Benny Mardones, who had his hit single, "Into The Night" reach the US pop charts twice during his career, has passed away today at the age of seventy-three. The singer had been struggling with Parkinson's disease since 2000 and died from complications.
He was born Ruben Armand Mardones in Cleveland, Ohio. After his father, Ruben Sr. left the family to return home to Santiago, Chile when he was an infant, they moved on to Maryland. Mardones joined the Navy after high school and served during the Vietnam War. He ended up in New York City after he was discharged and decided to begin a career in music. Mardones wrote songs with Alan Miles and Bobby Tepper (who would co-write "Into The Night" with him) before getting signed to Private Stock Records as a singer and releasing his debut album, "Thank God for Girls" in 1978.
It would be Mardones' follow-up album, "Never Run, Never Hide" that would first feature his breakout hit, "Into The Night" reaching number eleven on the pop charts in 1980. Mardones fell in to serve drug addiction, causing him to be dropped from his record label. After the birth of his son, Michael in 1985, Mardones decided to seek help and got sober.
Mardones got back in the recording studio and released a self-titled album in 1989 which featured a new version of his classic single that was released and charted again to reach number twenty on the US pop chart. While he would never repeat this success, Mardones released four more studio albums with his last in 2015 with his band, The Hurricanes.
Moses Sumney is an exciting voice in pop music that many may not have heard of but definitely need to hear. The twenty-eight year old queer artist, who was Los Angeles-raised and currently living in Ashville, N.C., first came on the scene after self-recording an EP, "Mid-City Island" in 2014. Sumney's intimate, experimental sound lead to him releasing his full-length debut, "Aromanticism" three years later. The album went on to be enthusiastically praised and ended up on several Best Albums of 2017 lists including the New York Times. Now Sumney has dropped his follow-up, "Græ", a twenty-song collection that jams together sounds and musical genres to create what he describes as "a concept album about grayness" or taking something bland and injecting it with bold color. The record explores the idea of not being afraid of the complexities that shapes one's identity and embracing that. Here is the video for the single, "Cut Me" which was also directed by the musician:
Take a look at a few inventive music videos for some recent songs I really like:
And finally as a fun way to remember that just because the parades were cancelled doesn't mean we still cannot celebrate LGBTQ pride. Katy Perry has taken her lovely ballad, "Daisies", which she released in the middle of the pandemic, and given it a throbbing dance remix called "Can't Cancel Pride". And the very pregnant singer has made a music video for the song, filled with her trademark whacky sense of humor and the colors of the rainbow flag exploding all over the screen.
Teyana Taylor is an all-around entertainer who has been a model, dancer, choreographer, actress and currently focusing on a singing career. The twenty-nine year old, Harlem, NY native always had the dream and determined desire to be in show business since she was a child. And after years of hard work and making the right creative connections throughout her career, Taylor has just released her third album following the critically acclaimed 2018 Kanye West-produced record, "K.T.S.E" (which stands for "keep that same energy").
With "The Album" (which features one of the best covers I have seen in a long time), Taylor has taken full control after not being happy with some decisions that were made by the label on her previous project, particularly that there were only eight tracks made available. This latest collection is over an hour of sensual r&b and throbbing hip-hop that impressively features an all-star line-up of guests which include Rick Ross, Missy Elliott, Erykah Badu, Future, Quavo, Kehlani and the elusive Ms. Lauryn Hill who adds words of wisdom and positivity on "We Got Love". And the record is also a true family affair with Taylor's husband, former NBA player, Iman Shumpert who raps on "Wake Up Love" while their daughter, Junie is featured on "Come Back to Me".
Jim Croce was a talented singer and songwriter whose career had begun to take off with a number of popular hit songs before his voice was prematurely silenced due to a tragic plane crash in 1973.
He was born in South Philly, PA. to Italian immigrants from Southern Italy. Croce had not seriously considered a career in music until he attended college at Villanova University where he got involved with the men's chorus and became a student disc jockey. He traveled with the school band singing around Africa and Europe with the young man becoming hooked on performing.
Croce met and fell in love with Ingrid Jacobson, a fellow musician in 1963 and they married three years later. Using the $500 cash wedding gift from his parents, Croce recorded and self-released his debut album, "Facets" in 1966. They were hoping that this would prove to him that he should give up this dream of a music career and settle down. However, Croce sold every album of the five hundred copies pressed and even made a profit.
Croce began performing with his wife and they would sing covers from popular musicians before doing original material they wrote. The couple were signed to Capitol Records and recorded a self titled album in 1968. They were encouraged to give New York a try by one of the producers of their album and moved to the city. Jim and Ingrid traveled around the state to promote their record but became disillusioned with the business and the city.
They moved back to Philadelphia and tried to settle down. Croce took a series of odd jobs but after discovering they were expecting their first child, he became determined to have a career as a musician. With their son, Adrian James born in 1971 and Ingrid becoming a stay-at-home mom, Croce went back on the road to perform and sent demos to a producer friend in New York. This helped lead him to being signed to a three-album deal with ABC Records in 1972.
He released the first two albums; "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" in 1972 and "Life and Times" the following year. These albums yielded the top-twenty US Billboard Hot 100 singles, "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" which went to number one on the chart and got Croce nominated for two Grammy awards for Best Pop Male Vocalist and Record of the Year. He toured extensively across the globe and appeared on several television programs. But he grew very homesick and planed to slow down after the release of his next album, "I Got a Name".
On September 20, 1973, the singer had boarded a charted flight with his band at the airport in Natchitoches, LA. to continue the tour to promote the "Life and Times" album. During take-off, the plane clipped a tree at the end of the runway and it crashed, killing all on board. Jim Croce was only thirty years old. The posthumous release, "I Got a Name" would feature three hit singles, "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues", "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" and the title track.
I don't think the music of Jim Croce is receiving nearly enough attention today and this, in my very small way, is an attempt to place a spotlight back on this gifted musician and honor his legacy. Here are two of my favorite songs from this legendary performer:
Bonnie Pointer, one of the original members of the musical family group, The Pointer Sisters before venturing out as a solo artist, has passed away today at the age of sixty-nine. No cause of death has currently been disclosed.
Bonnie was one of six children born to the Reverend Elton and Sarah Pointer with sisters, Ruth, Anita and June and brothers, Fritz and Aaron in Oakland, CA. They were warned that r&b and rock music were the sounds of the devil and while the girls sang in church, they would secretly listen to pop music whenever they could. After graduating from high school, Bonnie and June (who passed away in 2006 after years of struggles with drug abuse) formed a professional musical act. Anita and Ruth would join later and become the Pointer Sisters. They would record background vocals and tour with several performers before the sisters were signed to Atlantic Records in 1971.
With their first single "Yes We Can Can" in 1973, The Pointer Sisters went on to great success with several songs reaching the pop, r&b and even the country charts with "Fairytale", written by Bonnie and Anita Pointer, which won the sisters a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group and later was covered by Elvis Presley.
In 1977, Bonnie left the group for a solo career. She was signed to Motown Records and recorded two albums which were largely disco versions of classic songs from the label. Two of Pointer's biggest hits were "Heaven Must Have Sent You", which reached No. 11 on Billboard Hot 100 chart and "Free Me from My Freedom" in 1978. She would occasionally reunite with her sisters in the 1990's and continued to perform as a solo performer with appearances in Las Vegas.
Forty years ago, disco ruled the airwaves and during this week Lipps, Inc.'s "Funkytown" was on top of the pop charts. This single, which reached number one in an impressive twenty-eight different countries, held this spot for four weeks in the US and remains one of the songs that best represents this dance craze.
This band was created by Steven Greenberg who was a Minnesota musician who wanted to jump on the disco bandwagon. He managed to get the attention of Casablanca Records with his song, "Rock It" which had been a local hit. Greenberg was signed to the label, the song was released nationally and reached the top twenty on the US Disco chart which prompted Casablanca to allow him to make an album. He assembled several session musicians and vocalist, Cynthia Johnson to make up Lipps, Inc.
"Funkytown", from the debut album, "Mouth To Mouth", was an instant hit and would be the group's only charting pop song in America. The only other significant hit for Lipps, Inc was a dance cover of Ace's 1975 hit, "How Long" which charted in a few countries including the US Dance. After Lipps Inc.'s third album "Designer Music", Johnson left the band and was replaced by Margie Cox and Melanie Rosales. There would be a final album, "4" in 1983 before Lipps, Inc. disbanded two years later. Let's get lost in the carefree time of dancing in a disco with "Funky Town":
The Australian rock band, Pseudo Echo did a cover of "Funkytown" in 1986. While it was intended to be more of a fun spoof, this group's version would also became a major international smash, reaching number six in America and number one in their native country, just like the original version. This would be Pseudo Echo's only significant hit and as a bonus, here is their dance-rock take of "Funkytown":
Chloe x Halle, the Atlanta-born, LA raised, Bailey sisters, began their music career covering pop songs on their YouTube channel as teenagers. Their beautifully blended voices caught the attention of Beyoncé after she heard their version of her song, "Pretty Hurts" and signed the girls to her label, Parkwood Entertainment. After releasing several EPs, Chloe x Halle delivered their debut album, "The Kids Are Alright" in 2018. The record earned the sisters their first Grammy Award nominations including Best New Artist. Their follow-up album, "Ungodly Hour" is scheduled to be released this month and the first single, "Do It" is out now. This is a great alt-r&b track and the music video for the song has inspired a viral TikTok dance challenge, helping make this the Bailey sisters' first charting song. Check it out:
