MuchoMusic: February 2025 - Grammy Awards, Boney M, Cyrille, and more....
BEST NEW ARTIST REDUX
Just in time for tomorrow’s Grammy Awards broadcast, “Mark and Sarah Talk About Songs” - the excellent pop music podcast created by Mark Blankenship and Sarah D. Bunting - has gifted us with the series “Best New Artist Breakdown,” a smart and snappy exploration of the coveted prize. Over eight episodes, they discuss every nominee and winner in the Grammy category since 1960. The hosts’ incisive - sometimes acerbic - commentary clearly displays their expertise, yet they never talk down to the audience. With my specific musical proclivities, I gravitate more towards the earlier decades of the survey, but I made new discoveries in other periods as well, such as the campy “Afternoon Delight” from the Starland Vocal Band (1977 winner) and the cocksure “Sunglasses at Night” by Corey Hart (1984 nominee). If you enjoy, like I do, exploring Christopher Cross’ redemption arc or reconsidering the oeuvre of the late and under-appreciated Irene Cara, then this show is a must-listen.
(In addition to having the good sense to write about me for The New York Times in 2008, Mark also pens the essential pop music Substack column “The Lost Songs Project.” He defines “lost” as any top 10 hit on a major Billboard chart that has fewer than 10 million streams on Spotify. This provides him ample leeway to examine the history of any number of gems. Mark’s pieces - erudite but conversational, in-depth yet easily digestible - combine fascinating history with his very personal takes. It’s helped me unearth many wonderful songs hiding in plain sight.)
Anyway, here are some of my favorite past “Best New Artist” Grammy nominees:
Marilyn Maye (1966 Grammy nominee): Here in 2025, the almost 97-year-old is still headlining our finest boîtes and concert halls. Her 1965 major label debut - the aptly titled Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye - featured a lightning-speed vocal version of the Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond smash “Take Five.” I attended a 2012 concert where she recreated the vocal arrangement in pitch-perfect form - it was one of those moments of pandemonium, with the audience rising and cheering in unison, that feels apocryphal years later. Though Maye was famously championed by longtime “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson, here she performs a song penned by Carson’s late-night predecessor, Steve Allen. The jaunty “When I’m in Love” was written for Allen’s ill-fated Sophie Tucker musical, which makes sense as Maye and Tucker share a certain “grand dame” star quality:
Lana Cantrell (1968 Grammy nominee): Among the most compelling of the post-Streisand belters, the Australian vocalist recorded a magnificent string of albums through the latter half of the decade. Cantrell used her smoky, copper-toned voice on six collections of thrillingly sung and lushly orchestrated standards and contemporary fare. Recorded at a time when Broadway-bound musicals wanted their songs to be pop hits before opening night, her albums are filled with rarities from How Now, Dow Jones; Maltby & Shire’s How Do You Do I Love You (with a number that ended up in Starting Here, Starting Now), and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (which ignominiously closed during previews). Though Cantrell retired from performing to become an entertainment lawyer, when I saw two of her rare live appearances in the aughts, she was in fine form. Of the Anthony Newley / Leslie Bricusse anthems popular in the era, “Nothing Can Stop Me Now” is less remembered, yet it remains a potent showstopper, especially in her sizzling version:
Oliver (1970 Grammy nominee): The one-named moniker of William Oliver Swofford (1945-2000), Oliver mixed sunshine pop with a dash of psychedelia that blended into a unique variety of lovelorn balladry - a kind of Donovan-lite. He also had a chart-topper with “Jean” (the theme from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) and released “Come Softly to Me,” a delectable duet with Lesley Gore (billed, adorably, as “Billy ‘n Sue”). Though Good Morning Starshine, Oliver’s debut album from 1968, was known for its title song, it also boasted this driving mod-inspired “Who Will Buy?,” from the artist’s namesake musical Oliver! (This track isn’t on CD or streaming):
BONUS: Maureen McGovern (1974 Grammy nominee): Her disaster movie themes were ubiquitous in the ‘70s, but in the following decade McGovern successfully pivoted to recording meticulously calibrated albums of standards. That period is perhaps best represented by her exemplary Gershwin collection, Naughty Baby, from 1989. I am woefully biased since I was the album’s executive producer, but I also have to recommend McGovern’s A Long and Winding Road from 2008. One must admit this is an exquisite record and her crystalline voice shines on Paul McCartney’s “Let It Be”:
BONEY M REVISITED
The most notorious Grammy “New Artist” honoree was 1990’s disgraced win for Milli Vanilli (To hear the harrowing tale from the source, Fab Morvan - the surviving member of the duo - tells his side of the story to The Moth), but the duo came from a long line of manufactured pop acts from German impresario Frank Farian (1941-2024). Even if he never lived down the Milli Vanilli debacle, his music legacy is secure for bringing us the dance sensation Boney M.
