Whenever Wherever
Shakira






A Smooth Sexy Latin....

After achieving superstardom throughout Latin America, Colombian-
born Shakira became Latin pop's biggest female crossover artist since
Jennifer Lopez broke down the doors to English-language success.
Noted for her aggressive, rock-influenced approach, Shakira maintained
an extraordinary degree of creative control over her music, especially
for a female artist; she wrote or co-wrote nearly all of her own
material, and in the process gained a reputation as one of Latin music's
most ambitiously poetic lyricists.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Whenever Wherever"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Piano In The Dark
Brenda Russel






Smooth Sultry Soul....

Born Brenda Gordon, Russell is a soul singer, composer, and
keyboardist. Her family moved to Toronto when she was 12. Eventually,
she and her husband, Brian Russell, hosted the Canadian TV series
#Music Machine. They moved to Los Angeles in 1973 where they both
worked as session musicians. They recorded together under the name
Brian & Brenda in 1978, but their music was not received well. After the
couple's divorce, Brenda embarked on a solo career. She signed with
A&M and released two albums, Brenda Russell (1979) and Love Life
(1981). Then she switched to Warner Bros. and put out Two Eyes in 1983.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Piano In The Dark"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Come Back To Me
Janet Jackson






Silky Smooth & Sexy ....

Few celebrity siblings can emerge from the shadows of their already
famous relations to become superstars in their own right and with their
own distinct personalities. That's exactly what Janet Jackson did in
becoming one of the biggest female pop and R&B stars of the '80s
and '90s. Since her breakthrough in 1986 with the album Control,
Jackson's career as a hitmaker has been a model of consistency,
rivaling Madonna and Whitney Houston in terms of pop-chart success
over the long haul. A big part of the reason was that Jackson kept her
level of quality control very high; her singles were always expertly
crafted, with indelible pop hooks and state-of-the-art production that
kept up with contemporary trends in urban R&B.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Come Back To Me"



~Shears

Save The Best For Last
Vanessa Williams





Smooth American Beauty....

When Vanessa Williams began her singing career, she was known
chiefly as the Miss America pageant winner who'd been forced to
renounce her title for posing in ~Penthouse magazine. Williams not only
put the scandal behind her, she all but obliterated it, turning out a series
of slick, sophisticated hits that made her one of the most popular adult
contemporary R&B singers of her time. In addition to her broad
crossover appeal, she established a parallel acting career in both film
and television, ending the '90s as a highly successful all-around
entertainer.

Vanessa Lynn Williams was born March 18, 1963, in the upstate New
York town of Millwood to parents who were both music teachers. She
loved performing musical theater as a teenager, and won a scholarship
to study it at Syracuse University in 1981.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Save The Best For Last"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Smooth Operator
Sade






"The Smoothest Operator"...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Smooth Operator"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Kiss Of Life
Sade





"The Smoothest Operator"...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Kiss Of Life"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

Never As Good As The First Time
Sade






"The Smoothest Operator"...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Never As Good As The First Time"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Frankie's First Affair
Sade






"The Smoothest Operator"...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Frankie's First Affair"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Lovers Rock
Sade






"The Smoothest Operator"...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


Listen to the entire song:

Click here to hear "Lovers Rock"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Somebody already Broke My Heart
Sade






"The Smoothest Operator"...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "Somebody already Broke My Heart"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

By Your Side
Sade






"The Smoothest Operator"...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "By Your Side"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Just Be A Man About It
Toni Braxton






Smooth, Sultry & Ravishing....

Toni Braxton was one of the most popular and commercially
successful female R&B singers of the '90s, thanks to her ability to
straddle seemingly opposite worlds. Braxton was soulful enough for
R&B audiences, but smooth enough for adult contemporary;
sophisticated enough for adults, but sultry enough for younger listeners;
strong enough in the face of heartbreak to appeal to women, but
ravishing enough to nab the fellas. Wielding such broad appeal, Braxton
managed to score not one, but two albums that sold over eight million
copies; naturally, they were accompanied by a long string of hit singles
on the pop and R&B charts, one of which -- "Un-break My Heart" --
ranks among the longest-running number one pop hits of the rock era.



watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "Just Be A Man About It"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

That's The Way Love Goes
Janet Jackson






Silky Smooth & Sexy ....

Few celebrity siblings can emerge from the shadows of their already
famous relations to become superstars in their own right and with their
own distinct personalities. That's exactly what Janet Jackson did in
becoming one of the biggest female pop and R&B stars of the '80s
and '90s. Since her breakthrough in 1986 with the album Control,
Jackson's career as a hitmaker has been a model of consistency,
rivaling Madonna and Whitney Houston in terms of pop-chart success
over the long haul. A big part of the reason was that Jackson kept her
level of quality control very high; her singles were always expertly
crafted, with indelible pop hooks and state-of-the-art production that
kept up with contemporary trends in urban R&B.



watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "That's The Way Love Goes"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Let's Face The Music And Dance
Diana Krall






The blonde beauty can sing....

Pity poor, beautiful jazz pianist/singer Diana Krall. Since her
Canadian youth, Krall, steeped in Fats Waller records by her collector-
father, has suffered the double-whammy of lovely blonde looks that got
her at once noticed and dismissed as a credible player. Her crisp, Bill
Evans-style floods of notes were honed at Berklee School of Music but
have taken second place, on the advice of her jazz mentors, to the
throaty, covered alto voice. Successive albums of romantic standards
and bluesy ballads like 1996's "All for You" and 1997's "Love Scenes"
prove Krall's no-callow belter, deepening in expression and brilliance as
time and mood demand. Comparisons to, on the one hand, Carmen
McRae, and, on the other, Sharon Stone, may plague her, but the shiny,
slopey blonde package never blurs Krall's conquest of the keyboard,
nor her victorious vocal assertions.



watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "Let's Face The Music And Dance"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

The Look Of Love
Diana Krall






The blonde beauty can sing....

Pity poor, beautiful jazz pianist/singer Diana Krall. Since her
Canadian youth, Krall, steeped in Fats Waller records by her collector-
father, has suffered the double-whammy of lovely blonde looks that got
her at once noticed and dismissed as a credible player. Her crisp, Bill
Evans-style floods of notes were honed at Berklee School of Music but
have taken second place, on the advice of her jazz mentors, to the
throaty, covered alto voice. Successive albums of romantic standards
and bluesy ballads like 1996's "All for You" and 1997's "Love Scenes"
prove Krall's no-callow belter, deepening in expression and brilliance as
time and mood demand. Comparisons to, on the one hand, Carmen
McRae, and, on the other, Sharon Stone, may plague her, but the shiny,
slopey blonde package never blurs Krall's conquest of the keyboard,
nor her victorious vocal assertions.



watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "The Look Of Love"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Just The Way You Are
Diana Krall






The blonde beauty can sing....

Pity poor, beautiful jazz pianist/singer Diana Krall. Since her
Canadian youth, Krall, steeped in Fats Waller records by her collector-
father, has suffered the double-whammy of lovely blonde looks that got
her at once noticed and dismissed as a credible player. Her crisp, Bill
Evans-style floods of notes were honed at Berklee School of Music but
have taken second place, on the advice of her jazz mentors, to the
throaty, covered alto voice. Successive albums of romantic standards
and bluesy ballads like 1996's "All for You" and 1997's "Love Scenes"
prove Krall's no-callow belter, deepening in expression and brilliance as
time and mood demand. Comparisons to, on the one hand, Carmen
McRae, and, on the other, Sharon Stone, may plague her, but the shiny,
slopey blonde package never blurs Krall's conquest of the keyboard,
nor her victorious vocal assertions.



watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "Just The Way You Are"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

My Love
Candy Dulfer






Pure Saxuality....

