On 9 Mar 2002 at 22:08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hey, Wally, > > In a message dated 3/4/02 6:40:47 PM, in the jmdl digest that I'm > finally getting to after two/three days in bed, you wrote: > > << [incidentally, who started the unbearable craze for this nasal, > unbearable kind of melisma? my guess is whitney houston when she raped > our ears and our brains with her version of ''i will always love > you''.] >> > > Yes!!! Oh, my friend and ambassador, how right and funny you are!!! > How I hated that song, and the tendency for all singers to flatulate > (or whatever) their melisma ever since then!
I think we should lay the blame at the feet of Mariah Carey. Remember all the hand fluttering she did at the end of "Vision of Love" which was released in 1990? (And the "Emotions" album in 1991 was even worse IMO.) She opened the door for singers of all persuasions to oversing on pop records. In fact, Clive was well known for rejecting Whitney's recordings if she embellished too much because he thought pop radio wouldn't play it if it sounded too "gospel" or "black." And if you listen to Whitney's three solo albums before Mariah, you won't find much of it. However, "The Bodyguard" was after the two Mariah releases and I suppose the argument just didn't stick after that. And there was certainly a good deal competition between the two singers at the time. Brenda n.p.: Wayne Shorter - "More Than Human"
