She had quite a few good songs that seem sadly forgotten

scriptgirl said:

She had quite a few good songs that seem sadly forgotten

Yes. I remember they used to play "You Ought To Know By Now". What a beautiful song that was!

The way she was talking because of those strokes made me kind of sad. Glad she recovered tho.

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.

The show said she never really did any drugs or alcohol.

And I found that really surprising

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.

but you gotta admit...her 1983 hit "Too Tough" is the JAM! I remember being shocked when I first heard it.That song took her into a whole new direction.

Prospect said:

The way she was talking because of those strokes made me kind of sad. Glad she recovered tho.

Yeah it was tuff seeing her like that

She is beautiful inside and out

SoulAlive 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.

but you gotta admit...her 1983 hit "Too Tough" is the JAM! I remember being shocked when I first heard it.That song took her into a whole new direction.

Oh there's no denying that. Songs like "Too Tough" and "Can't Slow Down" are my jams too. Just a shame others didn't catch on. She got a lot of flack from jazz purists, who actually put her in high regard early in her career. Clive just wanted to abandon that.

dannyd5050 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.

The show said she never really did any drugs or alcohol.

Well, if she did, would you expect them to acknowledge it?

From looking at the farmer-joe ex husband of hers, it looks like she may have tried a few things.

[Edited 7/5/12 14:02pm]

daPrettyman said:

dannyd5050 said:

The show said she never really did any drugs or alcohol.

Well, if she did, would you expect them to acknowledge it?

From looking at the farmer-joe ex husband of hers, it looks like she may have tried a few things.

[Edited 7/5/12 14:02pm]

Yes, I would. The show doesn't usually balk at telling how the artists had struggles with drugs or alcohol. That's a common theme in a lot of these shows. So if she did go through a period of drug addiction I think it might have been mentioned.

But about farmer-joe.... yeah that through me for a loop. I was like 'what?'. But only about his appearance. The show didn't say that he was into drugs either. But, hey, ya never know.

Farmer Joe looks like he was an extra in Deliverance and also like he knows his way around a meth lab or two.

Though I never really knew Angela Bofill's music before, this episode was really inspiring to me. Life can be so rough sometimes health-wise. The part that choked me up was at the end where she's sitting with the keyboard playing notes and saying how comforting and soothing it was. It actually inspired me to go over to my keyboard and create a new inspirational song as well. She's a beautiful, strong woman and I wish her the best.

dannyd5050 said:

daPrettyman said:

Well, if she did, would you expect them to acknowledge it?

From looking at the farmer-joe ex husband of hers, it looks like she may have tried a few things.

[Edited 7/5/12 14:02pm]

Yes, I would. The show doesn't usually balk at telling how the artists had struggles with drugs or alcohol. That's a common theme in a lot of these shows. So if she did go through a period of drug addiction I think it might have been mentioned.

But about farmer-joe.... yeah that through me for a loop. I was like 'what?'. But only about his appearance. The show didn't say that he was into drugs either. But, hey, ya never know.

It all depends on the person. I will say that when I met her, she did seem spaced out and she refused to take her shades off. That's still not an indication of whether she was on drugs, but she did seem like something wasn't quite right. Also, when she got on stage to perform, she acted like she didn't want to go on, even though she had been paid in advanced.

hmmm

daPrettyman said:

dannyd5050 said:

Yes, I would. The show doesn't usually balk at telling how the artists had struggles with drugs or alcohol. That's a common theme in a lot of these shows. So if she did go through a period of drug addiction I think it might have been mentioned.

But about farmer-joe.... yeah that through me for a loop. I was like 'what?'. But only about his appearance. The show didn't say that he was into drugs either. But, hey, ya never know.

It all depends on the person. I will say that when I met her, she did seem spaced out and she refused to take her shades off. That's still not an indication of whether she was on drugs, but she did seem like something wasn't quite right. Also, when she got on stage to perform, she acted like she didn't want to go on, even though she had been paid in advanced.

She could have been on prescription meds, too. It didn't have to be narcotics. I never heard anyone say that Angie was coke head. But, then again, know one knew about Vesta's cocaine addiction either.

