Lotti Golden
Encyclopedia
Lotti Golden is an American singer-songwriter
, record producer
and poet
. A cult icon of the late 1960s, Golden is best known for her 1969 debut album, Motor-Cycle
on Atlantic Records
which "captured women's liberation and motorcycle soul in one psychedelic swoop."
Winner of the ASCAP Pop Award for songwriting and RIAA certified Gold and Platinum awards as a writer/producer, Golden has written and produced Top 5 hits in the US and abroad. Credited for her innovative work in early electro and hip hop
, Golden is featured in the Rap Attack 3: African Rap To Global Hip Hop by David Toop
, and Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: True Life Stories of Women of Pop for her pioneering work as a female record producer.
to Sy (Seymour) Golden and Anita Golden (née Cohn), the elder of two daughters. Golden's parents, a strikingly handsome and fashionable pair, were avid jazz aficionados and foreign film buffs. Golden soaked up the sounds of Billie Holiday
and John Coltrane
from any early age developing a lifelong passion for music and the arts
.
Golden grew up in Brooklyn
, New York where she attended Canarsie High School, serving as the school's Poet Laureate
. Voted Most Likely to Succeed, Golden graduated with honors in 1967, winning the Creative Writing medal, the Lincoln Center Student Award for Academic Excellence, the Scholastic Magazine Award for National Achievement In Art, and a New York State Regents Scholarship. Golden was awarded the National League of Pen Women Prize for poetry and went on to attend Brooklyn College
.
Golden spent hours using a reel to reel tape recorder to perfect her vocal craft: "When women talk of their idols and influences…they tell stories about singing along with records, trying to copy someone's voice…until they can begin to develop their own style." Golden explains: "I would practice singing to Aretha
, Ray Charles
, and the Marvelettes
, till I could sing all of their licks and runs… the girls' bathroom in high school was a great place to try it out."
At the age of fourteen Golden was making forays into Manhattan, singing on demo sessions and peddling her songs to publishers, landing her first cover by Patti LaBelle
and the Blue Belles.
By the time Golden completed high school, she had the beginnings of a musical autobiography about her adventures in New York's East Village
and Lower East Side
where she was a resident member of the Henry Street Settlement
Playhouse, honing her skills as an actress and playwright. This would become the basis of her Atlantic Records debut LP, Motor-Cycle.
.
Newsweek
hailed Golden as a new breed of female troubadour—an artist who not only sings, but writes her own songs: "What is common to them -- to Joni Mitchell
and Lotti Golden, to Laura Nyro
, [and] Melanie
... are the personalized songs they write, like voyages of self discovery…startling in the impact of their poetry."
Listed among the most influential albums of the era in The New York Times
, "The Best of Rock: A Personal Discography," by music critic Nat Hentoff
, Motor-Cycle is a synthesis of stream of consciousness confessional poetry, R&B infused vocals and a "sometimes satiric mélange of rock, jazz, blues and soul" with lyrics that evoke "a Kerouac novel."
On an album of "restlessly epic roadhouse suites" Golden uses the story-based format, featuring a cast of archetypal characters while playing the part of "emcee" of her own "aberrant cabaret." Golden's coming of age saga is likely the first rock concept album
by a female recording artist.
Music critic Path, of Tiny Mix Tapes
, explains how Motor-Cycle plays like a musical, transporting the listener to the late 1960s underground: "Golden gets help on Motor-Cycle from an impeccably arranged Atlantic Records session band… with a flawless, swinging rhythm team. Then, at key moments, the curtain goes up and they've got rows of saxes, trumpets, vibes…and you begin to realize that this is not the same song and dance… it's as if The Velvet Underground recorded for Motown." Golden writes of a "season in hell " she somehow manages to survive. "It's an extraordinary evocation of a life-style… and one girl's plunge into and out of it."
heard her singing in an elevator. Golden told Crewe she was working on material for her own album. Intrigued, Crewe set up a meeting: "When Lotti brought her material to Crewe in 1967, he exclaimed, 'Good God, who are your friends?'" Golden waited one year while Crewe cleared his schedule, and in 1968 began recording an autobiographical album, Motor-Cycle, "a synthesis of funky singing and honest hip lyrics about urban teenage trauma." Atlantic Records moguls, Jerry Wexler
and Ahmet Ertegun
bought the [demo] tapes after one hearing, with Wexler "modestly telling his staff Golden would be the greatest single pop artist since Aretha Franklin."
