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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

all-about-musicians-and-the-people-who-help-them-make-music

  • Infatueighties: “Yah Mo B There”

    Chances are, if you were anywhere near a radio station from roughly 1980-1987, within thirty minutes you’d hear something from either James Ingram or Michael McDonald. The two Midwestern guys (Ingram was from Akron, OH while McDonald repped St. Louis) were very fond of the duet and/or the background support vocal, and their list of collaborators reads like a laundry list of Eighties hitmakers: Michael Jackson, Shalamar, Kenny Loggins, Donna Summer, Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, Nicolette Larson, Linda Ronstadt, Patti Austin, Anita Baker and Toto, just to name a few. It was inevitable that the two would eventually collaborate.

     

    Actually, it wasn’t that eventual. “Yah Mo B There” was the second single from Ingram’s debut solo album “It’s Your Night”. Of course, Ingram was already a Grammy winning success story at that point, due to “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways”, his featured spots on Quincy Jones’ “The Dude” album. McDonald was only a year or so removed from his lead singer’s spot in the Doobie Brothers and had only released his own debut solo album a few months before. The result was a smash: “Yah Mo B There” reached the Top 15 on the pop charts, Top 5 R&B, and won the pair a Grammy for “Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group”. It was Ingram’s third Grammy as a solo artist, McDonald’s second.

    The song itself screams “Eighties”, with a hypnotic, synthesized beat. Rod Temperton, the former Heatwave member who wrote many of The King of Pop’s biggest hits, co-penned this track, while the legendary Quincy Jones produced.  Both men were at this time riding high off the success of “Thriller” (in which Ingram was also a participant, having co-written “P.Y.T”. Thematically, it comes thisclose to being gospel. “Yah”, of course, being shorthand for “Yahweh”. Ingram purposefully fudged with the spelling of the title phrase so as not to scare off pop listeners from it’s fairly explicity spiritual message.

    One person they definitely didn’t scare off was me. Ingram and McDonald both give phenomenal performances, full of passion. They’ve not always given themselves the best material, but they scored here. Over twenty years later, this song still moves me. Not to sermonize at all, but even as an occasionally lapsed Catholic (maybe even more because of that) this song’s message resonates with me especially when I’m going through dark patches. Both the song and it’s video make clear that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

    Although this video version is of a slightly inferior remix (what’s up with the percussion tracks?), the power of the song’s message rings as clear as the voices that sing it. Well, maybe those voices aren’t so clear. I can never figure out what the men are singing after they vocalize the title (folks say it’s “up and over”, but it sure doesn’t sound like it)

  • Is The World Ready For Qui?

    Jerry Rice is many things. He is the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. He is a three time Super Bowl Champion. He is a great self marketer. And he’s a dancing pioneer. A Dancing With The Stars pioneer that is. His high finish on the television show opened up the flood gates for guys like Emmitt Smith to reinvent Hammer Time and for Jason Taylor to look at Hollywood as a possible career after football. Don’t act like you don’t know.

    But one thing that Jerry doesn’t do well is sing. Does anyone remember the commercial years ago in which he and his 49ers brethren went to a karaoke bar and Flash 80 busted out a terrible version of Stand By Your Man?

    However, there’s someone in his family who can sing. Well, sort of.

    Jerry Rice’s daughter Qui is a junior at Georgetown University and is now trying to make it as a pop star. She has a new single called Rev It Up featuring David Banner, with an album set to come out later this year. Based on the video, the young Miss Rice looks to be patterning herself after Janet Jackson, with the style of Ciara and the late Aaliyah thrown in as well.

    The video is nicely done and it looks like Papa Rice probably put a little bit of that Hall Of Fame money into it. Qui is young, attractive, and though she doesn’t possess a fantastic voice, is serviceable on the mic, at least compared to other pop singers out there today.

    If you’re looking for Jerry to make a cameo, he’s in it, but for maybe one second. Don’t blink.

    The video isn’t on YouTube just yet, but it is on what looks to be Qui’s mom’s .mac account.

    Check out the video by clicking here.

  • The Timberlake Curse?

    Justin Timberlake at VMAsThe commonly accepted theory is that, generally speaking, musicians don’t make good movie stars and actors don’t make musicians. Occasionally there’s an exception (Will Smith has done an admirable job turning himself from the Fresh Prince into the new Tom Hanks, Jared Leto has a platinum album, J. Lo was hitting on both cylinders for a second), but it’s rare to find someone who has twin success on the silver screen and in the recording studio.

    The latest singer to try and fail at becoming equally as successful an actor is Justin Timberlake. As a singer, Justin (solo and with ‘Nsync) has sold something like 40 million records and won 6 Grammy Awards. As an actor? Not so much. Let’s see. There was “Edison Force”, a movie that went straight to video despite boasting the talents of Oscar winners Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. Then there was “Black Snake Moan”, the only one of Timberlake’s movies I actually saw, which wasn’t bad if you could suspend reality for a bit. However, Timberlake’s role was pretty unnecessary, and the movie wasn’t a success. He followed that up with “Alpha Dog”, which also caught a brick. I don’t know about you, but putting the dude that sang “Bye Bye Bye” in a role as a gangbanger was probably a stretch.

    For his latest role, Timberlake has joined forces with Mike Myers in “The Love Guru”, which opened at a weak 4th place this week. Granted, Timberlake doesn’t seem to be the problem with the movie, which judging from previews looks completely unfunny. Myers hasn’t done himself any favors if you read the recent Entertainment Weekly article portraying him as a complete douchebag, but you’ve got to admit that this is a letdown for the guy who created the iconic Austin Powers.

    Although Timberlake’s peers don’t seem to be having much success at the box office either (how many people saw “The Pink Panther”?), JT might want to take a look at the film career of the woman whose career he assisted in torpedoing (pardon the pun). People may joke about Janet Jackson’s acting career, but each of the three movies she’s had a major role in debuted at #1 at the weekly box office.