Alto saxophonist Candy Dulfer was brought into the limelight by
Prince, who introduced her to the world via his video for "Partyman."
Raised in a family heavily involved in the Dutch jazz scene, Dulfer is the
daughter of Hans Dulfer, a respected jazz tenor saxophonist. Thanks to
him, she listened to and studied the recordings of Sonny Rollins,
Coleman Hawkins, and Dexter Gordon. He also introduced her to the
stage early in life. When she was 12, she began playing in a band with
Rosa King, an American expatriate who lived in Holland. Her career
began by playing with brass bands but soon she was fronting her own
band, Funky Stuff, who were invited to backup Madonna for part of her
European tour. She began leading the band at age 15. Her appearances
with Prince led to session work with Eurythmics guitarist/producer Dave
Stewart, who gave Dulfer a credit on "Lily Was Here," which reached
number six in the U.K. and number one on the Dutch radio charts in
1990. Recording sessions for her debut album were followed by more
guest star dates with Van Morrison, Aretha Franklin, and Pink Floyd.

Her debut, Saxuality, released later in 1990 for RCA Records,
was very successful in Europe and the U.S. While it was by no means a
straight-ahead jazz album, her funky alto sax stylings caught on with fans
of contemporary jazz at several recently launched "smooth jazz" radio
stations around the U.S. Saxuality was nominated for a Grammy and
certified gold for sales in excess of a half-million units worldwide. Her
1991 album Sax-a-Go-Go includes "Sunday Afternoon," a song by
Prince, and also teams her up with some of her musical mentors, the
JB's and the Tower of Power horns. Her other influences include Sonny
Rollins and David Sanborn, and while Dulfer hasn't carved the niche for
herself that Sanborn has in the jazz world, she does have a great
career ahead of her as she continues to synthesize classic R&B, blues,
pop, and jazz in her own unique, creative ways. In 1999, she released
What Does It Take.



watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "My Love"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Fragile
Sting




Literate, Intelligent & Smooth...

After disbanding the Police at the peak of their popularity in 1984,
Sting quickly established himself as a viable solo artist, one obsessed
with expanding the boundaries of pop music. Sting incorporated heavy
elements of jazz, classical, and worldbeat into his music, writing lyrics
that were literate and self-consciously meaningful, and he was never
afraid to emphasize this fact in the press. For such unabashed ambition,
he was equally loved and reviled, with supporters believing that he was
at the forefront of literate, intelligent rock and his critics finding his
entire body of work pompous.



watch the entire video:
Click here to watch "Fragile"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Breathe Again
Toni Braxton






Smooth, Sultry & Ravishing....

Toni Braxton was one of the most popular and commercially
successful female R&B singers of the '90s, thanks to her ability to
straddle seemingly opposite worlds. Braxton was soulful enough for
R&B audiences, but smooth enough for adult contemporary;
sophisticated enough for adults, but sultry enough for younger listeners;
strong enough in the face of heartbreak to appeal to women, but
ravishing enough to nab the fellas. Wielding such broad appeal, Braxton
managed to score not one, but two albums that sold over eight million
copies; naturally, they were accompanied by a long string of hit singles
on the pop and R&B charts, one of which -- "Un-break My Heart" --
ranks among the longest-running number one pop hits of the rock era.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Breathe Again"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Rock Steady
Remy Shand






Smooth Memphis Neo-Soul....

Remy Shand emerged on to the
neo-soul circuit in 2002 with The Way I Feel, a potent canon of songs
inspired by classic Motown and Memphis soul. Primarily home-schooled
in his native Vancouver, Shand began raiding his parents record
collection at an early age -- soaking up a wide range of jazz, soul, and
R&B, with Marvin Gaye's classic Here, My Dear having a profound
influence on his musical direction. Dropping out of high school to study
and pursue music full-time, Shand played as a session musician and
was a member of various experimental groups until he decided to focus
a solo career. In 1998, he began to write and record the songs that
would later become The Way I Feel.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Rock Steady"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Wicked Games
Chris Isaak






Smooth Rootsy Sound....

