Vanity (born Denise Katrina Matthews) died Monday at 57 from kidney failure suffered as a result of crack cocaine addiction in the 1990s. She was discovered by Prince, who gave her a new moniker and a group centered around her, Vanity 6. She later went solo and later became a born-again Christian after kicking her drug addiction. In tribute, here she is on American Bandstand in April 1986 performing two superb songs from her album Skin on Skin. One of them, "Under the Influence," was her biggest hit, peaking at #56 in May 1986. It was also featured in the "Great Lost '80s Singles" list in my book Cannibals and Vixens on the River Styx. (Useless Trivia: the track was co-written by Robbie Nevil, whose biggest hit, "C'est La Vie," was also released that year.) Get animal.
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Let's look at what songs were peaking on the singles chart 35 years ago today on February 7, 1981. (And to give you an idea how long ago this was, Alicia Keys was only 2 weeks old on this date.) #1 - "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang. The all-time party anthem. #5 - "Passion' by Rod Stewart. One of my favorite Rod Stewart songs because of its arrangement and the way it builds up, cools down and then heats up again at the end. I remember seeing this video on Solid Gold when I was 5. Pre-MTV times. And to date it further, there's that Jimmy Carter reference on the fade-out. #14 - "Miss Sun" by Boz Scaggs. Not one of my favorites from Boz's catalogue because of the dopey lyrics, but otherwise a pleasant tune. #76 - "Wynken, Blynken & Nod" by Doobie Brothers. And for your true oddity, here we have a group named after a marijuana joint singing a children's lullaby from a Sesame Street album. This cover of a folk song that originally charted at #73 for Carly and Lucy Simon in 1964 probably wouldn't even have made it if the Doobies weren't mega-hot at time, but as the tune was competing with the band's own releases from its One Step Closer album, it lost. Once you can get your mind past the oddity of the whole endeavor, the instrumentation is pretty. Maybe this is what Alicia Keys' mother sang her to sleep with.
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Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
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