There was a time in the early 1980s when it appeared that singer Stevie Woods was going to be the next big thing. Model handsome, a solid musician and an ultra smooth vocalist, he was signed by Cotillion Records and teamed with international producer Jack White (Laura Branigan).
Woods took aim at the emerging urban adult contemporary audience for his 1981 debut album, Take Me To Your Heaven, and White put together an A-Team of backing musicians, including Ray Parker, Toto's Steve Lukather and Chicago's Bill Champlin. He also pulled a cornucopia of solid songs, many of which were lesser known album cuts for other artists.
There was a time in the early 1980s when it appeared that singer Stevie Woods was going to be the next big thing. Model handsome, a solid musician and an ultra smooth vocalist, he was signed by Cotillion Records and teamed with international producer Jack White (Laura Branigan).
Woods took aim at the emerging urban adult contemporary audience for his 1981 debut album, Take Me To Your Heaven, and White put together an A-Team of backing musicians, including Ray Parker, Toto's Steve Lukather and Chicago's Bill Champlin. He also pulled a cornucopia of solid songs, many of which were lesser known album cuts for other artists.
Sounding like a young, hip Johnny Mathis, Woods immediately hit the charts with the earworm single, “Steal The Night,” but the album stalled a bit after that, as White’s production leaned a bit too hard into safe AC sounds, with little to offer urban radio.
While never being released as a single, one song from the album that connected with audiences of multiple genres was the luscious, jazzy ballad, “Fly Away,” written by legendary songwriters Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster and Peter Allen (and previously recorded by Allen). On it, White’s restrained production allowed audiences to bask in Woods’ warm vocals, delivering a level of cool that made the cut an immediate career highlight for the singer.
Woods would go on to record two more lower charting Cotillion albums before moving to Europe, where he had more success both recording and in musical theater. Sadly, Woods died in 2014, but his music lives on in our latest SoulTracks Lost Gem, the fantastic “Fly Away.” Check it out below.
By Chris Rizik