Whoowee, break out the popcorn! That’s all we can say about the upcoming season of “Unsung.”
In a press release from uber publicists Lynn McReynolds and Gilda Squire, TV One is getting the New Year off to a rockin’ start with ten all-new episodes of its NAACP Image Award-winning series of one-hour biographies celebrating the lives and careers of successful artists or groups who, despite great talent, have not received the level of recognition they deserve or whose stories have never been told, beginning Monday, January 2 at 10pm Eastern with the late Vesta Williams.
The release goes on to say that the full picture of black music in America is a rich kaleidoscope of talented artists and so much bigger than acknowledged superstars and household names like Aretha, Whitney, Stevie and Marvin. Many of the greatest have either failed to achieve that same level of superstardom – or have compelling life stories the details of which have largely remained untold. Ten of black music’s most talented artists and groups will be recognized this winter in all-new episodes of “Unsung,” TV One’s top-rated and most highly anticipated series. The episodes will air weekly on Mondays at 10pm, repeating at 1am (all times Eastern) and will chronicle the careers of:
Vesta Williams (January 2) – With one of the biggest, brassiest voices in R&B and contemporary jazz, along with a four-octave range, Vesta Williams charged through the 80s from an A-list backup singer, who recorded with the likes of Gladys Knight, Anita Baker, and Sting, to a hit-making diva. Her 1986 debut album included two top ten singles, “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” and “Don’t Blow a Good Thing,” while her follow-up produced the classic, “Congratulations.” But Vesta’s surging stardom overwhelmed her, and she comforted herself with drugs and food. Her weight ballooned, she was dropped by major labels, and her career seemed over. But Vesta vowed to clean up her act. She quit drugs, lost over 100 pounds, and kept her musical chops limber while working with artists like George Duke, Howard Hewitt and Lee Ritenour. Though she continued to rely sporadically on pain-killers and sleep medication, she was determined to survive. In 2011, as she completed the definitive profile of her life for “Unsung”, Vesta Williams was back in high spirits, optimistic that this filmed portrait would help re-ignite her career. Then on September 22, 2011, she suddenly died in her sleep, at age 53. This is her story.
Bobby Womack (January 9) – He’s been called the Poet, the Preacher, and the last Soul Man. By whatever name, there’s never been anyone quite like Bobby Womack, who has lived an eventful life that mirrors the painful dramas of his classic songs. He grew up as the middle child among the talented Womack brothers, later re-named the Valentinos, where they forged success as a pop group under the tutelage of soul icon Sam Cooke. Bobby became Cooke’s protégé, a guitar-playing and songwriting prodigy who penned his first number one hit, ‘It’s All over Now’, as a teenager. But his budding career took a wild turn when, within months of Cooke’s shocking murder in 1964, the 21-year-old married Sam’s widow, Barbara. He became a pariah among former fans, a target for violence by Cooke’s brothers, and was all but banned from the record industry. But talent persevered, and Womack emerged in the ’70s and ’80s as a singer-songwriter of uncommon range, penning soulful standards, from ‘That’s the Way I feel about Cha’ to ‘Across 100th Street,’ to ‘If You think You’re Lonely Now.’ Then an astonishing string of tragedies, including the death of Bobby’s brother Harry, and the loss of two of his sons, sent his life and career into a tailspin. Now, after five decades of making music, he’s a storied survivor, who tells it all – as only he can – in this riveting episode of ‘Unsung.’
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article courtesy of Eurweb.com
