From 1966, please enjoy the great Marvin Gaye with Kim Weston , Marvin's Motown duet partner number two (after the ill-fated departure of Mary Wells to another label but before the tragic death of Tammi Terrell ) and their infernally catchy proof of the theorem that one is the loneliest number,"It Takes Two." As always, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first reader who gleans...
November is here so it's time for my penultimate legend. Next week will bring the long-hoped-for opportunity to see three Motown Divas: Mable John (the first woman ever signed to the label), Chris Clark and Brenda Holloway. This month I am celebrating a Diva who sadly died nearly 40 years ago. Tammi Terrell lived a life that sounds like the sort of plotline Halle Berry would give her eyeliner to play...
I've trawled through my photo albums again and picked out some pictures from gigs and festivals of the last few years. First, here's the wonderful Kim Weston pictured at the Jazz Cafe in 2006. Also at the Jazz Cafe, this is Mavis Staples, photographed in 2005. Pictured signing a photograph for me, this is blues singer Clara McDaniel, who appeared memorably at the soul/blues show at Blackheath in 1997....
With Hollywood legend Jane Russell providing the pre-dinner entertainment and The Temptations and Ben E King popping up to finish the evening in fine fashion, it was quite a night at Liverpool Cathedral last week. I've been remiss - although...
And so, the end is near... And once again, there were far too many great twos to just list ten. So here's twenty. Better still, I kept my own biases at bay (well, somewhat), and avoided filling this list with my favourite artists. Don't believe me? I could easily have given you 2s from Morrissey , Bruce , Springsteen (not, that's not a badly placed comma - there are two), Elvis Costello , Queen , and...
Wikipedia helpfully recalls that "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" was written by Elton John with Bernie Taupin under the punning pseudonym "Ann Orson" and "Carte Blanche." Elton performed the song as a duet with Kiki Dee, and had a huge smash with it in 1976. Wikipedia notes that whe song was intended as an affectionate pastiche of the Motown style, notably the various duets...
My reader (maybe the only one!) Private Beech suggested that I add a Great Duos to the recent blogs listing Great Female Singers and Great Girl Groups. Sounds like a good idea to me, so here is a list of the great duos of the 1950s and 1960s. I've included some duet pairings by established singers, but only where they made a real impact via one or two albums, not just one offs. To kick off, here are...
I've just watched Gladys Knight on Jools Holland's show on BBC2 and was in raptures. She's fantastic. To think that it's nearly 50 years since I first heard her sing with the Pips. Doesn't seem possible. Still. it made me think about the great female singers who I've had the pleasure of hearing and, in some cases, seeing over the years. So here is my top 50 female singers (and apologies to any I've...
More SingStar, more songs – Sony brings the classic pop and soul fusion to their popular karaoke game by collecting a handful of hit tracks from the Motown record label. Playstation’s sing-along franchise offers a number of hit songs to belt out, doling out points for staying in tune. The PS3 games offer big updates to [...]
While the producer and DJ Alex Paterson has been the core member of the ambient, electronic group The Orb for over 20 years, he has been ably seconded in his pioneering sonic endeavours by creative musicians such as Jimmy Cauty, Kim Weston (aka Thrash), Simon Phillips and Thomas Fehlmann. The tenure of engineer and producer Andy Hughes, between 1993 and 1999, coincided with The Orb signing to the...
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