In 2004 I made a name for myself as a part-time DJ while serving in the Air Force. My first duty station was in the United Kingdom, which sometimes meant music was slow to arrive for retail purchase. The holiday season was kicking off, and the Crunk sound was everywhere. Hip Hop group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz released their fifth album Crunk Juice. As I often do, I gave the album a listen straight through to find samples and album tracks that I would work into my set in hopes they would catch on by club-goers.
To my surprise, after a Chris Rock skit on the album, Lil Jon gave us a slow jam! The song “Lovers & Friends” featured guest spots from Usher & Ludacris. Pulling out the liner notes, I discovered that Lil Jon had sampled the song from a singer named Michael Sterling, who is this week’s pick for Slow Jam Saturday. I must’ve listened to the song five times in a row and instantly knew three things; the song had hit potential, that I would work it into my next DJ set, and I had heard the song in my previous life travels.
“Lovers and Friends” was the second song on Sterling’s third solo album, 1990’s Trouble. Sterling has a unique falsetto voice, and he opens the song with a spoken word where he expresses repentance for his mistakes in his last relationship as an adolescent. At about the one minute and five-second mark of the song, Sterling smoothly croons:
“Place your trust in me
Darling, you will see the kind of love that makes the world go around
You’re my woman
You’re the one, that wraps your love around me so tight
I can feel it. I can feel it girl, Come on…
Tell me again my baby whoa
We will be so much more, girl
(Tell me again) Tell me again girl, Come on
(That we’ll be lovers and friends)
Lovers and friends, my baby”.
Sterling avoids oversinging the song, and the listener genuinely feels his emotion throughout. The OG version of “Lovers & Friends” became a staple on Slow Jam Mix CDs during the winter and spring months of 2005. I’m sure those who knew me while l lived in Europe heard the song at some point. I even found a way to feature “Lovers & Friends” as my closing song. I knew it was the right choice when my good friend and Miami resident Michael French made his way to the DJ booth. French dapped me up for not only surprising him by knowing the song and showing love to one of his neighborhood heroes. As French would say, “Lovers and Friends” is a quiet storm staple.
Final Grade: A
“Lovers and Friends” from Trouble is available on all streaming platforms.
Songstress Ashanti was experiencing significant success with two platinum albums at the time of the release of her inaugural holiday project, “Ashanti’s Christmas,” on November 18, 2003. Her label head, Irv Gotti, produced most of the album. This project comprises four original songs co-written by Ashanti, in addition to six cover versions of traditional Christmas standards and carols.
Vocal quartet A Few Good Man contributed two songs to the project: a cover of “Silver Bells” and the ballad “Merry Christmas My Dear,” both of which were produced by Daryl Simmons. Demail Burks, David Morris, Aaron Hilliard, and Tony Amey were the members of the group, and after introducing themselves in the festive video for “Silver Bells,” it was only fitting that they delivered a ballad on the album.
R&B legend Luther Vandross had already solidified his place in R&B when he released his first holiday album, “This Is Christmas. Arriving in stores on October 24, 1995, “This Is Christmas” validates Vandross’s ability to sing anything.