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ServusHumilis
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Nope, never heard of it.
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Maxirad
Guest
I’ve recorded several episodes of Unsung. There was one about the late soul singer Teena Marie. Despite being a white woman, she was quite popular among African Americans. I personally wish there could be episodes profiling the now-deceased vocalists Laura Branigan and Stevie Woods. I imagine Mr. Woods, who passed away less than a month ago, would be a better fit than Ms. Branigan because he was an African-American singer who performed R&B music. It seems to me, however, that he was more popular with white audiences than black audiences. In fact, Stevie ended up relocating to Germany after his 1983 album Attitude flopped in the U.S. I think he’s been underrated myself.
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4Squarebaby
Guest
I have seen all of the last three seasons live and have caught up with many of the earlier episodes as they rotate them through my cable system’s on demand schedule.
While she may have had a few dance hits Laura Branigan didn’t cross over and become an icon in the Black community like Teena Marie or Latina Lisa Lisa of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. I do not remember Stevie Woods at all even though he peaked in America just as I ended my high school years. Unless he was linked to a bigger act like Unsung alumni Sheila E was to Prince or ex Temptations and Supremes when discussing their smaller solo careers he is just not big enough name to draw viewers and ad revenue.
While she may have had a few dance hits Laura Branigan didn’t cross over and become an icon in the Black community like Teena Marie or Latina Lisa Lisa of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. I do not remember Stevie Woods at all even though he peaked in America just as I ended my high school years. Unless he was linked to a bigger act like Unsung alumni Sheila E was to Prince or ex Temptations and Supremes when discussing their smaller solo careers he is just not big enough name to draw viewers and ad revenue.
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Maxirad
Guest
The two Top 40 hits Mr. Woods had on the Billboard Hot 100 were “Steal the Night” and “Just Can’t Win 'Em All.” Both songs had higher placements on the Billboard Hot 100 than they did on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It’s apparently safe to say that Mr. Woods was bigger in Germany than he ever was in the United States.I do not remember Stevie Woods at all even though he peaked in America just as I ended my high school years. Unless he was linked to a bigger act like Unsung alumni Sheila E was to Prince or ex Temptations and Supremes when discussing their smaller solo careers he is just not big enough name to draw viewers and ad revenue.
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4Squarebaby
Guest
Being higher on the pop charts then the soul charts is the opposite of what TV One, as an ethnic network means by being unsungThe two Top 40 hits Mr. Woods had on the Billboard Hot 100 were “Steal the Night” and “Just Can’t Win 'Em All.” Both songs had higher placements on the Billboard Hot 100 than they did on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It’s apparently safe to say that Mr. Woods was bigger in Germany than he ever was in the United States.
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Maxirad
Guest
4Squarebaby, you’ve seen the special Unsung episode about disco, right? What did you think of it?
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4Squarebaby
Guest
Along with the latest episode on Nile Rodgers, post disco house or club music artist CeCe Peniston, disco artist as a solo act Eddie Kendrcks, Evelyn Champagne King.4Squarebaby, you’ve seen the special Unsung episode about disco, right? What did you think of it?
I think the point with disco being 7 out of the top 10 before the Chicago riot and never being in the top positions as disco again is spot on. But then the first two Madonna albums up to Daft Punks Grammy proves it wasn’t the music but the social scene which caused the backlash.
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Maxirad
Guest
Remember the episode about Con Funk Shun, 4Squarebaby? The band originally formed in the same metropolitan area where I live.
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4Squarebaby
Guest
That episode cost me as I had to buy stuff I only had on vinyl these past decades. I am just sad they they didn’t mention my favorite Con Funk Shun deep cut Doowhachawannado but then everybody has their own favorite songs on albums that never became hits My link to the show besides having a cousin working for Motown thus getting me close to Teena Marie on a couple of occasions was that my father was the junior high school science teacher for the older Sylvers kids. So we followed their careers a bit more closely then just as a “next Jackson 5” type group most of the world knew them as.Remember the episode about Con Funk Shun, 4Squarebaby? The band originally formed in the same metropolitan area where I live.
