"Somewhere Phyllis Hyman Is Screaming..."

[markydefad]

I ran across an article in LA Weekly titled "The Year In Music, wherein music critic Ernest Hardy writes:



"Hype is the backbone of the modern music industry, and this year saw that spine contorted into ridiculous shapes, cracking beneath the weight of true creativity. Somewhere Phyllis Hyman is screaming "Alicia Fucking Keys?!?!" "



Now, if you don't get it--let me explain. Phyllis Hyman was a wonderful singer who recorded lots of terrific material and although she placed 26 records on the R&B charts from 1976-1998 (only 4 in the top 10, however), she NEVER ONCE placed a record in the Top 100 of the Pop Chart. Her best efforts: "You Know How To Love Me" peaked at 101!; "Betcha By Golly Wow" peaked at 102!; and "Loving You, Losing You" peaked at 103!



Sadly, in June 1995, Phyllis took her life by overdosing on pills. It was just a week before her 45th birthday and she was scheduled to appear at the Apollo theater later that evening.



The reason? The world can only speculate about whether coming so close to great commercial success without ever reaching it contributed to Hyman's troubled mind during the last two decade's of her life.



In contrast, Alicia Keys, a Clive Davis protege, (ironically as was Phyllis at Arista), because of 200l promotional hype debuts her first effort at #1 her first week out of the gate. Now, I've got nothing against Alicia--I think she's very talented. Apparently, however, a critical backlash has started against her because critic's feel her album doesn't justify all the media acclaim and more than 3 million in sales.



If you don't know Phyllis's work, might I suggest a great place to start is a 2 CD set "The Legacy Of Phyllis Hyman" on Arista.. They got this one right--including all the essential tracks and the extended versions of the dance cuts.



Sadly, there are many more strikingly talented artists who never achieved the chart success they deserved. Feel free to add your comments about Phyllis or to list other artists who deserved a better commercial fate.

[Leanmean]

A friend of mine told me just the other night (as we listened to a Phylis Hyman CD) that he thought she killed herself because she was suffering from breast cancer. Any truth to that?



She was beautiful and I thought her voice was very well suited to jazz.

[discosavvy]

Phyllis Hyman's 1979 album "You Know How To Love Me" was one of her crowning achievements. The first four songs on that album are especially spectacular, alternating between amazing romantic disco songs and beautiful ballads. Strangely enough, the re-release of this album happened in Japan rather than the USA! The same is true for Mtume's 1980 album "In Search of the Rainbow Seekers" featuring Tawatha Agee on vocals - again re-released only in Japan. Luckily, these albums can be purchased with ease from American music outlets that import them. Great singers like Phyllis and Tawatha deserve more exposure in their home country.

[discodjinn]

Other acts overlooked by the mass market:



Although probably an obvious choice, I would have to say that Jocelyn Brown never received the recognition by the public that she deserved. She is a talented singer and songwriter, and she certainly found a good deal of work during the disco years and after. But I'd say her career suffered somewhat because of the studio/producer syndrome of disco. The shifting studio acts and quickly named projects seemed to prevent her from having name recognition outside the cognoscenti. Some of her vocal projects that come to mind:

Musique

Dazzle

Inner Life

Change

Cerrone (1980's "Hooked On You")

Salsoul Orchestra ("Take Some Time Out")

Bernard Edwards solo lp

and of course, her own 80's projects and later, Incognito, Todd Terry.



Along the same vein, Leroy Burgess seemed never to have name recognition with the public. Lead singer, songwriter, producer, arranger-- and yet so many people don't know who he is. Another talent somewhat obscured by the different acts:

Black Ivory

Aleems

Logg

Convertion

Universal Robot Band

Inner Life

and, briefly, his own recording in the early 80's. Fortunately, the first volume of the newly released Leroy Burgess Anthology may help correct the oversight.

[keefelc]

On 2002-01-03 08:57, Leanmean wrote:

A friend of mine told me just the other night (as we listened to a Phylis Hyman CD) that he thought she killed herself because she was suffering from breast cancer. Any truth to that?

Wow, that would explain alot. Has anyone checked out David Nathan's "The Soulful Divas" book? He has an intriguing chapter on Phyllis.

[Jeff H]

Yes, Phyllis Hyman had a phenomenal voice, and her LP "You Know How to Love Me" is great from start to finish. (I'm happy to say that I was able to pick up a copy of the Japanese CD at a great little record shop in San Francisco, Medium Rare Records; anyone else know it?). She was a native of Pittsburgh, you know, and I had the pleasure of meeting her after a show at Heaven, which would probably be considered Pittsburgh's short-lived version of Studio 54. (What an interesting crowd at that show: Phyllis' hometown friends and relatives--all black, of course--and all the white people there were gay guys!)



I have to add to the list of overlooked performers the sassy and fabulous Linda Clifford. "I know I'm hot..!" (Linda's quote--not mine!--from "Don't Give It Up.")

[keefelc]

On 2002-01-13 09:44, Jeff H wrote:

I'm happy to say that I was able to pick up a copy of the Japanese CD at a great little record shop in San Francisco, Medium Rare Records; anyone else know it?

Jeff, I love Medium Rare Records! The owners of the store, Sean and Arnold, have been trying to keep up with import CD reissues of many of our favorite divas. I was able to purchase the Japanese import CDs of "Somewhere In My Lifetime," "You Know How To Love Me," and "Can't We Fall In Love Again" from Medium Rare. Now we just need Phyllis's last Arista album "Goddess Of Love" to be released on CD. Although the title cut (produced by Narada Michael Walden) was a misstep for Phyllis, the album does include some wonderful cuts produced by Thom Bell (especially "Just 25 Mile To Anywhere").



Another good source for import CDs by the overlooked divas is on the Internet at "www.davidnathan.com". Click on the Soul Music Store.

[markydefad]

Hi Keefe,



I agree that the Thom Bell produced side #2 was the best part of this LP. I liked all the cuts on side 2, especially "Falling Star" and "Just 25 Miles to Anywhere".



Anyone recall a cut Phyllis sang on a McCoy Tyner LP? It was called "In Search Of My Heart" and was magnificent. The LP was called "Looking Out" from 1982 was was worth buying for the Phyllis cut.

[keefelc]

I thought Phyllis sang on a few cuts on that McCoy Tyner album? I'll have to drag it out. I wonder why we haven't seen that album reissued on CD? Also, don't forget her guest sessions with Pharaoh Sanders. Some of those cuts are on Phyllis's "One On One" CD.