 |
|
|
|
|
\\\\\ |
|
| As Lionel Ritchie would do a year later, in 1982 Jeffrey Osborne began the second phase of his amazing career, moving from his long-standing role as the lead singer of L.T.D. to a first-rate solo career that continues to this day. Born into a musical family in Rhode Island (his father was a noted jazz trumpeter), Osborne was playing professional gigs as a drummer before his 16th birthday. After high school he moved to Los Angeles and joined a self-contained soul/funk group that would ultimately be named Love, Togetherness and Devotion, or L.T.D. His rich, expressive baritone ultimately moved him to lead vocalist position, and during his tenure the group scored multiple pop and soul hits on A&M Records, including the dance classic "Back In Love Again" and a string of memorable ballads such as "Stranger," "Where Did We Go Wrong?" and "Love Ballad" (later remade as a dance tune by George Benson). After over a decade with L.T.D., and while the group was still on top, Osborne left to pursue a solo career, remaining on A&M Records. L.T.D. released the acceptable Love Magic following Osborne's departure, but never really recovered from the loss. However, Osborne reached greater heights as a solo artist. His eponymous debut album was terrific, combining quirky dance tunes such as "I Really Don't Need No Light" along with radio-friendly ballads like "On The Wings of Love." TOP Best of all was an Osborne-penned ballad masterpiece, "Congratulations," an emotional song of loss that remains one of his greatest tracks. His follow up album, Stay With Me Tonight, was equally strong, with even better dance songs ("Don't You Get So Mad" and "Plane Love") and some solid slow tunes (the best of which was "I'll Make Believe"). Osborne continued to score on the Soul charts and, to a lesser extent, on the pop charts, into the early 90s with urban adult contemporary hits such as "Let Me Know," "She's On The Left," "You Should Be Mine" and "Only Human," the latter of which appeared on his first and only Arista album. Jeffrey Osborne Oddly, though Osborne maintained a solid following, he found himself without a record contract in 1992 and, save an independently released Christmas album in 1997, remained relatively quiet for the rest of the decade. In 2000 he was signed by Windham Hill's Private Music subsidiary, part of an attempt by Windham Hill to broaden its appeal beyond New Age music through the signing of soul artists such as Osborne, Peabo Bryson, Phil Perry, Barry White and Glenn Jones. His sole release for that label, That's For Sure, was a moderate success, but didn't match the quality or popularity of his earlier work. TOP The Private Music label was then dropped by acquirer BMG and Osborne decided to release his Music Is Life in 2003 on his own JayOz label, giving him more artistic and financial control. The disc featured the beautiful wedding ballad "Rest of Our Lives," but unfortunately did not have the recording budget or label support of his earlier work. In 2004, Osborne performed a few shows with Smooth Jazz star Dave Koz and found much of his 70s and 80s audience had become smooth jazz fans. He repeated for a full tour with Koz in '05 and its success convinced Osborne to do something he had thought of for awhile: record an album of great soul songs of the 60s-80s that would appeal to both soul and smooth jazz audiences. The result of this effort was From the Soul, released in October of 2005 on JayOz, in cooperation with Koch Records. It is a tasty compilation of some well chosen covers, including some unusual ones such as Whitney Houston's "All at Once" and Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet." And it's always welcome to hear the wonderful Wendy Moten singing background. The first single from the disc is a nice version of the 60s classic "Yes I'm Ready." Osborne continues to be one of the most loved, yet underrated, soul music vocalists of the past 30 years. His voice still sounds as good as ever and he still writes powerful music. It remains a frustration that he isn't recording for a major label with the promotion that his superior music deserves. TOP |
|
| While she never attained the crossover notoriety her immense talent deserved, over the 10 year period 1979-1989 Stephanie Mills quietly assembled an impressive collection of performances for multiple record labels and established herself as one of the most successful Soul vocalists of that period. A prodigy, Mills was performing small roles on Broadway even as a child, but received her big break (and made the most of it) in 1975 when, at age 18, she landed the role of Dorothy in the Broadway Soul musical The Wiz. Her small frame belied the huge, powerful voice she carried, and she owned the role for several years (though was unfortunately overlooked in casting for the ill-fated movie version, which was instead given to a much older Diana Ross). She began her recording career in the mid-70s on ABC Records with an album of Broadway covers, and was then signed by Motown and teamed with legendary pop writers Burt Bacharach and Hal David for a couple albums that attempted to position Mills as a young Dionne Warwick. TOP Her signing by 20th
