CoronaVinyl Day 413 (R): Straight From the Heart by Patrice Rushen

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "R," and I went with the seventh studio album from Patrice Rushen, 1982's Straight From the Heart.

Rushen is a multi-talented singer, pianist, composer, songwriter, producer, and musical director.  She signed her first record deal as a teenager, and her early recordings were generally more jazz, before she signed with Elektra when she was 23 and began to move to more mainstream R&B music.

Straight From the Heart is a combination of R&B, post-disco, and jazz-pop.  It was her highest-charting album on the Billboard album chart (#14) and the Billboard R&B albums chart (#4).  The album features her most well-known song, which was also her highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, "Forget Me Nots," which went to #23.  It also reached the Top 10 on the pop charts in the UK and New Zealand.  Of course, for those of us of a certain age, we know if best as the song that was prominently sampled in Will Smith's "Men In Black."  "Forget Me Nots" earned Rushen a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, and the instrumental "Number One" received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Instrumental Performance.

Rushen continued to put out albums into the late '90s.  She was also the first woman to be the music director for the Grammys (which she directed three times), as well as the musical director for Janet Jackson's tour supporting her 1993 album Janet.  In addition, she is the Chair of Popular Music and a professor at USC's Thornton School of Music.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "I Was Tired of Being Alone"
This is an uptempo post-disco song, which means it borders on funk.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Breakout!"
The second side is definitely the slower side, with more soul and R&B ballads.  "Breakout!" is the only exception, as it's peppier than the rest of the side.