mardi 5 mars 2024

High Fashion - Feelin Lucky 1982 & Make Up Your Mind 1983



 High Fashion was another of Jacques Fred Petrus bands alongside Change and B.B.&Q. Band. It was a Chic-like concept fronted by the young vocalists Meli’sa Morgan, Alyson Williams —two future urban contemporary stars— and the older Eric McClinton, all from New York. Michael Murphy, who was co-running Petrus' Little Macho office in NYC from 1980 until 1983, came up with the suitable name High Fashion.

The blend of relative youthfulness with seasoned experience worked very well. Alyson Williams was a sought-after session vocalist who had worked on a long list of projects including The B.B.&Q. Band, Melba Moore and Unlimited Touch. She was the daughter of bandleader/trumpeter Bobby Booker. Meli'sa Morgan also was a renowned backing singer on the New York soul scene and had recorded with Kleeer, Weeks & Co., Shades Of Love and Leroy Burgess. Eric McClinton, whose smooth soulful masculine vocals accented High Fashion's sound, first hit the music scene in the mid-sixties as Eric & The Vikings and recorded with his group for various labels until 1973. In the mid-seventies he turned up as a part of the one-time duo Eryke & Arronette. In 1979 he worked together with Mike Theodore –co-producer of High Fashion’s first album– as a singer with the Mike Theodore Orchestra. McClinton also recorded with Jimi Hendrix, Gladys Knight, George Duke and Flora Purim.

 


High Fashion 1982
 
 Feelin' Lucky

High Fashion's highly acclaimed first album Feelin’ Lucky was released on Capitol records in June of 1982. The High Fashion trio tastefully delivered the musical plan of producers Petrus & Malavasi, with the creative aid of the immensely talented Kashif, Mike Theodore, Dennis Coffey and Fonzi Thornton. The result was a vocal vitality with the music to back it up. Feelin’ Lucky offers sublime dancefloor material steeped in the quality tradition of eighties groove with flair, finesse and panache. The high gloss vocals by trio members Eric McClinton, Alyson Williams and Meli'sa Morgan, worked extremely well as they complemented the mostly uptempo arrangements. The sound of the album was slick but rarely was it soulless.

Killer track on Feelin’ Lucky was the irresistible feel-good single “Feelin’ Lucky Lately” (#32 Billboard’s R&B Singles Chart). This awesome synth-laden disco hit, written by Malavasi, Davide Romani and Fonzi Thornton, perfectly illustrates the elegant and sophisticated dance music of the Italians. Kashif composed three songs, among which the infectious, upbeat “Hold On” and “Next To You”. Perfectly in line with Petrus' wicked style, Kashif revealed he was never compensated for his songwriting, backing vocals, playing and duties as assistant producer. Meli’sa Morgan co-wrote the track “You’re The Winner” together with bassist Kevin Jenkins. Jenkins explained that Fred Petrus bought the song, paid them in cash and only ever used the bassline. Other tracks of interest included the soulful gems “When The Lover Strikes” and “I Want To Be Your Everything” —another strong Kashif song— which made the album complete.

The brilliant keyboardist and co-producer Kashif developed a complete new synth-based music style that revolutionized R&B music. Around that same time he was already a very in demand musician, songwriter, arranger and producer who could be heard on releases by Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, Tavares, Geraldine Hunt, Pleasure, Average White Band, Passion, Howard Johnson and Melba Moore. In 1983 Kashif went on to fame and fortune as a solo artist and remained ubiquitous as a songwriter and producer throughout the '80s and early '90s (George Benson, Kenny G, Meli’sa Morgan, Lillo Thomas, Fonzi Thornton, Nona Hendryx, Stacy Lattisw, Giorge Pettus, Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston, Johnny Kemp, etc.). 
 
 Make Up Your Mind

High Fashion released a second album Make Up Your Mind in 1983, featuring the singles "Make Up Your Mind" and “Break Up”, the fat electro-funk groove “Pump On The Pipe”, the gentle and soulful “Just A Little More Love”, “You Satisfy My Needs”, "A Little More Time" and “Show Me”. Title track "Make Up Your Mind" finds its male lead mostly in the low register, laying down the line to a lover with another. The production is sparing, with percussive keyboard and moaning lead guitar cries infrequently flitting through a fuzzy bass-led electronic beat. Steady female backup voices on the chorus hold down pent-up emotions as the tune proceeds. But only a few of the album tracks, including "Just A Little More Love" that was written by Timmy Allen and Kevin Robinson, "Show Me", co-written by Mtume’s Tawatha Agee and the Brass Construction-like “Pump On The Pipe”, matched the quality of their outstanding previous release. The set had electro-soul arrangements very similar to Change but the overall song collection was of lesser quality than the debut record. Background singer Marcella Allen was brought in to replace Mel’isa Morgan. This production was backed up by the members of the B.B.&Q. Band. The sales of Make Up Your Mind were however embarrassing and the group was dissolved.
 
 
 

High Fashion 1983
 
 After the High Fashion projects Meli’sa Morgan and Alyson Williams enjoyed personal success as solo artists. Meli’sa Morgan released her co-written debut Do Me Baby in 1986 on Capitol records. A remake of Prince's "Do Me Baby" yielded a number one R&B hit. Morgan notched two more Top Ten R&B singles: "Do You Still Love Me?" and "If You Can Do It, I Can Too" before moving on to Arista Records in 1987 and hitting with a duet with Kashif ("Love Changes") that reached the number two spot on the R&B charts. After Arista she went with Pendulum Records. Alyson Williams fronted the act The Affair feat. Alyson after her time with High Fashion, a session group including Gwen Guthrie. The Affair released the single "Please Don't Break My Heart" on Easy Street in 1985. In 1989 she signed with Def Jam and delivered Raw including "Sleep Talk" (#3 Billboard R&B Charts). But her solo career ran out of gas in the late '90s. On the Def Jam label, in addition to solo work, she paired with Chuck Stanley on "Make You Mine Tonight" and Oran "Juice" Jones on "How to Love Again." Eric McClinton contributed backing vocals to other Little Macho Music projects, including the B.B.& Q. Band's Six Million Times record and Change's This Is Your Time set. After High Fashion split he turned up twice on Atlantic, in the incarnations of Ze-Brass ("Feels So Good") in 1983 and Deep (“A Good Thing Is So Hard To Find”) in 1985. Both projects were produced by Nicky Kalliongis who had worked as an engineer at the Media Sound studios on several Change and B.B.& Q. Band recording sessions.

 

1 commentaire:

  1. Hello PASCAL.........It is really pity that HIGH FASHION produced only 2 albums. They had a good sound like CHANGE.......In any case it is a good souvenir and we like this band..........thank you PASCAL for reminding us these 2 albums............DJ SAM

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