I'm loving this episode! She is/was a great singer, very unique! It's so sad about her stroke, but it looks like she's on the mend. I used to love the jam "Too Tough"!

It wasn't as tough to watch as I was expecting, those strokes took a serious toll on her. She looks and talks well considering her health which I'm glad to see. I was surprised to learn that her first album was in 79, I assumed she had begun earlier than that. Lastly, I like the fact that her music was just more adult and sophisticated than most POP fluff she could have been given or " directed " to sing.

Her 2nd husband, are you kidding me?

Her story was quite inspiring... having overcome all that shit, man... God bless her.

And she seems the sweetest lady. I wasn't crazy about her daughter, who seemed pretty scornful of her mom. And I also noticed that dig they got in at Phyllis' expense.

Another artist Clive turned his back on when Nippy came into the picture. Notice how the quality of her music began to decline after 1983's "Teaser". 1984's "Let Me Be The One" had a couple of good tracks on it but, for the most part, was a bunch of filler. In 1985, the same year Nippy released her first album, Angela's forgettable "Tell Me Tomorrow" went nowhere and Clive dropped her like a pot of hot grits. All of the good, radio-friendly material went to Nippy while Angela got the leftovers and he ceased promoting her records.

[Edited 7/3/12 6:19am]

Wasn't she at another label before Arista? I don't think that wherever she was, she was promoted well. And Clive fucked over Phyllis and Angela both.

Good episode on my girl Angie. Wish it went a little deeper on her life and recording career, but it was cool for what it was. I noticed that Clive Davis wasn't featured on this episode for some strange reason. He screwed way too many people in this industry it's not even funny. I remember reading somewhere that by the time her 1981 album, Something About You came out, alot of her core audience that she won with her first two albums were bewildered with the direction she had seemed to go into. Yet, she was destined to have a mega-successful career, but the landscape of the music scene changed and alot of trends transformed quickly.

scriptgirl said:

Clive is gonna get his

They are waiting on you Clive!

[img:$uid]http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r606/WKRP-FM/Hanging-Horror-Demons1copy.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 7/3/12 8:09am]

To be honest, I was expecting her story to be a bit more dramatic.

Angie is a Musician and a trained vocalist. She went to school to enhance her gift. One thing she said that struck a chord with me.."I won't sing a song, unless I feel it." "Melody First."

Because she could feel, I could feel it from the vinyl record spinning before me.

This is what is missing from today's music. That's why friggin' Adele is so popular. I'm not a fan, but you can feel it.

Now it's, 'let's make a hit song to become famous!!

silverchild said:

Good episode on my girl Angie. Wish it went a little deeper on her life and recording career, but it was cool for what it was. I noticed that Clive Davis wasn't featured on this episode for some strange reason. He screwed way too many people in this industry it's not even funny. I remember reading somewhere that by the time her 1981 album, Something About You came out, alot of her core audience that she won with her first two albums were bewildered with the direction she had seemed to go into. Yet, she was destined to have a mega-successful career, but the landscape of the music scene changed and alot of trends transformed quickly.

That's when she started to include dance music, right? Arista had a weird way of getting artists to change their sound that would make their fan bases shake their heads. I could only imagine how Aretha's fans felt when she went pop but that's for another topic.

Timmy84 said:

silverchild said:

Good episode on my girl Angie. Wish it went a little deeper on her life and recording career, but it was cool for what it was. I noticed that Clive Davis wasn't featured on this episode for some strange reason. He screwed way too many people in this industry it's not even funny. I remember reading somewhere that by the time her 1981 album, Something About You came out, alot of her core audience that she won with her first two albums were bewildered with the direction she had seemed to go into. Yet, she was destined to have a mega-successful career, but the landscape of the music scene changed and alot of trends transformed quickly.

That's when she started to include dance music, right? Arista had a weird way of getting artists to change their sound that would make their fan bases shake their heads. I could only imagine how Aretha's fans felt when she went pop but that's for another topic.

Yep. Something About You marked a drastic change to the more adventurous jazz R&B/funk she ventured into with her first two albums. Keep in mind that her first two albums were recorded on GRP inprint and were produced by Dave Grusin & Larry Rosen. Before the time SAB came out, she had signed onto Arista and Clive got Narada Michael Warden on board to give her a more slick LA, dance pop sound that completely alienated many of her fans and admirers. She made a killing on dance radio, but it didn't manage to have the success the first two albums did. Truly misfortunate as they really didn't know what to do with Angela and she wanted to broaden her sound. So in both cases, her Arista years were quite erratic.

silverchild said:

Timmy84 said:

That's when she started to include dance music, right? Arista had a weird way of getting artists to change their sound that would make their fan bases shake their heads. I could only imagine how Aretha's fans felt when she went pop but that's for another topic.

