May 31, 2007
Patti Austin Not Chasing the Mainstream
“The stars aligned with that project, because we weren't anticipating any kind of major sales from it. It's very specific, it's for a very specific audience ... We knew it was not going to be like, 'Thriller,'”
If anyone deserves to be a salty about a lack of career recognition, it's Patti Austin.
The 56-year-old singer, who grew up in the business and had Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington as godparents, is renowned for her voice _ elegant and sumptuous, refined yet soulful. She has charmed millions through pop hits (the classic 'Baby Come To Me' with James Ingram is arguably her biggest hit), commercial jingles, R&B albums and jazz discs.
But unlike, say, Diana Krall, Austin doesn't have a Grammy or a platinum album. And unlike Madeleine Peyroux, she isn't a top-seller among the Starbucks set. She's far from a household name, even though it seems that she should be _ a rare mainstream profile by '60 Minutes II' a couple of years back lamented that Austin was one of music's underappreciated treasures. Read more
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| Topic | Updated | Last By | Comments |
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| Trying to get CD with "Any Other Fool" on it (from Jul '06) | Jun '07 | nissi | 5 |
| A new Patti Austin takes on Gershwin (from May '07) | May '07 | Denisa | 1 |

