From Monday 3 February 2025
When She Took Center Stage
Pick a song by a female artist who stepped out of a band and into the spotlight on her own. The song must be from her solo career, showcasing her musical evolution after breaking away from the group.
Sue
Age Of Miracles – Dionne Warwick In Brazil 1993
Paul
Geri Halliwell – It’s Raining Men
Also it’s my turn and my goodness – this musical rabbit-hole thing is so bad LOL. And having unconfirmed ADHD and the Squirrel affect, one never knows what song you will eventually land up playing. Currently the number sits at about 16.
No wait, 19 now. Gosh no, 46! Oh look, cake ……..
Work with me here. Read this like a movie script. Imagine this in your head.
What a day. Squirrels, musical rabbit-holes. Female solo artists who were in Girl bands. Or mixed bands. Ok let’s check which of them split up and has big hits (Arno, I said HITS, not ….. yeah anyway …). I see more squirrels.
There’s a duet by 2 of them – cool! Loved the duet. But … it made me want to hear the original. The original then made me ask questions and led me to Wikipedia ….. Which confirmed the original artist’s name … and which confirmed that she, too, was in a band … and also had a solo career, and I had no clue who she even was! Argh this is too much!
But … I wanted a song from that other band I originally had in mind!!
Ok – Paul, just choose a song now for Pete’s sake!
Ok, Whoosa. Decided? Yes! Good! Now copy the link and …. Oh crap hey, look – a cool golf trick! How did I never know about that? …. Wait … what’s that in the bottom corner there … hmmmm … Hey! That next song on YouTube “suggested” reels is hers? (You’re asking “Hers who???”. “Her” is one of the band members of the original band I was gonna chose, that’s who).
Should I watch the clip? No – it’s getting late, just post your damn song and get it over with, Squirrel-master!
But wait I just HAVE to play the song, the link is RIGHT THERE.
So I do.
And …. OH BOY!!!!
So ……. After all that, I’m just gonna deflect and say – My song is for Arno. It’s by one of the 5 band members of the band I had in mind, but not the one I was going to go with originally (Melanie C). Nor is this the original song of the original 2 band members who did the duet’s cover version, it’s the other one – Geri Halliwell. And hell, does she look well! Uhum …..
Also … It’s raining here (wait – is that why YouTube suggested the song?) I don’t actually care. Here’s the link. Play the song. Dance a little. Enjoy the visuals. We may just get more than 1 word out of Arno. Then again, maybe not.
SQUIRRELING OUT!
Liezel
Dido – Sand In My Shoes
It’s almost hard to forget that Dido (Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong) started her singing career in her brother Rollo’s band, Faithless. Although not a “front-runner” in the band, she provided vocals on their recordings and shows, whilst working as a literary agent and going to law school. Clearly passionate about music, she entered London’s Guildhall School of Music at the tender age of six.
Her debut album, “No Angel”, was released in 1999. But only gained the attention of mainstream audiences after:
1) the TV show Roswell (1999) used her “Here With Me” as its theme and
2) rapper Eminem sampled her “Thank you” into his song “Stan” on “The Marshall Mathers LP”.
This album sold over 21 million copies worldwide and won her several awards, including two Brit Awards; additionally, she won Best British Album and Best British Female as well as the MTV Europe Music Award for Best New Act.
Tonight’s song, wasn’t part of this album, but is one of my favourites of hers
Errol
Alison Krauss – River in the Rain
It was a balmy October evening in 2007 when I first made the acquaintance of Alison Krauss at a Hong Kong street market. I still have that music video, and still love her music.
She is an American bluegrass country singer, fiddler and music producer.
She has won twenty-seven Grammy Awards over the course of her career as a solo artist, as a group with Union Station, as a duet with Robert Plant, and as a record producer. As of 2025, she ranks fifth on the list of all-time winners of the most Grammy Awards.
This song is from the 1985 Broadway musical ‘Big River’, an adaptation of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The poignant “River in the Rain” is about the mysterious pull of the mighty Mississippi. Krauss sings of a “time of trouble… when your muddy bubbles roll across my floor, carrying away the things I treasure.” But rather than merely lamenting the loss, she wonders “why I love you more than I did the day before.”
I guess the same can be said of people that live and love despite difficulties the ‘carry away the things I treasure’.
Enjoy!
Karen
P!NK – Never Gonna Not Dance Again
Posting early because I am attending an online Advanced Breathworks training session and we are on a short break now.
Pink was a member of the R&B groups Basic Instinct at age 14 and Choice at age 16 before pursuing a solo career.
By the time she turned 16 she and her band, Choice, got their first record deal. However, when the group split in 1995, Pink signed a solo deal with LaFace Records. She released her first album, Can’t Take Me Home, five years later and earned critical acclaim.
She has won multiple Grammy Awards, including Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for “Trouble” from her 2003 album Try This.
Richard
Annie Lennox – Little Bird (Live 8 2005)
My dear friend Annie Lennox OBE now lives in Cape Town. Although she has withdrawn from the music world she remains a political activist and philanthropist. She is best remembered for her distinctive voice and provocative stage persona. Annie was originally part of the Eurythmics and went solo in 1992. I could never understand why Annie never responded to my braai invitations and then I discovered she’s a vegetarian.
Deborah
Chaka Khan – I Feel for You
Chaka Khan’s career began in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus.
In 1984 she became the first R&B artist to have a crossover hit featuring a rapper, with her cover of Prince’s “I Feel for You”.
During her solo career Khan has achieved three gold singles, three gold albums, and one platinum album (for “I Feel for You”).
Her career has spanned more than five decades, and she is still performing ????
Enjoy some fabulous 80s hairdos and outfits.
Geraldine
Olivia Dean – Dive (Live on The Graham Norton Show)
After starting out as a singer with British drum and bass outfit Rudimental in 2017, and going solo in 2019, Olivia Dean is starting to come into her own.
09 Mar 2023 — Olivia Dean became a superstar WITHOUT releasing an album. The singer has sold out a European tour and even become a Chanel ambassador.
Within the past 12 months, Dean’s reach has grown substantially. She now has close to two million monthly Spotify listeners, is sitting front row at Paris Fashion Week, performed at the British Fashion Awards last December, has sold out her upcoming European tour and has an album on the way.
Of course my music is for everyone, and I want it to be that way. But I feel very strongly that my music needs to make women feel empowered, that, like my mother did, it needs to make them feel that they can do anything.
Arno
Den ständiga resan
Marie Fredriksson’s most critically acclaimed solo album is “Den ständiga resan” (The Eternal Journey), released in 1992. This album is often described as her darkest and most personal work, reflecting her experiences and emotions during that time. It received significant critical acclaim and remains one of her highest-selling solo albums.
Wilfred
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Murder On The Dancefloor
Before she was making everyone strut their stuff on the dancefloor, Sophie Ellis-Bextor was rocking out in a Britpop band called Theaudience. And while they may not have been topping the charts, Sophie clearly had bigger plans. When the band split in the late ‘90s, she wasted no time reinventing herself—swapping indie angst for disco glamour and launching a solo career that would make her a household name.
Then came Murder on the Dancefloor, a song so irresistibly catchy that it became a global hit, dominated early 2000s club playlists, and—most impressively—recently resurrected itself thanks to a certain wild scene in the film Saltburn. It’s proof that good pop never dies, it just waits for its moment to shine (again).