The release of Motor-Cycle in 1969 generated media interest in Golden. Look
magazine described Golden's songs and poetry as "rich in metaphor and starkly descriptive of people and places," stating: "Even in her musically precocious generation, she [Golden] stands out as a singer composer of phenomenal power and originality." In addition to features in national publications, Golden was identified as a fashion trendsetter by Vogue
, making several appearances in the magazine. Though Golden made no TV appearances, she is referenced in the cultural commentary on television The Glass Teat
. Still, Golden had concerns about the business side of her career, which she voiced in an interview: "The easy part is to sit down and create. The hard part is trying to make yourself heard, the promotion." Although Motor-Cycle wasn't marketed commercially, the album achieved cult status and continues to gain in popularity on the Internet
"thanks to the unusual persistence of her [Golden's] art, and the power of listeners' preferences."
(Spin-ART) by MC Honky
, "widely considered to be Mark Oliver Everett
(or "E") of Eels
." 2006: Golden's African inspired drumbeat on "Motor-Cycle Michael" (Motor-Cycle) appears on Beat Konducta Vol 1-2 Movie Scenes (Stones Throw Records) on the track "Gold Jungle (Tribe)," by hip hop artist Madlib
.
, though not a fan of Golden (or Laura Nyro) thought the GRT record could take off with the proper promotion: "He [Christgau] wrote: 'Golden's egregious overstatement registers as a strength.' If you know about Christgau, you'll take that as an honest compliment." Shortly after Golden's album was released, financial problems caused the GRT label to go out of business.
feature story Golden provides unique perspective on the genius of Mike (Michael) Bloomfield
chronicling her 1972 San Francisco visit with the legendary guitar player and in Rolling Stone
, Golden explores the making of keyboardist (and co-founder with Bloomfied of Electric Flag
) Barry Goldberg
's first solo LP. Golden's articles have appeared in Creem
, Circus
and other publications.
co-written with musician Richard Scher, enabled her to move into record production: "The success gave her [Golden] the freedom to demand production rights to her songs." In an interview for the anthology, Signed, Sealed and Delivered-True Life Stories of Women In Pop, Golden stated that performing live was OK, but she preferred the recording studio, "that wonderful world of sound [where] anything was possible."
As a writer/producer, Golden gained artistic control of her work, becoming a major progenitor of electro and early hip hop. UK music historian Kevin Pearce describes Golden's transition from artist to producer: "I can still remember the delight at reading [David] Toop's "Rap Attack" and realizing that the Lotti Golden involved as part of electro pioneers Warp 9 in the early '80s was the same Lotti Golden recording for Atlantic in 1969… with Bob Crewe producing the fantastic Motor-Cycle, one of the greatest and criminally rarest records ever".
Golden, with co-writer/producer Scher, wrote and recorded under the moniker Warp 9, a production project at the forefront of the electro movement, to which they eventually added live personnel. Warp 9's electro classics "Nunk," (1982) and "Light Years Away," a tale of ancient alien visitation, (1983) are described as "the perfect instance of hop hop's contemporary ramifications," ranking among the most iconic of the electro hip hop era.
