SARAH DASH (1945 - 2021)

Sarah Dash, one third of the soul-funk group, Labelle before venturing out as a solo artist, has sadly passed away on September 20th at the age of seventy-six. No cause of death has been revealed to date.

Born in Trenton, NJ (and one of thirteen children), Dash began singing in church where her father was a pastor. After moving to Philadelphia as a teen, she started to sing soul and doo-wop when she joined a local girl-group, The Ordettes with Sundray Tucker, Nona Hendryx and Patricia Holte. Tucker left the group and Cindy Birdsong replaced her with the act changing their name to The Blue Belles in 1962. The group went through another change after their management decided for lead singer, Holte to be renamed "Patti LaBelle", with the quartet becoming Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles. The group had a few minor pop and r&b hits with "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", "Down the Aisle" and covers of "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Danny Boy" and "Over the Rainbow".

After Birdsong went off to join the Supremes in 1967, the remaining members struggled before changing management (to English talent manager, Vicki Wickham), musical direction and their name to "LaBelle" in 1971. The group would become best known for their socially conscious songs and soulful renditions of rock songs by Cat Stevens, The Who and working with singer/songwriter, Laura Nyro on an album. While LaBelle enjoyed critical acclaim, they still failed to achieve commercial success until their 1974 album, "Nightbirds". The record featured the single, "Lady Marmalade" (produced by Allen Toussaint and Wickham) about a New Orleans sex worker that would become the group's biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Soul charts. LaBelle's subsequent albums did not receive much attention and after creative disagreements on material, the trio decided to go their separate ways in 1977.

During her time with Labelle, Dash had begun to sing more lead vocals and co-write songs. She released her self-titled debut album in 1978 and had a top-ten disco hit with "Sinner Man" with Dash later finding popularity in dance music. After developing a friendship with Keith Richards while Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles opened for his band, The Rolling Stones in the early 1960s, he asked her to tour with him and his side band, X-pensive Winos in 1988 and provide backing vocals on the Stones' 1989, "Steel Wheels" album. And after the occasional musical reunion over the years, LaBelle finally released another album, "Back To Now" in 2008, thirty-two years after their last recording.

2021 VMAS

It was forty years ago this year that MTV was launched and delivered to the world the music video, a perfect blend of energized visuals with hard-driving music that completely changed how we were exposed to new songs. I was drawn to the channel immediately as it combined my great love of cinema and music and I would spend as much time as I possibly could watching my MTV. There is no denying MTV helped create pop stars, aiding these musicians by promoting their songs through the rotation of their videos which also defined these performers with a distinctive image. Sure, some of these artists probably would have been fine without the music channel but there is no doubt that many were able to achieve incredible global success with the far-reaching assistance of MTV.

The 2021 Video Music Awards celebrates the legacy of MTV and while the channel doesn't really show these clips anymore, they still enthusiastically honor the artistry behind the music video. Held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Doja Cat was this year's host and while she might be one of the hottest pop acts at the moment, the singer didn't leave much of an impact. As a host, she was barely on stage, didn't say anything meaningful and never made much of an impression beyond her progressively weird outfits (which included some sort of worm-like contraption and a literal chair on her head). Even Madonna, who showed up just to kick off the show, was able to make more of a significant impression in her brief appearance where the still rebellious sixty-three year old highlighted her completely covered yet fully exposed, oddly enhanced backside.

And the Queen of Pop was just one of several musical artists from MTV's glory days that appeared throughout the evening to present awards. There was Madonna's "rival", Cyndi Lauper; Tommy Lee of the metal band, Motley Crew; AJ McLean of Backstreet Boys, Lance Bass of N'Sync and Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees who represented the "Boy Band" era and the still very witty, David Lee Roth of Van Halen. Busta Rhymes appeared on the show (along with his hype-man, Spliff Star) to do a melody of many of his hits from the '90's and '00's but the hip-hop legend was largely out-of-breath and low-energy.

Even though Nicki Minaj and Lorde (due to a "change in production elements") decided to drop out at the last moment, there were still plenty of big names that turned up live on stage. Some highlights included Justin Bieber appearing with The Kid Laroi to do their hit, "Stay" and then Biebs did his newest single, "Ghosts"; Ed Sheeran took to a stage at the Brooklyn Bridge Park to deliver his latest single, "Shivers"; lovebirds, Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes appeared separately to perform their songs, "Don't Go Yet" and "Summer of Love" respectively; and our host, Doja Cat had to get on stage, doing a mash-up of "Been Like This" and "You Right" while soaring high above the audience in the air. A few of my favorite appearances included a fierce Chlöe performing (without her sister, Halle) her first solo song, "Have Mercy"; Normani bringing her hit, "Wild Life" to life with a sizzling performance; Kacey Musgraves brought a touch of country-pop while encircled by a ring of fire with the title track of her new album, "Star-Crossed" and the always welcome, Alicia Keys delivering a new song and a tribute to New York City with "Empire State of Mind". And Global Icon Award winners, Foo Fighters did a roaring set of their songs that reminded us that rock & roll is far from dead.

