Fancy Miss Nancy

Oh, sweet Nancy. How I love you...!

Nancy breathes so much life into all of her songs, it's entrancing. She can take an old favorite like "Moon River" and truly make it her own. The three-time Grammy winner got her start filling in as a back-up singer for Irene Reid (who I will post more on later), eventually landing a deal with Capitol Records that has spanned over 40 years.

Mesmerized by her voice, class and, umm, Charm, I borrowed a riff from the aforementioned song upon stumbling on this record years ago, transforming it into "The Last Laugh". Sweet Nancy ranks on my top ten list of favorite artists of all time, along with the Sylvers and Esther Phillips, among others. Here's to the wonderful woman who released this gem in 1963. (download)

Miss Cleo

It's late and I'm horny hungry. Here's the 1978 offering from Clementine Dankworth, better known to the world as the lovely Cleo Laine. I...umm, my friend was quite fond of this record back in 2005 and used a few songs from this album for tracks of his own, with "Mind's Made Up" being the only one to have been released. Get it before it's gone. (download)