The Face
, a UK music publication that covered fashion and music trends, explained how electro/hip hop producers like Golden would use audience response to try out their recordings: "In the DJ booth...Jellybean
is seaming tracks together... the principal electro-beat composers, like John Robie
, Arthur Baker
, Lotti Golden and Richard Scher of Warp 9… make The Funhouse a testing ground." Golden and Scher were among the early production teams utilizing the Roland TR-808
drum machine creating a brand of "electo hip hop records with...gorgeous textures and multiple layers." Newsweeks "Language Arts & Disciplines" highlighted Warp 9's experimental use of vocoder
s in the sci-fi influenced "Light Years Away." DJ Greg Wilson, the first to embrace electro in the UK, including Warp 9, calculates its legacy as "huge," ushering in the computer age, hip hop and generating "a whole new approach to popular music." Golden's work with Warp 9 continues to appear on electro compilations and remix albums including Crucial Electro
, (1984), Absolutely the Very Best of Electro, (1997) DJ Kicks Chicken Lips
, (2003) The Definitive Electro & Hip Hop Compilation, (2004), and viral video mashups such as Beastie Boys Vs Warp 9 - Master Of Intergalactic (2010).
Warp 9's hits brought Golden to the attention of Island Record's chief Chris Blackwell
, resulting in a world-wide publishing deal with Island Music. Golden (with Scher) went on to write and/or produce artists including Diana Ross
' hit single "Dirty Looks" from her Red Hot Rhythm & Blues
album and TV Special, Patti Austin
, Jennifer Holliday
(Say You Love Me
), The Manhattans
, Brenda K. Starr (I Want Your Love
) featuring guest rapper Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys
and remix artists including Nina Hagen
and Jimmy Cliff
.
During the early 1980s Golden began a longstanding collaborative relationship with producer Arthur Baker
, co-writing the Latin Freestyle classic "Pickin' Up Pieces," by Brenda K Starr and co-producing Jennifer Holliday's Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Hard Times For Lovers" (Geffen). Golden contributed background vocals/arrangements for many of Baker's projects including the Goon Squad's "Eight Arms to Hold You,"
featured on The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
and Artists United Against Apartheid
, Sun City
, where Golden is among the sixty-one artists (including Lou Reed
, Bono
, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Keith Richards
, Bob Dylan
and Gil Scott Heron) who participated in what rock critic Dave Marsh
describes as "the most diverse line up of popular musicians ever assembled for a single session." Golden appears in the video.
). In 1986, MCA Creative Director Carol Ware introduced Golden to writer/producer Tommy Faragher
, "on a hunch that the two young writer/producers would click as a team." The pair quickly gained a reputation for "richly produced, finely crafted urban dance music." By 1987 Golden was working almost exclusively with Faragher, telling Cashbox: "We have a gold record [The Jets] our first year working together." Golden returned to New York's Upper West Side
with Faragher, building a state-of-the-art recording studio, "decorated with archival black and white photos of John Coltrane, Billy Holliday, [and] Lester Young
, souvenirs from Lotti's jazz-fan parents."
On Valentine's Day, 1988, Golden & Faragher were featured in the Business Section of the New York Daily News. The article disclosed the pair feared romantic involvement would ruin their working relationship, but eventually they took the chance, got married and formed their own production operation. In fact, the production on their own material was "so good they were invited in to produce tracks they didn't write," which included the R&B Pop group, the Jets
' LP Magic on MCA (1987), certified RIAA Platinum, followed by Brenda K. Starr
, certified RIAA Gold, yielding the single "You Should Be Loving Me," which appeared on the soundtrack and film She's Out of Control
. In 1988, Golden and Faragher were enlisted by A&M
to write and produce EG Daily's
sophomore effort Lace Around the Wound
(1989), featuring the single "Some People." Although the album never got the promotional push it deserved, several songs were later covered by Celine Dion
and appeared on the hit TV show California Dreams
.
The real breakthrough for Golden in her partnership with Faragher came in 1989, when producer Arthur Baker phoned, announcing that Clive Davis
was looking for a hit single to launch Taylor Dayne's
sophomore LP. By the time Baker arrived, Golden had a working chord progression and title. The three completed the song in one session and Baker left with the demo in his pocket, vocals by Golden, resulting in the Top 5 Billboard Hot 100
hit, "With Every Beat of My Heart
," the lead single from Dayne's Certified RIAA 3X Platinum Can't Fight Fate
(Arista) album.
on Sudden Stop
"helped [the LP] gain platinum status and made the album #2 on the US charts." The song, co-written with Faragher, was featured in the 1991 action film, Run
.
Golden and Faragher received high marks for their next project, injecting urban R&B into the legendary O'Jays'
classic soul sound. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide states: "[The O'Jay's] Emotionally Yours [LP] comes closest to accomplishing that fusion with the smoking, politically charged "Something For Nothing" [by Golden & Faragher]. And...the title track—an obscure late Dylan number." The album won the O'Jays their first American Music Award in 1991. Dubbed "luminous tunesmiths and veteran popsters" in Billboard, Golden & Faragher's 1993 international hit, "The Right Kind of Love" (Giant Records) co-produced with Robbie Nevil
(Billboard Top 15) was featured on Fox's hit TV series Beverly Hills, 90210
(listed by Entertainment Weekly
as #20/ top TV shows of the past 25 years) and appeared on the Beverly Hills 90210: The Soundtrack
.
In 1993, Golden and Faragher made music history, producing the British R&B girl band Eternal
, the first female group ever to reach one million units (album sales) in the UK with their debut LP, Always & Forever
(EMI), certified 4x Platinum by BPI
. Eternal paved the way for other female UK groups like All Saints
and the Spice Girls
. Golden's experience as a vocalist helped shape Eternal's vocal sound on the four songs she co-produced and wrote with Faragher, including the international hit single "Oh Baby I...
", which topped the UK Singles Chart
at #4. The first UK girl group with six singles to reach the Top 15 on the UK charts from their debut LP, Eternal went on to become one of Britain’s most successful girl groups achieving both international and domestic success.
In 1994, Golden co-wrote "Keep on Pushing Love" for veteran soul singer Al Green
. The four way collaboration (Golden, Green, Baker & Faragher) resulted in "one of [Green's] finest recent releases." The single appears on Green's 1995 LP, Your Heart's in Good Hands, "a solid project that approaches the Rev. Green's classic work with Hi Records." In 1993 and 1994, Golden and Faragher landed two #1's on Billboard's Jazz Charts, with Soul Embrace by Richard Elliot
followed by Diane Schuur
's Heart To Heart album, (GRP) featuring "Freedom" performed by blues legend, BB King.
Throughout the 1990s Golden and Faragher continued to write and produce international hits that appeared on the UK Singles Chart
and UK Albums Chart
for artists including Dana Dawson
the group Montage Nick Howard and Arthur Baker. In 1997 Eternal's Greatest Hits LP
reached the #2 spot on the UK Albums Chart. In 1998, Golden & Faragher introduced UK R&B artist Hinda Hicks
with the Top 25 hit, "If You Want Me" propelling her debut album, Hinda (Island Records) to #20 on the UK Albums Chart, winning two 1999 Brit Awards
nominations.
Golden's partnership with Faragher continued for over a decade. An interview in the Music Connection provides insight into the collaborative methodology that made the pair a successful team: "I get involved in a lot of technical things, working out the arrangement and stuff like that," Faragher states, "[and] Lotti works on the complete feeling." Describing how songwriters can sometimes get too close to their work, becoming unwilling to modify or delete sections, Faragher pointed out, it was Golden, the iconoclast, who was willing to scrap work she felt wasn't up to par: "I might be attached to a certain section we worked so hard getting, and Lotti would say, 'Maybe we should throw this part out.' I go, 'Oh, no, you're kidding. I'm shocked-[but] she's right. She's absolutely right."' By the close of the decade, Golden's professional partnership with Faragher ended in divorce; they have one child.
