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1. Lady GaGa – Bad Romance
2. Blatta & Inesha – Urban Cougar (The Bulgarian’s Hunt The Hunter Remix)
3. Peaches – Mud
4. City And Colour – As Much As I Ever Could
5. Morrissey – I’m So Sorry
6. PNAU ft. Ladyhawke – Embrace (DJ DLG Re-Edit)
7. Julian Casablancas – 4 Chords of the Apocalypse
8. Gojira – Where Dragons Dwell
9. Radiohead – Pyriamid Song (Zeds Dead Illuminati Remix)
10. Slagsmålsklubben – Brutal Weapons
11. Felix Cartal – Skeleton (KILLABIT Remix)
12. Snoop Dogg – Drop It Like It’s Hot
13. Taylor Swift – You belong With me (Makaio’s Kanye Club Mix)
14. Chromeo – Night By Night
15. The B-52’s – Rock Lobster
16. Steely Dan – With A Gun
17. Nick Lowe – So It Goes
18. R. Kelly – Ignition (Remix)
19. Final Fantasy – Lewis Takes Action
20. James Ingram – Yam Mo B There
21. Turboweekend – Trouble Is (Joker Remix)
22. Biz Markie – Just a Friend
23. TC – Deep (Jack Beats Remix)
24. Mountain – Don’t Look Around
25. The Devin Townsend Project – Hyperdrive!
26. Amon Amarth – Thousand Years of Opression

I suck at updating. Instead of daily/weekly updates I’m just going to post a mixtape once a month. ~25 songs is what you’ll get each mixtape. They’ll have a pic and stuff. Yeah.. I’ll post little things when I feel like it, but otherwise, mixtapes. Lots of them. They all contain individual tracks.

i did my best
to the be the change
that i wanted to see
in this place
but in the words of james ingram
i guess my best wasn’t good enough

i did my best not to complain
but, sometimes i did complain
i did my best to contribute
to the best of my ability, i complied
and i did my best to complete this place
but i guess my best wasn’t good enough
at least not in this place
where i tried to play the game
and be the change
that i wanted to see

i tried to bring new energy to this place
and at the end of the day
i mean, at the end of the decade
the energy in this place started taking over me

i became more complacent
as my self-esteem dropped
as i begin to feel
like i might live here
where i guess my best wasn’t good enough
for the rest of my life

i did my best me
my positive songs
my spiritual songs
my love songs
my story songs
mostly soulful songs
my fun songs
and some freestyles too
but that’s just music
just an expression
which, by the way
may never be good enough
for this place

The 4^th Plymouth Jazz Festival is not far anymore. Tobago expects thousands of international visitors between April 25 and 27. Rooms, ferries and flights are booked out already.

International superstars form the line-up of the Jazz Festival. Soul icon, Diana Ross, honors the audience with her presence the second time in a row in Plymouth. She, Smokey Robinson, Peabo Bryson and James Ingram open the festival on Friday. Tickets for that day cost US $120. Saturday’s line-up can easily compete with the one of Friday: hip-swinging Latina chart-breaker, Shakira, shares the stage with the R&B group En Vogue and Steel Pulse. US $ 200 is the ticket price for the shows on Saturday. Tickets for Sunday will cost US $225. Whitney Houston and Rod Steward will rock Plymouth on the last day of the Jazz Festival. Many other artistes are expected to perform as well.

Pan Trinbago got through with their demand to have traditional local music on stage. Therefore steel pans will be played on the main stage.

According to Anthony Maharaj, the CEO of CL Communications Ltd., the “third biggest event on Planet Earth” as the Plymouth Jazz Festival was rated by Forbes 500 only recently will probably surpass last year’s $32 million expenditure due to some demands of the artistes, like Rod Steward who has requested a private jet for himself and his family.

Not everybody can afford a private jet. Many visitors take the boat from Trinidad to Tobago. Around the time of the Jazz Festival all the ferries are booked out according to the Port Authority in Scarborough. The Caribbean Airline flights from Trinidad to Tobago are also booked out from April 24 to 26. “Even the extra flights that are provided by the airline are booked out already”, said Shani Ali from Caribbean Airlines. Based on last year’s experiences with the demand for flights to the Jazz Festival, the airline added over a dozen new flights to Tobago. A total of 28 return flights will operate between the two islands allowing a frequency of one flight every 15 minutes.

