Oct 25, 20234 min read

19 Years Since The Release Of 'Live Twice'

🦋 It’s 19 years ago today since Darius released "Live Twice".

Darius' second album showcased his talent in songwriting different styles of music and provided an eclectic mix of tracks including the hit singles, "Live Twice" and "Kinda Love".

The album peaked at number 36 on the UK Album Chart and number 10 on the Scottish Album Chart and was certified Gold.

You can watch footage of the photoshoot for 'Live Twice' below:

The two singles that were released from 'Live Twice' both charted well in the UK.

"Kinda Love" was the first single to be released. It was released on 18th October 2004 and peaked at number 8 in the UK chart and number 2 in the Scottish chart.

Darius spoke to Newsround about his inspiration for "Kinda Love", "It's kinda about love! It's about the insecurity you feel when you're in love with someone. Just a little moment with them makes your day." His youngest brother, Cyrus, chose it as the first song to be released from the album.

"Live Twice" was the second single released from the album. It was released on 10th January 2005. It peaked at number 7 in the UK singles chart and number 2 in the Scottish chart. Darius wrote the song as a tribute to his Dad, Booth.

“I wanted to write a song for my father that would describe exactly how I felt,” Darius told Night And Day Magazine in October 2004.

He also wrote 'Devil in You' for his dad saying “I wrote Devil in You, a Sinatra-type swing song, for him, because that’s his era. And when I played it, he took my hand and said, ‘You haven’t told me the plans for your album release.’ I said, ‘I’ve decided not to release this year. I want to spend every day with you.’”

“He said, ‘Darius, I fight to live to see the achievements of my children. You must pursue your dream. Now, not tomorrow. Today I fight to see Cyrus’ sports day, to see Aria graduate. And your songs are inspiring for me, don’t hide them away. I want to hear them on the radio, to see you in concert. How can I do that if you don’t release your album?’”

“I have him to thank for the whole album, and I owe it to him. It’s the real deal, and I’m very proud of it. I hope he is too.”

Talking about the album in December 2004 to The Record whilst on a tour in India Darius said:

"When I sat down to write the second album it had been a huge time of looking back and looking at the future all at the same time. And when I look back at the past four years I’ve had so many highs – being in the final Pop Idol, breaking away from that, turning down Simon Cowell’s record deal, working with U2 producer Steve Lillywhite, signing with Universal, having a number one hit with Colourblind, a platinum album with Dive In, touring, supporting Shakira on her world tour…so it’s been amazing. I was just recovering from one awesome dream coming true to another. And as soon as I got some great news, more great news would come and my head was spinning. It was like living a dream. When I sat down to write the second album I got the good news of being invited to Los Angeles to work with Stephen Lipson, an Academy Award winning, Grammy nominated producer.

Then in February this year my father was diagnosed with cancer – terminal cancer. My life stopped in its tracks. My world just shattered. My father is my hero in many more ways than one and I put all thoughts of releasing a record on the shelf. I said, ‘That’s it’. My brother took a year out of university, we both said we’re just going to support the family and be together for Dad. We didn’t know how much time he had left, we were told six months, maybe less. And I thought then, for all the success that I’ve had, for all the material things I’ve been blessed with, I would give it all up for the health of my father. You’d sell your car, you’d walk away from your house, you’d sell the shirt off your back to make a loved one better. With that thought I wrote a song for him called Live Twice and I played it to him in the hospital. And Dad turned around and said ‘You will give me inspiration if you continue on your path’. He encouraged me to go back into the studio.

Recording the song was so difficult because it was so intimate, and I recorded it and something burst, like a dam. Lyrics and melodies flowed out of me like I’d never experienced before and over the next six months I recorded what is now the body of work that I call the second album. It was then titled after that first song."