" co-written with Faragher, was the second hit single from the Australian girl group Bardot's #1 debut album, Bardot
, certified 2× Platinum by ARIA
, from the Popstars
reality TV show. Golden continued working into the early 2000s, but because her recording studio was lost in the divorce process, she could no longer artistically justify writing songs without creative control. An earlier interview revealed just how important the production aspect of songwriting had become for Golden: "Golden & Faragher's pursuit of songwriting and production seems eons beyond the days of a cluttered Brill Building
office with an upright piano. What environment does a songwriter need today? Golden: 'This one.' (She gestures towards the conglomeration of keyboards, computers and recording equipment)."
's Educational Outreach Program, Golden designed a songwriting workshop for the advancement of literacy, engaging New York City public school children in the art and craft of songwriting. The classroom based program, "Lyrics & Literacy/Words are Power" was formulated in accordance with the New York State Learning Standards for the Arts and implemented in East Harlem by Golden and the 92nd St. Y.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. A cult icon of the late 1960s, Golden is best known for her 1969 debut album, Motor-Cycle
Motor-Cycle (album)
Motor-Cycle is the debut album by singer-songwriter Lotti Golden released on Atlantic Records in 1969. The album is an autobiographical account of Golden's immersion in the life of New York's East Village, written in music & lyrics because, according to Golden, "a book is too flat.” Motor-Cycle...
on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
which "captured women's liberation and motorcycle soul in one psychedelic swoop."
Winner of the ASCAP Pop Award for songwriting and RIAA certified Gold and Platinum awards as a writer/producer, Golden has written and produced Top 5 hits in the US and abroad. Credited for her innovative work in early electro and hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, Golden is featured in the Rap Attack 3: African Rap To Global Hip Hop by David Toop
David Toop
David Toop is an English musician and author, and as of 2001 was visiting Research Fellow in the Media School at London College of Communication. He was notably a member of The Flying Lizards. He was a prominent contributor to the British magazine The Face. He is a regular contributor to The Wire,...
, and Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: True Life Stories of Women of Pop for her pioneering work as a female record producer.
Early life
Lotti Golden was born in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
to Sy (Seymour) Golden and Anita Golden (née Cohn), the elder of two daughters. Golden's parents, a strikingly handsome and fashionable pair, were avid jazz aficionados and foreign film buffs. Golden soaked up the sounds of Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
from any early age developing a lifelong passion for music and the arts
The arts
The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
.
Golden grew up in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York where she attended Canarsie High School, serving as the school's Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
. Voted Most Likely to Succeed, Golden graduated with honors in 1967, winning the Creative Writing medal, the Lincoln Center Student Award for Academic Excellence, the Scholastic Magazine Award for National Achievement In Art, and a New York State Regents Scholarship. Golden was awarded the National League of Pen Women Prize for poetry and went on to attend Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
.
1964-1968: Early music career
A birthday gift (a guitar) from Golden's parents at age eleven would chart her future course. Golden studied classical guitar and voice, but soon found her niche as a singer-songwriter, utilizing her abilities as both wordsmith and vocalist. In order to sing her compositions on demosDemo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
Golden spent hours using a reel to reel tape recorder to perfect her vocal craft: "When women talk of their idols and influences…they tell stories about singing along with records, trying to copy someone's voice…until they can begin to develop their own style." Golden explains: "I would practice singing to Aretha
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, and the Marvelettes
The Marvelettes
The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first #1 Pop hit, "Please Mr...
, till I could sing all of their licks and runs… the girls' bathroom in high school was a great place to try it out."
At the age of fourteen Golden was making forays into Manhattan, singing on demo sessions and peddling her songs to publishers, landing her first cover by Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
and the Blue Belles.
By the time Golden completed high school, she had the beginnings of a musical autobiography about her adventures in New York's East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
and Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
where she was a resident member of the Henry Street Settlement
Henry Street Settlement
The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded in 1893 by Progressive reformer Lillian Wald.The...
