{alltv} Morrison felt pressure on non-Glee album

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Actor Matthew Morrison -- known to many as Will Schuester from the hit television series Glee -- considered doing a solo album a decade ago but it simply didn't come to fruition.

Now thanks Glee's huge success, Morrison was able to call the shots regarding his new self-titled disc.

"I think it would've been a much different album 10 years ago," Morrison says during a Toronto promotional stop in June. "I think it would have been more standards, more Broadway-esque. It's the album I definitely wanted to make. I got to do it on my own terms this time with the Glee machine behind me and with the co-stars I wanted to do it with."

Those "co-stars" include Gwyneth Paltrow on Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Sting on Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot and Elton John for a mash-up of Monas Lisa and Mad Hatters.

Morrison says landing Sting and John wasn't all that difficult. A conversation with Sting following Morrison performing at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C., led to their collaboration. Meanwhile John's duet was almost as easy with John putting one caveat in before agreeing.

"With Elton when I said I wanted to do his stuff he was very on board," Morrison says. "I said is there any song in particular that you would want to do. He said, 'Anything you want to do except Crocodile Rock.' I was like, 'All right.' So I literally spent three days going through Elton John's catalogue, it's that vast but that great.

"I knew I wanted to do Rocket Man because that's one of my favorite songs and one of the tunes I used to audition for a lot of Broadway shows. I didn't really know Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters but when I heard it I said, 'Oh yeah this sounds good.' "

Morrison says he felt a little bit of pressure from people concerning how the album would fare.

"From being on Glee I think people had a lot of high expectations of what it's going to be," he says. "I had to throw that out of my brain while I was doing it because I needed to do it for me more than anything. I'm just getting my legs as a songwriter but I'm very proud of how it turned out."

Even a possible snag turned out for the best when a solo jaunt was nixed so he could support the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys (NKOTBSB) North American tour. Some solo shows before Glee starts filming again in August are planned but Morrison says he couldn't pass up playing to nearly 20,000 fans a night.

He also scored a coup by landing acclaimed choreographer Kenny Ortega to help him with his live show.

"I didn't know that was pop knowledge but there you go," he says. "He directed my tour and that's the first one he's done since Michael Jackson (This Is It). It was a joy to work with him and we have a great appreciation for each other."

Morrison says he's still amazed by the response to Glee but isn't sure how long he will be Mr. Schuester.

"It's a tough show to film," he says. "I mean there are so many great things that have come out of it but there's nothing like performing live in front of an audience and I miss that. There's not enough time in this hiatus to do a play or musical, so I'm going to soak it all up. I'm very excited. I have no idea, probably five years at least."

CANADIAN TOUR DATES:

Vancouver (July 9-10)

Edmonton (July 12)

Calgary (July 13)

Ottawa (August 4)

Montreal (August 5)

Hamilton (August 6)

London (August 7)