AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Jocelyn Enriquez

Artist:Jocelyn Enriquez

Song:A Little Bit of Ecstasy

Album:Jocelyn

Singer Jocelyn Enriquez had success in the late 90s mostly on the dance charts. A Little Bit of Ecstasy topped the dance chart in 1997. She was born Dec. 28, 1974 in San Francisco. She is Filipino American. Jocelyn trained at the San Francisco Girl Chorus and San Francisco Opera Company. She was in a girl group in high school. A demo got her a record deal with Classified Records which was owned by Filipino Americans. Jocelyn was their first signing. Despite limited distribution, Jocelyn had chart success with the 1994 single I've Been Thinking About You. That got the attention of Tommy Boy Records and they worked out a distribution deal with Classified. That got them international distribution. Jocelyn recorded the 1997 album Jocelyn and the single A Little Bit of Ecstasy topped the dance charts. Most of the album including A Little Bit of Ecstasy was written and produced by Glenn Gutierrez who had previously worked with Stevie B. He also produced Jocelyn's previous album. Typical of dance music, there's not much to the song. There's a chorus and a repetitive hook and that's it. The album is available on CD. The song appeared in the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury. So things were looking up for Jocelyn. Then Tommy Boy ended the deal with Classified but Jocelyn stayed with Tommy Boy. Classified closed in 2001. Jocelyn appeared with Dutch singer Amber and Ultra Nate as Stars on 54. Their dance cover of Gordon Lightfoot's If You Could Read My Mind was featured in the 1998 film 54 and was a worldwide chart hit. After giving birth to her first child, Jocelyn recorded a couple of singles including one for the Disney film 102 Dalmatians. When they didn't chart, Tommy Boy dropped her. Since then Jocelyn has occasionally released music on her own label. She and her minister husband moved to San Antonio in 2005 and they run a church there. I'm sure that and their four kids keep Jocelyn busy. She last released a single in 2018 and she still tours. Here's the video for A Little Bit of Ecstasy by Jocelyn Enriquez. 

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Joy Williams

Artist:Joy Williams

Song:I Believe in You

Album:Every Moment: The Best of Joy Williams

Most music fans should remember Joy Williams as one half of the duo The Civil Wars with John Paul White. They made a big splash with the 2011 album Barton Hollow and appeared on the Grammy Awards broadcast. They went on indefinite hiatus in 2012 and announced they split up in 2014. But before that Joy recorded five CCM album and she seemed to be on her way to a successful solo career. She was born Nov. 14, 1982 in West Brandt, MI and she grew up in Santa Cruz, CA where her parents were ministers. So she's a PK. So she sang in church and she started writing songs. Joy signed with Sony's CCM label Reunion label at age 17. Obviously Reunion wanted to market her to teens similar to how Rachel Lampa was sold in the 90s. So for Joy's 2001 album Joy Williams, they brought in producer Dan Muckala who has worked with teen acts like Mandy Moore and CCM acts like Chris Tomlin. So he knew what Reunion wanted. Joy recorded three albums for Reunion. They sold OK and Joy was nominated for 11 Dove awards. The problem I see is Muckala wrote most of the songs including I Believe in You. And I guess Joy wanted to write more of the songs. So for the 2002 album By Surprise, Reunion brought in veteran CCM producer Brown Bannister. Joy wrote four songs with her guitarist Rob Graves. So for the 2005 album Genesis, Matt Bronleewe produced. Joy wrote all the songs with another CCM veteran Jason Ingram. Joy decided not to renew her contract with Reunion. It was after she self released a couple of EPs that she met John Paul White at a songwriter's camp in Nashville and formed The Civil Wars. They were successful but weren't getting along. So White went home to his family in Alabama and refused to work with Joy. Since then Joy has released a couple of albums on her own label. Her 2019 album Front Porch was nominated for a Best Folk Album Grammy. She says she wanted a more acoustic sound. Keep in mind that Reunion wanted to sell her to teens. Joy and John Paul White both appeared on Taylor Swift's 2023 re-recording of Safe & Sound which the three wrote together. Joy and White recorded their parts separately. Joy gave birth to a son in 2023. She currently hosts Southern Craft Radio on Apple Music Country. Don't know if she will record again. Here's Joy Williams performing I Believe in You on the 2001 Dove Awards broadcast. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-James Galway

Artist:James Galway f/The Chieftains

Song:Danny Boy

Album:The Essential James Galway

Irish flutist James Galway is known as The Man with the Golden Flute. He is mainly a classical musician but he does record other types of music including Danny Boy from a 1987 album with The Chieftains. He has recorded for RCA since the 70s but he now records for Deutsche Grammophon. He was born Dec. 8, 1939 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father and other family members played the flute. His uncle taught him to play and at age 11, Galway won the Belfast Flute Competition. He left school at age 14 to work as an apprentice for a piano repairman. Galway moved to London and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music. He also studied at the Paris Conservatoire. When he asked the great Jean-Pierre Rampal for lessons, Rampal told Galway that he didn't need lessons. So he returned to London to work for Sadler's Wells Opera. Galway was principal flute for Herbert von Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 1969-75. He moved to the US to launch a solo career and took a teaching job at the Eastman School of Music. He signed with RCA Records in 1975. Galway has always recorded all kinds of music. Not surprisingly, he is especially fond of Irish music. This recording of the standard Danny Boy is from the 1987 album James Galway And The Chieftains In Ireland. The songs are mostly traditional produced by The Chieftains leader Paddy Moloney. You can get Danny Boy on this 2CD budget comp. One CD has classical recordings and the second CD has more popular music. So it's a good intro to Galway's music. Galway switched from RCA to Deutsche Grammophon in 2004. He recently appeared on a Daniel Hope album of Irish favorites. Galway and his wife are concentrating on their Galway Flute Academy. Here's James Galway performing Danny Boy in Japan. 

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Corona

Artist:Corona

Song:The Rhythm of the Night

Album:Unstoppable 90s

The 1993 single Rhythm of the Night was a worldwide dance hit. Here in North America it was a top ten dance hit and a top 20 pop hit. It was Corona's only big hit but they are not a one hit wonder. I guess they are a one album wonder which is not unusual for this kind of music. The guy behind Corona was Italian DJ and producer Francesco "Checco" Bontempi. He sometimes recorded as Lee Marrow. In those days, it was not unusual for dance music producers to use studio singers on the records and models in the videos. That is what C+C Music Factory and Black Box did. Seeing this, Bontempi decided to do the same thing. So the girl in the video is not the singer. She is Brazilian model Olga Souza. She moved to Italy in 1990. She was spotted performing in a club and brought in to be the face of Corona. The singing on The Rhythm of the Night was by Italian singer Giovanna Bersola AKA Jenny B. At the time, she was a studio singer. Supposedly, Giovanna suffered from stage fright and she didn't want to be a public figure. The funny part is Olga could sing but Bontempi wanted her for her looks. The Rhythm of the Night was on the local label DWA (Dance World Attack) and distributed in Europe by the German label XYZ. When the song became a big hit in Europe, Warner Bros. picked up the North American rights and released it on EastWest. In the US, the song reached #7 on the Dance chart and #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bontempi wrote and produced but it's based on the 1987 song Save Me by the German pop duo Say When!. British musicians Pete Glenister and Mike Gaffney wrote that song and got a songwriting credit. After the song was a hit, Bontempi recorded the rest of the album with British singer Sandy Chambers. You can get The Rhythm of the Night on this various artists budget comp. The Corona name is still around. But Bontempi left and two other guys are in charge. Most folks are only going to be interested in The Rhythm of the Night. Here's the video for The Rhythm of the Night by Corona.