dmvden
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by dmvden on Mar 28, 2014 10:40:49 GMT -5
I also thought Jackie Blue was sung by a woman till just now! Also, I distinctly remember when I went into a record store in early 1984 and looked at a Madonna album for the first time. I said out loud "Madonna's white!!!!"... not one for subtlety.
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Post by blackbowl68 on Mar 28, 2014 11:33:41 GMT -5
I specifically thought "Jackie Blue" was sung by Carly Simon til 1983. As far as Madonna goes, I originally thought "Holiday" was sung by a female trio!
Regarding the act that started this thread, I wasn't totally surprised because so many people had said they were white before I ever saw a picture of them.
The one that DID surprise me was Bobbie Gentry. My father has the "Ode to Billie Joe" single & I always heard it as a sad southern blues song. So I thought the singer was a tough black woman resembling Gladys Knight.
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Post by davewollenberg on Mar 28, 2014 19:30:55 GMT -5
When I heard Bobby Caldwell's, 'What you won't do for love', I thought he was black, too.
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Mar 29, 2014 4:20:33 GMT -5
Can't believe Vehicle by The Ides Of March hasn't been mentioned yet.
As for womanly men, how about:
Laughter In The Rain, which sounds like a lesbian love affair, and I Saw The Light.
When I was younger, I thought both were by Anne Murray.
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Post by bigal on Mar 29, 2014 4:59:02 GMT -5
I first thought
Larry Santos WE CANT HIDE IT ANYMORE
John Valenti ANYTHING YOU WANT
Polly Brown UP IN A PUFF OF SMOKE
and the "co" in Shirley & Co for SHAME SHAME SHAME
were African Americans
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Post by Hervard on Mar 29, 2014 10:30:20 GMT -5
I thought Jackie Blue was sung by a woman when I was a kid. Sorry, Larry Lee. Same here. Also, before I knew the name of the singer, "Hot Child In The City" (which made the lyrics that much racier). I had the same thought with a different Nick Gilder song, his mid-charter "You Really Rock Me". The jukebox at the Stone Lake Beach house where I used to go a lot back in the summer of 1979 had that song on it and it was played quite frequently, and I was always wondering who that lady singing that was - after the fact, that is (since I could have easily used the "now playing" feature on the jukebox to find out). Not sure when I found out who it was, though - sometime in the past 20 or so years, I think). And yes, I thought "Jackie Blue" was a lady singing as well. About ten years after the song's chart run was when I was looking through the 45s at the local record store and I happened upon that one.
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Post by erik on Mar 29, 2014 11:40:07 GMT -5
One of my favorites from 1978, "Get Off" by Foxy, I always thought were a black funk group.
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Post by caseyalways7 on Mar 29, 2014 13:30:23 GMT -5
Ummmm How has NO ONE said Rick Astley YET???
One of the biggest shockers I saw at the age of 7 WOW
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Post by artsmusic on Mar 29, 2014 17:11:06 GMT -5
My r&b station took a lot of cr*p for playing Rick Astley but he was more "soulful" than most of the robot-r&b that was popular then like Midnight Star, Klymaxx, et.al.
I don't feel so bad about Larry Lee anymore !!
Let's not forget Grayson Hugh in this conversation.
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Post by keithr63 on Mar 29, 2014 20:21:33 GMT -5
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Post by tarobe on Mar 29, 2014 23:07:22 GMT -5
The Flaming Ember, who sang "Westbound #9" on the very first AT40 show.
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Post by erik on Mar 30, 2014 0:04:56 GMT -5
The first time I heard Michael Jackson's "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was probably when it debuted on AT40. OK, so it's supposed to be a duet between Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett. I kept asking myself 'Where's Siedah Garrett? I only hear Michael singing.'
This question was not answered for me until I bought the CD. The liner notes included song lyrics which clarified who sang what part.
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Post by pgfromwp on Mar 30, 2014 6:41:33 GMT -5
Agree with Polly Brown, Bobby Caldwell and Flaming Ember, when I first heard their songs on AT40 (and elsewhere) back in the day.
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Mar 30, 2014 17:46:00 GMT -5
When I first heard Dino on AT40 with "I Like It" back in the summer of 1989, I thought he was just another one of those black hip-hop singers. When I saw a video for that song, I was proven wrong! I am, however, surprised to learn that Dino is now in his 50s.
I also thought that Rare Earth ("I Just Want to Celebrate") were a black group, but after just checking for a photo of its members via Google, and despite being involved with one of Motown's labels (the one that the group was named after), I was proven wrong!
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Post by chrislc on Mar 30, 2014 19:04:34 GMT -5
The first time I heard Michael Jackson's "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was probably when it debuted on AT40. OK, so it's supposed to be a duet between Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett. I kept asking myself 'Where's Siedah Garrett? I only hear Michael singing.' This question was not answered for me until I bought the CD. The liner notes included song lyrics which clarified who sang what part. I thought it was Barbra Streisand. I figured he was doing a superstar duet as the LP's first single as he had done with Thriller. I have learned a couple of things in this thread. I never knew that Polly Brown was white.
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