.....Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinéad O'Connor. Written by Prince and originally recorded by his project The Family in 1985, Nothing Compares 2 U is Sinéad's biggest hit on the Hot 100, reaching #1 on April 21, 1990 and remaining in the pole position for four weeks. Sinéad's take on the song related to her mother's death and gave the song ever more feeling and longing than the original. The video for the song became iconic. Mostly shot in close-up on O'Connor's face, the clip went into heavy rotation on MTV and ended up winning Video of the Year at the MTV VMA's over Madonna's Vogue, which of course if absolute rubbish, but whattayagonnado? Nothing also was the third biggest song of 1990 on the Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards. So here is the #1 song from this day 25 years ago, Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinéad O'Connor.
Showing posts with label The Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Family. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
THE #1 SONG 25 YEARS AGO TODAY WAS....
.....Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinéad O'Connor. Written by Prince and originally recorded by his project The Family in 1985, Nothing Compares 2 U is Sinéad's biggest hit on the Hot 100, reaching #1 on April 21, 1990 and remaining in the pole position for four weeks. Sinéad's take on the song related to her mother's death and gave the song ever more feeling and longing than the original. The video for the song became iconic. Mostly shot in close-up on O'Connor's face, the clip went into heavy rotation on MTV and ended up winning Video of the Year at the MTV VMA's over Madonna's Vogue, which of course if absolute rubbish, but whattayagonnado? Nothing also was the third biggest song of 1990 on the Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards. So here is the #1 song from this day 25 years ago, Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinéad O'Connor.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
FLASHBACK: MY MUSIC IN 1985: OCTOBER 20, 1985
30. You Are My Lady - Freddie Jackson
29. Lover Come Back To Me - Dead or Alive
28. Pop Life - Prince & The Revolution
27. And We Danced - The Hooters
26. Boy In the Box - Corey Hart
25. Dress You Up - Madonna
24. Party All the Time - Eddie Murphy
23. Who's Zoomin' Who - Aretha Franklin
22. Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves - Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin
21. Screams of Passion - The Family
20. One of the Living - Tina Turner
19. A Love Bizarre - Sheila E. ft. Prince
18. America - Prince & The Revolution
17. Separate Lives - Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
16. Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
15. Oh Sheila - Ready for the World
14. Oak Tree - Morris Day
13. Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire - David Foster
12. Sister Fate - Sheila E.
11. There Must Be An Angel (Playing with My Heart) - Eurythmics
10. I Wonder If I Take You Home - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force
09. You Belong to the City - Glenn Frey
08. Never - Heart
07. Be Near Me - ABC
06. Miami Vice Theme - Jan Hammer
05. Lay Your Hands On Me - Thompson Twins
04. I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down - Paul Young
03. We Built This City - Starship
02. Head Over Heals - Tears for Fears
01. Saving All My Love For You - Whitney Houston
Thursday, October 27, 2011
REVIEW: NEW MUSIC FROM FDELUXE (AKA "THE FAMILY") AFTER 26 YEARS - GASLIGHT
When I found out that The Family, a group 
Prince had put together who released one single album in 1985, was regrouping for an album, I was beyond excited. Uncontrollably excited. Super excited. Got it? The group's music on their self-titled debut album was written almost entirely by Prince, giving credit to various band members as he usually did, and St. Paul (Peterson) and Susannah Melvoin, twin sister of Revolution member Wendy and Prince's fiance at the time, had their voices dubbed in over Prince's original vocals. None of this takes away from the fact the the album The Family was one of THE cornerstones of the Minneapolis sound that Prince pioneered in the 80s. The group was made up of St. Paul on lead vocals, who had formerly been a member of The Time, Susannah Melvoin on backup vocals, Jellybean Johnson and Jerome Benton, also formerly of The Time, and Eric Leeds on horns. The album contains the very 
first appearance of the song Nothing Compares 2 U, which of course was later made famous by Sinead O'Connor. One single was released, The Screams of Passion, which was a modest R&B hit. St. Paul quickly became disillusioned with the direction of the band and his lack of control and left soon after the release of the album. Prince dissolved the band and took it's remaining members into The Revolution. Susannah Melvoin went on to sing backup for artists like Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Mike Oldfield, among others, and has performed vocals on Wendy & Lisa's albums. As a songwriter, she has co-written songs performed by Madonna (Candy Perfume Girl from Ray of Light) and Eric Clapton, among others. St. Paul released his debut album in 1986 and went on to perform with and produce tracks for Oleta Adams, toured as a memeber of the Steve Miller Band, and opened for Donny Osmond and kept quite a following over the years. Flash forward 26 years. The band, probably due to Prince, is unable to use the name "The Family" so they go with fDeluxe and here we are at the LONG overdue release of their followup album, Gaslight. Whew. Lot's of history. Well, turns out fDeluxe is no mere protege to The Purple One. Gaslight is a funky, sexy album full of would-be hits (if they were all young and spry..DAMN AGEISM!!) and a wonderfully updated Min
neapolis sound. There is not one song on here that doesn't have an amazing melody and expert musicianship. Better yet, Susannah FINALLY gets her turn on lead vocals quite a bit, and it's pure sex and perfection. The gorgeous Lover, co-written by Wendy Melvoin, and Beautiful You fit perfectly with all the sensual ballads produced by Prince in his heyday. Jams like Gaslight and @8, featuring the incredible horns of Eric Leeds, are fresh Jazz/Funk instant classics, while Over the Canyon and Sanctified rock and roll in a dreamy mix of guitars and strings. Another standout is When You Go, which has St. Paul and Susannah's co-lead vocals presented raw and tender over a beautiful harp accompaniment. I have to say, this album is even more diverse and magical than their Prince-produced work in 1985. It's good to know their years of experience and talent have only added to the epic, legendary Minneapolis sound. Buy this album on iTunes or from the fDeluxe website. It's really grownup, sexy and beautiful. I can't recommend it enough. But I'm trying. Here is a preview, trailer for Gaslight from their youtube chanel with snippets of Sanctified and my fave Lover. my favorite track from the album, Lover. Enjoy and, seriously, GET THIS RECORD!!
