Rediscovering Marcella.

For years, I had a song in my head that I could visualize, hear the chorus of and kind of hum the tune to, but I could not for the life of me work out who it was who sang it.

Do you ever have that happen? It totally sticks in your brain doesn't it, like a needle that irritates you, driving you nuts. 

Well, I achieved something of a major break through earlier today when I woke up from a dream in which I was hearing that very song in my head. I wasn't gonna let this one go.

I had little to go on, other than a hunch that whoever sang this particular song was a part of the early 90's duo Shakespear's Sister, who were notable for their No. 1 hit "Stay".

This is "Stay" by the way...

Very much the 90's song for sure but there is definitely something about this lead vocalist's voice that has enchanted me for years. During my senior year in high school, I was a little obsessed with this duo but could never admit to it among my group of friends, most of whom were embedded in the post hair metal grunge scene - as I was to be clear - where Pearl Jam, Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins ruled our Walkmans.

Anyhoo...I've worked out that the one half of Shakespear's Sister is the very talented and very beautiful Marcella Detroit who has been around the music scene since the early 70's and has worked with everyone from the likes of Bob Seger, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin through to Elton John. Her voice definitely had an uniqueness to it that transcended the usual crop of cookie cutter divas from that era. 

It is to her that I can safely attribute the vocals I have been hearing in this mystery song for the past decade and a half. But as to the title, that was a little bit more of a challenge. All I could remember of it was the chorus lyrics which went something along the lines of "With a little bit of love we can get it back" and so, I erroneously figured that "With A Little Bit Of Love" was the actual title of the song.

Not so...

"I Believe" was the second single off Detroit's 1994 solo album, titled "Jewel", released in March 1994. "I Believe" reached #11 in the UK and the album itself reached #15 and was certified silver by the BPI. It is quite a breezy ballad that doesn't quite reach the level of power ballad, but at the time of it's release in the mid 90's, the power ballad was perhaps a less popular phenomenon than a more organic, emotional ballad of which "I Believe" can be classified as. It's a beautiful song that has a timeless quality to it I really like. 

So, in the space of an afternoon, I've reconnected with the beautiful Marcella Detroit and am now going to immerse myself into her back catalog to see what other gems reside there.

Check out Marcella Detroit here.

Facebook Marcella Detroit here. 

Check out Marcella Detroit's YouTube Channel here.

DFA.