As for the awards, Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo were the big winners of the night, each receiving three awards with Rodrigo winning Song of the Year for "Drivers License" and Best New Artist while Nas took the big Video of the Year award for his controversial clip, "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)". These young entertainers each had a moment on the show to make their presence felt with big, splashy production numbers surrounded by a small army of dancers. But this was were their inexperience as live performers came in to sharp focus. Nas and Rodrigo both looked slightly uncomfortable on stage while struggling to stand out from their massive productions.

This points out a glaring problem with some of today's musicians who manage to get a hit record yet never paid any dues by learning to perform their music in front of an audience. Lil Nas X and Ms Rodrigo are appealing pop stars and have made some great records but are they artists that will still be around in ten years? Five years? No one really knows as talent alone is not necessarily enough to keep people interested. Yet I think the era of "American Idol" insta-pop-stars has done a great disservice to young singers who think skipping much of the long, hard work involved and jumping straight to fame is enough to maintain a career.

HAVE MERCY

Chloe Bailey has been working with her younger sister, Halle professionally since they were young children. These self-taught musicians have released two albums to date, including "Ungodly Hour" last year and Chloe X Halle have achieved great success as performers. And while they have not broken-up, each sister is working on solo projects at the moment. Halle is focusing on an acting career, having been cast in the upcoming live-action version of the Disney musical, "The Little Mermaid" where she will play Ariel. Chloe is about to launch some music as a solo artist.

She has just dropped a new single called, "Have Mercy". From the first listen, it's quite clear how much Chloe's mentor, Beyoncé has been an inspiration to her sound and style but that's not to imply she hasn't added her own distinctive spin to the song. And the music video displays the twenty-three year old in a new light. In this hyper-sexualized clip, we see a lot of the singer's skin in revealing outfits and performing some highly provocative dance moves. Yet Chloe says it's all about female empowerment and displaying confidence. People will have differing opinions on the video but there is no denying that it is something to see and Chloe is certainly some one to watch.

STAR-CROSSED

With "Golden Hour", Kacey Musgraves pushed the idea of what a country music album could sound like, with psychedelic-pop, alt-rock and disco unexpectedly and delicately sprinkled throughout. This 2018 collection brought the Texas native new-found fame and critical acclaim, leading Musgraves to win four Grammy Awards including the prestigious Album of the Year. After all this great success, life should have been wonderful for the singer. But her almost four year marriage to fellow musician, Ruston Kelly came to an end last year. Musgraves carried on and tried to keep busy despite the forced isolation of the pandemic.

This has lead Musgraves to deliver her fifth studio album, "Star-Crossed" which she co-wrote and produced with Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian who both worked on "Golden Hour". She calls this record a "modern tragedy", shaping it like a three-act play with many of the songs unavoidably touching on themes of heartbreak and healing. And while "Star-Crossed" is not exactly country (citing Bill Withers, Daft Punk and Weezer as musical influences), it's not a complete abandonment like Taylor Swift's first foray in to pure pop with "1989".

The title track opener, driven by a sad guitar, touches directly on the end of her relationship, listing the process and ultimate acceptance. The rest of the album boldly experiments with a variety of sounds and beats while Musgraves even-handily discusses her experiences with love, disappointment and offers some hard-earned advice. "Star-Crossed" surprisingly closes with a cover of a Spanish-language ballad, "Gracias a la vida (Thanks to life)" written by the late, Chilean musician, Violeta Parra that begins like a grainy, vinyl record before further distorting the sound throughout the rest of the song.

"Star-Crossed" is an adventurous record that doesn't fit comfortably in to any specific genre by design. This will surely make some listeners very uncomfortable, particularly country music purists. But I think that's also what makes Musgraves' new collection one of the most exciting albums released so far this year. And there is a fifty-minute, mini-movie for the album, directed by Bardia Zeinali with camerawork by Oscar-nominated cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, that can be seen now exclusively on Paramount+.

ABBA: VOYAGE

Nobody really believed it would come to pass yet after almost forty years, the Swedish pop super-group, ABBA have reunited to release new music. This legendary band, made up of Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid ("Frida") Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog, and Björn Ulvaeus, have come back together for their ninth studio album which will be called "Voyage". The upcoming ten-track record (which is due out in November) makes one wonder what will ABBA in the 21st century sound like?

With two songs recently released, the answer is: exactly how ABBA has always sounded. "I Still Have Faith in You", a classic power-ballad lead by Frida, is a song about maintaining friendship in a relationship long after heartbreak and disappointment. And Agnetha takes us on the band's outre version of dance-pop with "Don't Shut Me Down".  Perhaps the rest of the album will feature an unexpected surprise or two. But maybe not. After all this time, there is no reason for ABBA to alter what has worked for them as their unique sound has been emulated by countless pop musicians ever since their heyday.

And to add to this exciting news, ABBA has announced that they will embark on a residency at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London beginning in May 2022. The ABBA Voyage concert will feature the musicians, who are all now in their 70's, performing as virtual avatars, depicting the group as they appeared back in 1979 with a live 10-piece band. I'm not sure how well this will actually work but it should certainly be interesting. In the meantime, have a listen to the the two new songs by ABBA: