What Was the Song in the Johnnie Walker Commercial?

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Sometimes you hear a great song on a commercial but are baffled as to who wrote and produced it. The more and more you see the ad, the more it can nag at you...what was the name of that song? If you've seen the "Johnnie Walker Black Label" commercial, there is an appealing song that features a classical sound and sultry female vocals. What's the Johnny Walker commercial song that was featured?

The answer is "Never the Same" by the Supreme Beings of Leisure. The song is from their debut self-titled album that goes under the same name. That album came out in 2000.

Kiran Shahan is the person who produced the song, and he is part of Bitter: Sweet. That group's song, "Mating Game," is also quite popular and has been placed in other recent commercials. The song is also on the Best of Chillout Hits CD. 

About Supreme Beings of Leisure

The group has an interesting history that shows how much they have evolved. The band hailed from Los Angeles and consisted of singer and songwriter Geri Soriano-Lightwood and multi-instrumentalist and programmer Ramin Sakurai. The duo was formerly a part of the band Oversoul 7 and went out on their own to start Supreme Beings of Leisure. They launched the band in 1996.

Bassist Kiran Shahani and guitarist Rick Torres rounded out the band, which released two singles -- "Nothing Like Tomorrow" and "What's the Deal" -- on two different compilations produced by the label Moonshine Music.

Supreme Beings of Leisure Leaves Their Mark

The first Supreme Beings of Leisure album, which had the Johnnie Walker commercial song on it, sold over 250,000 units but did not involve all too much promotional touring. Instead, the band relied on the internet to promote the album. In fact, they were the first band to launch a virtual internet tour and one of the first to embrace Flash animation technology to generate a music video.

The band peaked at #47 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart according to allmusic.com and was in the top 100 of Amazon.com's Trip-Hop Dance & DJ music category in sales.

After the release of their debut album, the band split up and Soriano-Lightwood and Sakurai remained. In 2002, they released their second album, "Divine Operating System." It had some hype in its heyday, reaching 29th on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, ninth on the Top Electronic Albums chart and 23rd on the Top Independent Albums chart, allmusic.com reported.

Following a hiatus, the group released its third album in 2008. That was released by Rykodisc Records, and featured the touring band on some of the tracks: Sheldon Strickland (bass), Geoff Brandin (guitar) and Jason Graham (drums) contributed to the album. Other guest musicians such as Scott Tibbs, DJ Swamp, Lili Haydn, and Marty Friedman also worked on the collection. 

According to their Facebook page, the group is still making new music. More recently, Soriano-Lightwood completed a track with the popular trip-hop group, Delerium.