Tobago itself is also booked out. All the big hotels like the Coco Reef Resort & Spa, The Half Moon Blue Hotel, the Hilton Tobago Golf & Spa Resort, the Villas at Stonehaven, the Grafton Beach Resort, the Palms Villa Resort and Le Grand Courland Spa Resort have no rooms available anymore for late April. According to the Tobago House of Assembly Department of Tourism even the Bed & Breakfasts as well as all the guesthouses on the island are booked out. Lucky are those who have friends in Tobago where they can stay for the Jazz weekend.

(Tobago, March 2008)

Ford Motor Company will be the platinum sponsor of the fourth annual Jazz on the Grass benefit on Saturday, October 3, 2009 at the Sherman Oaks, California home of Lynne and Oz Scott.   The star-studded event will benefit the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a college scholarship organization founded in 1973 to perpetuate Jackie Robinson’s legacy by providing four-year college grants as well as extensive mentoring and leadership development training to academically gifted minority students.

Legendary artists James Ingram, Brenda Russell and Patrice Rushen will be headlining this year’s benefit. Performances will also include surprise guest artists. Previous JAZZ on the Grass artists have included Lalah Hathaway, Marcus Miller, Brian McKnight, Dave Koz, Jeffrey Osborne, Patti Austin, and George Duke.  Pat Prescott of 94.7 The Wave will once again serve as Mistress of Ceremonies.

Ford Motor Company has a long history of supporting scholarship programs throughout the U.S., and in 2004 endowed a scholarship in honor of tennis legend Althea Gibson through the Jackie Robinson Foundation.  The scholarship’s first recipient, Carolyn Wright, graduated from Harvard University in June 2008 last year with a B.A. in International Affairs.

“Ford is committed to empowering people with the educational resources they need to succeed,” said Pamela Alexander, director, Ford Motor Company Fund.  “It has been a focus of our philanthropy throughout our 100+ year history.”

“Our alliance with major corporate supporters like Ford has contributed to the Foundation’s nearly four decades of success,” said JRF Associate Vice President Nichol Whiteman.  “We applaud our sponsors for their incredible commitment to preparing a generation of leaders who will lead our nation into its next chapter of greatness.”

Tickets to this exclusive event are on sale until September 6th for the “Early Bird” price of $250. For additional information or to purchase tickets to this limited-seating engagement, please contact ELMS Entertainment at 323-936-5052. For artist updates, performer biographies, or to purchase tickets online, please visit www.jackierobinson.org/events/lajazz.php

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 205,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.

About the Jackie Robinson Foundation
Founded in 1973 in honor of civil rights activist and baseball legend Jackie Robinson, JRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and provides four-year college scholarships to minority students who demonstrate academic distinction, leadership capacity, and financial need.  Transcending financial assistance, the Foundation equips its Scholars with a comprehensive set of support services including mentoring, career guidance and practical life skills helping them succeed in both undergraduate and graduate studies. In the 2008-2009 academic year, the Jackie Robinson Foundation supported 279 Scholars and Fellows attending 97 different college and universities across the United States including Harvard University, MIT, UCLA, Spelman College, Cornell University and Howard University.

Please log onto www.jackierobinson.org for updates on performers and other event information.

By: James Ingram

Your face is beaming
You say is ‘cause you’re dreaming
Of how good it’s going to be
You say you’ve been around
And now you’ve finally found
Everything you wanted and need in me

I don’t have the heart to hurt you
It’s the last I want to do
But I don’t have the heart to love you
Not the way you want me to

Inside I’m dying
To see you crying
How can I make you understand
I care about you
So much about you, baby
I’m trying to say this as gently as I can

‘Cause I don’t have the heart to hurt you
It’s the last I want to do
But I don’t have the heart to love you
Not the way you want me to

You’re so trusting and open
Hoping that love will start
But I don’t have the heart, oh, no
I don’t have the heart

I don’t have the heart to hurt you
It’s the last I want to do
But I don’t have the heart to love you
Not the way you want me to

I don’t have the heart (Ooh…)
(Baby, I don’t have the heart, I don’t have the heart)
I don’t have the heart (Ooh…)
(Baby, I don’t have)

I don’t have the heart
I don’t have the heart
I don’t have the heart
I don’t have the heart
I don’t have the heart

By: James Ingram

I did my best
But I guess my best wasn’t good enough
‘Cause here we are back where we were before
Seems nothing ever changes
We’re back to being strangers
Wondering if we oughta stay
Or head on out the door

Just once can’t we figure out what we keep doing wrong?
Why we never last for very long
What are we doing wrong?
Just once can’t we find a way to finally make it right?
Make the magic last for more than just one night
If we could just get to it
I know we could break through it

I gave my all
But I think my all may have been too much
‘Cause Lord knows we’re not getting anywhere
Seems we’re always blowing whatever we’ve got going
And seems at times with all we’ve got
We haven’t got a prayer

Just once can’t we figure out what we keep doing wrong?
Why the good times never last for very long
What are we doing wrong?
Just once can’t we find a way to finally make it right?
And make the magic last for more than just one night
If we could just get to it
I know we could break through it

Just once I want to understand
Why it always come back to good-bye
Why can’t we get ourselves in hand?
And admit to one another
That we’re no good with out the other
Take the best and make it better
Find a way to stay together

Just once can’t we find a way to finally make it right?
Make the magic last for more than just one night
I know we can break through it
If we could just get to it

Just once

If we could get to it

Just Once…

Rodrigo Molina

É difícil quando a realidade vem na sua direção na forma de uma criança que vende doces no ônibus. Pior ainda é ouvir essa mesma criança se auto- intitular camelô. Se o garoto do primeiro ponto da Av. Presidente Antonio Carlos no centro dissesse “Trago para os senhores uma caixinha de Trident por um real”, pelo menos ele não estaria jogando na minha cara que ele já deixou de ser criança/estudante/alguém com um futuro ligeiramente mais promissor que o se um camelô. Mas não, ele faz questão de falar, com a voz empostada, que é um camelô. 

Sempre que passo por esse ponto da Av. Presidente Antonio Carlos torço para ele não entrar no meu ônibus. Algumas coisas me deixam triste. Nem sempre um mendigo na rua me atinge, mas esse menino me faz sentir uma impostora toda vez que o vejo. Acho que são seus olhos.

 Deve ter uns 10 anos. Cabelo castanho, pele bronzeada, olhos castanho claro. Fala com uma voz de quem tem experiência no que faz. Não sei há quanto tempo é camelô.  

Hoje alguém no ônibus começou a assobiar “We are the World” quando ele desceu. Não sei se a pessoa estava pensando o mesmo que eu ou se foi coincidência, mas tive que me segurar para não chorar. 

We are the world, we are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day

So let’s start giving

P.S.: O fotágrafo que fez a foto deste post colocou essa legenda: Sua mãe vendia chicletes para os motoristas parados no confuso trânsito da hora do rush ao mesmo tempo em que cuidava da filha mais nova. Alheio às dificuldades do mundo real, ele brincava pela rua, ora correndo lépido e fagueiro pelas calçadas, ora pendurando-se nas grades que cada vez mais cercam os prédios do Rio de Janeiro…

Pelo menos ela continua sendo uma criança. É triste que o menino que descrevo no post tenha aberto mão de sua infância.

We = World!

Today is the day that Michael Jackson is officially laid to rest (despite the media’s insistence on resurrecting all things Michael), so I thought it would be quite appropriate to showcase one of the most poignant song of his career.  He, along with Lionel Richie, penned “We Are the World,”  a song that implored people to do their part to help the impoverished and starving countries of Africa. In 1985, Michael and Quincy Jones assembled an impressive and diverse group of singers to bring this song to life.  

I can still remember the morning I watched  the video of this song for the first time as it aired right before I was suppose to leave the house to go to my elementary school down the street.  I can honestly say that this song had a lot to do with why my musical tastes are so diverse. As a child, I was captivated by the different types of voices and styles and they were  fresh and new to me at the time.   As an adult, the message of this song has resonated now that I am old enough to understand suffering and my responsibility in helping to alleviate it.  As corny as this song is by today’s standards, it is still one that will go down in music history as one of Michael Jackson’s greatest works.

Watch the video below and listen to the message. 

“Not only was Michael Jackson one of our greatest entertainers, he was a son, a brother, a father and my friend. Let’s take this opportunity to pray for his children and his family, that they may find peace and God’s grace during these trying times. Michael Jackson will live forever through his music, he has given to the world. My heart goes out to this family.”

