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Tag: 2016

AIN’T NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY

From NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY

Written by Harriet Schock

This week, let’s go back to the seventies and review “Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady,” a 1975 hit by one of the pop queens of that decade, Helen Reddy. The Australian songbird worked an impressive string of fifteen Top 40 hits including #1s like “I Am Woman,” “Delta Dawn” and “Angie Baby.” Ms. Reddy had a beautiful, sweet voice perfectly suited for the kind of soft rock/adult contemporary material that was successfully sung in those years by Barbra Streisand and Melissa Manchester. “Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady” was another winner for Ms. Reddy and reached #8 on Billboard’s Hot 100 as well as #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

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AMAZING GRACE

From SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

Traditional

Jordan Smith was the winner on the ninth season of American singing competition, The Voice. Smith’s gorgeous voice made immediate buzz among the show’s millions of viewers and inside the music industry as well with its beautiful tone, great power and perfect delivery. The twenty-two year old’s sweet and tender performances were tailor-made for adult contemporary audiences, but, through the most inspirational material, deeply rooted in Christian music. Given his vocal potential and overall positive persona, Smith immediately became a David Foster protégée. Foster performed with the young singer at some high profile events and eventually produced a few tracks on his debut cd, Something Beautiful.

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HERE’S THE WORLD

From BETWEEN A ROCK & A HYDE PLACE – THE BEST OF PAYOLA$

Written by David Foster, Paul Hyde, Bob Rock & Miriam Nelson

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In the early Eighties, David Foster brought both Chicago with Chicago 16 and Chicago 17 and The Tubes with The Completion Backward Principle and Outside Inside to impressive heights on Billboard’s various charts. These triumphs in the pop/rock arena paved the way for Foster’s subsequent work with the critically-acclaimed Canadian rock/new wave band, The Payola$.

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THE NIGHT GOES ON

From WHAT ABOUT ME?

Written by Paul Gordon & Tom Keane

In the early Eighties, country superstar Kenny Rogers made the transition to the Pop/Adult Contemporary charts thanks to his collaborations with world-class music makers like Lionel Richie, The Bee Gees and David Foster.

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HEARTSTRINGS

From THE BEST OF ME

Written by David Foster & Burt Bacharach

David Foster’s unique body of work as a songwriter shows obvious melodic influences by pop music giants like The Beatles, but it echoes the fine work of previous pop artisans including the legendary Burt Bacharach. Bacharach has been instrumental in pushing the harmonic and melodic limits in popular (aka pop) music. His compositions are full of unique time changes and rhythmic ideas flowing beautifully while sounding very natural to the listener. Foster applied the same formula to many of his hit songs and the result is as pleasant and catchy as Bacharach’s finest works.

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