by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)
If you’re an everyday listener of Good Black Information’ Music Monday playlists, we’re positive you’ve observed by now that we’ve acquired some severe Stevie Surprise followers in the home. In 2020, we even celebrated his 70th birthday with a complete month of incredible playlists (some hyperlinks under).
And now that Mr. Surprise’s birthday week once more (on this Friday the 13th), we’ve acquired a brand new playlist to share – this one constructed round songs that he composed for different artists – it’s known as “Written By Surprise, First Sung By One other”:
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This playlist is comprised of over 90 songs spanning from the mid-60s when he was nonetheless only a teenage songwriter, up by way of the listing’s most up-to-date composition, a 2011 launch from clean jazz vocalist Maysa known as “Have Candy Desires.”
Many individuals already know of the hits Stevie wrote for others – classics resembling The Spinners’ “It’s A Disgrace,” Jermaine Jackson’s “Let’s Get Severe,” Third World’s “Strive Jah Love,” Rufus feat. Chaka Khan’s “Inform Me One thing Good,” and naturally, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “The Tears of a Clown.”
However his writing legacy goes a lot deeper than that.
Beginning within the mid-60s when he was only a teen, Little Stevie Surprise composed songs recorded by practically all his main labelmates, together with tracks for The Supremes, The Temptations, The 4 Tops, The Marvelettes, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, The Miracles and Marvin Gaye.
Most had been shared credit with co-writers resembling Clarence Paul (his major Motown producer within the ‘60s), Morris Broadnax, Ivy Jo Hunter, and Mickey Stevenson.
One monitor, “All I Do Is Suppose About You,” remained an obscure Tammi Terrell 1966 album monitor till Stevie truly reached again and recorded a vastly up to date model of the track as “All I Do” his 1980 album Hotter Than July.
A number of different ‘60s tracks on our playlist remained in vaults till they had been unearthed in more moderen a long time, together with Marv Johnson’s “Let’s Speak It Over” and J.J. Barnes’ “Everyone Wants Anyone (I Want You).”
Barnes’ monitor was truly launched by Stevie himself within the ‘60s, however had been recorded (and shelved) first by Barnes.
This was the converse of the scenario along with his celebrated Aretha Franklin hit, “Till You Come Again to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)” – which was truly recorded (and shelved) by Surprise himself within the late ‘60s, earlier than being provided to Franklin, who sang the primary launched model of this iconic monitor.
By 1970/1971, Stevie was not a teen and was stepping out on his personal as each a author and producer. Followers are aware of his songs with then girlfriend-turned-first-wife Syreeta Wright, starting in 1972.
Syreeta’s first two albums, each produced by Stevie, are great – and all Stevie’s compositions from them are contained on this playlist (with the majority of the twond album positioned on the finish of our playlist).
However even sooner than his Syreeta productions, Surprise wrote and produced two songs for Martha Reeves & The Vandellas throughout these rising unbiased years – “Let Me Fall in Love with You” (co-written with Syreeta) and “Speaking ‘Bout Love.” Each remained within the archives till 2005!
By the early to mid-‘70s, when Surprise was the most well liked artist round, Stevie songs had been in demand, even by acts from outdoors the Motown secure.
Not solely did he provide songs to R&B legends like Minnie Riperton, Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, The Pointer Sisters and Labelle, but in addition to a extra various slate of artists together with James Taylor, rock guitarist Jeff Beck, Brazilian straightforward listening legend Sergio Mendes, and jazz icon Ramsey Lewis.
After hitting the highest of the R&B charts with Jermaine Jackson’s “Let’s Get Severe” – the #1 R&B hit of 1980 – Stevie continued to jot down with some frequency for different artists – starting from compositions for celebrity-fueled albums by the likes of Eddie Murphy and Raven Symone, to songs for among the most celebrated pop/grownup modern artists of all time, like The Seashore Boys, John Denver, and Dionne Warwick.
A specific mark of Surprise’s songwriting chops could also be that his songs had been regularly picked by artists who had been typically main songwriters themselves.
Pop’s greatest composers resembling Paul McCartney, Neil Diamond, and, after all, Smokey Robinson, all recorded songs by Stevie. As is commonly mentioned at the moment, recreation acknowledges recreation!
After which, in 1988, Stevie first collaborated with filmmaker Spike Lee. Though later Stevie would go on to create a complete solo album across the soundtrack to Jungle Fever and in addition contribute songs to the soundtrack for Bamboozled, his first collaboration with Lee began with a ravishing monitor Stevie wrote for Faculty Daze known as “I Can Solely Be Me,” sung by Keith John, son of soul legend Little Willie John (and in addition a longstanding member of Stevie’s assist band).
On this playlist, we’ve ordered the songs roughly in chronological order, kicking off with a number of of his larger hits for others, however then specializing in the ‘60s, ‘70s, after which ‘80s.
And we’ve stored to tracks that had been actually sung or carried out by different artists solely – not songs that had been full duets with Stevie himself. (These songs are value exploring too, together with songs with Whitney Houston, Julio Iglesias and Babyface, amongst others.)
All of us could lament that we haven’t seen a brand new album from Stevie in over 16 years. However there are sufficient Stevie songs right here, lots of them additionally produced by him, to comprise one other 8-9 albums value of fabric! So dive in.
Throughout this Stevie Surprise birthday week, it’s time once more to marvel on the superb abilities of this musical genius, which deserve exploration past simply the albums launched underneath his personal identify.
Take a hear and benefit from the Stevie sound, as introduced ahead by way of this unimaginable group of Surprise songs headlined by different superb artists. ‘Pleased Birthday to you, Pleased Birthday to you’ Mr. Stevie Surprise.
For these desirous about different Stevie Surprise playlists and articles from GBN’s Music Monday archives, listed here are some extra hyperlinks: