At the time of their release "Chanson" in 1978 many believed that Chanson was just another studio group manufactured to produce a disco album. In fact Chanson was a viable group, actually a duo, consisting of vocalists and guitarists David Williams and James Jamerson Jr. and fleshed out with studio friends and musicians.
Williams cut his musical teeth touring with the Dells in the late 1960's and later Tyrone Davis and the Temptations in the early 1970's. Jamerson was born into the industry with his father being one of the pillars of the Motown sound and a legendary A-list studio musician. The two met on a Temptations tour and hit it off both personally and musically. Both had extensive credits in the studio and given the musical climate it seemed a natural thing for the two to record together.
Using David Paich and Jeff and Steve Porcaro, (who would later that year form Toto), to round out the main musicians and the horn section from Earth, Wind and Fire the foundation was set. Legendary vocalists Julia Tillman, Lorna Willard and Marti McCall were brought in for the backgrounds and labelmate Linda Evans was given a solo spot on "I Can Tell." The duo returned the favor by playing on and producing Evans solo effort.
The first 12" single released from the album was a Jim Burgess remix of "Don't Hold Back." The song quickly shot up the charts landing at #-11 in the clubs, #- 8 on the black charts and even #-21 on the pop list. They followed that with the 12" of "I Can Tell" which boasted a John Luongo remix, it had a respectable showing of #-21 on the club charts but only hit #-72 on the black charts and missed the pop charts altogether. The strength of the two singles pushed the sales of their album giving it a peak charting of #-23 on the black charts and #-41 on the pop charts.
By 1979 the music industry was flooded with disco-wannabes and Ariola was feeling the crunch of the major labels. Despite the success of Williams and Jamerson's debut a second album was not released. There was enough tracks recorded for a proposed release but after the release of two 12" singles (that tested the waters) it was decided to abandon the project. The first non-album 12" single was "Jack Be Nimble" and the second and last was "Rock Don't Stop." Both were decent enough and in hindsight better than I remember them but with the fickle disco crowds and the plethora of tracks available they barely received notice.
By 1980 the duo was labeless and forced to return to studio session work. Not that it's a bad thing, in fact their real success is behind the scenes. Together and seperately they can be heard on countless pop, rock, R&B and disco tracks. Recently they have appeared on "Spirit Rising Vol.-1 Praise & Worship" (a gospel collection) and "The Road To El-Dorado" (soundtrack.) |