Yep. Something About You marked a drastic change to the more adventurous jazz R&B/funk she ventured into with her first two albums. Keep in mind that her first two albums were recorded on GRP inprint and were produced by Dave Grusin & Larry Rosen. Before the time SAB came out, she had signed onto Arista and Clive got Narada Michael Warden on board to give her a more slick LA, dance pop sound that completely alienated many of her fans and admirers. She made a killing on dance radio, but it didn't manage to have the success the first two albums did. Truly misfortunate as they really didn't know what to do with Angela and she wanted to broaden her sound. So in both cases, her Arista years were quite erratic.

Gotcha... but yeah I did notice a change. Unfortunate, really. She definitely was far more musically interesting with the first two albums than she was in any of her Arista records. Clive honestly didn't know what to do with '80s female R&B artists though. Phyllis? Whitney? Ree? Dionne was technically pop so it was easier for her I guess.

scriptgirl said:

To be honest, I was expecting her story to be a bit more dramatic.

The two strokes weren't dramatic enough for you?

Timmy84 said:

silverchild said:

Yep. Something About You marked a drastic change to the more adventurous jazz R&B/funk she ventured into with her first two albums. Keep in mind that her first two albums were recorded on GRP inprint and were produced by Dave Grusin & Larry Rosen. Before the time SAB came out, she had signed onto Arista and Clive got Narada Michael Warden on board to give her a more slick LA, dance pop sound that completely alienated many of her fans and admirers. She made a killing on dance radio, but it didn't manage to have the success the first two albums did. Truly misfortunate as they really didn't know what to do with Angela and she wanted to broaden her sound. So in both cases, her Arista years were quite erratic.

Gotcha... but yeah I did notice a change. Unfortunate, really. She definitely was far more musically interesting with the first two albums than she was in any of her Arista records. Clive honestly didn't know what to do with '80s female R&B artists though. Phyllis? Whitney? Ree? Dionne was technically pop so it was easier for her I guess.

Yeah just a misfortunate case. I mean look at someone like Alicia Keys. Clearly something happened to her music between 2001 and 2007 beyond. Clive and his people have weird ways of marketing music. It's as if they want to completely brainwash folks, which they have. In many ways, when you look at the careers of Angela, Phyllis, Whitney, Dionne, and so on...you have to be in atonishment of just how polarizing it was for them to broaden their sound for a token of pop success. It's sickening to say the least.

[Edited 7/3/12 9:05am]

Were there any other rnb female vocalists on Arista the same time as Angela and Phyllis?

Yeah Aretha.

When did she leave Arista?

silverchild said:

Timmy84 said:

Gotcha... but yeah I did notice a change. Unfortunate, really. She definitely was far more musically interesting with the first two albums than she was in any of her Arista records. Clive honestly didn't know what to do with '80s female R&B artists though. Phyllis? Whitney? Ree? Dionne was technically pop so it was easier for her I guess.

Yeah just a misfortunate case. I mean look at someone like Alicia Keys. Clearly something happened to her music between 2001 and 2007 beyond. Clive and his people have weird ways of marketing music. It's as if they want to completely brainwash folks, which they have. In many ways, when you look at the careers of Angela, Phyllis, Whitney, Dionne, and so on...you have to be in atonishment of just how polarizing it was for them to broaden their sound for a token of pop success. It's sickening to say the least.

[Edited 7/3/12 9:05am]

Real sick. The way I look at it, Arista would be considered a death knell for any female artist who considered themselves R&B. Clive's way of marketing R&B acts is sad. Even sadder is how he turned Rod Stewart further from his rock/soul roots to a lounge singer. I know it sold but Rod's heart was never at jazz and it shows.

yup...God bless her

scriptgirl said:

When did she leave Arista?

Somewhere around 1986. She should've left after Teaser came out because by that time, things were already turbulent. Angela always had the urban crowd on lock, but it all waned quickly after the Too Tough album came out. They didn't know what to do with her, which led her to become uncertain about which direction she really wanted to go into.

No, I meant when did Aretha leave Arista?

scriptgirl said:

No, I meant when did Aretha leave Arista?

Around 2004 , actually in 2007.

[Edited 7/3/12 9:21am]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of Angela Bofill, but I did enjoy the episode. I have never really liked her voice, but she did have some really good songs.

I met her in 1997 at a For Sisters Only trade show. I shook her hand and it was ice cold and were really hard. It made me wonder if something was wrong with her. My co-workers told me she was on cocain, but I don't know.

daPrettyman said:

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of Angela Bofill, but I did enjoy the episode. I have never really liked her voice, but she did have some really good songs.

I met her in 1997 at a For Sisters Only trade show. I shook her hand and it was ice cold and were really hard. It made me wonder if something was wrong with her. My co-workers told me she was on cocain, but I don't know.

She probably was having health issues even then when you met her.

Timmy84 said:

daPrettyman said:

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of Angela Bofill, but I did enjoy the episode. I have never really liked her voice, but she did have some really good songs.

I met her in 1997 at a For Sisters Only trade show. I shook her hand and it was ice cold and were really hard. It made me wonder if something was wrong with her. My co-workers told me she was on cocain, but I don't know.

She probably was having health issues even then when you met her.

Probably so.