A wise person once said that you should never give up because the break you are looking for could be right around the corner. Maybe had you waited, that ship would have come in the next day, or perhaps even that same day.
Blessings have no connection to calendars, clocks or our sense of time.
A famous actress with a firm grasp on reality said if a person is easily discouraged, they will never succeed.
In some cases, there has already been a substantial amount of success, but then a setback changes everything, and a new blessing is needed, an event to alter a career.
JANET JACKSON, before 1986, was known primarily as Michael Jackson’s cute little sister and the youngest sibling in the first family of popular music. This was true despite her having had a few hit records, including “Young Love” and “Come Give Your Love to Me,” and having been a regular on two sitcoms.
But in 1986 something in her mind clicked and Janet knew that it was time to take “control,” and she did just that. The second step was hooking up with the right producers and writers.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, formerly of the Time, were perfect. They saw her enormous potential and knew exactly where she wanted to go.
“Control,” a hard-hitting, exciting, direction-defining album, took the music industry and the public by storm. The hits, well-produced by Jam/Lewis and sung by a confident Janet Jackson, exploded one after the other from that album, including “Nasty,” “When I Think of You,” “Control,” “Let’s Wait Awhile” and “What Have You Done For Me Lately?”
After that, the sky was the limit.
EARTHA KITT, the legendary singer, actress and dancer who was like no other, obviously had nerves of steel. In 1942 at a very early age, with a now-or-maybe-never attitude and without the benefit of formal dance training, she dared to audition for the famed Katherine Dunham Company.
The ambitious young lady, who had been born Eartha Mae Keith in South Carolina, impressed Ms. Dunham enough to be hired. She remained with the celebrated dance troupe for six years.
The exotic performer, who sang in English and French, went on to become an icon. People will forever treasure her memory, including her two signature songs, “C’est Si Bon” and “Santa Baby.”
JAMES INGRAM learned in the most positive sense that you never know who might be listening. He had been a much-in-demand session singer and also was used on demo recordings, meaning he would be the vocalist on a recording that was being shopped to a producer, record company, etc. It’s the song, not the artist, that is being promoted.
None other than Quincy Jones heard one of his demos and was fascinated by the singer’s voice, delivery and technique. After tracking him down, Jones went right into the studio with Ingram and featured him prominently on his album “The Dude.” Two songs from it, “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways,” became major hits, R&B and pop.
Ingram was on his way, and his successful work included the popular duets with Patti Austin, “Baby Come to Me” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?”
She, too, was a regularly used background session singer. Burt Bacharach was working on a Drifters song titled “Mexican Divorce” (the flip side of the group’s 1962 release, “When My Little Girl is Smiling,” as musicologists know).
Bacharach was intrigued by a voice that stood out from the other backup singers. He and his songwriting partner, lyricist Hal David, formed a partnership with Warwick that is now legendary, as are the megahits, including “Walk on By,” “Alfie,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls,” “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart” and “Do You Know the Way to San José?”
EVELYN “CHAMPAGNE” KING has a very different story to tell. She was discovered while working in housekeeping. She was a cleaning woman at Philadelphia International Records — one who sang while she worked.
A record producer named Theodore “T” Life was impressed, one thing led to another, and King found herself recording for RCA. She didn’t have to wait long for success because her first single, the exciting, fast-paced “Shame,” soared into the national R&B Top 10 and the Pop Top 10 as well.
That was just the beginning. King built a loyal following thanks to a barrage of subsequent hits, including “I Don’t Know If It’s Right,” “I’m in Love,” “Betcha She Don’t Love You” and “Love Come Down.”
RONNIE McNEIR has been a latter-day member of the Four Tops since early in the decade. Before that he was working as the group’s valet. When a vacancy became available, McNeir, an experienced singer, told the Tops that there was no reason to audition anyone because he could handle the job vocally and knew the show well. Plus they already knew him personally.
When Lawrence Payton died in 1997, he was replaced by Theo Peoples, formerly of the Temptations. When illness forced the late, great Levi Stubbs out of the group (physically but never spiritually), Peoples became the new lead singer. McNeir was his replacement.
VANESSA WILLIAMS, singer-actress-dancer, never imagined that in 1983 she would make history as the first African-American Miss America. She went to the national pageant after being crowned Miss New York.
Of course, it all came crashing down the following year when a lowlife photographer sold salacious pictures taken when Williams was a teenager to an equally lowlife magazine publisher.
Williams stepped down, but was determined to rebound. However, she needed a break, someone with courage who would be undeterred by the “scandal.”
Motown hired Williams in 1985 to portray Josephine Baker in the TV special “Motown Returns to the Apollo.” The public was fascinated, and Williams’ fans cheered her on, whether in that audience or watching at home.
Then Ed Eckstine, an executive at Mercury Records, stepped in. Eckstine, son of legendary crooner Billy Eckstine, began recording Williams and the result was hits (1988-1992) such as “The Right Stuff,” “Dreamin’” and “Save the Best For Last.”
Vanessa Williams, now a well-established superstar, made history, suffered a huge setback, but today is the most famous and successful former Miss America of all time.
Events can indeed alter careers.