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And then of course, in the second half of the '90s, Siedah joined British group The Brand New Heavies, with whom she recorded the album "Shelter". She was the follow-up to N'Dea Davenport (both N'Dea and Siedah are my favorite female voices with the band ).
How did I not know this?
If I may deviate a bit from the main topic briefly, this mention of vocalist credits reminded me of a story I read years ago about which I found really interesting.
The seemingly inconsequential process of painstakingly listing all vocalists on a record is taken for granted now, but back in 1990 there was a track released by Black Box called “Ride On Time” that was a massive dance hit across Europe (it reached #39 on the US Hot Dance Club Play Chart). Shortly after its release, there was a huge controversy when it was discovered that the girl in the video (and on the album and single sleeves) was miming to the voice of veteran session singer Martha Wash, who had recorded the original demos for RCA. The label kept these demo vocals and - without her knowledge, permission or credit - used them on five tracks on the finished album. Wash later filed a successful lawsuit against RCA and this legal action spurred legislation in the United States making vocal credits mandatory on albums and music videos - which is now the norm. I always make a point of carefully poring over album credits because not only is it interesting to see who’s worked with who, but that tiny printed mention of someone’s name on a record can make the difference between its success and a multimillion dollar lawsuit.
Back on topic, I didn’t realise until quite recently that Siedah also co-wrote “Keep The Faith” for Michael’s Dangerous album. Another great tune!
"Ride On Time" by Black Box was not Martha Wash, but it was the sampled acapella vocals of Loleatta Holloway's 1980 song 'Love Sensation."