Playhouse, honing her skills as an actress and playwright. This would become the basis of her Atlantic Records debut LP, Motor-Cycle.
1969: Debut LP: Motor-Cycle
Released on Atlantic Records in 1969, Motor-Cycle is an autobiographical account of Golden's immersion in the life of New York's East Village. Written in music & lyrics because, according to Golden, "a book is too flat," Motor-Cycle describes the underground world of the late 1960s countercultureCounterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
.
Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
hailed Golden as a new breed of female troubadour—an artist who not only sings, but writes her own songs: "What is common to them -- to Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
and Lotti Golden, to Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...
, [and] Melanie
Melanie
Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek μελανία , "blackness" and that from μέλας , meaning "dark". Borne in its Latin form by two saints: Melania the Elder and her grand-daughter Melania the Younger, the name was introduced to England by the Normans in its French form Melanie...
... are the personalized songs they write, like voyages of self discovery…startling in the impact of their poetry."
Listed among the most influential albums of the era in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "The Best of Rock: A Personal Discography," by music critic Nat Hentoff
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving "Nat" Hentoff is an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media and writes regularly on jazz and country music for The Wall Street Journal....
, Motor-Cycle is a synthesis of stream of consciousness confessional poetry, R&B infused vocals and a "sometimes satiric mélange of rock, jazz, blues and soul" with lyrics that evoke "a Kerouac novel."
On an album of "restlessly epic roadhouse suites" Golden uses the story-based format, featuring a cast of archetypal characters while playing the part of "emcee" of her own "aberrant cabaret." Golden's coming of age saga is likely the first rock concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
by a female recording artist.
Music critic Path, of Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mix tapes generator.-History:Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and...
, explains how Motor-Cycle plays like a musical, transporting the listener to the late 1960s underground: "Golden gets help on Motor-Cycle from an impeccably arranged Atlantic Records session band… with a flawless, swinging rhythm team. Then, at key moments, the curtain goes up and they've got rows of saxes, trumpets, vibes…and you begin to realize that this is not the same song and dance… it's as if The Velvet Underground recorded for Motown." Golden writes of a "season in hell " she somehow manages to survive. "It's an extraordinary evocation of a life-style… and one girl's plunge into and out of it."
1968–1969: The making of Motor-Cycle
Golden signed a publishing deal as a staff writer with Saturday Music during her junior year of high school. One afternoon as Golden was leaving a demo session, the company's owner, writer/producer Bob CreweBob Crewe
Bob Crewe is an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, record producer and fine artist. He is known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for The Four Seasons...
heard her singing in an elevator. Golden told Crewe she was working on material for her own album. Intrigued, Crewe set up a meeting: "When Lotti brought her material to Crewe in 1967, he exclaimed, 'Good God, who are your friends?'" Golden waited one year while Crewe cleared his schedule, and in 1968 began recording an autobiographical album, Motor-Cycle, "a synthesis of funky singing and honest hip lyrics about urban teenage trauma." Atlantic Records moguls, Jerry Wexler
Jerry Wexler
Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...
and Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
bought the [demo] tapes after one hearing, with Wexler "modestly telling his staff Golden would be the greatest single pop artist since Aretha Franklin."
The release of Motor-Cycle in 1969 generated media interest in Golden. Look
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
magazine described Golden's songs and poetry as "rich in metaphor and starkly descriptive of people and places," stating: "Even in her musically precocious generation, she [Golden] stands out as a singer composer of phenomenal power and originality." In addition to features in national publications, Golden was identified as a fashion trendsetter by Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, making several appearances in the magazine. Though Golden made no TV appearances, she is referenced in the cultural commentary on television The Glass Teat
The Glass Teat
The Glass Teat: Essays of Opinion on Television is a compilation of television reviews and essays written by Harlan Ellison as a regular weekly column for the Los Angeles Free Press from late 1968 into early 1970, discussing the effects of television upon society. The title implies that TV...
