Angela Bofill – Still Fighting

Sometime around 1978, I remember hitting my local record store, as I did most afternoons after middle school, and seeing what seemed like dozens of copies of an album called “Angie.” “Angie” was the debut album of then unknown artist, Angela Bofill, and the cover only featured her picture on a plain white background. I must have gone to that same record store half a dozen times, picking up the album and putting it back, reading the song list, etc., before finally deciding to spend my allowance and give it a try.

Once I got home and gave “Angie” a spin, I felt I had stumbled on a treasure hidden in a plain white wrapper. I played it over and over again, feeling all the lilting emotion of Angela’s voice soaring over complicated R&B, Jazz, and Latin-fused arrangements or standing alone on heartbreaking ballads. Many of the songs she herself had written, and she delivered them as sonnets straight from her soul. “Under the Moon and Over the Sky” still strikes me as one of the most beautifully arranged songs I have ever heard. Her vocal dexterity is unsurpassed, and she moves through the song, alternately leading or mimicking the musicians with elements of R&B, jazz and native rhythms masterfully. I have been a faithful fan ever since and couldn’t wait to share my discovery with my brother who had done the same for me so many times before.

A few years later, after the release of her second terrific album, “Angel of the Night,” my brother surprised me with a ticket to see her perform at Columbia University. By this time, both he and I were playing her music around the house all the time and waiting for the opportunity to see her in concert. She was even better live on stage, performing most, if not all, of the songs on both albums. Her rendition of her testimonial torch song, “I Try” left us all speechless, and then at once on our feet for a standing ovation. She was beautiful and talented, and we were mesmerized!

Throughout the 80s, 90s and into 2000, Angie continued to create many more incredible songs, and headline tours in the US and internationally. I was fortunate to attend many such shows including probably one of her last live performances at Birdland in NYC. She was in terrific voice, energetic and alternated between singing, jamming with the band on percussion, and giving a rousing tribute to Celia Cruz who had recently passed away. Her talent was endless.

Angela found some R&B success with a career that has spanned many decades, but not of the magnitude that she deserved. Her music crossed many genres, and was difficult to classify, which I feel hampered her broader acceptance.

In 2006 and 2007, Ms. Bofill suffered two massive strokes which left her paralyzed on one side, and struggling to pay her medical expenses. Fellow musicians and friends staged benefit concerts to help, and amazingly, she is now recovering well and hoping to hit the stage once again.

Through the highs and lows, Angela Bofill has fought for her place in music, and earned it many times over.

Vote Your Favorite Male R&B Artist

What Happened?…

Sometimes it seems that an artist comes along that has the makings of becoming a huge success and for some unknown reason their career never reaches the heights that you expected it would.

I often watch videos on TV and listen to R&B radio stations, and will notice an artist that was once a favorite of mine and wonder, what happened or didn’t happen to their career? I thought he or she would be the next superstar, but they only reached local or moderate success. These performers typically have a devoted, loyal fan-base that keeps them recording and touring, but typically receives minimal radio and/or video exposure.

The list of these kinds of R&B artists is ridiculously long, but here are some of my favorites:

Phil Perry, Will Downing, Rahsaan Patterson, Lalah Hathaway, Maysa Leak, Brown Baby Girl, Rachelle Farrell, Tamia, Kelly Price, Eric Roberson, Floetry (before the split), Kenny Lattimore, Carol Riddick, Angela Johnson and Chante Moore.

To me, all of these talented performers have extraordinary voices, stage presence and faithful followers, yet when they create new quality material it is seldom heard and often even their biggest fans don’t know about it.

Thankfully, with the advent of inexpensive online marketing tools like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. and the potential for anyone to go “viral,” maybe the “unsung” artists now too have a chance to build the career that they so deserve and we as devoted fans can help.

Post your favorite underappreciated artist in “Comments”!

Peabo – Will You Marry Me…?

Sometime around 1977 when I was 13, I fell in love with Peabo Bryson! It was then that I heard him sing I’m So Into You,” and I knew then that he, and he alone, would set the romantic standard in my life. I have been an “ever-after” fan from that day until this one.

OK, so how did I know that Peabo was “The One”? It wasn’t just his voice, which to me is so incredibly beautiful in both tone and vibrato that it makes anything he sings almost operatic, it was the passion with which he phrased every word. There was no doubt he was singing only to me. How could I keep from falling in love!

