This Is How You Remind Me

Usher and I go way back. We first started back in the days of You Make Me Wanna when I was 11 and my love for him has come and gone and come back over the years. He seems to fade from the spotlight now and then but emerges with hit after hit again and again.

Usher Terry Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor.

He rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first number-one hit, “Nice & Slow”. The album has been certified 6-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. His follow-up album, 8701, produced the Billboard Hot 100 number one hits “U Remind Me” and “U Got It Bad”. Many more albums and hits followed, with him on the charts again just last year.

Usher’s 2004 album, Confessions, established him as one of the best-selling musical artist of the 2000s decade. It sold over 20 million copies worldwide, bolstered by its four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one hits and has been certified diamond by the RIAA.

The RIAA ranks Usher as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold over 23 million copies in the United States alone. Usher has won numerous awards including eight Grammy Awards. Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade, and at number six on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. Usher has attained nine Hot 100 number-one hits (all as a lead artist) and has attained eighteen Hot 100 top-ten hits.

You Remind Me

Usher

Side One

Radio Edit
Instrumental

Side Two

LP Version
A Cappella

Youssou N’Dour Is Undecided

Since I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to my Special Olympics fundraiser (you can donate $10.00 or learn more HERE), I figured I’d use this Youssou N’Dour post to speak about his own activism and fundraising efforts.

In Senegal, Youssou N’Dour became a powerful cultural icon, actively involved in social issues. In 1985, he organized a concert for the release of Nelson Mandela. He was a featured performer in the 1988 worldwide Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour and has worked with the United Nations and UNICEF. Giving back to his own country, he started Project Joko to open internet cafés in Africa and to connect Senegalese communities around the world.

In 2009, he released his song “Wake Up (It’s Africa Calling)” under a Creative Commons license to help IntraHealth International in their IntraHealth Open campaign to bring open source health applications to Africa. The song was remixed by a variety of artists to help raise money for the campaign.

Undecided

Youssou N’Dour

Side One

Undecided (Deep 12″ Dance Mix)
Undecided (12″ Dance Instrumental)

Side Two

Undecided (Album Version)
Undecided (Deep Radio Mix)

Phil Friday: You Can’t Hurry Phil’s Sussudio Love

The last Phil Friday post! Hope you’ve enjoyed working through all the Phils in my collection!

“Sussudio” is a song by Phil Collins, released as a single in February 1985. The song entered frequent rotation on MTV in May, and by 6 July, reached number one on their respective US Billboard charts.

Side One

Sussudio

Side Two

I Like the Way

Side One

You Can’t Hurry Love

Side Two

Do You Know, Do You Care?

The most notable cover of the Supremes’ You Can’t Hurry Love was released in late 1982 as a single by Phil Collins from his second solo album. Collins’s version reached number-one on the UK Singles Chart, and reached number 10 in the United States. Although Collins had previously done covers as album tracks, “You Can’t Hurry Love” was the first cover he released as a single.

Tone Loc’s Posse Love

You know what’s kind of crazy? Tone Loc has been in some TV shows that I watch pretty regularly. I can’t fall asleep at night sometimes without the TV so I watch a ton of syndicated shows and never realized that he had voiced a character on King of the Hill or been on Yes, Dear.

Posse Love

Tone Loc

Side One

Posse Love (LP Version)
Posse Love (LP Version without Guitar)

Side Two

Posse Love (Guitar Instrumental)
Posse Love (LP Instrumental)

Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to Paul Lekakis’ Room)

Paul Lekakis (born October 1966) is a Greek-American actor, model, filmmaker and club music / Hi-NRG singer.

His debut single, “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to My Room)” was released in 1987. The song peaked at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100. This single received attention for its suggestive lyrics and is Lekakis’s best-known song.

Side One

Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to My Room)

Side Two

Instrumental Room

Paul Simon

In an in-depth interview reprinted in American Songwriter, Simon discusses the craft of songwriting with music journalist Tom Moon. In the interview, Simon explains the basic themes in his songwriting: love, family, social commentary, etc., as well as the overarching messages of religion, spirituality, and God in his lyrics. Simon goes on in the interview to explain the process of how he goes about writing songs, “The music always precedes the words. The words often come from the sound of the music and eventually evolve into coherent thoughts. Or incoherent thoughts. Rhythm plays a crucial part in the lyric-making as well. It’s like a puzzle to find the right words to express what the music is saying”.

Side One

Kodachrome

Side Two

Tenderness

Side One

Slip Slidin’ Away

Side Two

Something So Right

Side One

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Side Two

Some Folks Lives Roll Easy

Side One

Mother and Child Reunion

Side Two

Paranoia Blues

Heaven On The 7th Floor

Paul Oscar Beuselinck currently known by the stage name Paul Nicholas and formerly known by the stage name Oscar (born 3 December 1945) is an English actor and singer.

Side One

Heaven on the 7th Floor

Side Two

Do You Want My Love

Have A Good Time In Graceland Even With Allergies

Side One

Graceland

Side Two

Hearts and Bones

Side One

Allergies

Side Two

Think Too Much

Side One

Have a Good Time

Side Two

Stranded in a Limousine

Paul Petersen Is Everything To Anyone He Loves

William Paul Petersen (born September 23, 1945) is an American actor, singer, novelist, and activist.

Petersen first rose to prominence in the 1950s playing Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show, and transitioned to a singing career in the 1960s. In the early 1980s, he had a recurring role as a police officer on Matt Houston, and in the late 1990s, he played the author Paul Conway in the film, Mommy’s Day.

In 1990, Petersen established the organization A Minor Consideration to support child stars and other child laborers through legislation, family education, and personal intervention and counseling for those in crisis.

Side One

Be Everything to Anyone You Love

Side Two

Keep Your Love Locked (Deep in Your Heart)

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In honor of my dad’s twelfth anniversary of his passing (4/15/15), I’m asking people to donate $12.00 to the Special Olympics. You can visit my fundraising page for their Over the Edge event by clicking HERE. This is my second year participating and I hope to make it one of the biggest years to date!

For more on the Athletes of Special Olympics Massachusetts and how you can get involved visit http://www.specialolympicsma.org. 

Thank you so much for your support!!

You Can Call Paul Simon Al

I’ve been thinking about karaoke a lot lately. Not exactly sure why, but I’ve been craving a night on the microphone singing other people’s songs. What’s that have to do with Paul Simon? Not too much aside from the fact that if I had to pick one of his songs to do, it would be this single. The chorus is catchy and I happen to know the words where I’m not as familiar with some of his other work.

If you’ll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al

“You Can Call Me Al” is a song by Paul Simon, the first single released from his album Graceland. The song originally charted in the U.S. at No. 44 in October 1986 but it was reissued with greater promotion in March 1987 and hit No. 23. In the UK it peaked at No. 4, while in Sweden and the Netherlands it reached No. 2.

Side One

You Can Call Me Al

Side Two

Gumboots

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In honor of my dad’s twelfth anniversary of his passing, I’m asking people to donate $12.00 to the Special Olympics. You can visit my fundraising page for their Over the Edge event by clicking HERE. This is my second year participating and I hope to make it one of the biggest years to date!

For more on the Athletes of Special Olympics Massachusetts and how you can get involved visit http://www.specialolympicsma.org. 

Thank you so much for your support!!