A not so well known tune from the late great, 'Walrus Of Love', Barry White which came out in 1979 but it would appear was flipped in US as it only charted R&B #75 for the B side 'Love Ain't Easy'. Taken from 'The Message Is Love' album. Having consistently hit the charts with virtually every single he released between 1973-78, his 'barren' period began in 1979 until 1987 in UK with 'Sho' You Right' and 1994 in US with 'Practice What You Preach'.
Whilst digging around I came across this clip on Lisa Stansfield's channel of footage of her performing her hit 'All Around The World' with Barry White in 1992. For all the 'knockers' listen to what 'The Man' says about her at the beginning of the video ... and he was proved right as she's still performing 30 years later! She was only the second white woman (and only British white woman) to top the US R&B chart in 1989 after Teena Marie topped the chart in 1988 with 'Ooo La La La'.
It's not the colour of someone's skin that determines whether they can sing soulfully. Dusty Springfield and Lulu had soul on 'some' of their recordings. I dont think anyone could argue that Joss Stone wasn't a soul singer. Amy Winehouse and many more could capture the 'mood'. If you haven't already, watch the clip I put up last week of another white British female singer Jessie J. There is an 'inverted' snobbery that it must be Black, American and ideally rare before it can be 'accepted', but as the famous Gordy logo states 'It's what's in the grooves that count'. Lisa Stansfield is often dismissed by soul 'purists' purely because she's white, British and has been 'unfortunate' enough to have actually had pop hits and become a mainstream artist. The same 'purists' will probably also dismiss Barry White as he was 'too mainstream', although he paid a lot of dues before he hit the big time in 1973, having his first single released in 1960 as a member of The Upfronts and his first solo single in 1963, and as stated above his 'popularity' waned after only 5 years and he had to wait another 15 years before he entered the US pop charts again and only had one further entry in 1995 before his death in 2003. So, in a career spanning 43 years he was only 'mainstream' in 5 of them.
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