Page B3
AUGUST 19, 1998
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ENTERTAINMENT
M A M LOU LORD
R&B Soulstress Michel’le
R&B Soulstress M ichei’le Made
A Return Performance On August 2
Michel ’ le, the cherished artist who
dazzled the universe with powerful
R&B vocals and massive hits, per
formed at the NAACP “Fighters
Grand Ball” on August 2 at the lavish
Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. This was
Michel’le’s first liveperformance pre
viewing new material form her long-
awaited Death Row' Records release.
Hung Jury. Greg Rose, formerly of
Motown act The Rose Brothers, also
perform ed.
M ichelTe becam e part o f the
Death Row fam ily in the m id -9 0 ’s
and has spent her time w riting and
recording the twelve tracks on Hung
Jury. In a classic R&B style in
spired by legends such as Patti
LaBelleand Anita Baker, MichelTe
takes us on a sw eet and soulful
journ ey through her life with a mix
o f slow, sexy and mid-tempo gems.
H u n g J u r y w as p ro d u c e d by
R e g in a ld D e v e ll M o o re and
M ichelTe with Executive Producer
SugeK night. P rio rto th is,th eso u l-
ful songstress made her first mark
as an artist on Eazy E ’s Ruthless
Records w ith tw o gold singles,
“N icety” and “No More Lies,” the
platinum single “Som ething In My
H eart,” and the nearly double plati
num album M ichel le.
Michel'le
Tami Davis
*Tmalittlescared.alittlenervous..It’s
up to the public, and of course I want
them to say I like her, I like the way she
sings, she makes me feel something.”
Tami Davis, elegant yet earthy, a
combination do wn-lwmesoul sister and
sophisticated lady, is talking about her
solo debut. As she sits, nibbling on a
much-needed bit of lunch at a West
Hollywood hotel, she is expressing an
understandable mixtureofchild-like an
ticipation and trepidation. Although
she’s worked with a number of high
prufile artists throughout her burgeon-
ing career, this is, after all. her own album.
Her very first And she’s excited.
An admitted night-bird, Davis has
been awaking early these days to meet
the demands of being a solo recording
artist. Today sheisreflectingon what if s
taken to get to this point as she follows
in tire great tradition of stars whose rise
to fame began on the backbites. Mariah
Carey, Sheryl Crow, Luther Vandross,
PanlaCole.CeCePenrnston,tnnamebut
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Even w ith her m ajor debut and
lots o f a tte n tio n from th e lik e s
o f R o llin g S io n e and S p in , you
can still fin d M ary L ou L ord
sin g in g and p la y in g h e r b a t
te re d M a rtin in h e r f a v o r ite
v en u e, the su b w a y -- a p la c e
w h ere, as sh e sin g s in h e r song
o f the sam e n a m e , “ th e r e ’s no
sun and no s ta r lig h t to sh in e on
the r a ils ...th e w h e e ls o f re a lity
sc reech dow n th e tr a c k .” N o th
ing if not re a l, M ary L ou r e g u
la rly fin d s h e r s e lf on th e p la t
form o f P ark S tre e t S ta tio n in
B o sto n , o b liv io u s to th e sm ell
o f d ie se l h a n g in g in th e a ir, her
a s to n is h in g ly in tim a te v o ic e
c u ttin g th ro u g h th e h iss o f the
tra in s and r e a c h in g in to th e
rag g ed so u ls o f d o w n -u n d e r,
h u rrie d and so m e tim e s h a rrie d
com m uters.
As a k id in S a le m , M A , by far
the y o u n g e st o f fiv e c h ild re n ,
she w as left to th e la c k a d a is ic a l
s u p e rv isio n o f h er te e n a g e s ib
lin g s w h ile h e r p a re n ts w o rk e d
the n ig h t s h ift. “ 1 w as a lo n e to o
m u c h ,” she sa y s now . “ T h e re
w as to o m uch tim e to th in k , so
I ’d ju s t liste n to m u sic to feel
b e tte r .” She c e m e n te d h e r r e la
tio n sh ip to m u sic at an e a rly
age, s ta rtin g as a te e n a g e DJ at
the lo cal c o lle g e ra d io sta tio n .
She q u it a fte r th e y d is c o v e re d
s h e w a s n ’ t f o l l o w i n g th e
p la y list. H er re sp o n se ? “ I d o n ’t
w an t to sp in g*d d a * n v in y l
any w ay . 1 w a n t to m ake w h a t’s
on it! ” A fte r a stin t at B o s to n ’s
B erklee S chool o f M usic she b e
cam e a tir e le s s and le g e n d a ry
p e rfo rm e r in H a rv a rd S q u a re ,
and at su b w a y sto p s th r o u g h
o u t B o sto n a n d C a m b r id g e ,
Mary Lou Lord
e v e n tu a lly e x p a n d in g her te r
rito r y to in c lu d e a few lo cal
c lu b s , and s e llin g h om em ade
ta p e a lo n g th e w ay.
L i s t e n i n g to M a ry L o u ,
w h e th e r from th e c o m fo rt o f
y o u r c o u ch o r le a n in g a g a in st a
g ird e r in th e su b w a y , you know
im m e d ia te ly th a t y o u ’re the r e
c ip ie n t o f a g ift. M ary L ou is
o n e o f th o se ra re a rtis ts w ho
can sp eak to you in a v o ic e th a t
both g iv es c o m fo rt and r e g is
ters pain. She know s that so lace
and pleasure com e from doing
the real w ork and follow ing the
au th en tic ro ute -- a path that
tr a c k s p a s s io n a n d m o v e s
through love like the 5:15 that
hurtles into the dirty subw ay sta
tion w here M ary Lou still, to this
day, plays her heart out.
a few, all kick started their enviable
careers as background vocalists. Like
her predecessors, Davis’ special talent
shone through so bright, it was clear
early on that her days asabackupsinger
fbrthelikesofWhitneyHouston,Celine
Dion, ArethaFranklinandToni Braxton
were going to be numbered. “I’ve been
rcallylucky/’shehumbleackrKJwIcdges.
“People-other artists, producers. indus
try types-have believed in me from the
start. And now that I ’ve made the record
I wanted to make,I’m kindofbanngmy
soul. Putting it out there for die rest of
the world.”
B E R R Y
V IV IC A A . F O X
LELA R O O H O N
LA R EN Z TATE
•
Based on a true story o l love, music and money
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