Throwback Thursday: Shola Ama – “You Might Need Somebody”
Considering how often British acts take over the American charts, it’d be easy to assume we get to hear all of the UK’s best. However, there are many amazing Brits that never ventured stateside.
A fine example of such Brits is Shola Ama, an R&B singer who had a brief but successful run in the late ’90s. Though she was a teenager at the time — born in the same year as Aaliyah and Brandy — she sung like she had been on earth much longer. She scored four top 20 hits in the UK, including two that peaked in the top five.
One of her top five hits was a cover “You Might Need Somebody,” a song originally recorded in 1980 by Turley Richards and made famous by Randy Crawford’s 1981 cover. Quite simply, Shola Ama’s version towers over the others.
We’ll never know for sure how she would’ve fared in the American music market, but one thing’s for sure: Shola Ama is an amazing vocalist who every true R&B fan should know.
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