Mike Fleming

Author E.L. James, who was inspired by Stephenie Meyer’s The Twilight Saga to write Fifty Shades Of Grey, has in turn given the equivalent of literary Viagra to the steamy fiction genre. There are a ton of knockoffs in the offing, and just the other day I saw in Costo James’ trio of books, and right next to it another book with a similar-looking cover, obviously from a publisher trying to ride her coattails. Until Universal and producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti name a screenwriter, get a script, a director and a cast to film the first movie, it seemed James would have to be content watching her books fly off the shelves, all over the world. Well, maybe not. James has curated an album that’s being released by EMI Classics, a group of 15 classical music tunes she feels should be heard by the panting masses who devour her sexy S&M saga of 27-year old billionaire entrepreneur Christian Grey and college student Anastasia Steele. The three books have sold 31 million copies worldwide, so that is a chance to move a lot of records with tunes that include Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring and Tallis’ Spem in Alium. The latter, a 16th Century tune, shot to the top of the UK classical music charts just because of the mere mention in the books.

Related: Mike De Luca, Dana Brunetti To Produce ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’