Chris Isaak clearly loves the reverb-laden rockabilly and country of
Sun Studios. In particular, he transfers the sweeping melancholy of Roy
Orbison's classic Monument singles ("Crying," "Oh, Pretty Woman," "In
Dreams") to the more stripped-down, rootsy sound of Sun. His stylized
take on '50s and '60s ock & roll eventually made him into a star in the
early '90s, thanks to the hit single "Wicked Game."

Isaak began performing after he graduated from college, forming the
rockabilly band Silvertone. The group, which featured guitarist James
Calvin Wilsey, bassist Rowland Salley, and drummer Kenney Dale
Johnson, would become the singer/guitarist's permanent supporting
band. Isaak released his first album, Silvertone, on Warner Bros.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Wicked Games"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Karma
Alicia Keys




Smooth Old Soul....
Her official website says she possesses an "old soul," and the hard
facts seem to back up the implied claim of wisdom and experience that
transcend Alicia Keys' youth. Barely in her twenties, Keys is responsible
for an extremely hot debut, Songs in A Minor. The release, which she
wrote and produced for Clive Davis' J Records, blends diverse
influences, including R&B, hip-hop, classical, and jazz. The day the
album went on the market, it sold more than 50,000 copies. Label
executives confidently predicted similarly favorable numbers for the
first week's tally.

Around the time that Songs in A minor was released, Keys was popping
up everywhere, including an Associated Press story. Where had she
been before then? Her entire life, it seems, had been an accelerated
learning experience, preparing her for a career in music.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Karma"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Europa
Gato Barbieri





Smooth & Mellow....


Gato Barbieri is the second Argentinian musician to make a significant
impact upon jazz -- the first being Lalo Schifrin, in whose band Barbieri
played as a teenager. His story has been that of an elongated zigzag
odyssey between his homeland and North America. He started out
playing to traditional Latin rhythms in his early years, turning his back
on his heritage to explore the jazz avant-garde in the '60s, reverting to
South American influences in the early '70s, playing pop and fusion in
the late '70s, only to go back and forth again in the '80s. North
American audiences first heard Barbieri when he was a wild bull,
sporting a coarse, wailing, John Coltrane/Pharoah Sanders-influenced
tone. Yet by the mid-'70s, his approach and tone began to mellow
somewhat in accordance with ballads like "What a Diff'rence a Day
Makes" (which he always knew as the vintage bolero "Cuando Vuelva a
tu Lado") and Carlos Santana's "Europa."


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Europa"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Ordinary Day
Basia






Smooth & Subtle ....


Vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska spent a couple of years in the pop band
Matt Bianco, an offshoot of Blue Rondo à la Turk, before she launched a
solo career in 1987. With the musical assistance of Matt Bianco's Danny
White, Basia developed a subtle cocktail jazz-pop which was first
showcased on her 1987 debut album, Time and Tide. Supported by the
singles "New Day for You" and "Time and Tide," the record became a hit
in Europe and America, where the album went platinum. Her second
record, 1990's London Warsaw New York, was just as successful, but
her third album, 1994's Sweetest Illusion, failed to find an audience.
Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia followed in 1998.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Ordinary Day"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Say The Words
Basia






Smooth & Subtle ....

Vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska spent a couple of years in the pop band
Matt Bianco, an offshoot of Blue Rondo à la Turk, before she launched a
solo career in 1987. With the musical assistance of Matt Bianco's Danny
White, Basia developed a subtle cocktail jazz-pop which was first
showcased on her 1987 debut album, Time and Tide. Supported by the
singles "New Day for You" and "Time and Tide," the record became a hit
in Europe and America, where the album went platinum. Her second
record, 1990's London Warsaw New York, was just as successful, but
her third album, 1994's Sweetest Illusion, failed to find an audience.
Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia followed in 1998.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Say The Words"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Cruising For Bruising
Basia






Smooth & Subtle ....

Vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska spent a couple of years in the pop band
Matt Bianco, an offshoot of Blue Rondo à la Turk, before she launched a
solo career in 1987. With the musical assistance of Matt Bianco's Danny
White, Basia developed a subtle cocktail jazz-pop which was first
showcased on her 1987 debut album, Time and Tide. Supported by the
singles "New Day for You" and "Time and Tide," the record became a hit
in Europe and America, where the album went platinum. Her second
record, 1990's London Warsaw New York, was just as successful, but
her third album, 1994's Sweetest Illusion, failed to find an audience.
Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia followed in 1998.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Cruising For Bruising"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

New Day For You
Basia






Smooth & Subtle ....

Vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska spent a couple of years in the pop band
Matt Bianco, an offshoot of Blue Rondo à la Turk, before she launched a
solo career in 1987. With the musical assistance of Matt Bianco's Danny
White, Basia developed a subtle cocktail jazz-pop which was first
showcased on her 1987 debut album, Time and Tide. Supported by the
singles "New Day for You" and "Time and Tide," the record became a hit
in Europe and America, where the album went platinum. Her second
record, 1990's London Warsaw New York, was just as successful, but
her third album, 1994's Sweetest Illusion, failed to find an audience.
Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia followed in 1998.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "New Day For You"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Astrud
Basia






Smooth & Subtle ....

Vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska spent a couple of years in the pop band
Matt Bianco, an offshoot of Blue Rondo à la Turk, before she launched a
solo career in 1987. With the musical assistance of Matt Bianco's Danny
White, Basia developed a subtle cocktail jazz-pop which was first
showcased on her 1987 debut album, Time and Tide. Supported by the
singles "New Day for You" and "Time and Tide," the record became a hit
in Europe and America, where the album went platinum. Her second
record, 1990's London Warsaw New York, was just as successful, but
her third album, 1994's Sweetest Illusion, failed to find an audience.
Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia followed in 1998.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Astrud"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Half A Minute
Basia






Smooth & Subtle ....

Vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska spent a couple of years in the pop band
Matt Bianco, an offshoot of Blue Rondo à la Turk, before she launched a
solo career in 1987. With the musical assistance of Matt Bianco's Danny
White, Basia developed a subtle cocktail jazz-pop which was first
showcased on her 1987 debut album, Time and Tide. Supported by the
singles "New Day for You" and "Time and Tide," the record became a hit
in Europe and America, where the album went platinum. Her second
record, 1990's London Warsaw New York, was just as successful, but
her third album, 1994's Sweetest Illusion, failed to find an audience.
Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia followed in 1998.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Half A Minute"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

The Joy In Your Heart
Basia






Smooth & Subtle ....

Vocalist Basia Trzetrzelewska spent a couple of years in the pop band
Matt Bianco, an offshoot of Blue Rondo à la Turk, before she launched a
solo career in 1987. With the musical assistance of Matt Bianco's Danny
White, Basia developed a subtle cocktail jazz-pop which was first
showcased on her 1987 debut album, Time and Tide. Supported by the
singles "New Day for You" and "Time and Tide," the record became a hit
in Europe and America, where the album went platinum. Her second
record, 1990's London Warsaw New York, was just as successful, but
her third album, 1994's Sweetest Illusion, failed to find an audience.
Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia followed in 1998.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "The Joy In Your Heart"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Temptation
Diana Krall






Smooth Throaty Style....

Pity poor, beautiful jazz pianist/singer Diana Krall. Since her
Canadian youth, Krall, steeped in Fats Waller records by her collector-
father, has suffered the double-whammy of lovely blonde looks that got
her at once noticed and dismissed as a credible player. Her crisp, Bill
Evans-style floods of notes were honed at Berklee School of Music but
have taken second place, on the advice of her jazz mentors, to the
throaty, covered alto voice. Successive albums of romantic standards
and bluesy ballads like 1996's "All for You" and 1997's "Love Scenes"
prove Krall's no-callow belter, deepening in expression and brilliance as
time and mood demand. Comparisons to, on the one hand, Carmen
McRae, and, on the other, Sharon Stone, may plague her, but the shiny,
slopey blonde package never blurs Krall's conquest of the keyboard,
nor her victorious vocal assertions.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Temptation"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Your Love Is King
Sade






Very Smooth...

