Following his recent foray into French pop, the Lebanese-American singer, Mika is back with an upcoming English-language album, "Hyperlove" and the second single, "Immortal Love"; The Swedish pop artist, Robyn has dropped another single, "Talk To Me" from her forthcoming ninth studio album, "Sexistential"; Ari Lennox has another song, "Twin Flame" that will be on the long awaited third album from the r&b vocalist, "Vacancy"; and PinkPantheress teams with Zara Larsson for a new version of the single, "Stateside" from her remix album, "Fancy Some More?":
The legendary Dolly Parton has rounded up fellow artists, Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Queen Latifah, and Reba McEntire, with a new recording of her 1977 song, "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" to raise money for pediatric cancer research at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital in Nashville. Parton had explained that she had originally written this as a "song of deliverance" when she was dealing with the pain from her break with longtime musical and business partner Porter Wagoner in 1974 in order to further her career. "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" has gone on to be covered by many artists since then including Parton herself who rerecorded this inspirational song two previous times before this recent version.
And finally, I would like to pay tribute to a couple of musicians we lost recently: Carl Carlton, a soul music hit maker, died on December 13th. The Detroit native had been recovering from a stroke he had in 2019. Carlton was seventy-three. He began his professional career as child, first performing under the name "Little" Carl Carlton, a publicity stunt that brought attention to Stevie Wonder who had achieved success around this time. After signing to a recording label, Carlton released some singles with the song, "Competition Ain't Nothing", becoming popular in the UK northern soul scene in 1968.
But his real breakthrough would come six years later with his version of "Everlasting Love" (which was first a hit for Robert Knight in 1967) reaching number eleven on the Billboard R&B chart and number four on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. A royalty dispute with his new label, ABC Records would prevent Carlton from recording for a period of time. He would join a new label and find his way back on the charts in 1981 with the single, "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)". This popular funk song would reach number two on the r&b chart, earn Carlton a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Male Vocal Performance and continue to be a staple for soundtracks and music sampling.
Chris Rea, the British blues rocker, passed away on December 22nd at the age of seventy-four. He had been struggling with several health issues since the turn of the century which included pancreatic cancer, diabetes and a stroke in 2016. Born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, Rea bought his first guitar in his early twenties and self taught himself how to play. A fan of the blues and American rockers, Rea became a member of the rock group, Magdalene and would begin singing after the vocalist failed to show for a gig. In 1973, Rea went on to form his own band which lead to him getting signed as a solo artist to Magnet Records. His debut album, "Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?" was released in 1978. The first single, "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" was only a minor hit in the UK but went on to reach number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earning him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Rea would go on find greater success in his native country, recording twenty-five studio albums throughout his career with several charting songs on the UK pop chart. But Rea would never tour in North America, preferring to remain closer to his family than away from them for months at a time.
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