A u g u st 25, 1999
Page 3
Focus
, efore we’d even
'com pleted our
) first dem o for
Blessid Union O f Souls, I
was watching a rerun of
M*A*S*H,” recalls Eliot
Sloan, the band’s vocal
ist, “and you know how
Frank was always hitting
on Hot Lips Hoolihan?
Well, he was doing every
thing he could to get her
into his bunk, saying stuff
like ‘I need you, Marga
ret, I can't stand for us to
be ap art.’ T h en he
blurted out something
like ‘Be with me tonight,
Margaret. 1 need to feel
the blessed union of our
souls or I’m going to
break out in hives.’ I was
laughing,” says Sloan,
“but I was also thinking
‘what a cool name for a
band.’ And that’s where
w e u n i th e name from."
Once the band settled on a name
and secured a deal with SBK Records,
Blessid Union soon released its First
single, “I Believe.” With a little luck, “I
Believe" went to #1 and was the 4,h
Union ballad will find their heart con
tent by another one of the album s
standouts, “Standing At The Edge Of
The Earth." “Standing" came about
when the band was contacted by people
most played song of 1995. “Let Me Be
I he One" followed, pushing the band s
debut album HOME to Platinum sta
tus. Blessid’s sophomore album which
included the hit songs “I Wanna Be
There” and “Light In Your Eyes” also
fared surprisingly well at 400,000 units
- considering that EMI Records closed
their doors just Five weeks after the
who needed a title track for the movie
ARMAGEDDON The band went to
work on “Standing At The Edge Of
The Earth” immediately, but before
they could even submit the demo, word
album hit the streets.
The five man band from Cincin
nati who has survived the nail-biting
trauma of the record label shuffle,
being shifted from SBK to EMI and
then on to Capitol, is now gearing up
for their newly released album WALK
ING OFF THE BUZZ on Push/V2
Records. This project aptly showcases
the band’s range of talent and appeal
and is certain to prove that this time,
three really is a charm.
I"'
F
_
& V —
s li G r t n 'l I
H lo c c in
came down that the Aerosmith tune
had been chosen for the movie. It was
disappointment,” admits Sloan, “es
pecially when our song fit so well and
ARMAGEDDON turned out to be
such an awesome movie. But the situ
ation pushed us to write we would
never have written, so it worked out
anyway.”
“I know it’s show business,” says
Jeff Pence, lead guitarist, “and I guess
we should make it sound more dra
matic or romantic. But Blessid Union
is just a rootsy, midwestem band. We
know what we want to do. We want to
keep playing rock’n’roll to work hard.
S o that’s iust what we’re going to do.”
The SOS Band was originally founded at the end of
the 70's with eight members using the name Santa
Monica' A relative introduced them to the TABU record
label, which was interested but changed the band's name to
S.O.S., Sounds Of Success’. During the next 10 years
their association with such notables as Cherrell, Alexander
O'Neal, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Leon Silvers and others
resulted in a string of hits like Take your time (Do it right)', S O S ', 'Tell me if you still
care and Just Be Good to me
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th o m
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Cherrell
began her professional career as a back-up singer for Michael
Henderson She struck out on her own in a big way with the Jimmy-
Jam & Terry Lewis produced debut album 'Fragile Her second
album, High Priority' produced top-ten hits You Look Good to Me
Where Do I Run To and Saturday Love' which peaked at number
one She followed this with hit singles Affair' and Everything I Miss
at Home While at the pinnacle of her career her musical
producer/director was tragically killed, causing Cherrell to take a
i i c i r c p p a p to reflect and renew her spirit
Midnight Star
was formed at Kentucky State
University in 1976 as a self-contained party band in the P-
Funk, Earth, Wind & Fire mode, and quickly earned a
strong reputation throughout the world for live
performances A 1978 showcase in N Y City got them
signed to Solar Records and they proceeded to put out a
string of successful albums, capped by the certified-double-
platinum-plus release No Parking on the Dance Floor
Thev followed with such classics as Wet my Whistle', Freak-a-Zoid. Slow Jam,
Operator and Midas Touch' In 1988. 12 years after they began, Midnight Star again
« 1 n n t h o r h a r i q with the hit Don't Rock The Boat
Appearing in concert with The Dazz Band and Slave at
FOJtK FestS '9 3
Saturday August 28th, 1999
CM rS. (3>'Wig&'Hair
Two Shows - 6.30 and 10:00 pm - (First Show Is SOLD OUT!)
Qare Center
Roseland Theatre
707 TMT Tremont • Portland, G'R 97212
Tickets at all Fastixx Outlets - (503)-224-8499
Visit WWW OLDSCHOOLGROOVE COM for more information
(503) 281-6525
Profile by Aestudio Fine Graphics and B E A N - 503-817-2070
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