For me, Alex came along at the right time. It seemed much of what I heard for 80's R&B from male performers lacked a lot of testosterone. This is especially true because I went through a 70's decade featuring Barry White and Teddy Pendergrass.
That said, I have heard so many rumors surrounding him. He was too "black" for Prince's group, The Time; he was in jail for underaged sex with some girl; he married Cherelle; he's gay; etc., etc. I just didn't know what to believe. I know some of you can give me the real deal and end unfounded rumor, so feel free to share 'em. Alexander was one of my favorite artist.
Here's is perhaps my favorite song from him, Criticize. By the way, I think this video has the best looking women I've seen in any video.:icon_cool:
For me, Alex came along at the right time. It seemed much of what I heard for 80's R&B from male performers lacked a lot of testosterone. This is especially true because I went through a 70's decade featuring Barry White and Teddy Pendergrass.
That said, I have heard so many rumors surrounding him. He was too "black" for Prince's group, The Time; he was in jail for underaged sex with some girl; he married Cherelle; he's gay; etc., etc. I just didn't know what to believe. I know some of you can give me the real deal and end unfounded rumor, so feel free to share 'em. Alexander was one of my favorite artist.
Here's is perhaps my favorite song from him, Criticize. By the way, I think this video has the best looking women I've seen in any video.:icon_cool:
he did some great songs (my favorite is "Fake"), most courtesy of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. It's often hard to separate rumours from truth but I read he'd been arrested for crack possession or something similar and I never heard from him after that. During the period he was popular, I was similarly fond of Lillo Thomas and Howard Johnson. O'Neal's albums are now hard to find in stores in my area. To say he sounded too black for the Time would be ironic since Jam and Lewis were founding members of the Time and produced VERY Time-like tracks for O'Neal as a solo artist. Also, O'Neal's vocal resemblence to Johnny Gill is uncanny. 3/13/2010
Paul, the reason why Alex was fired from Flyte Time (the later The Time) had 2 reasons, M&M:
1.Money-the mighty Dollar bill-Prince would not pay Alex as much as he wanted.
2.Morris Day: Prince owed him a favor and put him on stage as the leadsinger of The Time. Alex was the better voice but Day had the right charisma for the image that Uncle P had in mind.
I'm sure Alex got in trouble for something in London a few years ago too; I can't remember what for but it was quite controversial I think! (I don't read the papers often.:icon_confused:)
My fave by Alexander O'Neal was this lovely ballad...
[the back story: I heard this on the radio, loved it---but couldn't find out who did it; the irony was that I had already been given a tape of the LP by someone at Tabu Records [they were on the same floor at 9255 Sunset]....so after several days of trying to get the title right--I picked up the tape I hadn't listened to and thought "could it be this?" and damned if it wasn't the exact song! ] :icon_exclaim:
AMG review:
Song Review by Andrew Hamilton
A haunting ballad with an unorthodox arrangement from the pen of Monte Moir that for many represents Alexander O'Neal's finest moment. Floating on a rhythmic bed buoyed by guitarist O'Nicholas Rath and Marcus Wise's contributions on Indian tabla drum and something called a bion, O'Neal transmits his loneliness and longing for his ex's womanly wares, going straight to your heart and reaching an apex when he sings, "This bed's too big for me to be in alone -- all alone." It entered the R&B Top 20 in 1985 but never rose higher than number 17, in spite of it being a quiet storm staple.
I'm very fond of this one too...Alexander O'Neal's duet with labelmate Cherrelle... some nice lady who worked at Tabu Records gave me a 12-inch on this one too. Sweet! Ah, those were the days!
Last edited by markydefad; March 18th, 2010 at 01:57 PM.
Being a huge Jam & Lewis fan and an avid reader of Record Mirror in the 80's - I really got into Alexander O'Neal's music,too.
Fake is my all-time favorite dance track from Mr.O'Neal.
Speaking of Record Mirror - I remember reading an interview in which Alexander really got into criticizing other male soul singers at the time.He talked about his whole "macho" image and why his songs really spoke to women.He even threw a few accusations and questioned other soul stars' sexual orientation. I'm not mentioning any names but it's easy to put the pieces together.
He mentioned that he was not the type to sing stuff like "turn off the light and let me rub lotion all over you" and not really mean it.
The interview left a bitter taste in my mouth... Saw him in a different light after reading it. :icon_confused:
Last edited by kdavid13; March 16th, 2010 at 02:42 PM.
Yes I have to admit that it was the Jam & Lewis productions/songs that made his records great, I don't personally find his voice as appealing as other 80s soul 'divos' (thanx Dayna) such as Luther, Howard Johnson or Keni Burke for example.
"Saturday Love" is great - had the 12" for years and can't stop listening.
However, my favorite by him is the little known ballad "Sentimental" from his 1991 "All True Man" set. Wonderful piece of music. No youtube for this, sorry
Reply With QuoteOriginally Written by paul
:icon_exclaim:
) such as Luther, Howard Johnson or Keni Burke for example.
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