Music Fascination

Chynna Phillips was born in Los Angeles, California to John and Michelle Phillips (the Mamas and the Papas).

In 1986, Phillips formed Wilson Phillips with Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Beach Boy Brian Wilson. In 1990, The group signed a record contract and released their first album Wilson Phillips. The album had a string of top 40 hits including “Hold On,” “Release Me” and “You’re in Love.”  Wilson Phillips went on to sell more than 10,000,000 copies worldwide.

The group released their second album Shadows and Light on June 02, 1992. The album did not sell as well as their debut, but it was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.

In 1995, Chynna Phillips married actor Billy Baldwin and decided to pursue a solo career. Chynna threw herself into the project. She co-wrote nine of the eleven tracks on the album and enlisted the help of Rick Nowels, Billy Steinberg, Desmond Child, Patrick Leonard and Glen Ballard.

Speaking about the album, Phillips told Billboard: “It is kind of weird to pour so much of your heart into a project and know that the first questions you will probably hear are ‘How Is Billy [Baldwin]‘ or ‘Do you ever talk to Carnie and Wendy?’”

She added: “I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of where I want to go as an artist. The possibilities are truly endless.”

Phillips released her first solo album Naked and Sacred on November 7, 1995 (EMI Records USA/US). The lead single and title track,”Naked & Sacred”, was written by Phillips and veteran hit makers Billy Steinberg, Rick Nowels and  Tom Kelly. A music video was made by director Matthew Rolston and sent to all major music-video outlets to coincide with the singles impact on radio.  “Naked and Sacred”  was even given a club friendly sound by Grammy-winning house music DJ and producer David Morales.

Even with the amount of talent enlisted on the album, Her hopes for a successful solo career were dashed when Naked & Sacred only sold 22,000 copies in the United States.

Two addition singles were released from Naked & Sacred, “I Live For You” (from the movie”Striptease”) and “Just To Hear You Say That You Love Me”. All failed to chart and Phillips was eventually dropped from EMI.

In my opinion, Naked & Sacred was one of the greatest pop albums of the 90s.  It is a criminally overlooked collection of cohesive pop genius.  Filled with great hooks, infectious beats and, above all, superb melodies propelled by great production.

On October 06, 1997 David Bowie and Trent Reznor filmed the music video for ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’ in NYC.  The song was written by Bowie and Brian Eno and taken from Bowie’s album Earthling. The video was directed by Dom and Nic.

Bowie described what the song is about: “It’s not as truly hostile about Americans as say “Born in the U.S.A.”: it’s merely sardonic. I was traveling in Java when [its] first McDonald’s went up: it was like, “for fuck’s sake.” The invasion by any homogenized culture is so depressing, the erection of another Disney World in, say, Umbria, Italy, more so. It strangles the indigenous culture and narrows expression of life.”

I have always loved the song and video. Here are a few pictures from the set:

While listening to the latest from Ingrid Chavez, I was reminded of one of my favorite songs from the 90s.

In October of 1995, Vanessa Daou released her first solo album Zipless, a  collaboration with feminist writer and poet Erica Jong. The albums lead single was “Near The Black Forest”. Due to the beautifully shot and directed music video, “Near The Black Forest” was played in heavy rotation on late night MTV.

The song is made up of Daou’s wispy vocals, dreamy bass tones, gentle piano strokes and synths that weave into each other to form one of the most sensual songs I have ever heard.

This is just a taste of the music Zipless has to offer.

YouTube Link

Ingrid Julia Chavez was born in 1965 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1986 and auditioned for several bands before making the rounds of the Minneapolis music scene.

While working in a coffee shop, Chavez met Prince. He was impressed by her demo tape and wanted to work with her. Chavez appeared under the name The Spirit Child on his 1988 album Lovesexy and even starred as the love interest in his film Graffiti Bridge.

In 1990, Chavez met Lenny Kravitz and co-wrote Madonna’s hit single ‘Justify My Love’. Later, Chavez would claim she was not given proper credit for writing the song. Kravitz publicly acknowledged Chavez’s contribution and she was awarded a settlement.

Chavez claims that Kravitz did not use her vocals on ‘Justify My Love’ because “Madonna can make more money.”

In 1992, she released the single ‘Hippy Blood’. It featured heavy breathing and spoken word over hypnotic dance beats. The song was remixed by Eric Kupper & Tom Richardson.

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After a long break from music, she has returned with a new album titled A Flutter And Some Words and a 15 minute short film that documents how the album came about. The film was recorded at her home in New England and includes spoken word over Lorenzo Scopelliti’s original compositions made for the film.

Here is the music video for the albums lead single “Down By The Water”. A Flutter And Some Words is out now!

Amanda Ghost

Amanda Ghost is a singer/songwriter from England. She sites her influences as Nat King Cole, Nina Simone, the Doors, Depeche Mode, and Prince. She was signed to Warner Brothers in the 90s and began work on her debut album ‘Ghost Stories’.  The album was released in 2000 and remains one of my favorite of all time. Allmusic called her debut “solid, confident debut that will be difficult to follow up, but Amanda Ghost will not be a one-hit wonder; this album is testament to that.”

Ghost has released material since her debut, most notably ‘Time Machine’ with Boy George,  but none of it amounts to anything as great as her debut. I can not recommended ‘Ghost Stories’ enough. It is a musical trip that dabbles in electronic, drum and bass, synth-pop, rock and other styles of music.

She is now the president of Epic Records and continues to write hits for James Blunt, Beyonce, Beverley Knight, Jordin Sparks, Shakira, Daniel Merriweather and countless others. She is a three time Ivor winner, a Golden Globe nominee and has been nominated for two Grammys.

Here is her music video for the single ‘Filthy Mind’. The song became a club hit thanks to remixes by Peter Rauhofer, Boy George & Kinky Roland and Mount Rushmore.