George HaffendenThe Prince of Sophisticated Soul Will Downing is back with his latest single ‘Everything I Miss At Home‘ from his forthcoming album Black Pearls coming this July.
TFSR favourite Will Downing has just released the first single from his upcoming album release Black Pearls, a sublime cover of the Cherrelle tune ‘Everything I Miss At Home‘. Fans of the Prince of Sophisticated Soul are familiar with his re-working of soul classics, from The Delfonics’ ‘La La Means I Love You‘ to Rose Royce’s ‘Wishing On A Star‘ to the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway classic ‘Where Is The Love‘, Downing has proved that covers need not be mediocre album filler.
And now Downing is set to apply his winning smooth soul formula to an entire albums of covers on Black Pearls, with the album dedicated to the great female voices in R&B, from Chaka Khan to Phyllis Hyman. In a press release, Downing says that:
“Phyllis Hyman started this whole project….I was having a conversation with a friend who also worked with Phyllis. We both agreed that “Meet Me On The Moon” was our favorite Phyllis tune. My friend suggested I remake it. I called my keyboardist/arranger Mike Logan to help with the song. After completing it, I thought maybe this is a great opportunity to pay tribute to other female artists that I have always loved. That’s how Black Pearls was born!”
The album follows from last year’s brilliant Chocolate Drops which saw the singer cover Whitney Houston’s ‘Saving All My Love‘ and Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers Motown classic ‘Does Your Momma Know About Me?‘ Now with a full album of covers on the way you would be forgiven for being a little cautious about approaching it – but with Downing’s track record of producing knock-out covers, we’re pretty excited to see what the man has in store!