Angel Blue "Records that changed my life"

One of my absolute favourite singers has been and will always be Mariah Carey. To me, there is no other singer like her. She has the vocal agility and range that so effortlessly showcases the best parts of the human voice within the pop genre. (Needless to say, I’m a big fan).

I was seven years old when this album came out and what I remember the most are the “emotions” that I felt listening to her sing. My favourite songs were “You’re So Cold” and “Love You Till the End of Time.” There was something about the beat and the melody that especially mesmerized me at seven years old. To this day these songs bring a smile to my face.

The best memory of this album was singing with my older sisters to “Emotions”. We all tried to hit the high notes, and none of us could. Although, I do believe that I was the closest to Mariah Carey’s high G7.

My favourite male singer other than my dad was Chris Cornell. I first heard him sing on a US television music channel called VH1. The song they were playing was called “Black Hole Sun”. The music video was terrifying. I didn’t (and still sort of don’t) know what it meant, but the music touched the deepest part of my soul. I was 12 years old when I became a fan of Soundgarden.

Cornell’s voice struck me as someone who was inspired and influenced by all kinds of music. Perhaps that is more heard in his later solo recordings and also with the band Audioslave. One thing that changed my life with this album was it opened my eyes to loving more than just one genre of music. Soundgarden (like so many other grunge bands, eg, Bush, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana) led me to my love of rock music.

Had I not seen Soundgarden on VH1 when I was 12 years old I never would have known about my love and respect for rock music. I was singing La Boheme in Dresden, Germany when Chris Cornell passed away in 2017. He will never know the tremendous effect he had on my life. I wish that I could have met him. Rest in Peace Mr. Cornell.

I had to choose two albums because I bought them at the same time. I’ve always wanted to be an opera singer and my favourite singer has always been Leontyne Price. Both albums changed my life at the same time for the same reason. In A Program of Song, Leontyne Price is considerably younger than in God Bless America, but one can still feel her spirit coming through each album. Whether she is singing a patriotic anthem with a blazing brass section and full choir or singing with just a piano she inhabits the tone and feeling of every single note.

Of course, I was only five years old listening to these great recordings, but I felt as though in both of these albums Ms Price was singing directly to me. Everyone has that one singer who transports them to a special, unique, and quiet place. To this day Leontyne Price’s recordings do this to me.

When I was a kid, I listened to her and pretended that I was standing on stage singing. Not understanding the songs that were in a foreign language didn’t matter to me, Ms Price was singing in such a way that even a little girl with no operatic background could be entranced by her mesmerising and glorious sound. These albums changed my life because they have made me who I am today. Thank you, Ms Price.

Angel Blue will perform at the Met Stars Live in Concert: New Year’s Eve Gala on December 31. For tickets and more information, visit metopera.org

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