Mr. Vocalist 1 (2008) and 2 (2009)
In early 2008, Martin was approached, again, by Sony Japan to do a project wherein he would cover (translated) famous Japanese Ballads sung by women. The album, entitled "Mr. Vocalist", was released in November 2008 and topped the charts of several cities in Japan; it was also the number-one seller in several online record stores. The album would include ballads such as "I Believe" by Ayaka, "Yuki no Hana" by Mika Nakashima, and "M" by Princess Princess.
Seeing the success of "Mr. Vocalist", Sony Japan opted to follow it up with another one. "Mr. Vocalist 2" was unique from the first because all the songs included in it were famous international ballads, and were voted in by fans either through the internet or through mobile phone. Eric and Sony Japan lined up about 30 international ballads sung by women, such as "Hero" by Mariah Carey and "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles. The top 12 songs were taken from the list and were covered by Eric and Sony Japan's team of top musicians. The resulting album was released on March 4, 2009, and topped the charts all over Japan at its debut. For months, it continued to move along the top five albums in Japan.
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