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record
company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after
her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world
would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen
Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria,
she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After
her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.
Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time
jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles,
Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade
studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also
doing some modeling on the side.


watch the entire video:
Click here to hear "Your Love Is King"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

Rollercoaster
Everything But The Girl






For Your Smooth Bedroom Needs....

Originating at the turn of the 1980s as a leader of the lite-jazz
movement, Everything but the Girl became an unlikely success story
more than a decade later, emerging at the vanguard of the fusion
between pop and electronica. Founded in 1982 by Hull University
students Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, the duo took their name from a
sign placed in the window of a local furniture shop, which claimed "for
your bedroom needs, we sell everything but the girl." At the time of
their formation, both vocalist Thorn and songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
Watt were already signed independently to the Cherry Red label; Thorn
was a member of the sublime Marine Girls, while Watt had issued
several solo singles and also collaborated with Robert Wyatt.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Rollercoaster"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

She Don't Have To Know
John Legend






Smooth Neo Soul....

Neo-soul singer and pianist John Legend combined the raw fervor of
contemporaries Cody ChesnuTT and the burning precision of D'Angelo.
Born John Stephens, Legend was a child prodigy who grew up in Ohio,
where he began singing gospel and playing piano at the tender age of
five. Legend left Ohio at 16 to go to college in Philadelphia, and it was
there that he first found a larger audience. Not yet out of his teens,
Legend was tapped to play piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is
Everything" in 1998. After completing college, he moved to New York,
where he began to build a loyal following playing in nightclubs and
releasing CDs that he would sell at shows.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "She Don't Have To Know"
If a page pops up, click the play button.


~Shears

Used To Love U
John Legend






Smooth Neo Soul....

Neo-soul singer and pianist John Legend combined the raw fervor of
contemporaries Cody ChesnuTT and the burning precision of D'Angelo.
Born John Stephens, Legend was a child prodigy who grew up in Ohio,
where he began singing gospel and playing piano at the tender age of
five. Legend left Ohio at 16 to go to college in Philadelphia, and it was
there that he first found a larger audience. Not yet out of his teens,
Legend was tapped to play piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is
Everything" in 1998. After completing college, he moved to New York,
where he began to build a loyal following playing in nightclubs and
releasing CDs that he would sell at shows.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here to hear "Used To Love U
If a page pops up, click the play button.


~Shears

One Hundred Ways
James Ingram






Smooth R&B....

James Ingram began performing with the band Revelation Funk in the
early '70s, moving from Akron, OH, to Los Angeles in 1973. During
the '70s, Ingram supported Ray Charles on the road with backup vocals
and piano, played keyboards behind the Coasters on Dick Clark's oldies
revues, and was Leon Haywood's musical director. After hearing a
demo of him singing "Just Once," Quincy Jones asked Ingram to
perform on his new album.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "One Hundred Ways"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Nite & Day
Al B. Sure!






Smoothly Romantic....

During the late '80s, Al B. Sure! enjoyed a brief run as one of new
jack swing's most popular romantic singers. Born Al Brown in Boston,
he grew up in Mount Vernon, NY, listening to smooth crooners like
Marvin Gaye and Johnny Mathis; he later became interested in rap and
added that skill to his vocal repertoire. At age ten, he and a friend
performed on a song written by Ellie Greenwich for the soundtrack of
#Sesame Street, and later he began writing songs with his cousin Kyle
West. While in high school (where he quarterbacked the football team),
he became friends with Edward Ferrell, aka DJ Eddie F, who was
working with rapper Heavy D at the time.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Nite & Day"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Rain
Jose Feliciano






Latin Smooth...

One of the most prominent Latin-born performers of the pop era,
singer/guitarist Jose Feliciano was born September 10, 1945 in Lares,
Puerto Rico; the victim of congenital glaucoma, he was left permanently
blind at birth. Five years later, he and his family moved to New York
City's Spanish Harlem area; there Feliciano began learning the
accordion, later taking up the guitar and making his first public
appearance at the Bronx's El Teatro Puerto Rico at the age of nine.
While in high school he became a fixture of the Greenwich Village
coffeehouse circuit, eventually quitting school in 1962 in order to accept
a permanent gig in Detroit; a contract with RCA followed a performance
at New York's Gerde's Folk City, and within two years he appeared at
the Newport Jazz Festival.


watch the entire video:
Click here to hear "Rain"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

Behind The Mask
Jose Feliciano






Latin Smooth...

