Was sent this video from R.E.D. Soul Film over the weekend and I wanted to share it because it literally gave me goose bumps. My insider information tells me that R&B singer RELL, first and former male R&B solo artist signed to Roc-a-Fella Records is on the comeback trail. At the moment it's a very low-key, grass-roots climb but things are bubbling and we may soon see some new available material from an artist who never really got his solo time to shine. Most may remember RELL for a banger called Love For Free featuring Jay-Z and featured in Jay-Z's rap film Streets Is Watching.
Some may already know that most recently RELL has been a writer and singer with the indie blues and soul collective Tre' Williams and the Revelations. But what most don't know is that RELL wrote the Grammy-nominated title song for Usher's 2008 Here I Stand album. Which coincidentally Here I Stand is the only Usher song that I can honestly call a favorite. Now I know why.
So I was sent this video and it's RELL doing his rendition of Donny Hathaway's very poignant and hauntingly beautiful song Giving Up from Donny's 1971 self-titled album. Listening and watching this video took me back to when I would sit in the movie theater for hours watching and re-watching Sparkle (1976) and being moved by the character Sister as she had been through her share of life (drugs and bad men). She sang this song with every bit of breath she had left, hair matted and barely able to sit upright on a stool. She was broken and the song made it even more clear. Then the scene fades to her funeral. That scene always made me cry and has stayed with me for life. Not in a bad way but it was just one of those scenes where you could feel the pain jump off the screen and your heart really went out to the character.
Check out RELL below as he pays tribute to one of the most influential singers of all time Mr. Donny Hathaway. This video was recorded during a recent impromptu jam session with R.E.D. Soul Film in one take. Check it out and you'll understand how RELL was able to take me back to sitting in a movie theater in 1976 watching Sparkle.
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