January has always seemed to be a good music month for me as my birth month – and it has only been now in this time of being home during the pandemic a lot of things are hitting different. For instance – in my mind ‘Looking For A New Love‘ was a summer single when in fact it was released January 6, 1987. MCA had begun the campaign for my solo debut in the summer and with extensive promotional tours lined up for me. I traveled extensively like a politician shaking hands, spending time with so many people; including lots of Mom and Pop stores (though they no longer really exist there was a time they played a pivotal role for black artists), pressing plants, program directors meet and greets across the states.. the list is vast of all the the work put in before the single was even released. This is the part of the business that isn’t seen of what the business was at that time anyway.

A lot of planning and effort and definitely all the stars of the universe being aligned too! The summer, and fall of the work is probably why I think of summer because that is what the journey is always about — the subsequent success or destination isn’t what you really remember.

Always do the work – focus on the work.

From there this month over the years has also seen benchmarks with my singles “Your Love Keeps Working On Me” peaking at 2 and my makeover dance mixes of “Borderline” reaching the 2 spot on Billboard dance January 13, 2007 respectively. There are probably others but for the purpose of this quick blog – these stand out.

I just wanted to say how grateful I am…also today in Los Angeles mid January – it was 88 gorgeous degrees.

Wattage!