4/12/2023 0 Comments Lisa stansfieldLisa would enjoy a successful follow up with “This Is The Right Time” hitting number 13 in the UK and number 1 in the US dance charts, the first of many, and more crucially hitting the top 25 in the Hot 100 and despite being a white girl from Rochdale, Lisa also had a R&B hit in the US. Lisa would soon be cutting a solo path, although her band mates from Blue Zone would remain a vital component of her pop career – she married one of them! In early 1989 with kiss-curl intact (at one point as synonymous with Lisa as the eye patch was to Gabrielle) Lisa would enjoy a big hit with dance outfit Coldcut with “People Hold On”, hitting number 11 in the UK and a top ten dance hit in the US, where Lisa has enjoyed enormous success over the years. Blue Zone’s recordings have recently been re-released on CD. Big things were predicted for their single “On Fire” and it would have been a hit if it had not been withdrawn by the record company in the wake of the tragic Kings Cross Fire.Ī minor hit (number 54) was achieved in 1988 in America with the cover of “ Jackie” (originally recorded by Elisa “Who Found Who” Fiorillo) coincidentally written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly who wrote “Like A Virgin” and “I Drove All Night” to name but two. The group released a number of singles, but none hit the UK charts and neither did their album “Big Thing”. In 1984 she would start her pop career in the group, Blue Zone, although there had been some solo singles beforehand. It would be a few more years before Lisa (born 1966), from Rochdale, would come to my attention. I had a paper round so I never had the pleasure. Many of us grew up with Lisa in the mid 80s, but probably didn’t know it as she was a teenage presenter on Razzmatazz, an afternoon pop show. But nearly 30 years ago, Stansfield breezed into the urban pop world and into the homes of discerning soul fans with a sound that fooled some and pleased millions.She had a quarrel, but is this the right time to re-evaluate Lisa Stansfield, and what is she doing now? She tours occasionally in Europe, and released "Seven," her most recent album, in 2014. Toward the end of the '90s, Stansfield mostly receded from pop and turned her attention to acting. Subsequent follow-ups didn't quite capture the consistency of "Affection," save for Stansfield's 1997 self-titled album, on which she paid tribute to her musical idol White with a faithful cover of his 1974 classic, "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up." She eschewed the noisy, grating production styles so prevalent on the charts at the time for a relaxed, intimate approach that showcased her seductive vocals. "Affection," released when the artist was 24, is a stunningly mature debut, tasteful with arrangements echoing the best of disco and sophisticated soul, all polished by 1990s standards but transcendent of that period nonetheless. ![]() It wasn't until she embraced elements of the soul music she loved growing up, particularly the music of Barry White, that Stansfield found her groove. ![]() In 1980 at age 14, she won the top prize on "Search for a Star," a singing competition and an early incarnation of an English version of "American Idol." Throughout the decade, she released a handful of singles in various styles, including string-laden pop and slick New Wave, but nothing clicked. Then Stansfield appeared, with lipstick red as cinnamon drop candy and a hairstyle reminiscent of the Roaring '20s, singing of newfound love in a smoky voice backed by fluid strings and aggressive programmed rhythm tracks.īy the time she achieved international stardom at the dawn of the '90s, Stansfield had made a few false starts at a pop career in her native country. The scene then teemed with showy singers and pop video vixens whose vocals were mostly an afterthought. "Affection," the artist's debut, hit the streets in late 1989, thrilling critics and fans who appreciated traces of grit in polished urban music. Aunt Phyl got over her shock and later went out and had her hair cut low and slick with a part on the side, an imitation of Stansfield's style. But unlike the Motown singer-songwriter, Stansfield immediately achieved pop success. We hadn't heard such a smooth, unabashedly soulful sound from a white woman since the rise of Teena Marie a decade before. That year, Stansfield, a British singer-songwriter, scored an inescapable hit: "All Around the World." It topped the R&B chart, a rare feat for a white act. Yet relatives were still shocked by elements of blackness, or uncanny approximations of them, in the mainstream. The "Cosby Show," a black bourgeois fantasy and a Nielsen ratings smash, had been part of our weekly lineup for about five years, and my siblings, cousins and I had long attended integrated schools. It was 1990, and we were in the mid-South, scratching out a life among the ruins of dashed post-civil-rights-era dreams. ![]() Phyl snatched the remote off the coffee table and pumped up the TV's volume.
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