Remarks:
This song reached #24 on the American R&B charts in 2004. I played this song to death. Larrieux was with Groove Theory. Her high school prom date: Questlove!
Lyrics:
And don’t stop
I can float I can fly us to the highest
Mountain top I can breathe you, I can drink in your laugh
I can… I can live on your smile I can trip and if I can fall into your arms I can
Stay there my whole life
[Chorus]
I can live
I can love
I can be better with you,
For real
I can hear
I can feel
I can see
I can tell
You are for real
I can stare; I can memorize your face, your hands, your hair
Every part of you I can cut off any loose ends and not even wanna keep a few
I can speak to you so honestly I can’t even run any game
I can hear a million angels singing in my ears
When I say your name
[Chorus]
I can’t smile, can’t dream like a child
Can’t feel safe in this wide world without you
I can’t go can’t disturb this flow
Can’t begin to know what I would do
I can’t see, can’t find strength to be
Rather not be me without you
I can’t deal, I can’t even feel, without you I’m not real
[Chorus]
I’ve always liked Amel Larrieux, from her days in Groove theory; she’s so classy.
I’ve never heard this over here in the UK before. Niiiccce.
If you were just going by the voice, you almost can’t tell the difference between Amel and Claudette Ortiz; the same access to a power range, the same sweet sensibility in their voices, the same nasal quality, the same pronouncement, and a general, almost identical, tone of voice.
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that voice….the way the song is constructed!
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Like Ebonymonroe, I’ve never heard this one!
Nor am I particularly familiar with Amel Larrieux’s music — I don’t think she is that well known in Europe…
And, Ebonymonroe is spot on: Amel Larrieux’s voice IS very similar to Claudette Ortiz (I heard of her a while back in the early 2000s when she sang in a rap-group). I wonder what she’s doing these days?
Amel and Claudette are 2 beautiful women and fantastic singers, and both are under-rated, too. But, I was wondering whether the similarities (and minor differences) between their voices is a bit like the similarities between the voices of Gladys Knight and Tina Turner — you can barely hear a difference when you listen to their voices in isolation, but something in their styles sets them apart. We always associate Gladys and Tina with completely different music styles.
Amel and Claudette, though, don’t occupy separate music genres.
I’m wondering, could Claudette’s voice be more controlled in her use of vibrato? I don’t know for sure. She’s certainly employed it in “One Last Kiss”:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCUTsKjZ6j0)
In contrast, I think Amel uses her voice in different ways, weaving and stretching around every note: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcaXuW2-G1Y)
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Happy New Year, Legion!!
😀 😀
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Not familiar with this song but I liked her in Groove Theory on the song Tell Me.
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@Bulanik
Yes, you’re right Claudette has a slightly more gospel, operatic vibrato, whereas Amel uses a shorter spaced Jazz vibrato.
I’d never noticed the similarities between Gladys and Tina before. It would take me a moment to spot it actually. The two tell tell signs for me would be Tina’s faux British pronounciations, and Gladys tends to access her vibrato directly from the diaphragm, whereas Tina uses both her diaphragm and her throat to project.
Claudette’s career didn’t take off, she went through some rocky times. She’s recently began appearing on the Faith Evans show “R&B Divas,” the spin of “R&B Divas LA.” She was pretty much homeless with 3 kids just before she got the show, she’s impressed me, she’s as lovely as she is beautiful.
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I have this song on my ipod. I love her voice and groove theory’s song tell me ugh that is my song. I also love Rochelle Jordan beautiful voice.
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@ Ebonymonroe — your breakdown on the singing styles and techniques has put me right, thank you. I know very little about singing (I only know what I like! lol!) so I’ll listen again to these singers with your descriptions in mind.
Funny thing is, of course, that because Tina sings rock, I used to hear it said she has the perfect voice for it — but we could say the same for so many soul singers! A great voice is just a great voice. I bet Gladys could sing rock. I bet she could also sing opera or Schubert’s lieder with just a piano accompanying her…
Claudette sounds like an amazing woman. I’d love to see her career take off.
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I absolutely adore Amel, and I see she hasn’t aged a bit! When she was with Groove Theory, I remember singin’ along and thinking how smooth Bryce Wilson’s eyebrows were (swoon)! Lol
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I agree, Gladys could definitely sing Rock.
