Underrated Black Singers Who Should’ve Been Bigger Stars
This list is never-ending especially for those of us who work in the industry. We’ve seen the best of them come and go. The reasons they were not bigger can be many things but for the most part, most of them came along when there was bad timing, like other big stars on their label or in the industry that had more backing. We would have to ask them what they thought the reason was. In my experiences, most have said they didn’t feel the label was really behind them. See who the first 10 stars are, do you agree if not or if you do make a comment. Up first
WENDY MOTEN
Underrated Black Singers: Memphis Tennessee’s Wendy Moten has an amazing voice.Moten sang in church choirs as a child. She got her first break singing with Michael Bolton at a benefit concert; after signing with EMI, Click NEXT to see the next group
Mica Paris
In the mid, to late 80s another great singer stormed the charts from the UK. Unfortunately, it was also during Whitney Houston’s finest hour and Mica Paris is another great singer who’s timing was a bit off. She was very young when biggest hit from 1988″My One Temptation” then click NEXT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrYDzl76RpgClick NEXT for NEXT Singer
KIPPER JONES/Tease
Underrated Black Singers: Someone I once knew who used to work for a music publishing company told me when Kipper Jones would come by and sing material for them everyone in the office was left mesmerized.Kipper’s entrance into the industry was with a group called Tease (Chuckii Booker was once a member as well). Tease was sort of a TIME spinoff but with different material, probably pressured by Epic records at the time to emulate the Time which was a mistake.The group’s most notable hits were “Firestarter” and “I Wish You Were Here” both nothing less than stellar songs but there are times when groups get caught up in industry trends or the previous BS politics of radio.After TEASE split, Jones went solo and did an album for Virgin as well as spending a lot of his time producing hits and working with other artists and building their musical careers like Brandy and Vanessa Williams.There was certainly a bigger place waiting in the wings for his own career. Early 90s radio was loaded with New Jack Swing which put many balladeers on the back burner until the trend finally died down. Jones currently lives in Atlanta where he is still performing. Here’s the audio/video for Firestarterhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKQjBaOAzb4
KARYN WHITE
Underrated Black Singers: I will always be scratching my head over this one. Karyn had a HUGE smash (Superwoman) then lives in Sacramento and runs a successful interior design company and
VANITY
In today’s reality TV arena I could very easily see Vanity with a reality show and endorsement deals through the roof had Underrated Black Singers: TheIndustry.biz FAN SUBMITTED: “Stokley doesn’t get the recognition he deserves as a true vocalist. He’s never mentioned in these conversations.”… well, he is now and I agree Mint Condition should have been HUGE. You would certainly be hard-pressed to find many singers that sound BETTER in person than on record (see video below of Stokley singing in Dallas.I remember working on the air at KJLH and Stevie Wonder called me on the hotline, during our conversation, I was playing a Mint Condition record in the background and Steve said: “You know Stokley is one of my favorite singers.” I realized how great of a compliment that was coming from an icon himself. I’m not sure what happened with Mint Condition. Too many members? Timing? I’m willing to admit, it was probably the politics of the labels and the radio stations.Great material, nonetheless. Since Stokley remained with the group there is a great advantage, they still have a huge fan base and can still perform.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgCv-qrlRrI
Tony Terry
Underrated Black Singers: TheIndustry.biz FAN SUBMITTED: “Radio was so in love with this artist and you still hear his product on most R&B stations that play recurrent product. In spite of him being one of the most artists used by radio for club track dates, he never achieved good product sales or headline status as a concert performer. And folks loved him whenever he would visit. He was a pleasure to work with, I just always felt he never got his earned deserves.”Tony had the misfortune of coming out at almost the exact same time as Keith Sweat which was most unfortunate because Tony was a much better singer. I hear Tony is still performing, doing plays etc.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlqJyZg_3-o
KEM
Underrated Black Singers: TheIndustry.biz READER SUBMITTED: “Kem’s rise to fame has come when Hip-Hop is the predominant genre on radio. That said, mainstream R&B stations aren’t giving a lot of love to the more mature balladeers of our time (Babyface, Charlie Wilson, etc.), therefore, the Neo’s and Lloyd’s are getting most, if not all the airtime. No offense to them, but the current R&B sounds more and more like Hip-Hop, not leaving a big distinction between the two…I believe the true art of songwriting is being lost to technology, and because of that, singers like Kem are looked over for a more current and younger sound. I really blame the labels for this miscarriage of our music!” Personally, while I agree Kem doesn’t get the airplay he deserves being one of the few who does this type of music may also be to his advantage.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOfGGjr6Aq4
CHERYL LYNN
Underrated Black Singers: I never saw the episode of the Gong Show where Cheryl won for singing “You Are so Beautiful To Me” but Funk were the rage and Cheryl’s came on the scene at the end of the disco era. Perhaps her large size prevented the labels from marketing her as they used tactics like taking pictures from the neck up for anyone who was big in an effort to hide their weight and Cheryl is not that big. Gwen Guthrie on the other hand (lol). At any rate, her video for “Got To Be Real” is below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54HSk7-q960
RACHELLE FERRELL
Underrated Black Singers: When I worked at Urban Network in the early 90s, a then-unknown Rachelle Ferrell used to come up and hang out learning how the industry worked. Capitol Records didn’t seem to have much interest in promoting her stellar R&B debut album so radio (lol) Rachelle moved in a different direction after the first CD perhaps leaving some hardcore fans confused.The last thing I heard her on was Lalah Hathaway’s CD on a remake of “I’m Coming Back” an outstanding song written by Gary Taylor. No disrespect to Lalah but I would have loved to have heard Rachelle take on that song herself and knock it out the park. The last time I saw her