Century Fox in 1978 began the uptick in her popular appeal, as she
paired with hot writers/producers Mtume and Lucas for Whatcha Gonna
Do With My Lovin?, a solid album of dance oriented numbers that
blended fairly sophisticated arrangements with her lovely, strong
voice and scored big on the Soul, Dance and Pop charts. She followed
the next year with Sweet Sensation and what would become her signature
song, the infectious "Never Stephanie Mills Knew Love Like
This Before." She continued her success in 1980 with a selftitled
album that included a great duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Two
Hearts." In 1983, Stephanie moved to Casablanca Records, where
she recorded three albums with various producers and scored moderate
hits with the She firmly moved into the latter camp with her signing by MCA in 1985, and she released her career best material over the next half decade, working with talented producers Angela Winbush and Ron Kersey. Her recordings of "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love," "I Feel Good All Over" and a new version of her classic recording "Home" gave her three number ones and firmly established her as one of the most expressive and talented vocalists of the era. The 1990s saw Mills releasing a number of disparate albums, including a dance-oriented disc, a Christmas disc and her first Gospel recording, but none of them fared as well as her earlier work. She stopped recording in 1994 for a full decade before self-releasing the critically acclaimed Born for This in 2004.s T OP |
|
|
Angela Winbush (born on June 26, 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and record producer who rose to fame first as one half of the eighties R&B duo, Rene & Angela and then later as a solo artist and collaborator with The Isley Brothers. Early life and career Born to a deeply religious family in St. Louis, Angela began singing in church and though she was a very talented vocalist, she had no intentions of a career in music instead going to college at Howard University for a Psychology major. That all changed in 1976 when she was inspired to start a music career after listening to Stevie Wonder promptly changing her major to music education. Recording a demo single, she gave her demo to a Washington, D.C. deejay named Gary Byrd, who in turn gave it to Wonder when he was visiting the state for a concert. Hiring Winbush to join his female backing trio, Wonderlove, she learned a lot about writing and arranging songs from Wonder. TOP Within a year, she formed a bond with Rene Moore, whom she had met in college. The two became a couple and also began writing songs together. Forming Rene & Angela in 1980, the duo released their self-titled debut album which included the singles "Everything We Do" and "Do You Love Me". Between Rene & Angela and 1983's Rise, the duo scored charted singles with "I Love You More", "Imaginary Playmates", "Banging the Boogie" and their top twenty R&B ballad, "My First Love", which was the first song to give Rene & Angela more notice in the R&B community where the song eventually reached number twelve on the R&B chart. A Street Called Desire and meeting Ron Isley During Rene & Angela's early years, they were asked to produce songs for Janet Jackson's 1982 self-titled debut album, Janet Jackson. One of the songs, "Young Love", became Jackson's first top ten R&B hit reaching number six on the chart. They also wrote exclusively for Stephanie Mills, with whom would forge a close friendship with Winbush. Mills' 1985 classic, "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love", gave Mills her first-ever #1 R&B single. Winbush would later write another Mills number one R&B hit with "Something in the Way You Make Me Feel". Between that, Rene & Angela decided to branch out and find a bigger fan base signing with Mercury Records in 1984, Angela Winbush they released their breakthrough album, A Street Called Desire the following year. Among the hit singles included on the album was their first R&B number one with the dance single, "Save Your Love (For #1)", which included guest vocals from rapper Kurtis Blow, making it besides Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You", one of the first songs to prominently featured a rapper. Other hit singles included "I'll Be Good", the mostly Winbush-led "Your Smile" was another number one hit while the subsequent "You Don't Have to Cry", hit number two in the beginning of 1986. TOP Eventually A Street Called Desire sold over a million copies going platinum but on the brink of their biggest album, tensions between Winbush and Moore had grown and by the end of the album's promotion, the duo split both personally and professionally. Moore would continue to find success as a songwriter, most notably for Michael Jackson, but he would never again find success as a singer as Winbush was often the main draw of their singles. In 1987, Winbush was introduced to future husband Ronald Isley, lead singer of the influential Isley Brothers after Benny Medina had agreed to ask Winbush to be involved with the Isleys' next record after Isley had proposed plans to work with Winbush. Producing, writing