Hard to believe there haven't been much mention of this artist(since he was with the Time before they signed with Warner Bros.). I liked this singer. He had that big husky voice. I enjoyed albums in the 80's. Albums like Hearsay were among the finest R&B albums of the 80's. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis put some nice solid grooves around this vocalist. "Sunshine" from that album stills sounds good today.Just a beautiful song. I enjoyed his Christmas album as well My Gift To You in 1988. A lot of critics/music writers were saying that him and Cherelle had what it took to be the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell of the 80's.

But my favorite track by him is "All True Man" release in 1991 from the album of the same name. Everything just came together in that song...the producing, the vocals, the arrangement, the musical backdrop..everything merged beautifully. Alex drops another tight slow jam on this record "The Morning After".

Got to give this brother props for his run in the 80s and 90's. I often wonder how the Time would have sounded with him fronting them instead of Morris.

i bought a copy of hearsay on vinyl not 2 long ago...i forgot how good that album is...

The Lovers (Win Every Time) is my favorite followed closely by Fake and Criticize. They weren't necessarily the best songs, but they underscored my life at the time.

He played at the same stage as Little Man during Mill City so many Prince fans got to witness him just a little over 3 years ago.

Well you'll always find me talking Alex, my favourite soulman of the 80s and best artist & material Jam & Lewis ever produced IMO.

Debut LP and "Hearsay" are classics, "All True Man" is excellent too. He may have missed the Jam & Lewis production since then but the voice remains and this year's Bobby Z produced Zinc Records effort "Saga Of A Married Man" is probably my favourite of everything post Flyte Tyme.

I have all nine CD albums and his two home videos. Saw him live this year for first time, didn't do "Sunshine" though which all said is my favourite song of his. Simply beautiful.

Regarding what he would of sounded as The Time's frontman, "Innocent" gives a pretty good idea. The lengthy jam version on the debut album is just awesome. They'd of been at least as good because Alex has that same "old school pretty pimp" humour thing down but with superior voice to Morris.

Brother915 said:

I think the World of His Stuff abck in the day.I Still say He was the Best Vocalist out of Minneaplois back in the 80's easily.on the Album you are mentioning my cut is "What is this thing called Love" I just dig the String Vibe&the Heavy thumping Groove Jimmy Jam has going on."Innocent" the long Version puts how He could have fit with the Time IMHO.He rocks the Jam.but I think His Image hurt Him in Prince's Eyes&the Market Place.He was a Bigger Brother&didn't dance much so that had to work against Him.I Mention Size when Concearning Prince because of How Sonny Thompson got jacked out of Joing Prince during the "Controversy TOur".also Alex wasn't gonna Kiss Prince's Ass so He went on to His Own beat.when Jam&Lewis became Free everything was all set.Prince respected Him&whatnot but I think Morris fit the Time the way Prince wanted Him to IMHO.He could CLone Morris&Not Alex.anyway Alex is a Very Underrated Vocalist.He could Handle Slow&Fast Jams&Not Miss the Groove.I have all His Albums except the last two.didn't like the vibe of what I Heard,but I'll always give Him Much props.and Much props to Essence because I Agree Alex Gave Jam&Lewis there Best WOrk Overall IMHO as well.Much Props to You Brother915 on this Thread.Right ON Bro!

I just realized my problem with Jam & Lewis produced albums, lack of editing...

"All True Man", like Cherelle's "Affair" could have been classics if two or three songs were cut off of them...

Besides that, there are some killer tunes off of "All True Man"..Shame on Me, gets me all the time and is evidence of how well Alexander is of conveying emotion and telling a story during a song...damn, i miss the art of storytelling in songs...The Yoke, Everytime I Get Up...the album had this killer momentum that caps off with the stellar (and my fav Oneal track) Thing Called Love...but then after that, the album putters and dies..only to be rescued at the end by Shame. It was as if the awesome, frantic and emotional chorus/string section during Thing Called Love, during the songs climactic ending, took the life out of ONeal, Jam, Lewis and co...damn, im getting all excited here..i gotta pop that baby in and listen before bed...the arrangment of the string section during the end of the song, if thats an original Jam/Lewis composition...them brothers are geniuses...

where did that daring edge go? last time (and only time in ten years) i heard that edge on a jam/lewis track was Janet's original version of "Son of A Gun".

Regarding what he would of sounded as The Time's frontman, "Innocent" gives a pretty good idea. The lengthy jam version on the debut album is just awesome. They'd of been at least as good because Alex has that same "old school pretty pimp" humour thing down but with superior voice to Morris.[/quote]


You described precisely how I feel about the Time would have sounded fronted by Alex.. "Innocent" is a rewrite of "Get It Up".

mistermaxxx said:

Yeah I feel ya' Mistermaxx. Alex with those big broad shoulders like a linebacker wasn't trying to hear all that stuff Prince was talking about. Out of his latter day stuff I used to like "Love Makes No Sense".

Alex's new CD "Saga Of A Married Man" recorded and executively produced by Bobby Z at his Zinc Records imprint: http://www.amazon.com/exe...ce&s=music

Yo Essence! There we go again...

Alex's voice is da bomb, it's just SOOO much better than all the dudes out there nowadays (ok few exceptions..).
But you gotta admit:Alex's still kickin' it with his new cd.

Apparently Alex has an autobiography on the way. Should be an interesting read, the music, overcoming addictions etc.

I love everything I miss at home that is my track right there. That was recorded with cherelle.

new message board:

http://www.vh1.com
[This message was edited Sat Sep 14 1:09:13 PDT 2002 by agotajonesmartha]

agotajonesmartha said:

Direct link: http://www.vh1.com/artist...stid=11505

Also there's the Artist-Direct one which has history of postings but the site isn't working for me right now.

thanks Essence. You're better with computers than I am. When I meet Alex I'm gonna tell him to go to your house -haha.

I went 2 an alexander O'neil concert
in stockholm,sweden back in 1991.
he was sooo wasted.
after about 5 songs his manager came out
and litteraly had 2 walk him ofstage
while people where booing him out.
it was so tragic...
he came back though a couple of month later
2 do a free show 4 the audience,
this time he was great but the concert hall
was almost empty.
peace/manki

Essence said:

OK this Alexander O'Neal board has 109 threads:

http://bbs.artistdirect.c...prune=1000