Saturday, March 13, 2010

Weekend: The best of the Midnight Special , Aretha - "Something He Can Feel "

One of my favorites by the Queen.

Did you know?

"Something He Can Feel" is a song composed by Curtis Mayfield for the soundtrack to the 1976 motion picture Sparkle. The song, a love ballad in a Supremes/Motown-esque style, became a number-one hit on the Billboard's R&B singles chart in the United States twice with two separate recordings: a 1976 version by Aretha Franklin from the film's soundtrack (see 1976 in music), and a 1991 cover by girl group En Vogue (see 1992 in music).
In the Sparkle film, the song is performed by "Sister & the Sisters", with Lonette McKee on lead vocal, and Irene Cara and Dawn Smith on backing vocals. The version of "Something He Can Feel" present on the film's soundtrack album replaces the vocal tracks with those of Aretha Franklin and the Kitty Haywood Singers, with the instrumental tracks remaining the same.
Sparkle revolves around the lives of the members of Sister &  the Sisters, a 1960s Motown-esque girl group, and "Something He Can Feel" is present in the film as part of their repertoire. Franklin's recording of the song was issued as a single, and became a number-one hit on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart, peaking at number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100. [1].
Fifteen years after Sparkle was released, R&B group En Vogue recorded a cover version of "Something He Can Feel" (issued as "Giving Him Something He Can Feel"), produced by Thomas McElroy & Denzil Foster. The En Vogue cover, released as the second single from the group's second album, Funky Divas, was also a successful hit - led entirely by, Dawn Robinson."