The Smooth Operators present Mellow Valentine Moods

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Mayer Hawthorne
The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) pay tribute to the heyday of the 1970s FM radio sound with our series Mellow Moods. Enjoy this new chapter: Mellow Valentine Moods!

Sadly two singers passed away recently: Maurice White, founder of Earth, Wind & Fire and Colin Vearncome aka Black. Maurce White passed away last Thursday, aged 74. He was one of the soul and funk pioneers in the 1970s. He died in L.A. after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was diagnosed in 1992 and his condition deteriorated in recent months. Maurice White started his musical career as a session drummer for legendary Chicago-based labels OKeh Records and Chess Records. He can be heard on records by Etta James, Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart and Ramsey Lewis. With the help of legendary producer Charles Stepney he created EWF and made it one of the supergroups of the 1970s. They combined high-caliber musicianship, a wide-ranging musical genre eclecticism, and multicultural spiritualism that included Biblical references. Best known hits are 'Shining star', 'Fantasy', 'Boogie wonderland', 'After the love has gone' and 'September'. Maurice White also worked with The Emotions and wrote 'Flowers' for them.

Singer Colin Vearncombe died recently as well. He made such beautiful songs in the 1980s and 1990s, like 'Wonderful Life', 'Sweetest Smile', 'Everything’s Coming Up Roses' and 'The Way She Was Before'. No one could sing better about dark and depressing days than the artist formally known as Black. He had been in critical condition in hospital in Ireland for two weeks, following a road traffic accident near Cork Airport.

Tracklist:

Part 1 La Vie En Rose
Brook Benton – My Funny Valentine (1976)
Lani Hall – Magic Garden (1979)
Black – Everything's Coming Up Roses (1987)
The Emotions – Flowers (1976)
Dianne Reeves – Wild Rose (2013)
Mayer Hawthorne – Corsican Rosé (2013)
Steely Dan – Rose Darling (1975)
Duane Eddy – Rose Of The Valley (2011)
Esperanza Spalding – City Of Roses (2012)
Sun Rai – Rose (2013)
Grace Jones – La Vie En Rose [A Tom Moulton Mix] (1977)
Norman Connors (Feat. Michael Henderson & Jean Carn) – Valentine Love (1976)
Maysa Feat. Dwele – Flower Girl (2011)
India.Arie – Flowers (2013)

Part 2 Funky Love
The Valentine Brothers - Taste Of Your Love (2013)
Bugatti & Musker - Mystery Girl (1982)
Toto - Waiting For Your Love (1982)
Brothers Johnson - Free and Single (1976)
Ned Doheny - Funky Love (1979)
Stylistics - Mine All Mine (1981)
Brenda Russell - It’s Something (1983)
Benny Sings - Fake Love (2012)
Woods Empire - Universal Love (1981)
Earth Wind & Fire - Can’t Hide Love (1975)
David Gates - Can I Call You (1979)
Seawind - He Loves You (1976)
Vanilla ft. Michael Franks - Swept Away (2015)
Jett Rebel - Darla My Darling (2014)
Phil Collins - This Must Be Love (1981)




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