Terence Trent D'arby
Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby

Artist, a seemingly simple word, yet with many nuances.

Who is really an artist?

A character who expresses their creativity through various forms.

An artist can be a painter, a sculptor or architect, a singer (yes, even Paolo Meneguzzi is, unfortunately, an artist if we look at the literal meaning of the term...), a dancer, a theater actor, a musician...

An artist is someone who makes an Art their own and molds it.

They are a person who possesses a special talent (not everyone has it, of course...) and externalizes it to the world, which, pleased, applauds, judges, gets excited, and elevates them to the peak, but can also destroy them and throw them to Hell...

Terence Trent d'Arby is what I consider an artist at 360°, endowed with a warm, sensual, scratchy, but also velvety voice, with seductive falsettos and controlled in each of its emissions (not by chance did he win a Grammy for best male R&B vocal in 1998).

But he doesn't limit himself to just the role of singer, since he writes, arranges, plays most of the instruments in all his albums and dances as God commands.

To all this, add the fact that Sananda Maitreya, yes, because now this is his name, due to a radical life change following a profound crisis experienced, also possesses an enviable physique, even now, at the ripe age of 46, combined with a great face with slightly oriental features and mixed-race skin.

Sananda Maitreya is cool, he has talent to sell to thousands of artists, even reimbursable in installments at zero interest... No bullshit.

I had the pleasure of seeing him in concert in 2003, at the venerable age of 41, and I assure you that the Lord (I capitalized the L intentionally) truly put on a show with all the bells and whistles, playing, singing, and especially dancing for almost two hours, without showing any signs of dip or weakness.

The first album "Introducing the Hardline according to Terence Trent D'Arby" was released in 1987, and immediately began climbing the charts thanks to the single "If You Let Me Stay", captivating from the first notes, with slightly Caribbean percussion, horns, choirs, and keyboards accompanying Terence's magical voice in a high-quality r & b whirl.

I remember that in jukeboxes at the time, it was constant, between "Sign Your Name", a great ballad and perhaps his most famous piece, "Dance Little Sister", a panty-dropping rhythm, with funky guitar and drums, a groove to scream for, and your butt starts moving without you noticing, and "Wishing Well".

The influence and lesson of the greats, like Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder, can be felt from the first track "If You All Get To Heaven", through "Seven More Days" and the touching, a cappella, "As Yet Untitled".

The music serves the voice, nothing is ever overdone, every note, every arrangement, every riff is perfectly calibrated to fully enhance Terence's talent.

The choirs are perfect, the horns lend the pieces the perfect soul and funky style that only the greats like James Brown managed to convey, the rhythm slowly gets into your blood and delivers truckloads of oxygen to the muscles, which start, willingly or not, to follow the beat.

This album is captivating, from the first track to the last and will end up reaching the 12 million copies sold mark.

If more artists like him were born, the pop scene wouldn't be as meager as it is today.