and arranging the Isleys' Smooth Sailin' album, Winbush helped the group, now including just Ronald and Rudolph (eldest brother O'Kelly had passed away in 1986), score a top 10 R&B hit with the title track. Sharp and subsequent follow-ups In turn, Isley opted to manage Winbush and he helped in the process of releasing her debut solo album, Sharp, which was also released in 1987. The album included the huge hit, "Angel", which stayed at number one on the R&B chart for two weeks in 1987. Other hits include the dance track, "Run to Me", "C'est Toi (It's You)" and the Ron Isley duet, "Hello Beloved". In 1989, Winbush released her follow-up to Sharp with It's the Real Thing. The title track reached number two on the R&B chart while subsequent hits "No More Tears" and "Lay Your Troubles Down" continued Winbush's top 40 success on the R&B charts where she was now a fixture on despite failed attempts to cross her over to pop audiences. TOP On Winbush's thirty-ninth birthday, she and longtime manager/collaborator/ lover Ronald Isley, who is thirteen years Angela's senior, married. A year later after turning forty, Winbush released her third self-titled solo album, which included the huge R&B hit, "Treat U Rite". Produced by Chuckii Booker, the song peaked at number six on the R&B chart making it Winbush's ninth top ten R&B hit altogether in her career. In 1996, Winbush was featured on the Isley Brothers' hit "Floatin' On Your Love", which was essentially a duet between Winbush and Ron Isley. The song was later remixed by Sean "Puffy" Combs and featured guest vocals from Lil' Kim and the group 112 in backgrounds. The video for it showcased Winbush serenading Isley's Mr. Biggs character. Angela Winbush Winbush continued to collaborate with the Isley Brothers until 2001's Eternal, where afterwards, their marriage had cooled off. In 2002, Winbush and Isley quietly divorced. In 2003, Winbush made news when it was found out she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Eventually after a successful surgery, the cancer was in remission and Winbush returned to perform on the road. Legacy and influence Since starting out with Rene & Angela, Winbush has played an influence on various R&B and hip-hop acts. In the latter genre, Winbush has heard her music being sampled by acts such as The Notorious B.I.G. (who featured her and Jay-Z on his Rene & Angela-sampled "I Love You More" for the song "I Love the Dough"), Foxy Brown (who sampled her "I'll Be Good"for her 1997 top ten hit, "I'll Be") and singer Avant re-recorded the Rene & Angela ballad, "My First Love", with singer Keke Wyatt in 2000. In appreciation during Avant's performance of the song on BET's 106 & Park, in 2001, Winbush surprised the audience by singing alongside Avant on the song. TOP As a singer, Winbush influenced the likes of Syleena Johnson and Chante Moore. Winbush and former partner Rene Moore also shared the distinction for being one of the first R&B acts to prominently feature a rap act in a R&B song sharing that distinction with Chaka Khan and funk band Cameo. Winbush also carries the distinction of being one of the few female artists to find success as a songwriter, arranger, producer and session musician (Winbush also is an avid musician playing piano and keyboards). Personal Life During a 2006 interview on the Christian TV show, Gospel of Music, hosted by Jeff Majors, Winbush disclosed that she'd overcome Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer after 6 months of chemotherapy in 2003. Her undying faith in God also got her through having a cyst (benign) removed from her breast, the ending of her marriage to Isley in divorce, and depression. Current work She's said to work on a brand new album with producer Kaygee, formerly of the group, Naughty by Nature, on his Divine Mill Recordings imprint though no date has been formally announced as of yet. Since debuting as one-half of Rene & Angela in 1980, Winbush has sold ten million albums and singles worldwide, and has had twenty top forty R&B singles and three number-one R&B singles. TOP |
|
| KEITH SWEATTOP Keith Sweat is a Harlem-born R&B singer/songwriter who released his debut album, Make It Last Forever, at the end of 1987. The album sold over three million copies, spawning the hits "I Want Her" (number one R&B, number five pop), "Something Just Ain't Right" (number three R&B), "Make It Last Forever" (number two R&B), and "Don't Stop Your Love" (number nine R&B). It was followed in June 1990 by I'll Give All My Love to You, another million-seller, that featured the hits "Make You Sweat" (number one R&B, number 14 pop), "Merry Go Round" (number two R&B), "I'll Give All My Love to You" (number one R&B, number seven pop), and "Your Love, Pt. 2" (number four R&B). Sweat's third album was Keep It Comin', an R&B chart-topper at the end of 1991, whose title track was another number one R&B hit. In 1994 he returned with Get Up on It; a self-titled release followed in 1996, and two years later he issued Still in the Game. Didn't See Me Coming (2000), Rebirth (2002), and Welcome to the Sweat Hotel (2006) followed. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide.TOP |
|
|
