AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Stars on 54

Artist:Stars on 54

Song:If You Could Read My Mind

Album:54: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture Volume 2

This dance cover of the Gordon Lightfoot classic If You Could Read My Mind is from the 1998 film 54. The record was a worldwide club hit and was the best thing from this film. Because it bombed following major disagreements between writer director Mark Christopher and Miramax Films head Harvey Weinstein. After Christopher had made a couple of short films, Weinstein convinced him to write and direct a film about the New York City club Studio 54. The stars were Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell and Mike Myers. Christopher wanted make a film to capture Studio 54's notoriety as the epicenter of the gay culture explosion in New York City. Weinstein wanted a commercial film similar to Saturday Night Fever with all the gay references removed. I know that makes no sense. After Christopher's cut was previewed, Weinstein had his own cut done. Not surprisingly, the Miramax cut of Studio 54 was a critical and commercial flop. Christopher restored his cut for a 2014 DVD release and the response was positive to that. And that brings me back to the soundtrack. Marco Beltrami's score for the film has never been released. The two soundtrack albums have mostly previously released songs that were used as background music. So that tells me that Weinstein wanted to replicate the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album too. The exceptions were the Studio 54 Medley which was a medley of song snippets and If You Could Read My Mind. The singers were Ultra Nate, Jocelyn Enriquez and Amber. Ultra Nate sings most of the lead parts. Those three are pros. They knew what to do. The record was produced by veteran German producers Christian and Frank Beerman aka The Berman Brothers. They won a Grammy for Who Let the Dogs Out by Baha Men. The single was an international hit especially on the dance charts. Volume 2 of the Studio 54 soundtrack is available as a budget CD. It's all previously released songs by various artists. The song is available on other various artists CDs. Here's the video for If You Could Read My Mind by Stars on 54. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The 2 Live Crew

Artist:The 2 Live Crew

Song:Banned in the U.S.A.

Album:Banned in the U.S.A.

2 Live Crew Was an early rap group that became successful after a federal court ruled that one of their albums was obscene. The 1990 single Banned in the U.S.A. was their reaction to that ruling. It turned out to be their biggest hit. This dumb ruling was overturned upon appeal in 1992. All it did was give free publicity to 2 Live Crew and they became a symbol of free speech. 2 Live Crew was formed in 1984. But they started to get noticed after DJ and Miami promoter Luther Campbell became their manager and joined the group. The other members were David "DJ Mr. Mixx" Hobbs and Chris "Fresh Kid Ice" Wong Won. After Mark "Brother Marquis" Ross joined in 1986, Campbell started his own record company and became the spokesman for the group. The 1986 album The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are had sexually explicit lyrics. I don't have a problem with that except radio stations can't play their records as they could have their license taken away by the FCC. The album was still certified Gold based on word of mouth. With their 1988 Move Somethin', Campbell decided to release explicit and clean versions so they could get radio play. This album was also certified Gold. Then they released the 1998 album As Nasty as They Wanna Be. The single Me So Horny reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Christian fundamentalist organization American Family Association (AFA) went to Florida Governor Bob Martinez to have obscenity charges filed. This progressed to a point where a judge ruled that the album was obscene. Campbell sued the sheriff in Florida. The police response to that was to arrest a record retailer for selling the album to an undercover cop and they arrested members of 2 Live Crew while they performed in a local club. Free speech advocates were outraged and professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. handled the case. Charges were dropped and the appeals court reversed this ridiculous ruling. Meanwhile, As Nasty As They Wanna Be sold over two million copies without the benefit of a hit single. Then they released the 1990 album Banned in the U.S.A. and the title song reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bruce Springsteen let Campbell use his song Born in the U.S.A. This album is available on CD. After two more albums, this version of 2 Live Crew split up. Campbell left and the other three continued to record until 1998. They would reunite occasionally and release singles. Wong Won died in 2017 and Ross died in 2024. The one thing I can say about 2 Live Crew is they helped popularize rap music. Here's the video for Banned in the U.S.A. by 2 Live Crew. 

