As a big time music fan, I can proudly say that I have a very varies list of artists that I listen to. Even though what I love most is hard rock & heavy metal (and you can add Blues to that list) I also listen to some pop artists, some jazz, Flamenco & Rhumba Flamenco, some classical etc. At one point, many years ago (I think 1997-98) I was thinking that I barely had any female singers in my list and actively sought out some female singers and in a few years, I had added so many that I love and listen to. However I noticed one thing. I have a noticeable lack of Black female singers in my collection.
Black female singers – here is the problem – that I have heard out tend to be either hip-hop or rnb & pop. Rarely have I ever heard of a current blues or rock singer and she happens to be Black. None that I know from Canada, The UK or the US or any other place. I recently took a look on Google to see a list of top 50 Black Female Singers or most influential. And from that list even if I do like some of them and have heard of some of their songs, I do not have any of their albums. Even classy ladies like Aretha Franklin or Donna Summer – I like them and respect them and even know a few of their songs but, not enough to have even one album of theirs.
From my childhood to now, I like some songs from Whitney Houston, Sade (my sister liked her a lot more), Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Natalie Cole, Toni Braxton, a couple of songs of Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight & Vanessa Williams. And as far as musical bands go, I do like maybe a song or two from TLC Salt n’Pepa & En Vogue. I must state again – the songs I like from these artists wouldn’t be fill an album’s worth – each! But then I do like a couple of singers more than the ones I have mentioned here.
Up first is Tracy Chapman! A multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award winning artist who first burst onto the scene in 1988 and took the music world by storm with a simple song musically that reverberated with millions across the world. So much so that Fast Car is still played in heavy rotation on many radio stations.
Known for her hits “Fast Car” and “Give Me One Reason”, along with other singles “Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution”, “Baby Can I Hold You”, and “Crossroads” she has toured the world, won thousands of critical acclaim and won millions of heart for her soulful voice and soothing melodies. Her last studio album came out in 2008 and she has been out of the public eye for long before her 2015 performance of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” on the Late Show with David Letterman in April 2015 went viral winning her even more fans. In 2015, Chapman released Greatest Hits, consisting of 18 tracks including the live version of “Stand by Me”,
And then there is Tina! Simply the best Tina! Tina Turner, though born and raised an American and has had American citizenship for most of her life is now a Swiss miss! A singer, song writer, actress & widely referred to as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, she is regarded as one of the greatest music artists of the 20th century. Turner rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before launching a successful career as a solo performer.
Turner began her career with Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm in 1957. Under the name Little Ann she appeared on her first record, “Boxtop”, in 1958. In 1960, she was introduced as Tina Turner with the hit single “A Fool in Love”. The duo went on to become “one of the most formidable live acts in history”. They released hits such as “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, “River Deep – Mountain High”, the Grammy-winning “Proud Mary”, and “Nutbush City Limits” before disbanding in 1976.
In the 1980s, Turner launched “one of the greatest comebacks in music history”. From 1984 multi-platinum album Private Dancer contained the hit song “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became her first and only No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. At age 44, she was the oldest female solo artist to top the Hot 100. She established herself as an icon & a legend rocking with the best and lighting the stage on fire with her presence.
Having achieved more than most artists every dream of the now 81 year old has been mostly focusing on her Buddist beliefs and settling in her home in Switzerland. She even gave up her American citizenship and had at she had been working on Tina, a musical based on her life story, in collaboration with Phyllida Lloyd and Stage Entertainment and in 2021 Turner appeared in the documentary film Tina directed by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin.