While working one night at Gamble & Huff 's famed Philadelphia International Records' offices, a producer overheard some tantalizing vocals. There he discovered a 16-year-old Evelyn King singing while cleaning the offi... more »ces. Signing the singer to a production deal soon resulted in Evelyn 'Champagne' King's first single 'Dancin', Dancin', Dancin',' from her 1977 debut LP Smooth Talk. But it was a song written by John Fitch and Reuben Cross called 'Shame,' that made her career launch a success. King would go on to notch 24 Billboardr chart singles, including hits such as 'I'm In Love' and 'Love Come Down.' Open Book is her first project in over 15 years, one that she describes as being 'for my fans.' The album features a new dance single, 'The Dance' (remixed by the UK's Soul Seekerz).« less
While working one night at Gamble & Huff 's famed Philadelphia International Records' offices, a producer overheard some tantalizing vocals. There he discovered a 16-year-old Evelyn King singing while cleaning the offices. Signing the singer to a production deal soon resulted in Evelyn 'Champagne' King's first single 'Dancin', Dancin', Dancin',' from her 1977 debut LP Smooth Talk. But it was a song written by John Fitch and Reuben Cross called 'Shame,' that made her career launch a success. King would go on to notch 24 Billboardr chart singles, including hits such as 'I'm In Love' and 'Love Come Down.' Open Book is her first project in over 15 years, one that she describes as being 'for my fans.' The album features a new dance single, 'The Dance' (remixed by the UK's Soul Seekerz).
CD Reviews
A low down dirty shame........
R. M. Desjardins | Vancouver, B.C. Canada | 09/17/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Its a low down dirty shame that Evelyn "Champagne" King's new recording, Open Book hasn't garnered more attention.... yet. Steering clear of delving into retro material to stage a comeback, King bravely offers up new material which is surprisingly good, without blatantly catering to current trends. Her original hits were strikingly original and she has maintained her artistic integrity. Her deliciously smokey voice hasn't diminished from her heyday as the premier dance floor diva some 31 years ago. If anything, her voice has improved and deepened with maturity. Whole Lotta Yum Yum delivers it's implied promise. Open Book, and Paradise prove that Evelyn still has that "magic touch" with ballads. The Soul Seekerz remix of The Dance is proof positive that Evelyn Champagne King's brand of excitement can still drive club goers to frothy exhilaration on the dance floor. With its sly lyrical reference to the people who have kept her career down in the past, and clever weaving of some of her most memorable song hit titles of the past, Evelyn slams it to her past ghosts and serves up notice she won't be held back this time around.
It seems like a lifetime ago that Shame blew our minds, and it is totally conceivable that treating her natural wonder of a vocal instrument with care, Evelyn "Champagne" King will be thrilling fans with her particular brand of excitement for decades to come. Welcome back!"
This is a very good album
fivestarfrankie | chippenham, wiltshire United Kingdom | 09/12/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"All the cuts I've heard are good, some even up towards the standard of her 70s/80s classics. It's a 4 star album but I gave it 5 to compensate for the other review which sounded 5 star but only gave 3."
Cool set
mistermaxxx@yahoo.com | usa | 08/31/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"got to hear the new tracks from the dynamic and so underrated Evelyn "Champagne" King. the tracks sound very modern and they work,but they also sound in her confort zone as a artist. I enjoy the music and the vibe and she sounds real good. the album doesn't sound like she is following any current trends at all. it's cool."
Excellent comeback album, maybe
Walter F. Rice | Sacramento CA USA | 09/14/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This was supposed to be released a year ago, August 2007, but we were never told the real story (inside story) why it took a year to come out? Perhaps the music company believed it would not succeed commercially, no matter how good. The company is obviously small and independent, but the music on this album in my opinion is superb.
The real weakness in this effort, it has been such a long since Evelyn King was a real star. As the Beatles once put it in a song, she was famous 'before your mother was born'. That is true for many of the young people who listen to music the most, who buy the hits and support the singers. She is probably not a legend like the Beatles, or the Supremes, or Michael Jackson or Bob Dylan or Aretha Franklin, and that, plus it's from a small label, may keep this from being any kind of comeback. However, some of us think she was wonderful and she ought to be up there with the greatest. She has has a large collection of 'Best of Albums' by now, meaning there are others who are real fans.
It has been twenty years, a generation since Evelyn King released an Album of new songs (although she released one from England about 16 years ago that was barely heard of here, and for what I know maybe there also). Her new album has one song from that album, 'Not that Kind of Party' written by a man who was instrumental for this one coming about, Preston Glass.
As I said above, Open Book is solid. None of the songs are of a low quality, throw-ins. Several are very playful, and Evelyn has been known to be playful. She was playful on her 1982 Album 'Get Loose', which can be seen in the title song. My two children (I introduced them to Evelyn King) love the song 'Get Loose' and they still keep requesting it.
Songs that impressed me (on Open Book), that by merit (My personal opinion) could be top 40 hits (or top 10) are '(You Deserve)an Academy Award', 'Nobody Knows', and 'True to My Boo'. 'The Dance' already was a little bit of a Dance hit, it topped at 12 for dance singles. Evelyn was a great dance singer, notably for 'Shame' released when she was just 17 years old in 1977, and it was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. She had several great hits in 1977 that on on the album 'Smooth Talk'. Her albums were of new songs (not best of) until 1989, and were on RCA and EMI. Some of have been reissued from foreign Countries in recent years.
I am hoping and praying this against what I see ('Open Book' is currently at 88,000 of Amazon.com music albums) that this album will be successful enough so we can enjoy future albums of new songs by Evelyn King. To me something is very wrong if this album fails."
She still has that wonderful voice!
LP Johnson | Harlem, , NY, USA, World | 10/05/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Wow...all I know is that I have always loved Evelyn Champagne King's voice...this cd simply demonstrates that her voice is still strong, versatile, vibrant, full of that soul that we all can recall from back in the day. I don't care if she's singing names out of the phone book, I will always love that voice!"
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1