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Marvelous 3

Artist:Marvelous 3

Song:Freak of the Week

Album:Hey! Album

Marvelous 3 was a short lived band that had success when their videos were played on MTV. The 1999 single Freak of the Week is their best known song. They sound too much like other bands of that era like Blink-182. In fact, they toured with Blink-182. Band leader Butch Walker has gone on to have a very successful production career, most notably Avril Lavigne. Walker is currently a member of Train and records solo. So I guess he still wants that big hit record. Walker was born Nov. 14, 1969 in Rome, GA and he grew up in Cartersville, GA. He was in several 80s bands including Byte the Bullet. They moved to Los Angeles in 1988. They changed their name to SouthGang and released two albums on Virgin Records. Then they split up. Walker formed a new band with bassist Jayce Fincher and drummer Mitch "Slug" McLee called Floyd's Funk Revival and then The Floyds. They released two albums that went nowhere. So in 1997 Walker formed a new band Marvelous 3 with the same musicians and released an album independently. It did well enough that they signed with Elektra Records. Instead of releasing this album, Elektra wanted Walker to rerecord most of the songs and replace a couple of them. That reworked album was titled Hey! Album and was released in 1999. I guess it was no big deal as Walker writes and produces everything. Freak of the Week was the lead single and MTV played the video in heavy rotation. It reached #5 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks. It probably would have done better if Elektra spent some money to promote Marvelous 3. And that was Walker's main problem with Elektra. He asked to be released in 2001. Then they split up. This album is available as a budget CD. Since then Walker has recorded solo. But he has had great success as a songwriter producer for Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift, Pink, Katy Perry and plenty more. He is currently working on Courtney Love's upcoming album. Marvelous 3 has reunited a couple of times and released a 2023 album. Walker joined Train as guitarist last year. They are currently on tour with plans to record new music. Here's the video for Freak of the Week by Marvelous 3. 

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-John Rubinstein

Artist:John Rubinstein

Song:Corner of the Sky

Album:Pippin: Original Cast Recording

As the son of a world famous musician, John Rubinstein has had a lot to live up to. For most of his career, he has had success on Broadway. The 1972 musical Pippin was his first big hit. He has also appeared on TV and films and even composed film scores. But he's best known for his work on Broadway. He was born Dec. 8, 1946 in Los Angeles. His father was famed classical pianist Arthur Rubinstein. So I suppose Rubinstein was always going to be a musician. After studying theater and music at UCLA, he studied composition at Juilliard in New York. The first time I heard of Rubinstein was in the 1970 film Zachariah as the title character. This film was a psychedelic western that had rock musicians in it. That's why I knew about it. The film wasn't a hit at the time. But now it's a cult film. Rubinstein sang one song in the film but it wasn't on the soundtrack album. Then he got the title role in the Broadway musical Pippin. Stephen Schwartz had just had success with Godspell. Like that show, Pippin started out as a school project at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Schwartz took over the project and developed it himself. It was a vehicle for Ben Vereen as Leading Player. He won a Tony. Rubinstein and the rest of the cast were support players. The show did OK. Motown released the original cast album. Rubinstein sang several songs in the show. Corner of the Sky was in Act 1. The Jackson 5 scored a hit single with the song. The cast album was remastered in 2000 and released with three bonus tracks including The Jackson Five's recording of Corner of the Sky. Rubinstein composed the scores for the 1972 Robert Redford films Jeremiah Johnson and The Candidate. He composed music for a lot of TV movies in the 80s. For the rest of the 70s, he did lots of TV guest shots. Rubinstein was a regular on the 80s TV series Crazy Like a Fox. I don't think Rubinstein has ever had a starring role in a film. He returned to Broadway for the 1980 show Children of a Lesser God. Other shows include M. Butterfly (1989), a late 90s revival of Ragtime, Wicked when it played Los Angeles in 2007 and a 2014 revival of Pippin as King Charlemagne. He has also done 150 audio books. Currently Rubinstein is touring with the one man show Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground and he teaches musical theater at USC. So he's done pretty well. Here's John Rubinstein performing Corner of the Sky on an Easter Seals Telethon in the 70s. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Natalie La Rose

Artist:Natalie La Rose f/Jeremih

Song:Somebody

Album:NOW That's What I Call Music! 54

Dutch singer Natalie La Rose scored a top ten hit with her 2015 debut single Somebody. It's her only hit to date. In fact, Natalie has not released an album. She currently records for her own label. She was born July 11, 1988 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Her parents are from Surinam. As a child, Natalie and her sister sang and danced together. She graduated from the Lucia Marthas Dance Academy in 2008. Natalie moved to Los Angeles in 2010. She signed with Blackground Records. They are best known as the late Aaliyah's label owned by her uncle Barry Hankerson. They were distributed by Interscope. Hankerson put Natalie in a duo with Sigourney Korper called Amsterdam. They appeared in the J. Lewis and Flo Rida video Dancing for Me. When things didn't work out, Natalie appeared as lead dancer in Lloyd's 2011 video Dedication to My Ex (Miss That). At an ESPY Awards after party, she ran into Flo Rida and told him that she would work with him one day. Flo Rida was so impressed that she toured with him for the next two years. She signed with his IMG label with Republic distribution. The 2015 single Somebody reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was an international hit. The record is based on the Whitney Houston hit I Wanna Dance with Somebody. The record was produced by The Futuristics (Alex Schwartz, Joe Khajadourian) and William Lobban-Bean aka Cook Classics. The remix featured singer Jeremih. When the follow up single Around the World didn't do nearly as well, Republic dropped her like a bad habit. Natalie never even got to record an album. That's how labels like Republic treat young black women. She's OK in the video. There's nothing wrong with her. But she comes across like Republic's Hot Girl of the Month. They think she's disposable. Since 2022, Natalie has recorded for her own label. I don't see that going anywhere. As we have seen in the past, an artist needs more than one hit record to get a big push from Universal labels. It's too bad but that's how they work. Here's the video for Somebody by Natalie La Rose.

   

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Billy Joe & The Checkmates

Artist:Billy Joe & the Checkmates

Song:Percolator (Twist)

Album:Teen Beat 5: Another 30 Great Rockin' Instrumentals

Coffee lovers are going to want to check out this classic 1962 top ten hit made by Los Angeles studio musicians. The guy behind this record was Dore Records owner Lew Bedell. He also founded Era Records with former Atlantic Records exec Herb Newman. Lew Bedell was born Lewis Joseph Bedinsky Mar. 21, 1919 in El Paso, TX. His father was from The Ukraine and his mother was born in New York City. After his parents divorced, his family moved to Los Angeles. They changed their surname to Bedell in 1941. After WWII, he formed a comedy team with Doug Mattson. They played clubs in Los Angeles and split up in 1953. Bedell continued to work clubs. He even had a short lived TV show in New York. He met Herb Newman in 1955 when Era Records was founded. Bedell was Era's comptroller. Era's big hit was the single The Wayward Wind by Gogi Grant. When she tried to leave Era for RCA, Era sued her for breach of contract. Bedell and Newman started Dore Records. They scored a hit with To Know Him Is to love Him by The Teddy Bears. Then Newman and Bedell split up and Bedell retained control of Dore. In 1961, Bedell suggested to studio pianist Ernie Freeman that they should record a version of the Maxwell House advertising jingle. The musicians were Freeman on piano, Rene Hall on guitar, Red Callender on bass, Julius Wechter on marimba and Earl Palmer on drums. These guys were all Los Angeles studio musicians and members of The Wrecking Crew. The record was called Percolator (Twist) by Billy Joe & the Checkmates. Freeman wrote the song and Bedell took a songwriting credit as Louis Bideau. He even used a college photo of himself and said it was a pic of the group leader Billy Joe Hunter. Of course the big surprise was when Percolator reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. You can get it on this Ace Records various artists comp. There were several Billy Joe & the Checkmates singles but Percolator turned out to be a one hit wonder. Bedell continued to run Dore Records. He had a thing for comedy and Hudson & Landry was his most successful act. Lou Bedell died on July 6, 2000 at age 81. Here's a video of Percolator (Twist) by Billy Joe & the Checkmates.

  

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Brian McKnight

Artist:Brian McKnight

Song:Back at One

Album:Gold

R&B singer songwriter Brian McKnight had his greatest success in the 90s. The 1999 single Back at One was his biggest hit and his final big hit. He still records and tours these days. He was born June 5, 1969 in Buffalo. His older brother Claude McKnight III is a member of the acapella vocal group Take 6. The boys grew up in the church choir directed by their grandfather. Their family moved to Orlando, FL. when McKnight was ten years old. His dad worked for the Martin Marietta aircraft manufacturer. McKnight learned to play instruments and writing songs as a teen. He performed in local clubs while in high school. After graduating, McKnight got a publishing deal and moved to Los Angeles. After Claude McKnight's group Take 6 got a record deal with Warner Bros.' Reprise label in 1987, McKnight sent out demos and signed with Mercury Records. He released three albums for Mercury including the 1997 album Anytime which was certified 2XPlatinum. The 1997 single You Should be Mine was a top 20 pop hit. Even in those early days, McKnight normally wrote and produced his music. It was unusual for outside producers to be brought in though You Should be Mine was written and produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs. It was at this point that Universal bought Mercury's parent company PolyGram and all black artists were moved to Universal's Motown label. Mercury was turned into a country label. So McKnight signed a new deal with Motown and released the 1998 Christmas album Bethlehem. This was followed by Back at One in 1999. And this turned out to be McKnight's most successful album. It was certified 3XPlatinum and the single Back at One reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. As with his other albums, McKnight wrote and produced it himself. Why was this such a big success? Some believe that Anytime exposed McKnight to a more hip hop oriented audience and they stuck around for Back at One. After that, things didn't go so well. McKnight released three more albums for Motown. When none of them were positively received and they didn't sell as well as Back at One, McKnight left for Warner Bros. for the 2006 album Ten. When the album didn't sell, McKnight started recording for smaller labels. This 2CD comp has all his Universal hits. In recent years, McKnight appears to record for the indie label SoNo with Universal distribution. At this point he's a nostalgia act. Here's the video for Back at One by Brian McKnight.