Directed by Sekou Luke for "Unscripted Live" (Apollo Theater Soundstage), May 23, 2022. Produced by Sekou Luke & Christian John Wikane. www.unscriptedcjw.com
I think she meant it in reference to Love to Love You Baby, and singing in a softer upper-register voice... I think that's what she meant. Because I don't think you could hear Janet past the 2nd row without a sound system. Mariah probably can't be heard past the edge of the stage without a sound system, at least these days, with that raspy, dry, weak voice that she seems to have damaged from doing that "whistle" which she over-used. I hate that "whistle" voice she does... Hate, yes, I hate that sound. It messes up electrical equipment whenever that song one song came on the radio and my garage door would go up and down and up and down.... Off the top of my head, I can't think of one song title by Mariah. But, Donna did also influence Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and Beyonce. But, the song I Feel Love and others have influenced countless artists, even today. A song from 1977 still influencing artists. Damn. Donna Summer was special. It is sad to say, but nonetheless true, that if you have never heard Donna Summer sing LIVE and IN PERSON, you have never heard her sing. Something about the resonance of her voice and how it filled a venue. I witnessed her holding out a high note and slowly lowering the microphone to the floor and kept holding out the note. When she let go of the note and looked around, she seemed startled. This venue without a roof and a back wall that was an open view of yachts coming in to dock from the Pacific Ocean... and the audience was dead silent. Why? Because her voice slowly faded from the sound system as she lowered the microphone to the floor and, yet, her voice FILLED that theater. It seemed like the silence lasted a long time, but finally someone started clapping and then the entire audience erupted in cheers, whistles, screaming, clapping, and even people crying. I turned to my friend and asked, what just happened? My friend said that she held out that note and her voice filled the theater without the use of the Soundsystem. That's what I thought! Donna Summer made time stand still for a moment.... just because she felt like it. I stood between two exists at the end of the show and listened... nearly everyone was talking about THAT NOTE! It was confusing because we could see the microphone lowering and we could hear her voice disappearing from the speakers, but her voice was still filling the theater. It was incredible.
always blows my mind when I hear a name like Mariah or Rihanna or Madonna or even Whitney, attached to a number of household names that we hear often, but somehow Donna gets passed over. It doesnt annoy me as much as it shocks me that people, be them music critics or industry know-it-alls, are so casually stupid. ,,as if Donna was just some disco chick who had a handful of hits. I mean, its pretty easy to pull up her MASSIVE catalogue, to see that this woman, didnt miss a damn beat, BEFORE and after disco had its heyday. She was singing stone-cold rock 'n roll before anybody knew anything about disco...she was singing pop-ular music and turning in hit after hit, wayyyyyyy after disco 'went away'. So, to those who dont know how she ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, may I suggest you google all the music she recorded. (there's a playlist on YT with well over 300 songs on it, of her stuff pre-and post-disco) And you'll see she probably belongs in there, more than people like Whitney or Janet...and definitely more than someone as accomplished as Dolly Parton. Donna covered all the bases, thats for damn sure. "My Baby Understands"..."Bad Girls"..."Working The Midnight Shift"...."All Thru The Night"..."Lady of the Night"..."Domino"..."He's A Rebel"..."Oh, Billy Please". Those are rock songs, bro....the same kind of shit, you would hear from Heart or Pat Benatar.
Her version of Macarthur Park is everything and she still kept her voice until the bitter end, whenever I hear Nether Land she still did not miss a beat
Good call. I need to seek that out. 'Breakout' was one of the first LPs I bought - ever. I wore that out. I almost got to scrappin' when a fool cousin of mine lept in the air at a house party and caused the needle to skip. I still get mad thinking about it. Talking bout, "Well, they said 'jump.'"
