RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

Steve Perry was the dynamic voice behind the popular 70's rock group, Journey who had such memorable hits like "Open Arms", "Who's Cryin' Now", "Any Way You Want It" and one of their most famous, "Don't Stop Believin'". But by 1998, Perry, who had suffered a hip injury and burned out by the pressures of fame,  decided to walk away from the band and music. Now after almost twenty-five years, Perry will be releasing his third solo album, "Traces" which is due out in October. He actually began work on this project back in 2015 and has co-written all of the songs. With two singles released, "No Erasin'" and "No More Cryin'", the sixty-nine year old singer's voice may no longer have the power of his younger days but the passion and deep emotion is still there.



And here is a bonus of two of my favorite songs that features the incredible voice of Steve Perry:





Here are a couple of recent songs I'm digging right now:






Two more great performers from the past have released new material. Janet Jackson dropped a surprise song, "Made For Now" that has a lively Afrocentric beat. It was inspired by her desire to put out a much needed dance tune about love and positivity and features reggaeton performer, Daddy Yankee to deliver a Latin flavor.



British blue-eyed soul singer, Lisa Stansfield is also back with new music. Her eighth studio album, "Deeper" was already released in Europe earlier this year and the fifty-two year old vocalist went on a successful tour to support the record. I'm excited to learn that Stansfield plans on hitting the road for a North American leg of her tour which should begin next month. The second single, "Never Ever" is a shimmering slice of disco heaven that is highlighted by Stansfield's sensuous voice.



And we finally have a proper tribute to Aretha Franklin which was performed during the recent BET Black Girls Rock telecast. Ledisi, Jazmine Sullivan, Cynthia Ervio, Stephanie Mills, Yolanda Adams and Fantasia are the powerhouse talent that showed respect to the Queen:

MY TUNE OF THE DAY

Lisa Stansfield is another British blue-eyed soul singer who first hit it big in the late 1980's.

She started off with the band, Blue Zone UK that consisted of Ian Devaney (who later became her husband) and Andy Morris. They released an album, "Big Thing" with the song, "Jackie", becoming a modest hit in 1987. Then Lisa was a guest vocalist for the group, Coldcut and recorded "People Hold On"  in 1989 with the song reaching number eleven on the UK singles chart and number six on the US Billboard Dance Chart.

It was at this time that Devaney and Morris decided to focus on Lisa as a solo act, so together they wrote and produced the album, "Affection" that was released in 1989. The first single, "All Around The World (Reamstered)" became a worldwide smash with the song reaching number one in eleven countries as well as reaching the top spot on the US r&b chart, making her only the third white female singer to ever achieve this.

Although none of subsequent albums were as big here in the US but I think "Affection" is a near perfect album with every song showcasing a confident and powerful soul vocalist.

One of my favorite songs from the album is, "You Can't Deny It (US Version - Remastered)" with it only being released as a single in this country, where it only reached number fourteen on the pop charts but became her second number one on the r&b charts.

"You Can't Deny It" - Lisa Stansfield (1990)

This is the music video for her first big hit: