Re: brand new heavies

elson trinidad
Sun, 25 Jan 1998 21:13:25 -0800


At 04.56 AM 1/26/1998 +0700, ANdRé JaZziD wrote:
>Blkwallst1 wrote:
>
>> Siedah left the group? I didn't realize this. Was she a one record
>> deal from
>> the beginning? Why did she leave? Is there any word on a
>> replacement?
>
>I knew this news from their saxophonist, Shilts. He told me that Siedah
>left the band. That's why there were so many concerts being canceled.
>But he doesn't know why she left the band. And from what he told me, The
>Heavies is going back to the studio this year and of course they will
>find a new singer.

I hate to bring this up, but I wonder if all of this has anything to do
with the whole negative reaction towards Siedah and and new album. I admit
she didn't cut it for me either, but she at least deserved another chance
(i.e. live performance). For the gigs they did do, it seemed to be very
positive though; as if for every negative reaction to the album, there was
a positive reaction to the live show.

I also wonder if any of this had to do with Delicious Vinyl seeing whether
"Shelter" could make an impact in the U.S. I know "Sometimes" got poor
airplay on U.S. radio, which is an improvement over the "Brother Sister"
singles (where it got extremely poor airplay), but I guess the negative
reations were so great that
it probably sold less than "Brother Sister," despite all the marketing and
publicity they gave the band and the album in the U.S. (i.e. The Guess
jeans website (the short-lived "www.brandnewheavies.com"), the Smokin'
Grooves tour, various TV appearances, etc.)

Incidentally, the single "Shelter" is out in the UK, making it the first
BNH single where Jan gets to sing solo.

Elson