James Ingram – singer

It’s funny how we realize the genius in some after their passing, glad I seen it before. I always knew Mike was a genius and that was only reaffirmed after his passing. Lady in my life is one of my favorite songs off the Thriller album and it goes great with a grape dutch. Michael’s harmonies are unmatched and the production is stellar making this another classic from the King Of Pop.

Musical Mondays is about our favorite music. If you’re a writer, does it inspire your creativity? Cure writer’s block? If you’re not a writer, what do your favorite songs do for you?

~~~

One Hundred Ways, by James Ingram and Quincy Jones.

Okay, if you’ve been following this blog for a while at all, you’ll know that I LOVE love. So, surprise, surprise, when I find a song that is about love.

Right?

My hubby downloaded this song the other day to our i-tunes. I tried to find a video of it, but couldn’t. So, we’ll have to settle for Stevie Wonder singing this song. Yeah, settle, right. He’s amazing. I love this song.

~~

~~

My favorite words are:

Compliment what she does, send her roses just because, if it’s violins she loves, let them play.

Dedicate her favorite song, and hold her closer, all night long. Love her today, find one hundred ways.

How cool is that?

Click Here for full lyrics

~~~

So, what’d you think? What’s your new favorite song this week?

~~~

Where were you the first time you heard your favorite James Ingram song? Please share your stories and once again thank you for all of your support. I have the GREATEST fans in the world!

Yah Mo Be There,
James Ingram

WWW.JAMESINGRAMSMUSIC.COM

songs that remain my childhood,when i was a little boy and i played with the stars in the park…..

America – Tin Man
James Ingram & Patti Austin – Baby, Come To Me
Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra
Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time 
Foreigner -I Want To Know What Love Is
Michael Mcdonald – I Keep Forgettin\’
Barry White – Just The Way You Are

20.  “Careless Whisper”, Wham!- My gay-dar was working well by the time the George Michael led group came along.  This probably explains why I did not care for them too much.  However, I’ll have to admit that they had some huge hits in the mid 80s containing very catchy tunes.  The problem with Wham was that their bubbly style made them seem like a male version of the Go-Gos, and that is not a good thing.  That is why I ended up choosing “Careless Whisper” with its ballad style over their bigger hit “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.”

19.  “Saving All My Love For You”, Whitney Houston- I tend to react negatively to hype, and Whitney got a lot of it when her voice blasted onto the scene, but even back then I could not deny that she was a great singer.  Her songs are not easy to sing along with, for the most part, because they are all a showcase for her incredible vocals.  I chose “Saving All My Love For You” over “You Give Good Love”, but they both are about the same.

18.  “Separate Lives”, Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin- This is easily one of the best duets of the 80s.  Her voice and style of singing hold up well with his as they trade off throughout the song.  It reached #1 in the Billboard Top 100, and was featured on the soundtrack to the great date movie, White Nights.

17.  “One More Night”, Phil Collins- As I did in 1984, I will treat the duet above as a group performance, and include another song by Phil Collins as a result.  “One More Night” was one of four songs that charted off Collins’ great album, No Jacket Required.  I had the album, and like most of the albums that I really liked in that era, I wore it out.  I would know any song off of it if I heard it today, and there are some that did not even chart that I liked a lot such as “Long, Long Way to Go” that featured Sting singing the backup vocals.

16.  “We Belong”, Pat Benatar- This was always my favorite Pat Benatar song.  It was a departure from her earlier ‘rocker-girl’ music and it featured a nice melody and vocal.  I’m not sure if it is a guitar or a keyboard at the beginning of the song but in any case, it is iconic, and I immediately knew the song when heard it at the end of Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby.  That scene where Sacha Baron Cohen is chasing Will Ferrell down the track is classic, and I will probably always associate this song with it in the future.

15.  “We Are The World”, U.S.A. For Africa- Anyone that was young during this era knows this song.  It was a great song, and it was great to see that many of the most popular singers in the world at that time could get together for a good cause.  If this were done today, it would undoubtedly feature Bono, which ever 80s or 90s groups were coming out with a new album, recent groups whose popularity is waning (see Britney Spears), the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and all the failed American Idol winners and finalists.  But, the original truly pulled in the powerhouses of pop music at the time.  Solos included: Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Kim Carnes, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis, Daryl Hall, Steve Perry, Kenny Loggins, Bruce Springsteen, Al Jarreau, and James Ingram.  Other artists included: Randy Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Harry Belafonte, Tito Jackson, JaToya Jackson, The Pointer Sisters, Lindsey Buckingham, Jackie Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Jeffery Osborne, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bette Midler, John Oates and Dan Aykroyd (odd).  Awesome.  And, it could never be done today.  What, no Bono?