I think the fit of the “Soul singer” to Rock music to the ear, that gives a sense of authenticity, is because Rock is really just The Blues evolved, anyway, but with distorted instrumentation.
Guys like Howlin Wolf, on the Chitlin circuit, in the South, started playing around with a distorted electric guitar sound. This sound was sped up, it became known as Psychedelic Rock, and today we have an established genre known as Rock music. But it’s so directly descended from The Blues, and The Blues, Grass Roots, Country, and Gospel and Old Spirituals, that certain elements can be interchanged and still fit like a hand in a glove.
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Don’t even get me started with this one. I put this up there with Secret Lovers, U Send Me Swangin’, Un-thinkable… I could go on. I think that’s her daughter at the beginning?
Did’ja Know is another off of Groove Theory with Bryce Wilson that has a real cool vibe. Everyone knows Tell Me.
Listening to any of her solo projects and not walk away with a favorite off every one is impossible.
Certain notes in this song her voice resembles instruments. Jazz, trumpet-like.
Still remember the 1st time I heard this. I was visiting Cali. Just left Catalina Island & found myself riding down Crenshaw/Slausen then Watts like I wasn’t in South Central.
That’s how good the song is.
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Well said about the roots of rock n’ roll, and its’ subsequent evolution throughout time via different artists (and their own individual input on this genre), having been born in Memphis, TN. I can attest to this on a personal level! ; )
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@ Ebonymonroe
Yes, of course, the first rock singers were black. There was no other kind.
I remember the white English men who formed rock and pop bands saying that they thought they were imitating the black singers they so adored, imitating them as precisely as they could, but it just came out sounding like something else! lol!
However, a “soul” voice, a so-called “authentic” sounding one from a white person was also remarkably applause-worthy. It is, more than ever, a requirement for the British especially, to produce white and world-class soul singers. Even when I watched a few episodes of the UK’s X Factor late last year, once again, I watched the commotion of praise and adulation given over to white singers who sounded “black”. Another Adele, maybe, or Amy Winehouse, or Duffy, or… There can be no denying Adele or Amy, I love them both and they deserve their success, but, when I think of all the wonderfully talented black singers of their generation, I have to pause.
(The chatter around the X Factor reminded me of when Mariah Carey first appeared on the seen in England.
She was being interviewed on the radio. The white DJ gushed something like wasn’t it great that now there was a white singer with a voice as good as Whitney Houston! Mariah Carey said, no, not really, I’m not white…oops.)
Not unexpectedly, when black singers sing in a more “white” musical tradition, such as opera, the obstacles compound, though there success and recogntion has been stunted, imo, this has never deterred the (mostly) women who have performed in the genre.
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They classify Adel and Jos Stone and soul singers. I wonder if Adel had been a black and plus size singer would she have the success she is enjoying today?
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*as soul singers*
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Yes, yes, yes. There’s also an ironic pattern I’ve noticed: Black artists have to present themselves as more mainstream in order to find great success (appear more European looking, and make music defined moreso as “Pop music), whereas White artists can find success doing both. I believe this is because they’re being marketed to “the majority” and since White artitsts are “the majority,” they’re allowed to do both and still be embraced by “the majority.” But Black artists who make traditional rhythm and blues music do not appeal to “the majority” because their music makes them seem to Black identified, and therefore, “the majority” do relate to them, so they’re not embraced by “the mainstream.” “Race politics and music have run parallel since the beginning of youth/pop culture.”
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^^^
*too Black identified
*do not relate to them
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Always liked Amel Larrieux since she was in Groove Theory (love that album—a true classic ’90’s gem) years ago–I also have her first two solo albums, Infinite Possibilities, and Bravebird—both worth getting, for real. She decided to go indie and make her own CDs, which is why it seemed like she dropped off the map for awhile. Saw her on Tavis Smiley last week—-she’s not only got a brand album, but performed live with her little daughter singing backup and playing guitar. She stills sounds and looks good,too. I’ve often thought that the only reason she hasn’t blown up is that she didn’t want to be marketed as a sex object–which,unfortunately, is how a lot of female pop/R&B singers are marketed nowadays. Good to see her back,though. Here she is doing the live thing:
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