Suzanne's Soundtrack Sunday

Have you ever heard a song and said to yourself "I didn't know that XYZ made a new album!", only to find that it wasn't XYZ? Did it surprise you when it was XYZ's relative?

That seems to happen a lot in the business of music. Probably one of the more famous examples is the Brothers Gibb. Barry, Robin and Maurice had their careers well established when younger brother Andy came along. They gave him a helping hand, but the gene pool provided Andy with that same falsetto and abilty to harmonize well (thanks to their willingness to back him on that debut album).

There are many other examples, both on the grand scale and small scale. The Jackson family also has an overabundance of talented musicians (and crazies, too, but that's not my subject today!).

Parents and children also seem to have this gift, though success seems to vary greatly. On the country side, you'd be hard pressed to answer whether Hank Williams or Hank Jr (aka Bocephus) had the greater career. John Lennon had two talented sons, but they will never rival their dad's popularity. I think Julian sounds scarily like his dad when performing similar material.

The future will bear out another one. Billy Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, has forgone college in favor of learning the ropes of the music biz by touring small venues. I picked up her EP last year and you can hear a cornucopia of influences, but she definitely is not a cookie cutter of her dad.

Lesser known names that I've enjoyed the work of siblings include Danny White, long time collaborator with Basia and his brother, Peter White. These brothers both play Jazz, but Danny's forte is piano and Peter's is the guitar. I just wish that Danny and Basia put out music more frequently. Such is your lot when you're a fan of two perfectionists.

I leave you with a YouTube for one of the coolest examples I can give of the family affair of music. Two siblings of great musicians of the 60s or 70s. You know of James Taylor and Mama Cass Elliot, right? Who doesn't?

Here's Livingston Taylor, James' younger brother and Leah Kunkel, Cass's younger sister. It's a pretty song-and shows that the music gene runs strong in those families. Enjoy.

Comments

Mike Golch said…
I would have like to listen to the video but it comes up as no longer available.
Suzanne said…
That's weird, Mike. I just opened it again after seeing your comment.
Anonymous said…
Your "Soundtrack Sunday" posts are totally awesome crash course in music for me for obvious reasons and I thank you for that.

Tomorrow I'm going to come back here and read more of those posts.


Janie--KoalaJanie
Bev Okin-Larkin said…
Suzanne - Basia (and Danny, with Peter on probably one or two tracks) is coming out with a NEW album for 2008!!! Check out www.basiaweb.com for all the details. We saw her (and Danny) when they toured as Matt Bianco in 2005 - and we all begged her to record again.... so very very very SOON!!!
Suzanne said…
Mike, did you get it to play?

Janie, that's so cool that you're getting a road map of things to try from these! The Sunday posts are fun.

Beverly, thanks for sharing that info! I am so psyched now! (Cool to find out that Kevin is collaborating on songs, too.

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