Even at the age of 13, I knew that is what love was supposed to sound like. And knowing that Peabo wrote so many of the amazing songs he delivered so masterfully made each one even more meaningful to me. I wrote poetry back then too, and as I laid on the basement floor many nights with his album liner notes spread out all around me. I read along with every word as he sang his beautiful prose and was convinced he knew me, and that each song was a love letter.

In the years afterward, I have followed him (no, I am not a stalker), but I have attended most, if not all, of his tri-state area concerts and the live experiences have exceeded my expectations. He is a performer who makes you feel as though he is singing straight to you, and when he caps the night with a long stemmed rose, you feel like you have been on a date with your boyfriend. I have even had the pleasure of meeting him post-shows and he is as gracious and warm as I expected.

Since that time, with the release of every album or CD, from “Crosswinds” to his most recent release “Missing You” in 2007, Peabo has been there like a close friend. He has been with me through the relationships, but more importantly through the breakups, comforting me with his crescendos and just the right lyrics to ease the pain, and offering the hope that the love he sang, and continues to sing about, really exists.

So Peabo Bryson, “Will you marry me?…”

Vote Your Favorite Female R&B Artist

Is the Feeling Gone?

Just as Brian McKnight asked many years ago on his debut CD, “Is the Feeling Gone?,” I asked my friends the very same question over the weekend regarding R&B music these days. The answer was a resounding YES!

On Saturday, I attended a gathering at a friend’s home, and as it usually does, the conversation turned to the state of today’s music. Granted, we were all over the age of 40 and watching videos on VH1 Soul all evening, but doing so triggered our typical rant about how different music has become. Even the crowd favorites like John Legend, Alicia Keys and Beyonce just couldn’t begin to measure up with even the lesser known performers of the past. We all agreed that even Jaheim singing one of the best new R&B songs on the charts right now, “Find My Way Back To You” sounds great, but when we spoke of his actual stage presence , there what is lacking in most R&B songs is the passion, the emotion. That element that makes you FEEL it. It is the X Factor that will make a song a classic 10, 20, 30 or more years from now.

Even the song titles of the past let you know you the song was not only making the artist feel it, but was also designed to do the same to you. Titles like “Feel the Fire,” “Can You Feel a Brand New Day,” or “The Way You Make Me Feel” set the stage, and you felt every word. Ballad or dance track, you could hear the passion and couldn’t help but respond accordingly.

What has replaced the feeling is the visual. The videos are more and more expensive, featuring real actors and sometimes even special effects. And the concerts are more lavish; yet the artist in most cases is straining, out of breath, singing in the wrong key or lip-syncing while struggling to get through the song. So in effect, all of the visual aids, costumes, and outrageous dance numbers become the distraction to the actual song.

Yes, there is the very rare new artist that can still conjure up the passion (Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Carol Riddick, and Chrisette Michele, for instance), but generally that kind of passion is lost these days. In addition, individuality and creativity has been discouraged, while following the status quo is what is expected. At the party, we all were able to ramble off the names of countless artists who not only differentiated themselves with their style and sound, but they also ranged from the most popular artists like Aretha, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, and Marvin Gaye to the more obscure like CeCe Penniston, Angela Winbush, Jocelyn Brown, Teena Marie, Gwen Guthrie, Christopher Williams, Tevin Campbell and Cheryl Lynn. All of these artists made a name for themselves with a sound all their own, and one you could readily identify. All the while, competing with mega artists like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Anita Baker, Toni Braxton, etc., male and female R&B groups, funk bands, and the rest, while creating classics for the ages.

In 2010, you have to listen real hard to differentiate one artist from the next, and when you do, it doesn’t really matter, because no matter how catchy the song might be, its longevity is doubtful. It likely sounds like another song, or another’s interpretation, so it isn’t a standout for the ages.

The discussion then turned to our children (ranging in ages from 8-22 years old), and what they were listening to right now. We all shared stories of them listening to not only hip/hop music, but to our old favorites as well. Many of the children as young as 8-10 years old were adding our IPod playlists to theirs and enjoying the Isley Brothers, the Whispers, Al Green, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Peabo Bryson and the all music of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

The consensus was that in 10, 20, 30 or more years from now, future generations would likely still be listening to the same R&B songs we loved. The classics would hold up forever and continue reaching new ears for many generations. And we all collectively breathed a sigh of relief!

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