This week, let’s go back to the mid-seventies when David Foster was a young, A-list session player, but already developing other impressive skills as an arranger and songwriter. One of Foster’s main connections of those years was with Sir Elton John’s legendary drummer, Nigel Olsson. Foster co-wrote, arranged and played on several tracks of Olsson’s 1975 self-titled album.

One of those collaborations was entitled “Something’s Lacking In Me.” That irresistible, up-tempo jam was inspired by the finest Philadelphia soul that can be found in the archives. Another Foster/Olsson co-write on Nigel Olsson was “Girl We’ve Got To Keep On,” a romantic ballad that’s this Song of the Week.

“Girl We’ve Got To Keep On” shows the impressive melodic appeal of those early Foster instrumental tracks. It had an acoustic piano-based arrangement, harmonic progression with sweeping strings and evocative vocal harmonies which foreshadow those successful things that will come to Foster in the next few years. Vocally, Olsson handled the material well. Olsson’s tenor often went into a delicate falsetto and flowed rather nicely with the song’s melody. “Girl We’ve Got To Keep On” was one of the singles released from Nigel Olsson, but, like its parent album and despite its evident radio-friendly appeal, it didn’t chart. 

Listen

• Lead Vocals & Drums: Nigel Olsson
• Keyboards: David Foster
• Guitar: Steve Cropper, Richie Zito, Dean Parks
• Bass: Dee Murray
• Backing Vocals: Carmen Twillie, Venette Gloud & Kathy Collieren Twillie, Venette Gloud & Kathy Collier
• Strings Arrangement by Gene Page
• Produced by Robert Appere

Lyrics

No Lyrics

She was born Brenda Gordon on April 8, 1949 (the year varies) in Brooklyn, New York to father Gus Gordon, one of the Ink Spots and a member of the Bill Johnson Quartet, and mother Cinnamon Sharpe, who sang and wrote songs. She would become known as Brenda Russell, a distinguished singer/songwriter of gems including “Get Here” and “If Only For One Night.” Ms. Russell was active in the early seventies with her first husband Brian Russell as backing vocalists for artists including Anne Murray, Cat Stevens, Sir Elton John, Neil Sedaka and Cher . Sir Elton, recognizing the duo’s talent, signed them to his Rocket Record Company and 1976 brought their debut album titled World Called Love.

It was produced by noted engineer Robert Appere who worked with singer/songwriter Sedaka, Little Feat, Earth, Wind & Fire fame and Yvonne Elliman. World Called Love was a tasteful pop/soul collection of original tunes mostly co-written by the couple. Among the songs were a Sir Elton and Bernie Taupin original titled “Tell Me When The Whistle Blows” and a couple of tunes co-written with David Foster. The young Canadian music-maker was friends with the Russells since their tune “Please Pardon Me” was originally recorded by Foster’s group Skylark back in 1972. One of Foster’s co-writes on World Called Love was a danceable jam entitled “Gonna Do My Best To Love You.” This catchy number became the single off the album and one of the Hitman’s first credited hits with a fair share of covers including a good one by Tata Vega. The second track, the gorgeous ballad “Livin’ With You,” is the Song of the Week.

Sporting one of Foster’s classic, heart-wrenching melodies, “Livin’ With You” was nicely coupled with Brenda’s inspired lyrics. Foster’s piano supports the singer’s beautiful performance with a suggestive solo mid-song. The soon-to-be top producer also crafted the delicate strings and arranged a good portion of World Called Love by playing his variety of keyboards on eight tracks.

Foster and Ms. Russell kept their collaboration going and at the end of the decade, Foster suggested her skills as a lyricist to Maurice White. The three ended up co-penning two masterpieces; “And Love Goes On” and “You” for Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1980 Faces album. For those interested, read the past review of Brian and Brenda’s “Gonna Do My Best To Love You.”

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/05-Livin-With-You.mp3|titles=Livin’ With You|artists=Brenda Russell]

Lead Vocals: Brenda Russell
Piano: David Foster
Drums: Mike Baird
Guitar: Richie Zito
Bass: Lee Sklar
String Arrangement by David Foster

Arranged by David Foster
Produced by Robert Appere

Lyrics

No Lyrics

written by John Townsend & Ed Sanford

Ted Neeley is a veteran singer, composer, musician, actor and record producer. He is mostly remembered for his lead performance in the 1973 movie “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

A film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice famous rock opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar” was a big hit in the US and the soundtrack went gold. The movie and soundtrack also starred Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene and the late Carl Anderson as Judas.

