I had a drink w/ Alyson Williams....
batmon
27,574 Posts
She sings with the Jazz ensemble at my local bar. I ran up on her and asked if she felt like she was given the props for being Proto Urban Soul when she was on Def Jam.
We discussed High Fashion, Def Jam, how she entered the game, and how shes the self proclaimed "Hook Girl".
She did the chorus for Basketball and I Want Action for Kurtis Blow and some other shit that i wasnt aware.
She was up in Def Jam for years before she was given a solo debut. I thought she was plucked outta nowhere to be the R&B representative for Def Jam.
She was a r&b singer that had a firm foot in the street. I dont recall any other sister doin it like that. They were either on some Gladys Knight synth breakdancer steez or was just a backup to a rapper iirc.
Yeah Stephanie Mills and them had street appreciated joints but they were from the outside workin in.
My next question will be about Tashan and thier UK exploits. I Need Your Lovin sounds like some Jazzy B shit.
We discussed High Fashion, Def Jam, how she entered the game, and how shes the self proclaimed "Hook Girl".
She did the chorus for Basketball and I Want Action for Kurtis Blow and some other shit that i wasnt aware.
She was up in Def Jam for years before she was given a solo debut. I thought she was plucked outta nowhere to be the R&B representative for Def Jam.
She was a r&b singer that had a firm foot in the street. I dont recall any other sister doin it like that. They were either on some Gladys Knight synth breakdancer steez or was just a backup to a rapper iirc.
Yeah Stephanie Mills and them had street appreciated joints but they were from the outside workin in.
My next question will be about Tashan and thier UK exploits. I Need Your Lovin sounds like some Jazzy B shit.
Comments
it was! the "remix" by Jazzie B and Nellee Hooper is the version everyone heard
i need this on a podcast. batmon runs up on folks in bars and asks them about their careers.
please to expound, if there was any interesting tidbit, even if it was about Meli'sa
Alyson Williams was the shit. I remember seeing her on that Def Jam soul tour in Manchester in about 86; her, Chuck Stanley, Tashan and Oran ' Juice' Jones (who'd just had a big pop hit with The Rain). All of them had had hot club records over the previous months, so the spot was packed. It was a good night.
I didn't know about Kurtis but she's on some Fat Boys records. That's Alyson and Fonda Rae singing on The Fat Boys Are Back.
I remember it well. Such an awful tune.
Do you remember that place that was near the bus station, over the road from Chinatown? I am sure I went there once to see Chad Jackson spin stuff like this BITD. Was a good night. Summat like "Legends" or "The Gallery" (the name was in neon script over the door).
It's not there now...
Yeah, that was Legend, although everyone called it Legends. I used to go to Greg Wilson's night there, and I was a regular at the all-nighters for quite a few years after that. The Gallery was on Peter Street - that's gone now as well. Peter Street is unrecognisable from my days in Manchester.
EDIT: Actually, what side of Chinatown do you mean? The Deansgate side or the Piccadilly side? If the former, then it's probably the Gallery after all. I think Legend may have just changed its name.
Let me clarify this drunk talk.
Raw comes out in '89 and Def Jam was "in full effect". I remember my buddy bringin this album home and lookin at it like Def Jam just trying to get some R&B money. I noticed that her make-up and clothing seemed to be a tad bit "aggressive" on top of her "posing" in an alley which was right up Def Jam's "alley".
Williams stated that Russell wanted her project to be dope, fresh, hype, etc with an edge. I dont recall seeing any of her peers embracing the "skreets" like that.
I ran thru the album last night and shit is just pretty much Post Modern Soul w/ three Hip Hoppity joints. The joint w/ the Kane Raw sample got played on the radio during the Rap session but didnt make much impact. That Jazzy B remix did along with the 'Urban' video. Im trying to rack my brain to think of R&B between 87-90 that wasnt New Jack Swing or Post Modern Soul. Maybe Jodi Whatley's Friends and shit.
She said they(Russell and them) didnt know that a total fusion was on the horizon with Mary J. Blige and Miche'le.Russell still thought Rap was gonna pass at that time. They would have marketed it harder if they had the vision.
But i think at the heart she is a gospel girl who happened to hang w/ Rap cats. "We wasnt callin it Hip Hop then..."
Her generation was still rooted in the old school and wasnt THINKING as a Hip Hopper. Mary and them from the next gen had soaked up way more Hip Hop by the time their spacecraft landed.