News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 88

6 NEWS-PRESS GULF COASTING, FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1991 Coming out for Martha Wash The following are the top record hits and leading popular compact disks as they appear In this week's Issue of Billboard magazine. Copyright 1991, Billboard Publications Inc. Reprinted with permission. SINGLES 1. "Coming Out of the Dark" Gloria Estefan (Epic) 2.

"l've Been Thinking About You" London beat (Radioactive) 3. "You're In Love" Wilson Phillips (SBK) 4. "Hold You Tight" Tara Kemp (Giant) 5. "Sadeness Part 1" Enigma (Charisma) 6. "One More Try" Tlmmy (Quality) 7.

"Baby Baby" Amy Grant (ASM) 8. "Signs" Tesla (Geffen) 9. "Thls House" Trade Spencer (Capitol) 10. "lesha" Another Bad Creation (Motown) ALBUMS 1. "Mariah Carey" Mariah Carey (Columbia) 2.

"Gonna Make You Sweat" Music Factory (Columbia) 3. "Wilson Phillips" Wilson Phillips (SBK) 4. "Shake Your Money Maker" The Black Crowes (Def American) 5. "The Soul Cages" Sting 6. "To the Extreme" Vanilla Ice (SBK) 7.

"Heart Shaped World" Chris Isaak (Reprise) 8. "Into the Light" Gloria Estefan (Epic) 9. "l'm Your Baby Tonight" Whitney Houston (Arista) 10. "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" M.C. Hammer (Capitol) COUNTRY SINGLES 1.

"Two of a Kind, Workln' on a Full House" Garth Brooks (Capitol) 2. "l'd Love You All Over Again" Alan Jackson (Arista) 3. "Heroes and Friends" Randy Travis (Warner Bros.) 4. "Down Home" Alabama (RCA) 5. "Lovlng Blind" Clint Black (RCA) 6.

"True Love" Don Williams (RCA) 7. Got You" Shenandoah (Columbia) That Kind of Girl" Patty Loveless (MCA) 9. "I Couldn't See You Leavin'" Conway Twitty(MCA) 10. "Only Here for a Little While" Billie Dean (Capitol) SINGLES 1. "Do Me Again" Freddie Jackson (Capitol) 2.

"Wrap My Body Tight" Johnny Gill (Motown) 3. "Let's Chill" Guy (Uptown) 4. Like the Way" Hl-Five (Jive) 5. "Stone Cold Gentleman" Ralph Tresvant (MCA) 6. "Hold You Tight" Tara Kemp (Giant) 7.

"Getting Back Into Love" Gerald Alston (Motown) 8. "It's a Shame" Monie Love (Warner Bros.) 9. "Another Like My Lover" Jasmine Guy (Warner) 10. "Whatever You Want" Tonyl Tonll Tone! (Wing) Associated Press 'Vagabond Heart' Rod Stewart Strictly speaking, a pop singer can't make a comeback record without first going away. Yet somehow, Rod Stewart, who hasn't taken a break from singingsince before his latest wife was born, has managed to make a comeback album, anyway.

"Vagabond Heart" (Warner Bros. 26300) is more than a return to form for the aging rocker it's almost like a trip back in time. "Rhythm of My Heart," for instance, is assoul-baringly sentimental as any ballad from "Every Picture Tells a Story," while "Moment of Glory" rocks like a forgotten Faces single. "It Takes Two" finds his voice in such fine fettle that he almost overpowers his duet partner, Tina Turner. And it has been decades since Stewart evoked Sam Cooke as clearly as he does in "Go Out Dancing." 'Sex Cymbal' Sheila Contrary to popular belief, Sheila is not simply a creation of Prince's fantasy factory.

Not only did she have a recording career before making the Paisley connection, she also had her own sound. And it's that sound sassy, soulful and percussive that powers the songs on "Sex Cymbal" (Warner Although the title tune makes it plain that she knows her way around a dance beat, Sheila refuses to limit her music to such a narrowly commercial sound. Instead, she shows of her "Funky Attitude," uncorks a nasty latin-funk groove for "Droppin' Like Flies," then one-ups Gloria Estefan's Miamisound on "Private Party." And, as "808 Kate" proves, this is one diva who will never need a drum machine. 'New Friends' Fred Wesley Maceo Parker isn't the only one in James Brown's horn section with an interest in jazz. Fred Wesley, it seems, is a closet be-bopper, and as he demonstrates on "New Friends" (Antilles 422-848-280) a fine one at that.

