Sometimes musical magic happens just for a moment. It’s recorded, but the artists fade away, leaving the magic to be cemented onto tape forever. Such is the case in 1980s Detroit , Michigan when Laurene LaVallis auditioned for Wynam Jerome Taylor when she was 16 years old and still in school. Hoping to land a lead vocalist position, she showed up to the audition with a record to sing along to. LaVallis had grown up singing in her church choir, and her voice was mature beyond her age. Winning over Jerome, she was invited back to his home studio to record some cuts.
Jerome had sampled a few instruments on his synthesizer for the session and the duo recorded “Key To Our Love” & “Love Don’t Change”. The pair worked together nicely and put together her vocals and his sampled sounds to come up with two full tracks. The result is nothing less than spectacular. LaVallis’s voice on both cuts runs a sweet soul, slower R & B on the lo-fi production tip. They’re raw and her sixteen-year-old vocals are just as good as adults who were major recording stars at the time. The sessions were given to Detroit label Tronic. But, as many music stories go, this was not meant to be.
After the record was released there was nothing more than the record release party. The age difference (Lavallis was 16 and Taylor in his 30s) played a major factor. LaVallis would relocate to Pontiac, Michigan and the duo never performed as a group, did shows, or released music after that. The magic happened on these two tracks, which is brought back to us by Symphonical Records out of London. Stream both sides below and purchase after the stream.
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