One of the most prominent Latin-born performers of the pop era,
singer/guitarist Jose Feliciano was born September 10, 1945 in Lares,
Puerto Rico; the victim of congenital glaucoma, he was left permanently
blind at birth. Five years later, he and his family moved to New York
City's Spanish Harlem area; there Feliciano began learning the
accordion, later taking up the guitar and making his first public
appearance at the Bronx's El Teatro Puerto Rico at the age of nine.
While in high school he became a fixture of the Greenwich Village
coffeehouse circuit, eventually quitting school in 1962 in order to accept
a permanent gig in Detroit; a contract with RCA followed a performance
at New York's Gerde's Folk City, and within two years he appeared at
the Newport Jazz Festival.


watch the entire video:
Click here to hear "Behind The Mask"
If a page pops up, click the play button.



~Shears

As (Always)
Stevie Wonder






Smooth Musical Genius....

Stevie Wonder is a much-beloved American icon and an indisputable
genius not only of R&B but popular music in general. Blind virtually
since birth, Wonder's heightened awareness of sound helped him create
vibrant, colorful music teeming with life and ambition. Nearly everything
he recorded bore the stamp of his sunny, joyous positivity; even when
he addressed serious racial, social, and spiritual issues (which he did
quite often in his prime), or sang about heartbreak and romantic
uncertainty, an underlying sense of optimism and hope always seemed
to emerge. Much like his inspiration, Ray Charles, Wonder had a
voracious appetite for many different kinds of music, and refused to
confine himself to any one sound or style.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "As (Always)"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Do What You Do
Jermaine Jackson






The Other Smooth Jackson....

The lone Jackson family member to stay with Motown while the other
brothers split for CBS/Epic (he was then married to Berry Gordy's
daughter Hazel), Jermaine enjoyed a artistically diffident career during
the '70s at Motown, surfacing with an occasional hit like a remake
of "Daddy's Home" (1972) and "Let's Be Young Tonight" (1975).
Jermaine got a badly needed shot in the arm from Stevie Wonder, who
wrote and produced "Let's Get Serious," a Top Ten pop and soul dance
hit that came around the time of brother Michael's pop ascendancy.




Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Do What You Do"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

Poetry Man
Phoebe Snow






Greenwich Village Smooth ....

Renowned for her elastic contralto and jazz-scat vocal gymnastics,
singer Phoebe Snow was born Phoebe Laub on July 17, 1952 in New
York City. During her childhood in Teaneck, New Jersey, she initially
studied piano, but switched to the guitar in her teens, writing poetry
which gradually mutated into her first songs. Overcoming her stage
fright, Snow began playing Greenwich Village clubs in the early 1970s,
honing an eclectic set which spotlighted both folk and pop sounds as
well as jazz, blues and even torch songs.

After signing to Leon Russell's Shelter label, Snow issued her self-titled
debut LP in 1974; on the strength of her Top Five smash "Poetry Man,"
the album itself rose to the number four position.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "Poetry Man"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

The Secret Garden
Quincy Jones






Smooth Renaissance Man ....

In a musical career that has spanned six decades, Quincy Jones has
earned his reputation as a renaissance man of American music. Jones
has distinguished himself as a bandleader, a solo artist, a sideman, a
songwriter, a producer, an arranger, a film composer, and a record
label executive, and outside of music, he's also written books, produced
major motion pictures, and helped create television series.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "The Secret Garden"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

I Don't Want To Live Without You
Foreigner






Smooth Transformation...

