Stacy Lattisaw

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since November 2006.

Stacy Lattisaw (born November 25, 1966 in Washington, D.C.) is an American R&B and dance music singer. She recorded her first album at the age of twelve, and has scored twenty two R&B chart hits.

[edit] Career

Her recording career can be divided into two phases, the first during her tenure at Cotillion Records (an offshoot of Atlantic Records), and the second her three-album stint at Motown Records.

Her debut album, produced, arranged, and conducted by Van McCoy, featured the highly-orchestrated disco tune, "When You're Young And In Love".

Lattisaw's breakthrough album was Let Me Be Your Angel, released in 1980. It featured the smash title hit and the dance-hit "Dynamite." This album was the first in a string to be produced by Narada Michael Walden for his Perfection Light Productions. Lattisaw and Walden grew together as artists - much of the latter's later success with others like Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin, was patterned on the rich material that he and Lattisaw created during the early 1980s.

In 1981 she released With You which contained "Love on a Two Way Street," a remake of the R&B classic. Lattisaw put her own distinctive stamp on the piece, and it has remained a staple of late-night, slow-jam radio programming in the two decades since its release. Lattisaw rapped for the first time on this album, and demonstrated an increasing vocal power.

Sneakin' Out was released in 1982. Whilst retaining the R&B focus, Walden nudged towards pure pop music - incorporating more synthesized sound into the arrangements. The collection included the track, "Attack of the Name Game", which Mariah Carey later sampled for one of her own dance hits. Walden also included some ballads that Lattisaw was primarily known for, including "Don't Throw it all Away".

The next release Sixteen stands as perhaps her strongest overall album in retrospect. The funky synth-driven cuts standing toe-to-toe with her contemporaries, such as Shalamar, Change, SOS Band and Rick James. Her song "Million Dollar Babe" made an impact on the airwaves, and the video made it onto NBC's Friday Night Videos, one of the few outlets for black artists during the 1980s.

Her duet album with Johnny Gill, Perfect Combination built on her greater visibility, and told the story of an imagined relationship between the the pairing.

Cotillion possible made a grave mistake with Lattisaw's next album by pairing her with the producer Michael Masser. I'm Not the Same Girl was not a success.

Lattisaw moved to Motown for 1986's Take Me All The Way. The change in all aspects of her work was notable, and thus began the second phase of her career.

The second phase involved a new and more mature sounding Stacy. She rode the hearts of men with her next project Personal Attention on Motown 1988. The ballards "Every Drop of Your Love" and "Let Me Take You Down" was her new signature songs on R&B radio.

Later in the summer of 1989, Lattisaw recorded the 8th and last cd of her lengthy career, What You Need. At age 23 Stacy seemed more confident then ever. Ballards like "I Don't Have The Heart" and "Tender Love" showed again that Stacy had the power in her voice to rival r&b ladies of the day. The driven force of the cd was mostly uptempo cuts with the title cut featuring a young P Diddy in the video and the number one R&B ballard duet with long time friend, Johnny Gill, "Where Do We Go From Here" , but the cd failed to gain any wide attention.

As of 2006 an internet blurb announced that Stacy was now in the studio with her husband Kevin Jackson (the two own Night Flight Studio together) working on her next project which is said to be a Gospel cd.

[edit] Summary

She is best known for her two biggest Hot 100 songs: "Let Me Be Your Angel" (#21 in 1980) and "Love On A Two-Way Street" (#26 in 1981).

In 1980, she went to #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Dynamite!" / "Jump To the Beat." Her other big dance chart hits include "Nail It To the Wall" (#2 in 1986) and "Jump Into My Life" (#3 in 1987).