Jean and High Energy

**gman** · 03-17-2024, 08:35 PM

Jean's voice was great...on the right material....there was something heavenly about the Frank Wilson material...and the lighter Smokey stuff fit her well too...but I don't think dance music would have fit her style very well cut after cut...RnB and Pop, yes...

I like some of Diana's disco cuts....Lovin' Livin' & Givin'...the ROSS LP version only...and Swept Away are 2 of my top 10 DR solo cuts...the rest of my choices would be ballards [[Come In From The Rain, Sorry Doesn't Always, To Love Again) and RnB [[The Same Love) choices.

Scherrie was perhaps the singer who like DR was most able to handle various styles the best...even her Motorcity material is pretty good, and I like some of the Invictus work too...Mary was a wonderful singer...of course, ballards..and mid tempo stuff like Under Any Moon worked better for her than the loud fast stuff. Her sultry live performances of RED HOT are among my fav. MW concert moments.

**sup_fan** · 03-18-2024, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by gman

Scherrie was perhaps the singer who like DR was most able to handle various styles the best...even her Motorcity material is pretty good, and I like some of the Invictus work too...Mary was a wonderful singer...of course, ballards..and mid tempo stuff like Under Any Moon worked better for her than the loud fast stuff. Her sultry live performances of RED HOT are among my fav. MW concert moments.

i agree - Scherrie was an extremely talented and versatile singer. IMO she also really understood melody and lyric and the importance of conveying that live. like diana. and unlike jean. IMO Jean took each and every live performance as an opportunity to change things up, experiment, stretch her vocals. while that's admirable in terms of hearing what else she was capable of, for a fan sitting in the audience hoping to sing along with Stoned Love and she off riffing and mumbling, it would be disappointing. frankly the live show isn't about jean and her lofty goals as a singer. its about selling the group and their music to the audience and fans so they'll go out and buy things.

scherrie seemed to blend the two well. she definitely took more liberties with her vocals than diana but kept it under control

i do wish that she would have taken on a larger presence while in the group. she seemed too shy and reserved, not engaging too much with the tv hosts or interviews. she wasn't cold or distance. just sweet and shy. as the lead singer i think having her with a more present personality would allow more of the public and audience to get to know her and identify with her.