14.  “The Search Is Over”, Survivor- This song continued Survivor’s string of great power ballads.  The lead vocals have a nice tone to them, and the song is easy to sing along with.  I chose it over “I Can’t Hold Back” from the same year.

13.  “Lay Your Hands On Me”, Thompson Twins- I love the whole tone to the vocals on this song, and the choral part is even better.  This song was released on their Here’s To the Future album which was the 6^th album released in five years for the prolific androgynous British band.

12.  “What About Love”, Heart- Heart burst on the pop scene in 1985 with the release of their debut album, Heart.  It was a smash hit for sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, as was their first of many hits, “What About Love.”  The band led by Ann Wison’s strong vocals was one of the dominant groups in pop music for the next few years, and was easily the biggest girl band of the decade.  Routinely, their songs are attempted by contestants on American Idol, and just as routinely, those contestants are roundly criticized because their vocals are not near as good or as strong as Ann Wilson’s vocals.

11.  “Things Can Only Get Better”, Howard Jones- Howard Jones is a great keyboardist, and I love his vocals.  All of his melodies pop, and are easy to sing along with.  I would recommend his The Best of Howard Jones from 1993 to anyone.  The backup singers, made up of the members of the female backup group, Afrodiziak (genius) sound great and help to make the song.

10.  “Money For Nothing”, Dire Straits- This is one of the iconic songs of the 80s.  It would be one of the best one-hit-wonders if the band had not had another hit, but their success never again approached the popularity of this song.  It, of course, begins with Sting’s unmistakable falsetto vocals ethereally asking for his MTV with a keyboard appropriately setting the eerie mood.  Then, the guitar bangs in with the very recognizable riff that continues throughout the song, and it takes off as a tribute to the easily attained fame and riches to be found in the music industry.  The vocals, described by lead singer Mark Knopfler as Sprechstimme, are by definition, vocals that fall somewhere between speaking and singing.  There was some controversy at the time involving the lines containing the words “chimpanzee” and “faggot”, and there were accusations of sexism, racism and homophobia leveled against the band which they denied.  The video filled with cool animation was groundbreaking for MTV, and it was one of their most played that year.

9.  “The Power Of Love”, Huey Lewis and The News- This and “Back in Time” were both featured in the 80s hit movie Back to the Future.  “The Power of Love” has all the qualities of a great Huey Lewis song, strong vocals, big band sound, and a bopping 50s-like rock and roll beat.  I remember seeing Huey Lewis in concert in the 80s.  It was one of the best that I ever saw.  He had the Tower Of Power horn section with him, and at one point, every person with the stage crew, the band and the horn section were on stage at the same time singing and dancing to their doo-wop sound with leather jackets on.

8.  “Material Girl”, Madonna- I chose “Material Girl” over “Crazy For You” and “Live To Tell” because it is the song that I think of when I think of Madonna.  The video with her playing the part of Marilyn Monroe from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was great.  She looked sexier to me with her clothes on in this video than she did in later videos when she took them off.  Her voice has a good, if squeaky, tone to it that matches the Monroe’s vibe.

7.  “Heaven”, Bryan Adams- This and “Cuts Like a Knife” are my two favorite Bryan Adams’ songs.  I liked this song a lot because I could sing it, and it was a cool power ballad.  It still gets a lot of play, and can be heard every season on American Idol.

6.  “You’re The Inspiration”, Chicago- This is probably the most popular song Chicago ever recorded (and that is a lot of songs), but it is not my personal favorite- that would be “Love Me Tomorrow”- or even my favorite from Chicago 17- that would be the unreleased “Remember the Feeling.”  However, that does not mean it is not a great song.  Peter Certera proved, once and for all, that Bill Champlin should be a backup singer for the group with this song.  Certera left the band shortly thereafter.

5.  “Head Over Heels”, Tears For Fears- This was another great hit for the semi-androgynous British pop band.  The key board part that sounds like falling rain as it repeatedly moves down the scale let’s you know what song you are listening to from the beginning.  The lead vocals are very clean, and the backup falsetto vocals match nicely on the verses and chorus.  I chose this song over their bigger hit “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” because I like it better, but they are both great songs.

4.  “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, Simple Minds- What a youth rebellion anthem!  I mean, it just doesn’t get any better than this.  Every child of the 80s reading this sees Judd Nelson at the end of The Breakfast Club walking away with his fist (for some reason) in the air in a defiant statement that said, “You might burn me with cigarettes, but I’m still too cool even for myself!”  The song is cool too.  It was the class song for thousands of senior classes that year (pretty much all of the classes that were not gay enough to choose “Friends” as their class song).

3.  “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, REO Speedwagon- Have you ever had a friend who you could not stand to be around when he was with his girlfriend?  When I was in college my roommate was going out with my girlfriend’s roommate (We both eventually married these ladies- I asked mine out first.  He married his first).  There was really no avoiding being around them quite a bit.  The problem was, for instance, at night as I would be watching television in our living room, he would be on the phone with her calling her pet names likes ‘Snoogums” and such.  They would get to the end of he conversation, and then would come the ‘I love you’, ‘no, I love you more’ session (five minutes minimum), and then the ‘hang up’, ‘no, you hang up’ session which rarely ended before I was contemplating ending my own life.

Then there was being with them.  You were never really with them.  They were with each other in their own little world getting as close as the clothes on them would allow, and calling each other pet names in sweet high pitched voices totally oblivious of the fact that every around them was visibly ill.  I swear.  I had to eventually sit my roommate down and explain the concept of ‘too cute’ to him.

All during this time, “Can’t Fight This Feeling” was their song.  He played it all the time.  She played it all the time.  They played it all the time.

I think it says a lot about the greatness of this song that through all of that, I still liked it.  And, here it is at #3 on my 1985 list.  It’s probably better than that even, but I hold a long grudge.

2.  “Take On Me”, A-Ha- This song is another of the great one-hit-wonder songs of the 80s.  The Norwegian pop band A-Ha, fronted by Morten Harket, used this song to feature his soaring vocals that hit before-unseen heights for a male voice in popular music.  It also has a signature keyboard part that makes the song instantly recognizable.  The video for this song was one of the most popular of the 80s featuring a sappy love story between a guy in a comic and a girl.  What made it special was its use of animation and real-life video in the same frames bringing the comic book characters to life, then having them interact with the real-life characters almost seamlessly.  The girl is very cute also.

1.  “I Want To Know What Love Is”, Foreigner- What a great song.  This may be the best power ballad of all time.  The vocals are great, and adding the gospel choir brought it to a whole new level.  The keyboard, as with most good power ballads, is great also.

Top 20 80s Pop/Rock Songs (Category)

Top 20 1980’s Pop/Rock Songs By Year (Criteria)

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1980

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1981

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1982

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1983

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1984

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1986

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1987

Welcome to my blog! This whole blog thing is new to me but I am excited to be entering the Web 2.0 space.

My new Inspirational Cd “STAND (In The Light)” was released January 27, 2009.  It was inspired by the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims, and features new works and some of my classics such as, the Grammy Award-winning 1983 classic collaboration with Michael McDonald: YAH MO BE THERE. STAND (In The Light) is a natural progression for me based on my career being grounded in my faith.

STAND (In the Light) for me is a bridge over troubled waters in troubled times and, when you get to the other side, know that God got you there, so turn around and help someone else.   My father, who was a deacon in the church and also, my Sunday School Teacher, taught me that with faith in God and confidence in myself there was nothing that I could not do, and it worked.  I also remember that when I left Akron, Ohio as a young man, I was a musician and was not pursuing a singing career.  God opened up a door for me when I did a $50.00 demo for a publishing company.  A person at that company loved the song (JUST ONCE) and my interpretation of it and took it to Quincy Jones.  The rest is HIS- STORY..  Although my life has been through ups and downs, I have never been discouraged, because of my faith in God.

This is an album I have been wanting to do for quite some time. My hope is that you will enjoy listening to my  new songs as I much as I have enjoyed recording them! As we roll along with this blog, I would love to hear your comments on the new album or whatever you feel like sharing.

Yah-Mo Be There!

http://jamesingramsmusic.com