[ SWEET SOUNDS ]
Get down with The Stylistics and...
Soul’s second serving
'I always get invitations to go to awards shows, but I don't go ever since there's been rap in it," reveals Wanda Hutchinson, of indelible soul songbirds the Emotions, who have enjoyed something of a re-emergence in recent years, thanks to resourceful record producers who have delved into the group's old catalog for inspiration.
While Hutchinson and her sisters-in-song Sheila and Pamela may have a distaste for rap, ironically, scores of R&B and hip-hop artists have kept their songs -- or at least snippets of their songs -- on the charts. Performers like Mariah Carey and Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan have retooled choice bits of past Emotions compositions into tunes for an entirely new generation.
'70s Soul Jam
Featuring The Stylistics, The Chi-Lites, The Emotions, Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, Carl Carlton, Eddie Holman and Yvonne EllimanWhere: Blaisdell Arena
When: 7 p.m. today
Tickets: $45 arena level (with two dance floors) and loge, $35 upper level
Call: 591-2211
"I think part of what brought us back was all those rap groups using our songs and beats and stuff," ventures Hutchinson. "They would always call us but we wouldn't come sing with them. We wouldn't sing with Snoop (Dogg), we wouldn't sing with Dr. Dre or none of those rap groups because we didn't like their image."
It should come as no surprise to racy, keepin'-it-real hip-hop acts that a group like the Emotions, who were raised in a God-fearing household in the gospel tradition, should be less than enthusiastic about lending their talents to groups who don't share their values. Mentored by their father Joe Hutchinson, Sheila, Wanda and original member Jeanette garnered success in their Chicago hometown first as a gospel trio, then as a pop group, before signing with revered label Stax, where they collaborated with music legend Isaac Hayes.
...The Emotions tonight at the Blaisdell Arena.
The eventual switch to secular music didn't go over well with some members of the family, Hutchinson recalls. "I remember that so plain," she chuckles. "My grandma thumped my father on the forehead and said, 'Why you got those girls singing devil music?' And he said 'They're just love songs!' My mom, though, was just so thrilled for us. She had been hearing us make all that racket in the basement and it was finally going to pay off, it seemed like."
It was Don Cornelius of "Soul Train" fame, who worked with their father at a Chicago insurance company before his big break in show biz, who introduced the Hutchinsons to Ron Ellison of Warner Bros. Records. In turn, Ellison led the group into a fruitful partnership with Maurice White of Earth Wind and Fire.
Though the Emotions were already a commodity by that time, chartbusters like "Best of My Love" and "Boogie Wonderland," which were later produced under White's guidance, made them bona fide stars of the disco age. "Those were the days when music was music," says Hutchinson, on the group's wild and free heyday. "It was our busiest time. Those were the best years for touring, the best years for music. I loved that era."
Strangely enough, however, the group was never completely won over by the genre that gave rise to their biggest hits. "We didn't like the whole disco era at all because we thought it was too electronic, like everything was the same 58 bars. I think 'Boogie Wonderland' was the last thing we did in that era."
While the Emotions have never been able to recapture the success enjoyed during the disco boom, the group has kept busy throughout the years with various musical projects and has recently been granted new life from an audience eager to return to a simpler time. "I'm gonna tell you, since 9/11, we've been working more," Hutchinson declares. "We've had so many offers, we couldn't even accept them all. I think it's because of all that's been going on in the world that people want to go back to a time that was carefree, no war, when everybody just wanted to dance to good music. All people really want is to have a good time."
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