Calm yourself. Fantasia is good but you have gone overboard here.

Latoya London in my opinion is better in every department than all three gals left..she's not there. C'est la vie. I don't care anymore. All 4 will get some kind of contract.

If you like Fantasia so much, come to mass with me on Sunday. There is a girl in the Choir who sings just like her and I am sure she can dance if you ask her to. I guess she too is just a record contract away from being a legend like Ella Fitzgerald..LOL.

All things in moderation..I advice.

i've gotta side with howard on this one.

latoya has a great singing voice and range. while she's probably more technically correct, she just doesn't have all that much of a vocal personality.

fatasia has a lot of cool elements in that voice. part billie holiday cosyness, part aretha, part macy gray.

i'm looking forward to hearing her first cd.

let's just hope they don't overproduce the bajeebers out of it.

Howard, have you heard Joss Stone, yet? I think you would like her. I wrote about her in a series we had going on art and cultural appropriation. You can read it here. I am not saying Stone is perfect. My blog friend composer Richard Einhorn thinks that CD is overproduced and the reverb is lacking. But, she has a great voice. And, she was discovered on a talent show.

I will wait for Joss Stone's next CD. Her current CD is an Album of Covers. Now, what is the noise about? So, can we pick any girl from a talent show with a good voice and get the rights to some old classics make her sing it and call her the next Etta James? I can not understand what the big deal about Joss Stone is.

People go on about originality. Joss stone is a clear case where there is no originality in any department. Even if she can't write songs, get a stable of song writers and let her perform them and come into her own. I have no problem with covers but when your debeau Album is filled with covers then I can not see what everyone is raving about. She can sing but so can I. A month off the ciggis, give me a professional make up Artist..get me some old tunes, put me infront of a camera and I too can be the next Ella Fitzgerald.

The intention was for Stone's first album to be originals. Some of the tracks had been done. But, when the Roots and Betty Wright heard her the decision was made to have her cover those rhythm and blues classics. She has the voice. Only time will tell if she can apply it to original material as well as covers. Stone does make most of the songs she sings on the album hers, including "Fell in Love With a Boy."

I think she has turned 17 now. But, I don't know that having a teenager pen songs is all that great an idea. When I listen to early Mariah Carey, I think it isn't.

Elton John has taken up Stone as a protege, adding to her momentum.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear much of "The Choking Kind" as background to a bar scene on The Practice week before last. She's spreading.

"Fell in love with a boy" is not an original Stone track Macdiva. Atleast, I don't think it is. I think it is a "White Stripes" song. Rock version. I'm not even sure if it's theirs originally. I will check that but I certainly heard it from the White Stripes before I heard Joss Stone.


Early Mariah Carey? Mariah never penned any of her early songs..what did u not like? Vision of Love? I thought that was very good. I can't stand Mariah but I liked her early stuff...Hero, Always be my baby...Diane warren has written some good tracks for Mariah.

Elton John..another person I can't stand:) Love lots of his songs though. "Rocket Man" is in my top 50 all time tracks.

I heard a Joss Stone song once and wasn't left with any kind of impression. Might be worth revisiting, though.

I long ago gave up the idea that there is anything special about writing your own songs. Sure, it's a great talent and I love singer/songwriter types, etc. But some of the greatest musical artists in 20th Century music didn't write their own music. Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley ... just about anybody you care to name with Motown or Stax ... it is a rare and great talent to be a consumate interpreter of other people's songs.

Howard: .......it is a rare and great talent to be a consumate interpreter of other people's songs.

Sandra:..:) I've never heard it put better and I agree to a certain extent. In fact, you are preaching to the converted:) I mention it with Joss because she is being raved about as a "rare talent"..I can not understand what in good heavens name they mean by that when it comes to Miss Stone. Not that there's anything bad about the gal.

As for Mariah, much as she irritates me, she's given some Diane Warren songs the justice they deserve.