Originally Posted by
kenneth
There was a long thread on this discussion topic a while back, in which someone posted a link to an Ebony cover story in which Tammi - quite thin and recovering from one of her recent surgeries - was heartbreaking to see. Based on the timeline which the article supported, in that Tammi was looking forward to recording again sometime in the future, it would have been nearly impossible for her to record the "Easy" album which me memory tells me would have been almost immediately concurrent with the article's being published, or even prior to that. [[I don't remember all the details, obviously.)
Whether or not it is possible that she recorded some of "Easy" and they wove together a "vocal tapestry," as someone writes in the Tammi Terrell box set, my ears told me she sounded strange on that album, with a heavier, more exaggerated vocal style, even when I bought it when I was 12 or so. Of course, I would have never had the idea that it wasn't her, but I did wonder why she sounded so different. Even back then, it was easy to pick out the 1 or 2 tracks where you could tell it was Tammi [[via an original solo recording such as "I Can't Believe You Love Me") where they just added Marvin's voice to make it a duet.
I admire Valerie Simpson for protecting her friend's privacy all these years later, but after Marvin Gaye revealed it was Val on the album, it all made sense to me.
Finding the older thread with the photos would be interesting to those who haven't seen it. I think the analysis in that thread about the timeline especially was exhaustive.
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