While quite a few arena rock acts of the '70s found the transformation
into the '80s quite difficult, several acts continued to flourish and
enjoyed some of their biggest commercial success: Journey, Styx, REO
Speedwagon, and especially Foreigner. Foreigner's leader from the
beginning has been British guitarist Mick Jones, who first broke into the
music biz as a "hired gun" of sorts, appearing on recordings by George
Harrison and Peter Frampton, and as part of a later-day version of hard
rockers Spooky Tooth.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "I Don't Want To Live Without You"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

I Remember You
Diana Krall


...Did you know she is married to Elvis?



Smooth & Sexy....

Pity poor, beautiful jazz pianist/singer Diana Krall. Since her
Canadian youth, Krall, steeped in Fats Waller records by her collector-
father, has suffered the double-whammy of lovely blonde looks that got
her at once noticed and dismissed as a credible player. Her crisp, Bill
Evans-style floods of notes were honed at Berklee School of Music but
have taken second place, on the advice of her jazz mentors, to the
throaty, covered alto voice. Successive albums of romantic standards
and bluesy ballads like 1996's "All for You" and 1997's "Love Scenes"
prove Krall's no-callow belter, deepening in expression and brilliance as
time and mood demand. Comparisons to, on the one hand, Carmen
McRae, and, on the other, Sharon Stone, may plague her, but the shiny,
slopey blonde package never blurs Krall's conquest of the keyboard,
nor her victorious vocal assertions.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "I Remember You"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

Here's the original version!


~Shears

Winelight
Grover Washington Jr.






The Master Of Smooth....

One of the most popular saxophonists of all time (even his off records
had impressive sales), Grover Washington, Jr. was long the pacesetter
in his field. His roots were in R&B and soul-jazz organ combos, but he
also fared very well on the infrequent occasions when he played
straight-ahead jazz. A highly influential player, Washington was
sometimes blamed for the faults of his followers; Kenny G. largely
based his soprano sound on Grover's tone. However, most of the time
(except when relying on long hit medleys), Washington pushed himself
with the spontaneity and chance taking of a masterful jazz musician.

Grover Washington, Jr., whose father also played saxophone, started
playing music when he was ten and within two years was working in clubs.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here to hear "Winelight"
If a page pops up, click the play button.

~Shears

I'll Make Love To You
Boyz II Men





Smooth Four-Part Harmonies ....

According to no less an authority than the RIAA, Boyz II Men are the
most commercially successful R&B group of all time. They've sold
ludicrous numbers of records and been involved in three of the longest-
running number-one pop singles in history, and they've done it as a unit
of equals. In fact, their four-part harmonies blend so smoothly that
most of the general public would be hard pressed to name any of the
group's individual members. And that's no reflection on their skill as
singers; Boyz II Men were among the first male urban soul artists to
adopt the sort of hyper-technical melodic embellishments that were
popularized by virtuosic divas like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
Their early music was indebted to new jack swing, but the group quickly
found their forté in lush, soulful ballads, where their harmonies could be
showcased to greatest effect.



Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "I'll Make Love To You"
If a page pops up, click the play button.


~Shears

All Around The World
Lisa Stansfield





Smooth Brit ....

English vocalist Lisa Stansfield was the lead singer of the group the
Blue Zone and featured on Coldcut's "People Hold On" in 1989. She
zoomed into the spotlight with Affection in 1990. The album went
platinum and earned her a number three pop and number one R&B
single with "All Around the World." Affection and its follow-up, Real
Love, were deeply influenced by the '70s disco sound of Barry White,
from arrangements to mood and even Stansfield's own technique. After
a long hiatus, she returned with a self-titled effort in 1997. The #1
Remixes EP followed a year later.


Listen to the entire song:
Click here for "All Around The World"
If a page pops up, click the play button.


Here's a snipit of "All Woman"

~Shears

Too Hot
Kool & The Gang






Smooth & Funky...

Formed as a jazz ensemble in the mid-'60s, Kool & the Gang became
one of the most inspired and influential funk units during the '70s, and
one of the most popular R&B groups of the '80s after their breakout
hit "Celebration" in 1979. Just as funky as James Brown or Parliament
(and sampled almost as frequently), Kool & the Gang relied on their