"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?.
To say Freddie Jackson is at the cross roads of his career would be something of an understatement. As far as cross roads go, Freddie's reached his spaghetti junction .. . in the rush hour! A slew of silky smooth hits in the eighties, kick started with undoubtedly his best collection to date, the two million selling "Rock Me Tonight" in '85, which of course, contained the monstrous title track along with the likes of "Calling" and "You Are My Lady", has, over the course of nine years and five albums gradually slowed down along with record sales. As the era for the smooth candlelight and champagne crooners in the '80's has given way for the riff happy, baggy jeans, bandana and Timberland hip-hop/soul homies in the '90's, naturally many of the older guard have been left concerned with the change of pace of their careers.
It is safe to say that, if sheer talent and vocal ability, was ever the
true yardstick of an artist?s popularity someone like David Sea would
be massive, a worldwide musical phenomenon.
You know, it's been fourteen
years since "If Loving You Is Wrong" and something like nine years
since we last had an album from Luther Ingram.
And yet, after one listen to Luther's new album (rather unimaginatively
tagged "Luther Ingram"), it's as if the crooner has never been away.
But he has!
IF predictions were my line, Motown's newest signing Stacy Lattisaw
could, in time, become a serious threat to the likes of Teena Marie and
Janet Jackson. She was, to all intents and purposes, quite a surprising
addition to the Motown family because prior to this, very little had
been heard about the nineteen year old singer.
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.
With "Love Or Physical", a splendid new album for Capitol Records, that perennial love duo Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson are definitely back in gear. After a couple of years absence, during which time the couple (who have been married now for over fourteen years) gave birth to a daughter, Asia, Nick and Val are feeling great about their new product, especially since the first single, I'll Be There For You" is giving them one of their biggest U.S. hits in years.
Read the success story of Colonel Abrams trapped. It's an interview
that Colonel Abrams gave for Blues and Soul magazine in 1985.