Blue Note Records
2007
It Can Happen To Anyone
About This Album
Elisabeth Withers may not be a household name yet, but there's a great chance she will be. It Can Happen to Anyone is her Blue Note debut (and reveals just how much the label's focus has shifted away from jazz since the runaway success of Norah Jones). Withers won a Tony Award for her role as Shugg Avery in the Oprah Winfrey Broadway production of the stage adaptation of Alice Walker's classic American novel The Color Purple. Apparently, Bruce Lundvall, the CEO of Blue Note, quite unexpectedly caught her singing act in a nightclub and signed her on the spot. Hopefully, Blue Note will know how to promote an artist as talented as Withers. She's more than a singer; she is also a songwriter, and she either wrote or co-wrote eight of the 11 cuts here. Vocally the only person in her league is Anita Baker. Like Baker, Withers has a big throaty delivery and knows how to walk the knife edge of sweet, bawdy, seductive, and spiritual. The differences between the two are pronounced as well: Withers sings everything from elegant pop-soul to urban to the new uptown pop. There's a double dose near the beginning of the record that offers proof. On "Heartstrings," an urban soul ballad with clever lyrics and beautifully placed strings by producer Toby Gad, the genuine heart and authentic warmth make it soar over the current pap that passes for soul in the marketplace.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,5,6 and 11)

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