Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ghetto Hymns: Deconstructing Jaheim's Blue Collar Soul

Image
                                                              Once upon a time, a slew of love men ruled the early 2000s R&B scene.  A June 2004 Vibe Magazine article ("Star Search") noted their distinctive attributes: handsome, talented, successful and forgettable. In danger of being swept away in a sea of anonymity, their capsized career highlights read like a epitaph: almost famous and unidentifiable. Destined to "languish in a murky zone of semi-stardom . There were a few glaring exceptions---R. Kelly was crowned "the undisputed king." Usher was hailed as "this year's Michael Jackson." Also on the short list of "bonafide superstars" was New Jersey crooner Jaheim aka "the blue collar lover."                                                As contemporary soul competed with Jadakiss' raspy charisma and Jay-Z's detached cool pose and DMX's grit, Jaheim cut across polarizing lines. Sexy enough for the ladie
Read more

Where Is The Love: Donny Hathaway Finally Gets His Due

Image
                                               Hathaway Suite I: Sack Full of Dreams (Prelude) "I've done everything right. I know how to touch people. What do I have to do to get people to love me like Stevie?" Hardly words you’d expect from a gifted and multi-faceted talent at the top of his game. Producer. Arranger. Songwriter.  Television. Film scores. When the stage lights went out after another triumphant show and the money was pocketed, Hathaway poured his heart out to mentor Quincy Jones and ponder---where is the love?   Donny was quick; he was truly a genius. But he couldn’t understand why Stevie Wonder; whom I ‘d known and admired since he was 12 was more popular than him. He used to travel with $200,000 to $3000,000 in cash and he felt safe enough to call me from almost every city in America, day or night. The last time was from his grandmother’s in St. Louis.                 Months after he made (his last) the record, on a Sunday, Donny took of
Read more

THOM BELL AND LINDA CREED: LOVE IS THE MESSAGE

Image
                                                                                                         Songwriting credits in today’s music industry read like names of prestigious law firms. It’s not uncommon to list five or six names as co-writers. Factor in samples/ interpolations and the number grows---a far cry from the days when writing and production teams were crews who worked in twos (and threes).  Ask your typical music aficionado these days to run down their short list of great songwriting tandems and they just might stop at LA and Babyface or Jam and Lewis and overlook the prolific genius predating contemporary R&B.                                                              Producer/arranger Thom Bell and lyricist Linda Creed helped brand the Sound of Philadelphia as the preeminent music during the first half of the 1970s. They would weave a string of Top Ten million-sellers into the tapestry of the Stylistics' three gold albums--- The Styli
Read more