loose ends: February 2010

2.14.2010

influences: rene and angela

René & Angela were an 1980s R&B duo consisting of artist/producers René Moore and Angela Winbush. Angela met René in 1980, formed the group, and subsequently married. The relationship dissolved by the mid 1980s, with the duo falling apart not long after. Both went on to solo careers as performers, songwriters, and producers.

2.10.2010

influences: patrice rushen

Along with contemporaries George Duke and George Benson, Patrice Rushen made a major transition from cutting respected acoustic jazz material to hitting the upper reaches of the club and R&B charts. A dynamite keyboardist with a limited but sweet voice, Rushen debuted at the age of 20 on the Prestige label, working with maverick saxophonist Joe Henderson. Within a matter of a few years, legendary club DJLarry Levan was spinning her carefree but sophisticated post-disco singles released on Elektra. Rushen continued releasing R&B albums into the '90s while never completely departing the jazz world; she also became a barrier-breaking musical director.

Born September 30, 1954, in Los Angeles, CA, Rushen's parents enrolled her in music classes at USC when she was three. In her teens, she won a solo competition at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival. The attention garnered from this earned her a contract with the Prestige label. After recording Prelusion (1974), Before the Dawn (1975), and Shout It Out (1976), and establishing herself as an in-demand session player on albums such as Donald Byrd's Caricatures and Eddie Henderson's Heritage, for which she contributed "Kudu," Rushen signed with Elektra. Forging an engaging jazz/R&B/funk fusion, she found a new audience through Patrice (1977), Pizzazz (1979), Posh (1980), Straight from the Heart (1982), and Now (1984). Most of these sets impacted both the jazz and R&B charts, and several singles off them were heard on dancefloors and across airwaves. 1980's "Haven't You Heard" and 1982's "Forget Me Nots" were the most successful of the lot; both of them went Top Ten on the R&B and club charts. The latter was sampled heavily for Will Smith's 1997 hit "Men in Black," while the former became the basis of Kirk Franklin's 2005 gospel crossover smash "Looking for You."

From the mid-'80s onward, Rushen's solo recordings were relatively sporadic, including sets for Arista, Sindrome, andDiscovery; some of these were her most jazz-oriented releases since the mid-'70s. During the early '90s, she established herself as a musical director, guiding Janet Jackson's janet. world tour. More significantly, in 2004, she became the first woman to serve as musical director for the Grammy Awards. Throughout the decade, she continued to record, lending her skills to releases by Lee Ritenour, Stanley Clarke, George Benson, Babatunde Lea, and Jill Scott, not to mention theHidden Beach label's Unwrapped series of hip-hop reinterpretations. ~ Ed Hogan & Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

throwback: fido dido

Fido Dido (pronounced: /ˈfaɪdoʊ ˈdaɪdoʊ/) is a cartoon character created by Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose. Rose first developed the character in 1985 on a napkin in a restaurant. Fido Dido was licensed to PepsiCo in around 1988, but the character did not receive much attention or popularity until the early 1990s on numerous products, particularly stationery. Later, he was replaced with Cool Spot as the brand mascot. Fido Dido and other friends also appeared in Saturday morning bumpers for CBS from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, a Fido Dido video game was created for the Sega Mega Drive, but was not very successful.