I am a fan of Angela so Im glad she has an Unsung episode. It was sad seeing what the strokes have done to her but at least it appears as if she's on the way back. Hopefully some day she can sing again. I don't agree with some saying that an artist is a sellout if he/she adds new styles in to his/her repertoire. I don't see why Angela couldn't have kept up the jazzy ballads as her base, with a lead dance single to get the albums running. I always thought she should have been a bigger star and a lot of her songs had potential to be a hit in both the r&b and pop worlds. From what I gathered after watching the show, she would have been bigger if:

A) she had made some damn music videos ("Too Tough" and "Tonight I Give In" would have been perfect for that)

B) she had kept her weight down after having her daughter

C) she had recorded more dance songs to go along with her preferred ballads ("Too Tough" was her biggest hit!)

D) she had changed labels after she was no longer a priority of Clive Davis, who obviously did his part in messing up her career. Lack of promotion and marketing cost her dearly.

btw has anyone seen this? Look at Angela's face after the kiss!!! If you want to hear them talk you can see that in another youtube clip, but the kiss is edited out

.

[Edited 7/10/12 13:35pm]

Shard said:

I am a fan of Angela so Im glad she has an Unsung episode. It was sad seeing what the strokes have done to her but at least it appears as if she's on the way back. Hopefully some day she can sing again. I don't agree with some saying that an artist is a sellout if he/she adds new styles in to his/her repertoire. I don't see why Angela couldn't have kept up the jazzy ballads as her base, with a lead dance single to get the albums running. I always thought she should have been a bigger star and a lot of her songs had potential to be a hit in both the r&b and pop worlds. From what I gathered after watching the show, she would have been bigger if:

A) she had made some damn music videos ("Too Tough" and "Tonight I Give In" would have been perfect for that)

B) she had kept her weight down after having her daughter

C) she had recorded more dance songs to go along with her preferred ballads ("Too Tough" was her biggest hit!)

D) she had changed labels after she was no longer a priority of Clive Davis, who obviously did his part in messing up her career. Lack of promotion and marketing cost her dearly.

btw has anyone seen this? Look at Angela's face after the kiss!!! If you want to hear them talk you can see that in another youtube clip, but the kiss is edited out

.

[Edited 7/10/12 13:35pm]

Okay, perhaps I was wrong about the drugs.

She bears a striking resemblence to Phyllis in this clip.

Shard said:

I am a fan of Angela so Im glad she has an Unsung episode. It was sad seeing what the strokes have done to her but at least it appears as if she's on the way back. Hopefully some day she can sing again. I don't agree with some saying that an artist is a sellout if he/she adds new styles in to his/her repertoire. I don't see why Angela couldn't have kept up the jazzy ballads as her base, with a lead dance single to get the albums running. I always thought she should have been a bigger star and a lot of her songs had potential to be a hit in both the r&b and pop worlds. From what I gathered after watching the show, she would have been bigger if:

A) she had made some damn music videos ("Too Tough" and "Tonight I Give In" would have been perfect for that)

B) she had kept her weight down after having her daughter

C) she had recorded more dance songs to go along with her preferred ballads ("Too Tough" was her biggest hit!)

D) she had changed labels after she was no longer a priority of Clive Davis, who obviously did his part in messing up her career. Lack of promotion and marketing cost her dearly.

btw has anyone seen this? Look at Angela's face after the kiss!!! If you want to hear them talk you can see that in another youtube clip, but the kiss is edited out

Wow...i remember watching this in January 1984

silverchild said:

SoulAlive said:

but you gotta admit...her 1983 hit "Too Tough" is the JAM! I remember being shocked when I first heard it.That song took her into a whole new direction.

Oh there's no denying that. Songs like "Too Tough" and "Can't Slow Down" are my jams too. Just a shame others didn't catch on. She got a lot of flack from jazz purists, who actually put her in high regard early in her career. Clive just wanted to abandon that.

I think Phyllis Hyman had the same problem.She was a jazzy,Quiet Storm artist but when she started doing dance tracks like the horrible "Riding The Tiger",her fans went berserk They couldn't accept that type of sound from her.Clive Davis didn't understand Phyllis,and the type of artist that she was aiming to be.