Sunday, January 05, 2020

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Patti Austin

Artist:Patti Austin f/James Ingram
Song:Baby Come To Me
Album:Intimate Patti Austin





Jazz singer Patti Austin topped the charts in 1982 with Baby Come To Me. It was a hit because it appeared on the daytime soap General Hospital. For the most part, Patti is a jazz singer. She was born Aug. 10, 1950 in Harlem, NY but she grew up on Long Island. Her dad Gordon Austin played trombone. So plenty of musicians in the house. Dinah Washington, Quincy Jones and Sammy Davis Jr. are among those who claimed to be her godparents. Patti sang at The Apollo when she was four years old. As a teen, she got into session singing. She recorded singles for Coral, United Artists and Columbia. A couple were R&B hits. But I think most of us first heard of Patti when she recorded for Creed Taylor's CTI label in the 70s. These albums were arranged by either Bob James or Dave Grusin featuring jazz musicians like The Brecker Brothers, Joe Farrell, Richard Tee, Eric Gale, Steve Gadd and Ralph McDonald. After three albums for CTI, Patti moved to Quincy Jones' Qwest label and appeared on his 1981 album The Dude. Every Home Should Have One was Patti's Qwest debut album in 1981. Baby Come To Me topped the charts after it was used on the ABC daytime soap General Hospital. ABC got so many requests that Warner Bros. released it as a single and it topped the charts for two weeks. Of course it has a great vocal by Patti and James Ingram with background vocals by Michael McDonald. Rod Temperton wrote the song and arranged and played keyboards on the record. Patti scored another hit with a second duet with James Ingram How Do You Keep The Music Playing?. After four albums for Qwest, Patti moved to Dave Grusin's GRP label in 1990. She left the label in 1995 after it was sold. Patti Austin continues to record and tour. Her 2017 album Ella & Louis is a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded with James Morrison and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Patti appeared in the 2013 Oscar winning doc Twenty Feet From Stardom which you should watch on Netflix. This comp covers the Qwest and GRP recordings. Here's the video for Baby Come To Me by Patti Austin featuring James Ingram.

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