Mark Holden returns with Shirley MacLaine, the second single from Now and Then and Shirley MacLaine

Mark Holden will release the 2nd single from his new album on 7th August via Dream Dealers (MGM)

‘Shirley MacLaine’ is the follow-up release to ‘Every Little Thing’ that signaled a comeback for the Australian Music Legend.

Shirley MacLaine was the first song Mark wrote from this album and has a very interesting story behind it as Mark explained on Channel 7’s The Morning Show on July 3  to Kylie Gillies.

It was created while Mark was in Los Angeles for his daughter Katie's wedding at the end of May 2025.

It’s a good story, that came to Mark like a lot of ideas do when you’ve smoked a bit of weed and you’re high. His preference was to avoid LA International Airport. As Mark laments “The immigration lines at the end of a 15-hour flight are to be avoided at all costs. Hawaii is my favored choice of entry to the USA.”

He was ready for a Hawaiian smoke. Always easy enough to find in Waikiki, but not so now that medical marijuana has been legalized. He was in Hawaii for a pit stop; there wasn't enough time to get a prescription. Mark got talking to a local who gave him a bud, and all he needed was a place to smoke it.

Mark goes on “The act of smoking, whether tobacco or marijuana, is legal in Hawaii, but the places to smoke are harder to find. There's no smoking anywhere. You can't smoke in your hotel room or anywhere in the hotel; you can't smoke on the streets, and you can't smoke on the beach. I asked the front desk, ' Where do the people who work here go for a ciggie?' I was directed to an alcove with a chiminea full of butts.

I got talking to a bloke as we both smoked our smokes. He told me he had been Shirley MacLaine's tour manager for speaking tours. He would pick her up from the airport and take her to the hotel, to the speaking gig, to the hotel, and back to the airport. For years. He said, 'Shirley MacLaine told me, the reason you suffer the blues is you are a descendant of Genghis Khan, and you're still paying the old man's dues.'  As he said those words, a song appeared in my head. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to record it on my iPhone immediately, so it was not lost in the ether as quickly as it had appeared”

Mark penned Shirley MacLaine in Los Angeles.

Mark continues “I visited a few of my old musician buddies from 16 years as a journeyman songwriter there. They are now well into their 70's, with heart problems, and have embraced abstinence. Visiting Richard Feldman, we sat in his office, where he used to have a studio for decades. There are still a bunch of guitars within arm's reach, which I was excited to see, so I played him the Shirley MacLaine idea, which he loved, and 30 years dissolved as we got back to writing a song together. I came back a couple of times during the trip, and by the time I got back to Melbourne, Rich had played or programmed all the instruments on the fabulous track that became the record. I sang the vocal over Rich's track at Bruce Haymes' home studio in Northcote, and Nilusha Dassenaike created a beautiful harmony part - I sent the vocal parts to Richard in LA, and voila - Shirley MacLaine, the song, and the record were born”

Mark Holden new album titled ‘Now and Then and Shirley Maclaine’ will be available to stream on all platforms from August 28.

The album features original tracks including ‘Every Little Thing’ (download follows), ‘Welcome Home’ (with Anthony Callea) and Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda), an emotional tribute to the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.

Download ‘Every Little Thing’ HERE

https://mgmreleases.com/shirleymaclaine
www.markholdenmusic.com