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4Squarebaby
Guest
Oh I just remembered they did an episode on Shalamar, another R&B/disco group. When I entered high school Jody Watley was a senior and a local celebrity for being one of the platform Soul Train dancers before Shalamar started touring. She is good people and never let her celebrity nor the fact she was a senior and folks like me were scrubs go to her head.
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Maxirad
Guest
4Squarebaby, do you remember seeing the video for Con Funk Shun’s “She’s a Star” in the band’s Unsung episode? If you do, did you think the song was kind of faceless or generic? If you don’t, click on this link and let me know what you think.
BTW, do think Unsung should profile Jeffrey Osborne and/or Peabo Bryson?
BTW, do think Unsung should profile Jeffrey Osborne and/or Peabo Bryson?
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4Squarebaby
Guest
It seems like a lot of the post funk era songs by funk groups which only Cameo really pulled off. Those horn section lines inspired by James Brown’s bands are gone replaced by a synthesizer, in part as a new sound but in large part to get rid of those extra mouths to feed.4Squarebaby, do you remember seeing the video for Con Funk Shun’s “She’s a Star” in the band’s Unsung episode? If you do, did you think the song was kind of faceless or generic? If you don’t, click on this link and let me know what you think.
BTW, do think Unsung should profile Jeffrey Osborne and/or Peabo Bryson?
Jeffrey Osborne, even if he was part of the We Are The World super choir was essentially a second banana to Lionel Richie both with L.T.D. compared to The Commodore and as a solo artist seems like a perfect candidate. Just as Unsung compared Freddie Jackson to Luther Vandross.
Peabo Bryson would make a good candidate too. I don’t know if they have an add on story to sell beyond just a singer with some success. Peerhaps how they said Ray Parker Jr was known only for Ghostbusters and even is part of one hit wonder compilations but was so much more they can play that Bryson was known by most only for his duets on Disney movies.
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Maxirad
Guest
What did you think of the Midnight Star episode of Unsung, 4Squarebaby? At its peak, Midnight Star was a nine-piece band despite its obvious use of electronic stuff.It seems like a lot of the post funk era songs by funk groups which only Cameo really pulled off. Those horn section lines inspired by James Brown’s bands are gone replaced by a synthesizer, in part as a new sound but in large part to get rid of those extra mouths to feed.
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4Squarebaby
Guest
Well it does show one cause of the death of funk as an art form. Like a lot of other bands they were aging and once they were able to deliver love songs their audience grew from black folk from their teen years into their 30s to a more broad audience. But the new audience expecting love songs did come to see a way out there funk band with the outrageous stage costumes and shows.However with or without those costumes they were not the romantics that made to order groups like the Manhattans were for producing love songs.What did you think of the Midnight Star episode of Unsung, 4Squarebaby? At its peak, Midnight Star was a nine-piece band despite its obvious use of electronic stuff.
On there other flank those large 9 piece bands with horn sections two keyboardist two percussionist, back up singers and dancers… were expensive compared to two turntables and a microphone as hip hop took over the next generation coming up and the previous generation as funk bands like Midnight Star or Kool And the Gang stopped recording new funk infavor of a more broadly appealing mid tempo love song.
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Maxirad
Guest
4Squarebaby, do you think it would be a good idea for Unsung to profile Michael McDonald as a solo artist?
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4Squarebaby
Guest
As a Doobie Brother and a solo artist he would not come off as an unknown to the broader American and international community like Teena Marie did thus would not seem to fit the “unsung” filter. Some other show like the TV ONE network’s Life After or another network like Behind The Music might be a better fit.4Squarebaby, do you think it would be a good idea for Unsung to profile Michael McDonald as a solo artist?
But like being called “unsung” being told you are in the “after” phase of a career is something that has kept a few artist from cooperating with a profiling episode on them
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Maxirad
Guest
Keep in mind that The Doobie Brothers have already been profiled on Behind the Music. 4Squarebaby, do you know if Teena Marie (God rest her soul) did any projects with Michael McDonald? Mr. McDonald has worked with a lot of fellow recording artists over the decades.As a Doobie Brother and a solo artist he would not come off as an unknown to the broader American and international community like Teena Marie did thus would not seem to fit the “unsung” filter. Some other show like the TV ONE network’s Life After or another network like Behind The Music might be a better fit.
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