Songoftheday 1/4/19 - Some day we'll put it together and we'll get it undone, some day when your head is much lighter...
from the album The Way I Am (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #27 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song of the day comes from dance-pop singer Dino, whose sophomore album Swingin' had landed him his highest-charting pop hit with "Romeo" along with a top-40 follow-up "Gentle" in the beginning of 1991. Two years later, he returned with his third and so far last studio album The Way I Am. The lead single was a cover of a soul classic from 1970 that went to #8 on the American pop chart for the group Five Stairsteps. "Ooh Child", written and produced by Stan Vincent, was a trans-formative anthem filled with optimism for the upcoming decade...
Well, Dino brought the song back at a time of change, when the Reagan-Bush era had just folded and a new day with Bill Clinton's administration was promising hope to many (especially in the LGBT community) that were disenfranchised in the previous twelve years...
Dino's take on "Ooh Child" gave the singer his fifth and so far final top-40 pop hit in September of 1993. The single also climbed to #35 for two weeks in Canada. A second release from the Way I Am album, the ballad "Endlessly", missed the American pop chart, but "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #114. Since then Dino has been a musical fixture in Las Vegas, performing and producing other acts.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Many artists and groups have covered "Ooh Child", though none with the success of Dino's version. Here's jazz legend Nina Simone's take from 1971...
In 1980, soul singer Lenny Williams took his cover to #34 on Billboard's R&B chart, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #109...
Brooklyn singer Leotis took the song in a new jack swing direction and had a minor R&B hit, peaking at #70 in 1989...
And finally, back to Dino appearing on Friday Night Videos for a live shot...
Up tomorrow: Cool rapper requests a self-assessment, perhaps.
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