The Afro-Caribbean answer to ABBA, there is an unbridled joy and exuberance to Boney M’s music. The dark beats and sumptuous strings can make even the silliest of songs sound like Eurodisco poetry. Even though the members didn’t always do their own singing, the pure cheek of the group’s memorable hooks make it forgivable. (One of my proudest personal achievements was introducing the great Murray Hill to the group’s music at a party I DJ-ed back in the day). In addition to dance hits like “Rasputin,” “Daddy Cool” and “Belfast,” their output includes moody revamps of two standards, Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” and Eddie Cooley / Otis Blackwell’s “Fever”:
For good measure, here is the beguiling title track to their fourth album, Oceans of Fantasy from 1979, with a rolling slow build that’s almost meditative:
GRAMMY GOES BROADWAY
Since 1959, the recording academy has presented the “Best Musical Theater Album” award to a worthy recording, lending the music industry some of the Great White Way’s warm glow. Here are three songs which originated from three Grammy-winning Broadway musicals, which opened in three successive decades, sung by three notable gentlemen of song:
Mame (1967 Grammy winner): Jerry Antes, an also-ran crooner who passed away in 2019, managed to record a handful of stylish albums of pop/jazz standards. The 1966 LP Paris Smiles - arranged and conducted by Pete King, who helmed albums for Doris Day, Jack Jones, and many other stars of the genre, with liner notes by none other than Debbie Reynolds (!) - was never even reissued on CD, much less in digital formats. Here is Antes’ polished rendition of Jerry Herman’s ebullient “It’s Today”:
Annie (1978 Grammy winner): Harry Connick, Jr.’s rollicking Dixieland-laced album Songs I Heard, from 2001, features selections from movies he grew up with, reinterpreted into a jazz idiom. He presents a stately yet moving string arrangement of “Stay Awake” from Mary Poppins; a brassy version of “The Jitterbug,” cut from The Wizard of Oz; and a positively chilling interpretation of “Oompa Loompa,” from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Here is his graceful take on “Maybe,” Annie’s yearning “I Want” song:
Evita (1981 Grammy winner): Like the aforementioned Connick record, Spencer Day’s imaginative 2022’s Broadway by Day excels at taking a song out of the show’s dramatic context and presenting it on its own terms. From the razzle dazzle of “One” from A Chorus Line, and the subtly percussive “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific, to a sly organ-enhanced “Getting to Know You” from The King & I, this record offers an unconventional spin on these songs. Here is his sultry but invigorating take on Eva Perón’s come-on, “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You”:
ANNIE ADDENDUM
Speaking of Annie: Bernadette Peters - who turns 77 on February 28 - performed a spirited song and dance for the musical’s “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” on “Perry Como’s Springtime Special” in 1979 - three years before she appeared in the musical’s film adaptation. Here’s the production number, not available anywhere else online. What it lacks in visual and sound fidelity, it makes up for in moxie and charm:
CYRILLE’S ADVENTURE
Cyrille Aimée is a Grammy nominee this year for “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album” for the recording À Fleur de Peau, featuring her original songs with an intercontinental flair. This is a formidable collection worth hearing, yet the Cyrille album I keep returning to is 2019’s Move On: A Sondheim Adventure. While there have surely been other jazz crossover projects based on Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway canon, this is the most tender, emotional, and theatrical of the bunch. (She discusses the album here with NY Public Radio and WBGO). Move On is such an embarrassment of riches, it was a welcome challenge to choose one song to highlight. I had never heard anything like her gossamer French-language “One More Kiss,” from Follies; her Latin guitar version of “With So Little to Be Sure Of,” from Anyone Can Whistle; or the sensitive voice-and-bass duet “They Ask Me Why I Believe in You,” from an unrealized early production. But I had to go with “Loving You” from Passion. The song is usually taken at a ponderous pace, so Cyrille’s lilting mid-tempo version is particularly refreshing:
FEBRUARY BONUSES
February 10: The multihyphenate guitarist-singer-songwriter Kenny Rankin, who would have been 85 on this date, resisted being pigeonholed as a jazz artist. But to me, his singing combined the cool mystery of Chet Baker with some of the elastic quiver of Sarah Vaughan. I was mesmerized by his soft but confident sound when I first saw him in concert two decades ago. Keeping in mind his long association with The Beatles - Sir Paul was a huge fan - here is “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” circa 2002, from Rankin’s final album, A Song for You. His subtle rephrasing of the lyric is breathtaking:
February 13: Haley Reinhart, the vocalist who combines the grit of a rocker chick with the poise of a nightclub chanteuse, was one of my major finds when I used to watch “American Idol.” I don’t regret the five hours I spent in the car traveling to Pennsylvania to see her in “Idols Live,” and she’s only grown as an artist since then. Reinhart performs at Sony Hall in NYC (tickets are HERE). Her 2017 LP What’s That Sound focuses on ‘60s rock, but the opening track “Let’s Start” is a groovy original that echoes the period but nicely brings us into the new century:
February 14: Martha Wash, the volcanic singer behind The Weather Girls, C&C Music Factory and beyond, released her most mature solo album, Love & Conflict, in 2020. While still reflecting her ‘90s dance roots, this record uses a tinge of Motown and a bit of Stax to pull the neat trick of feeling classic and brand new at the same time. Plus, her mighty voice sounds untouched by time. She will belatedly celebrate the record in NYC at Joe’s Pub on Valentine’s Day (tickets are HERE). My favorite number from the album is the upbeat but thoughtful album closer, “Rise and Shine”:
(I met Martha in 2013 at the benefit “Night of a Thousand Judys” - the annual benefit I help produce - and she was a delight. You can watch her perform “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart” HERE)
February 20: Phil Moore, who was born on this day in 1918, was both a jazz luminary and a Hollywood mainstay. He supported vocalists as a pianist and arranger, and built a solid discography as a bandleader. He also wrote the song “I Feel So Smoochie.” For Valentine’s Day, here is a lovely version by underrated vocalist Lurlean Hunter:
Another great column! I have so much delightful homework now!!
Dan, in these columns I'm learning so much. Thank you for pouring so much time, effort, and (of course) your expertise into them for all of us!