs at age 33 to earn three Michelin stars in 1995, having trained under the tutelage of Albert and Michel Roux at the highly esteemed Le Gavroche. He ran The Restaurant Marco Pierre White in London, as well as Le Méridien Piccadilly Hotel and Harveys before quitting daily kitchen work altogether in 1999.
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He later became a TV chef, starring in ITV’s Hell’s Kitchen, hosted the American version of cooking show The Chopping Block and appeared on BBC’s MasterChef. He went on to compete on Celebrity Big Brother in 2011 and more recently, partnered with the BBC to create a digital cooking course for its platform BBC Maestro.
Earlier this month, White hit out at MasterChef, declaring that it is “not real” and instead, a reality show.
“When it comes to the tasting the food is three, four hours old. It’s cold food,” he said. “It is a TV show, don’t take it seriously. It is not real. It is fantasy. If it makes you want to cook then that is all that matters. It’s food porn.”
White isn’t the only star to recently pursue music; Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins released his first-ever album of classical music this month at the age of 88, stating: “Music was my first desire.”