Prince had put together who released one single album in 1985, was regrouping for an album, I was beyond excited. Uncontrollably excited. Super excited. Got it? The group's music on their self-titled debut album was written almost entirely by Prince, giving credit to various band members as he usually did, and St. Paul (Peterson) and Susannah Melvoin, twin sister of Revolution member Wendy and Prince's fiance at the time, had their voices dubbed in over Prince's original vocals. None of this takes away from the fact the the album The Family was one of THE cornerstones of the Minneapolis sound that Prince pioneered in the 80s. The group was made up of St. Paul on lead vocals, who had formerly been a member of The Time, Susannah Melvoin on backup vocals, Jellybean Johnson and Jerome Benton, also formerly of The Time, and Eric Leeds on horns. The album contains the very 
first appearance of the song Nothing Compares 2 U, which of course was later made famous by Sinead O'Connor. One single was released, The Screams of Passion, which was a modest R&B hit. St. Paul quickly became disillusioned with the direction of the band and his lack of control and left soon after the release of the album. Prince dissolved the band and took it's remaining members into The Revolution. Susannah Melvoin went on to sing backup for artists like Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Mike Oldfield, among others, and has performed vocals on Wendy & Lisa's albums. As a songwriter, she has co-written songs performed by Madonna (Candy Perfume Girl from Ray of Light) and Eric Clapton, among others. St. Paul released his debut album in 1986 and went on to perform with and produce tracks for Oleta Adams, toured as a memeber of the Steve Miller Band, and opened for Donny Osmond and kept quite a following over the years. Flash forward 26 years. The band, probably due to Prince, is unable to use the name "The Family" so they go with fDeluxe and here we are at the LONG overdue release of their followup album, Gaslight. Whew. Lot's of history. Well, turns out fDeluxe is no mere protege to The Purple One. Gaslight is a funky, sexy album full of would-be hits (if they were all young and spry..DAMN AGEISM!!) and a wonderfully updated Min
neapolis sound. There is not one song on here that doesn't have an amazing melody and expert musicianship. Better yet, Susannah FINALLY gets her turn on lead vocals quite a bit, and it's pure sex and perfection. The gorgeous Lover, co-written by Wendy Melvoin, and Beautiful You fit perfectly with all the sensual ballads produced by Prince in his heyday. Jams like Gaslight and @8, featuring the incredible horns of Eric Leeds, are fresh Jazz/Funk instant classics, while Over the Canyon and Sanctified rock and roll in a dreamy mix of guitars and strings. Another standout is When You Go, which has St. Paul and Susannah's co-lead vocals presented raw and tender over a beautiful harp accompaniment. I have to say, this album is even more diverse and magical than their Prince-produced work in 1985. It's good to know their years of experience and talent have only added to the epic, legendary Minneapolis sound. Buy this album on iTunes or from the fDeluxe website. It's really grownup, sexy and beautiful. I can't recommend it enough. But I'm trying. Here is Wednesday, August 26, 2009
THE FAMILY become FDELUXE
In 1985, Prince created a side project that many of his fans believe was his most successful, albeit shortlived, of his many 80s experiments. The Family was formed from members of the Time after Morris Day's exit from that band. Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton and Paul Peterson all joined, with Paul being the lead singer. Susannah Melvoin, Prince's fiance at the time and twin sister of his AMAZY guitarist Wendy, also joined as backup singer and keyboardist. Eric Leeds rounded out the group on sax. The band released only one album and one single and video for
"The Screams of Passion" before Paul, remaned St. Paul by Prince, decided Prince had too much control over the music and left, thus ending the group. Their album is REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD THOUGH!!! It is especially noteworthy for containing the first recorded version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", later made famous by Sinead O'Connor. The songs are funky and it's all very Prince-ish. NOW, fast forward some 24 years, and the Family are putting out more music, but this time as fdeluxe. Name change for a new start. They have a rough mix of a new song identified as "@8" (you can download it for free here) and it's pretty good and you can hear the influence from their earlier work, which is a great thing. Anyway, if you like Prince (Old Prince) check it out. Here is what Susannah and St. Paul look like now.
"The Screams of Passion" before Paul, remaned St. Paul by Prince, decided Prince had too much control over the music and left, thus ending the group. Their album is REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD THOUGH!!! It is especially noteworthy for containing the first recorded version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", later made famous by Sinead O'Connor. The songs are funky and it's all very Prince-ish. NOW, fast forward some 24 years, and the Family are putting out more music, but this time as fdeluxe. Name change for a new start. They have a rough mix of a new song identified as "@8" (you can download it for free here) and it's pretty good and you can hear the influence from their earlier work, which is a great thing. Anyway, if you like Prince (Old Prince) check it out. Here is what Susannah and St. Paul look like now.
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