After this great exposure, Neeley released his first solo album a year later entitled “1974 A.D.” Although it was a solid pop/rock album arranged by Michael Omartian, commercially the album didn’t go anywhere. In 1975, Neeley released a new single, “Paradise”. Produced by Robert Appere, “Paradise” was a catchy number co-written by John Townsend and Ed Sanford, who later became the popular rock/soul group Sanford-Townsend Band. The guitar-driven song is extremely radio-friendly and has strong echoes of The Doobie Brothers’ sound of the Tom Johnston era. Neeley’s voice even resembled Johnston’s rock style. Appere, who was also Neil Sedaka’s producer, enlisted a young David Foster to play on the song. You can hear Foster’s keyboards on the track. Other session aces on that song were Dean Parks and Ritchie Zito on guitars, Jim Horn on sax and Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray of Elton John’s famous rhythm section. Brian and Brenda Russell provided the backing vocals. “Paradise” made #110 on the Bubbling otUnder Hot 100 chart. Sedaka also co-wrote the single’s b-side, “Don’t Let It Mess Your Mind” with Phil Cody.

Neeley kept working in the music biz and appeared on albums by Tina Turner, Meat Loaf and Keith Carradine. He composed music for movies and starred as an actor on both Broadway and the big screen. Recently, Neeley made an appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s hit movie “Django Unchained.”

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/paradise.mp3|titles=Paradise|artists=Ted Neeley]

Lead Vocals: Ted Neeley
Keyboards: David Foster, Neil Sedaka, Billy Schwartz & Mike Moran
Guitars: Ritchie Zito & Dean Parks
Bass: Dee Murray
Drums: Nigel Olsson
Saxophone: Jim Horn
Backing Vocals: Brian & Brenda Russell

Arranged by Ted Neeley
Produced by Robert Appere

Lyrics

No Lyrics

written by David Foster, Nigel Olsson & Jozy Pollock

In the early seventies Nigel Olsson became one of the world’s best known drummer for his connection with Elton John. In 1975 the UK superstar decided to change his rhythm section and consequently Olsson and Dee Murray were replaced by Roger Pope and Kenny Passatelli.

At the same time the talented drummer, who was also a very good singer/songwriter, began to work on a solo album that was released that same year for John’s Rocket Record Company. The self-titled release, produced by Robert Appere, was a pop collection clearly influenced by the ear candy sounds of his former boss. “Nigel Olsson” included very well picked covers like “Only One Woman,” an orchestral ballad written by The Bee Gees that had Elton John playing piano, was produced by Gus Dudgeon and released as a single in 1974. Another standout track is “Get It Up For Love” by Ned Doheny that’s presented in a spirited latin-tinged version with guest vocals by Brian & Brenda Russell. Among the original songs are two ballads, “Can’t You See” and “Girl, We Got To Keep On.” Co-written by Olsson with his then-girlfriend, Jozy Pollock and David Foster. Both songs have sweet melodies, rich strings and vocals plus superior keyboard playing by the young, up’n’coming Foster. Foster also co-wrote with Olsson and Pollock another single off the album, the breezy up-tempo “Something Lacking In Me.” This is another highlight of “Nigel Olsson” with an irrestible beat, beautiful string arrangement by Gene Page, great sax work by Jim Horn and smooth vocal harmonies. Again the echoes of Elton John are strong on this danceable number. Foster played on all but one track on the album and among the other session aces apperaring are Steve Cropper and Dean Parks on guitar, Lee Sklar on bass, Russ Kunkel and Ray Cooper on percussions plus vocal cameos by Neil Sedaka and Donny Gerrard.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/something_lacking_in_me.mp3|titles=Something lacking in me|artists=Nigel Olsson]

Lead Vocals & Drums: Nigel Olsson
Guitar: Steve Cropper
Keyboards: David Foster
Bass: Leland Sklar
Saxophone: Jim Horn
Strings Arranged by Gene Page

Produced by Robert Appere

Lyrics

No Lyrics