The phone rings at exactly 2:30pm on a sunny L.A. afternoon, and for any interview to begin precisely on time is, to say the least, unusual. On the other end of the line is Reginald McArthur, lead singer of The Controllers, the Alabama-based group whose recording career began in 1975 with the ever-soulful "Somebody's Gotta Win, Somebody's Gotta Lose".
IF THEY aren't already, pretty soon Akron, Ohio based Heat Records will
become known as a company adept at turning out stunning ballads what
with first the superb album from Frederick, then the fine just The Two
Of Us single from Johnston Brown & Janice Dowlen and now a
consistent follow-up to Ivy's debut LP in 1984 with "Ivy II".
Master drummer/producer Norman Connors has been away from the recording scene for almost six years now but out of studio doesn't mean out work. The man who first brought the likes of Phyllis Hyman, Michael Henderson and Glenn Jones to public attention vai his mid-Seventies albums for Arista and Buddah is quick to point out that he's been performing pretty consistently throughout that time.
The group name Slave has been with us a long time but not necessarily so the new personnel and the new direction. However, latest recruit Keith Nash explains why the 'new' Slave are ready to carry on the tradition.
IF predictions were my line, Motown's newest signing Stacy Lattisaw
could, in time, become a serious threat to the likes of Teena Marie and
Janet Jackson. She was, to all intents and purposes, quite a surprising
addition to the Motown family because prior to this, very little had
been heard about the nineteen year old singer.
You know, it's been fourteen
years since "If Loving You Is Wrong" and something like nine years
since we last had an album from Luther Ingram.
And yet, after one listen to Luther's new album (rather unimaginatively
tagged "Luther Ingram"), it's as if the crooner has never been away.
But he has!
WHILE,
as a family group, Mason have that fact in common with the likes of the
Jacksons, Pointers and Isleys, they have one further common factor with
the Wilson Brothers, a.k.a. the Gap Band. Both families hail from the
unlikely city of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"AFTER
a series of near misses during his Arista years, 35-year-old {safm}Jeff
Lorber{/safm} has attained that elusive crossover hit first time out on
Warner
Brothers. "Facts Of Love" is the record and it not only provides Jeff
with a slab of gold, it also welcomes two exciting new vocal talents to
an unsuspecting world ? Karyn White and Michael Jeffries.