Sunday September 15th, 2002
New CD's this week:
- Gloria Gaynor – I wish you love: New album from “The queen of disco”
Short news stories this week:
Mariah Carey Makes It 'Through The Rain'
The first single released from Mariah
Carey's as-yet-untitled new MonarC
Music/Island Records studio album will be "Through The Rain." The
soaring ballad was produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and mixed by
Steve Hodge and Alex Richbourgh at Flyte Tyme Studios. The track is due
to go to radio September 27, but New York's Z100 (WHTZ) has already
aired it.
Thematically, Carey's comeback ballad is slightly reminiscent of Barry
Manilow's 1981 top-10 single, "I Made It Through The Rain," but that's
pretty much where any comparison with Manilow ends. Carey's vocals shine
though in the hook of the song, where she proclaims, "I can make it
through the rain/I can stand up once again on my own/And I know that I'm
strong enough to mend/And every time I feel afraid/I hold tighter to my
faith/And I live one more day/And I make it through the rain."
Carey's full-length album is scheduled for release on December 10.
Kelly Rowland's 'Stole' To Come In Rock And Urban Versions
Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland is
scheduled to release her single
"Stole" on October 2. According to Damon Elliott, who produced an
urban
mix of the song, the track written by Steve Kipner will be available in
R&B and rock formats.
Elliott, who has also worked with Beyonce, Pink, and Mya, told LAUNCH
that the subject matter of "Stole" is heart-wrenching. "Kelly's
single
is a song called 'Stole.' It's deep. It's about these kids who had a
promising life ahead of them but their life was stole, basically. And
the lyrics are just out of here, man," he said. "It's a deep record. I
think it's going to touch a lot of people."
Rowland's duet with Nelly, "Dilemma," the Number One song in the
country, will also appear on her solo debut, Simply Deep, due out
October 22 on Music World/Columbia.
Elliott, who is also the son of famed singer Dionne Warwick, has also
produced three other songs for Simply Deep.
Ashanti, Irv Gotti Turn To Nia Long For 'Baby' Help
Silver screen dimepiece Nia Long lent a
hand to Ashanti last week in Los
Angeles - not only did the co-star of such films as "Big Momma's
House"
and "Love Jones" act in scenes for the Murder Inc. princess' new
video,
"Baby," she also dictated how the shots should be filmed.
Long shared directing duties with Murder Inc. boss Irv Gotti for the
video, in which she plays a woman who is so lovestruck she can't sleep
and leaves her home in the middle of the night to confront the man of
her dreams. Flashbacks are shown throughout the clip as precursors to
their relationship. The song's star, Ashanti, isn't left out, though:
She gets to display her performance skills in the video.
Off the TV screen, Ashanti will be showing off plenty of routines as
well. The Murder Inc. camp will be heading out of the country in the
next few weeks for an international tour. Once she gets off the road,
the Glen Cove, New York, native will concentrate on her next release.
"We're gonna be going back into the lab, probably at the end of the year
or top of next year," she said last month during rehearsals for the MTV
Video Music Awards. "We're gonna be doing a world tour overseas and my
book is coming out so after the holidays, back into the lab."
Monica Says She's 'Too Hood' For The Nice Guys
The good-girl comparisons between Monica
and Brandy will officially stop
once Monica's new single "Too Hood" hits the airwaves. While Brandy is
adjusting to her new life as a wife and mother, Monica is pledging her
allegiance to men of the thug persuasion in the Jermaine Dupri-produced
song.
Due to her rearing in the inner city, Monica proclaims that she does not
like guys who are "too nice" and "too pretty." In one verse,
she sings,
"It's not ya fault/I'm from the hood/I love 'em bad/And hate 'em
good."
She adds that the only kind of guys who can handle her are ones "all
tatted out" or "faded up" with careless attitudes. But she notes
that
she's not looking for wannabes who brag about being gangsters and have
diamonds in their teeth.
A spokesperson for Monica was unable to confirm the song's radio impact
date by press time.
"Too Hood" is the second single from Monica's album, All Eyez On Me,
due
out November 19 on J Records. The title track, which is also the first
single, reached Number 56 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles &
Tracks chart last week.
Dave Hollister Thinks Label Switch Will Take Him To Another Level
R&B singer Dave Hollister will release
his third solo album and his
Motown Records debut, Things In The Game Done Changed, on October 15.
The singer released two gold-certified albums while recording for
DreamWorks Records--1999's Ghetto Hymns and 2000's Chicago '85...The
Movie--but Hollister believes signing with Motown will allow him to
reach the platinum status that has so far eluded him.
Hollister recently explained why he parted ways with DreamWorks Records:
"Well, I left DreamWorks because...they're wack, you know what I mean?
I'm just a straight shooter, man, so you know, that's the real reason I
left, 'cause they wack, man. They don't know what to do with R&B music
and I ain't got time to sit there for them to figure it out, you know
what I mean? So that being said, I had to go somewhere else."
Earth, Wind & Fire Returns To The Road For Select Dates
Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) has returned
to the road after taking a brief
hiatus so that lead singer Philip Bailey could promote his recently
released Soul On Jazz album. After playing two dates this weekend, EWF's
next gig is Tuesday (September 10) at the Western Washington Fair in
Puyallup, Washington.
As Bailey returns to the group, original member Maurice White continues
to stay at home as he continues his fight against Parkinson's disease.
Bailey was asked forr an update on White's health: "He's doing really
good. He is singing so much on this new record that we have that he may
have to start packing suitcases, but he's doing really well. I would say
that if there's any such thing as that particular disease, Parkinson's,
being in remission, I would say it's that because he actually has no
visible signs at this point of any of the tremors or anything like that.
His energy's up, and he's doing well."