Whew, what a show! The second Variety Show was a huge success and we're still recovering from it. We can already feel the steam building up for next months which will be on May 16.
Southern Drive kicked things off Saturday night and we never looked back! Found new talent in Brandi Nicole and Jetty Rae, both from Ann Arbor as well as learned that the Springsteen family is just full of talent---not just Will! This Saturday will be our first "all comedy Open Mic Night" and we're gearing up for that right now.
As for our Fantasy Bands, we are heading into the home stretch this week with the category of Lead Singer(s). Now before we end up in hours of debate, we're going to do something similar to what we did with Lead Guitarists---allow you to have TWO; one female and one male. Now if you're set on your Lead Singer and don't have to cross genders, cool. But for some of us, myself included, we can't pick one sex over the other, so why bother? Like I said if you already have one you're in love with, stick with it and you don't have to consider the other gender at all.
Now where the debate really comes in is with female rock singers, WHEN did they first appear? Who was the first? Well, some of us are old enough to remember Motown and if you accept that as a part of the early days of rock and roll, then there is an assortment of female singers such as Diana Ross and Martha Reeves to choose inspiration from. Martha, was immortalized in the John Mellencamp anthem "Rockin' in the USA" for instance. The ladies have been here almost from the beginning, just sometimes not getting the exposure or airplay as their male counterparts, but here nonetheless.
Nowadays maybe Gwen Stefani comes to mind or you still might know who Stevie Nicks is. But I'm here to tell you rock and roll has gone through many changes over the years and the ladies we're part of it. In the seventies rock and roll had a mellow side to go along with the hard rock and singers like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Carly Simon and even Linda Ronstadt were heard on the FM AOR (Album Oriented Rock) stations throughout America. Oh yes, there are people that deny it, but it happened. These are the same people who deny that America, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot and Seals & Croft were ever heard on rock stations---but they were so tell them to get over it!
But soft rock gave way to punk and then alternative so there are some who say female rock singing started with Deborah Harry of Blondie, Annie Lennox of The Eurythmics and Pat Benatar. Fair enough. Fleetwood Mac made international stars of Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks at about the same time so there was variety depending on what you're tastes were. The first all female rock band came about named The Runaways and gave us future hard rockers Lita Ford and Joan Jett. Then came Vixen and...well let's just say there is a lot of ground to cover so don't limit yourselves. So there you have it, pick up to two Lead Singers, one male and one female and tell us WHY.
There will be more postings this week concerning the Comedy Open Mic Night and A Hero Falls on May 2. Until then, stay tuned.
2 comments:
Two singers- I have been thinking about this for a while and I will throw out the nominations- Male-
Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar, David Coverdale, Rod Stewart(with the Faces and Jeff Beck Group).
Female- Janis Joplin, Nancy Wilson(Heart), Sarah Mcgl-however you spell it; and Steve Perry- couldn't help myself- but he could sing like a woman, and great too.
So here are my choices- Sammy Hagar- because he has done it as Montrose, Sammy, Van Halen, back to Sammy, with Neil Schon and now Chickenfoot- he knows how to deal with the lead guitarist syndrome so he is it.
For the female I was thinking Aretha- but I am going to go with Steve Perry followed by a close second to Aretha.
I too have been giving this much ponderance (screw spelling) and have come up with two easy picks (for me any ways) Male has got to be Freddie Mercury no one had or has the range that he could sing in. If you doubt me go and listen to some of his old songs Bohemian Rhapsody is one that everyone knows so I mean go back to the first 3 albums of Queen.
As for Female Carole King was a BIG fav. of mine for years and like most males my age I had crushes on most of the other females listed so far but My pick has got to be Annie Lennox. For alot of the same reasons that Freddie is my male pick I can't think of any other singers that have the range and scope that these two have.
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