Wesley has no trouble holding his own against jazz luminaries like trumpeter Stanton Davisand pianist Gerri Allen, and even manages to show fellow trombonists Steve Turre and Robin Eubanks a few tricks. Best of all, he has a solid sense of tradition, as evinced by "Rockin in Rhythm," a surefooted "Birks Works" and "For the Elders," Wesley's heartfelt tribute to Slide Hampton and J.J. Johnson. J.D.Considine L.A. Times-Washington Post Singer finally gets credit for backup work By KEVIN C.JOHNSON Gannett News Service 1-1 USTICE FINALLY I I found its way to singer I I Martha Wash.

I The full-voiced and full-bodied singer, known to most as one-half of the defunct group the Weather Girls (and prior to that, one ton of late disco singer Sylvester's backup group Two Tons of Fun), sang uncredited on several recent hits including "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" and "Everybody, Everybody." But until she and her lawyer raised a little hell, few knew it was hersingingon those records; particularly after more visually-appealing vamps lip-synched her vocals in videos. She's been heard but not seen because of a music industry that she said values looks over quality, technology over talent, and discriminates against women like herself; self-described "large" women who don't look and dance like her slimmer counterparts frequently seen in videos. "If you notice videos nowadays, you haven't seen very many large women. If you don't seem to be of one particular size or form or you don't look like you fit in to what the normal should be then you can get pushed aside," says Wash, who does not reveal her age or weight. We ha ve a tendency to expect everything to be the same, for everybody to look the same.

It seems like it's more visual than ever and that talent is at the bottom of the list in terms of what you have to have." Speaking out for herself and others who've faced discrimination, she's sued Columbia's Music Factory and Seduction on charges ranging from fraud to deceptive packaging. She's in litigation with -both and can't comment much on the cases. But what's known is this: longtime friend and producer David Cole and his partner Robert Clivilles (the of the Music Factory) hired Wash to sing background on "Gonna Make You Sweat." They paid her a background singer's fee (reportedly less than 1 ,000) and credited her as a backup vocalist, though her vocals were bumped up to the lead role. Wash does not appear in the video though Zelma Davis does, lip-synching Wash's vocals. She also sang on what she thought was a demo for the Coles and Clivilles production "You're My One and Only True Love," only to see it released and credited to girl group Seduction.

Gannett News Service Singer Martha Wash, known to most as one half of the defunct group the Weather Girls, sang on several of today's hits, Including the No. 1 record "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" and "Everybody Everybody." Her troubles started two years ago when she was hired as a session singer for a European production outfit called Black Box, on the English label Deconstruction. Shesangonsixof the album's nine cuts (two cuts were instrumental, one sampled vocals from Loleeta Holloway's "Love with the paid understanding that she receive no vocal credits. She expected the Italian producers to shop the songs around as demos and that would be the end of it. But then lead single "Everybody, Everybody" exploded and so did Wash when she glimpsed the video starring a tall, lanky Italian model named Katrin Quinol lip-synching her vocals.

"I was shocked. I had no idea that was going to be happening. The video came out and there was this woman They were using my voice but not all of me. My voice is mine and it belongs to no one else. So I decided to tell my lawyers about it." Adding insult to injury, Quinol stated in interviews that she, not Wash, sang on Black Box's "Dreamland" album.

This despite the fact that Quinol speaks no English. At the time, RCA Records, who handled the domestic release of "Dreamland," backed its artist, contending that Quinol was unquestionably singing with other female voices sampled into the tracks. Wash sued Black Box for false advertising. They settled out of court in a deal that included an eight-record RCA recording contract for Wash, whose career died after the novelty of the Weather Girls wore thin. RCA now acknowledges Wash as a "principal voice" on "Dreamland" and says any discrimination she faced came from Black Box's producers, not the record label, who weren't See WASH, page 9.