Skip to main content

Giving Thanks To Oleta Adams

Since this is Thanksgiving time, I wanted to share something a little different, a little special.

Last week I mentioned Oleta Adams, the beautifully talented vocalist on the Tears For Fears album Seeds of Love. For me, she's the best part on my favorite tracks "Woman In Chains" and "Badman's Song." 

I've always loved Oleta's story. The guys in Tears For Fears discovered her performing at a Kansas City Hyatt Regency during their 1985 tour behind Songs From The Big Chair. Two years later, they invited her to join the band as they recorded Seeds Of Love. She later went on tour with them, opening each date as the supporting act, then staying on stage for the band's main show. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Oleta successfully released her debut solo album in 1990. I just found her flawless performance of "Get Here" on Carson in '91. If you don't recognize the title, you will certainly know the song as soon as she starts singing.

We may not be with all of our loved ones this holiday season. But this song reminds us we'll get through this too, and we'll get there when we can.

Thank you all for your support this year! 





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Van Halen vs. Tone-Loc

This week in 1989, Tone-Loc was blocked from the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 by Paula Abdul and her first hit song "Straight Up."  Sharp-eyed readers will note that this is the third mention of Abdul on this blog, something I never would have guessed when I launched this.  Anyway, Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" rocketed into the hearts of music lovers around the world thanks to a classic hip hop move: Borrowing an element from something that was tired at the moment and re-inventing it for new audiences.   In this case, the song's guitar riff and drum roll were instantly identifiable from Van Halen's "Jamie's Cryin'" off their first album in 1978 (!) According to Wikipedia (the primary research resource here at "Little Brett, Big City"), the Van Halen management team allowed the sample to be included in "Wild Thing" for a flat fee of $5,000.  But apparently the band members hadn't heard anything about it. Drummer...

Book Of Love

  As my mother studiously wrote on the back, this little gem is from 1972. Look at me with that natural curl. And I wasn't even wearing any mousse!  Some of you have kindly asked how "The Book" is going. Easter eggs aside, I'm on the hunt for a literary agent for my finished manuscript. (Well, is it ever finished?) Seems like I've got a pretty darn good pitch, or "query letter" as they call it in the biz. So far, I've received 11 responses out of 25 pitches. Not bad since agents get hundreds of pitches a year, and they don't owe me a thing.  Nice replies usually, but nothing solid yet because of their current workload of projects, or my story just isn't right for them. More than one has mentioned that memoirs have been difficult to sell to publishers lately. Ruh-roh. Maybe I'll turn it into a comic book.  So if you haven't already, my Easter request to you dear reader is to sign up here for future installments of "Little Brett, B...

l i t t l e b r e t t , BIG CITY

When I left college in 1989, I was a virgin with corn-fed drive and a terrifying secret. It could disappoint or disgust my family and friends. It could even kill me. But I couldn’t hide from it anymore.  With "The World's Heaviest Briefcase," I escaped on a midnight train from Lima, Ohio to the YMCA on West 34th Street in Manhattan. Being gay had to be easier in New York, even though I was arriving with no home or job.   Right away, a hooker chased me in Times Square, and perverts watched me shower at the Y. I filled payphones with quarters each day, desperately seeking work. Ultimately, I was confronted by my biggest fear when dating my first man – a member of AIDS activist group ACT UP.  Could I really survive in one of the hardest cities in the world? Or would I fail and return to Ohio, back in the closet to find a wife and a lawn to mow.   l i t t l e  b r e t t , BIG CITY celebrates finding your own place in the world. Here I...