MUSIC was far from Mary Davis' mind when we sat down to mega-chat just recently. The remainder of the SOS Band were off doing their own thing leaving The Two Davises to chat over sandwiches and coffee.
Mary is a freindly, charming lady and, despite the relatively early hour, she looked as if she had just stepped out of a photo session. My sweatshirt was no match for her silk! With Mary and the band spending so much time touring, it wasn't surprising to learn that London was one of her favourite places.

Maybe we're not in the mood for message records right now. Even so, "Crack Killed Applejack" is a powerfully persuasive insight into the tragedy of American basketball star Len Bias, who, after a distinguished high school record, becomes addicted to crack, thereby ruining his life. It eventually killed him.

ONE of the hottest albums of the moment is the debut set by Vision, entitled "Exposed". Cuts such as "Exposed", "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Private Passion" have been lighting up the dance floors all over the world through the Christmas/New Year party period.
Vision is actually two young men ? Brandon McLaughlin and Leni Law ? who call Atlanta home these days and who are signed to William Bell's Wilbe label.

Whilst the name Miki Howard may be new to you, the gifted vocaliste is anything but a newcomer. In fact, quite the contrary because Miki's prior main claim to fame was as lead singer with Side Effect, a group who were by the critics but whose commercial pedigree never materialised.

  IT WAS Friday the Thirteenth so it was logical to expect something would go wrong. But happily all was not lost because, after a period of total confusion. I did get to speak to a temptin' Temptation — Richard Street. And boy, was he heavy in cold! He'd been suffering for three days but had so far managed to keep it to himself — and this was despite have a flu shot before leaving America!
Anyhow, The Temptations are touring here, as if you needed me to tell you, and to coincide their new single "All I Want From You" has been released, taken from their super "Special" album. And I mean it is a super release, a pot pourri of music, with tracks appealing to all ages. Maybe not so much of The Temptations' sound though. Richard said this was largely due to the producers.
"We used different producers here and some were only in their twenties. That's the way the record company wanted us to go. The producers were fans of the group and maybe the result isn't exactly what people expected.

"SO, WHAT'S in a name? Well, maybe that depends on what particular career you happen to be pursuing. What, I wonder, would have happened to Tina Turner had she pursued her professional career under her real name Annie Mae Bullock or Edwin Starr who entered this mortal coil in January 1942 under a Charles Hatcher monniker. Possibly the results would have remained the same, but you never do know. Is it First Circle or Full Circle?.

As his official Geffen Records' bio states, "John White sings with the authority and control of some of R&B's finest vocalists ..." and after listening to the gentleman's debut LP, "Night People", it would be tough to disagree.

"We try not to be analytical", say David Frank and Mic Murphy, better known as The System. "We reckon all things must be equal and, when our time comes, we'll drink the wine".

It's one of those times in Larry Blackmon's pretty long, fairly illustrious career when everything must seem to be happening so frustratingly slowly.

Last year saw his band Cameo consolidate ten years of powerful, consistent music with their biggest selling album to date, "Single Life" — not to mention their first hit singles in the U.K., "Single Life" and "She's Strange" — and it now seemed that, at last, Cameo were destined for true international recognition.

IN THE music industry it seems that new forms of music are competiting against old. Take Hip Hop for example. R&B artists dis hip hoppers, jazz vocalists poke fun at rhymes and drum machines. Nobody seems to like each other .. .or do they?

One producer who has made the successful crossover from Hip Hop into R&B is Teddy Riley, a soft spoken young man in his early twenties who got his start producing rappers from B-Fats to Kool Moe Dee and Heavy D & the Boyz.  Riley suddenly became a household name by working on Keith Sweat's "I Want Her", followed by a hit by Johnny Kemp. It's hard to find a day when he's not in the studio planning future projects with Stephanie Mills, Billy Ocean and the Jacksons. Riley also sings and plays music in his own soul group, Guy, and has been utilising singer and songwriter Aaron Hall to write lyrics for the song Michael might be singing with his brothers.

"{safm}Peabo Bryson{/safm} was far more involved with this album than he was with "Take No Prisoners". That was a successful album but he felt his biggest successes have always come on his own. I think that my songs best reflect my personality and that's when I fell the most comfortable.

The music we listen to is an ever-changing thing with shifts and moves that can be as logical as they are confusing, but there will always remain throughout the evolution certain constants ? things that will remain familiar and reassuring.

Grover Washington Jnr's music is one of those constants and for well over a decade the great saxophonist has been creating a sound that has transcended fads and fancies and remained simply ... Grover.
Grover is currently plying his music around a good proportion of his country's fifty-two States and it was the morning after one such date in Georgia that we caught up with the Buffalo, New York native to discuss a brand new album for a brand new label.