. Still, Golden had concerns about the business side of her career, which she voiced in an interview: "The easy part is to sit down and create. The hard part is trying to make yourself heard, the promotion." Although Motor-Cycle wasn't marketed commercially, the album achieved cult status and continues to gain in popularity on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
"thanks to the unusual persistence of her [Golden's] art, and the power of listeners' preferences."
Motor-Cycle tracks
Side One: 1."Motor-Cycle Michael", 2."Gonna Fay's", 3."A Lot Like Lucifer (Celia Said Long Time Loser)". Side Two: 1."The Space Queens (Silky Is Sad)", 2."Who Are Your Friends", 3."Get Together (With Yourself)", 4."You Can Find Him". All songs written by Lotti Golden except "Who Are Your Friends" (written with Bob Crewe).Motor-Cycle samples
2003: Golden's spoken voice on "Gonna Fay's" (Motor-Cycle) is the centerpiece for "What a Bringdown" on I Am the MessiahI Am the Messiah
I Am the Messiah is a self-produced album recorded by, MC Honky—thought to be E of the band Eels. Other guests on the album include Eels drummer Butch, Eels bassist Koool G Murder, and Joey Waronker. An animated music video was made for "Sonnet No. 3 " and included on the enhanced CD.-Track...
(Spin-ART) by MC Honky
MC Honky
MC Honky is a stage persona whose only album release is I Am the Messiah. Although supposedly a middle-age disc jockey from Silverlake, California, MC Honky is promoted by and widely considered to be Mark Oliver Everett of Eels...
, "widely considered to be Mark Oliver Everett
Mark Oliver Everett
Mark Oliver Everett is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and sometime drummer of the independent rock band Eels...
(or "E") of Eels
Eels (band)
Eels is an American indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E...
." 2006: Golden's African inspired drumbeat on "Motor-Cycle Michael" (Motor-Cycle) appears on Beat Konducta Vol 1-2 Movie Scenes (Stones Throw Records) on the track "Gold Jungle (Tribe)," by hip hop artist Madlib
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer...
.
1970s
Lotti Golden's eponymous sophomore offering was released on GRT Records in 1971. In a live performance for industry executives at NY's Playboy Club, Golden was described by Cash Box as "GRT's Lotti: Incredible." Although elements of Golden's confessional approach remained (Billboard labeled one song "biographical") for the most part, Golden's self-titled LP moved away from the innovative format of Motor-Cycle. Writer Mitchell Shannon characterizes the shift: "Second time around, her music was more conventional and approachable, but lacked that initial compelling insistence of the previous release." Music critic, Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
, though not a fan of Golden (or Laura Nyro) thought the GRT record could take off with the proper promotion: "He [Christgau] wrote: 'Golden's egregious overstatement registers as a strength.' If you know about Christgau, you'll take that as an honest compliment." Shortly after Golden's album was released, financial problems caused the GRT label to go out of business.
Music journalism
In the 1970s Lotti Golden wrote rock journalism, primarily covering her musician friends. In a Crawdaddy!Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...
feature story Golden provides unique perspective on the genius of Mike (Michael) Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
chronicling her 1972 San Francisco visit with the legendary guitar player and in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Golden explores the making of keyboardist (and co-founder with Bloomfied of Electric Flag
Electric Flag
The Electric Flag was a blues rock soul group, led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and drummer Buddy Miles, and featuring other well-known musicians such as vocalist Nick Gravenites and bassist Harvey Brooks. Bloomfield formed the Electric Flag in 1967, following his stint...
) Barry Goldberg
Barry Goldberg
Barry Goldberg is a blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:As a teenager in Chicago, Goldberg sat in with Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Howlin' Wolf. He played keyboards in the band supporting Bob Dylan during his 1965 'electrified' appearance at the Newport Folk Festival...
's first solo LP. Golden's articles have appeared in Creem
Creem
Creem , "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid...
, Circus
Circus (magazine)
Circus was a monthly American magazine devoted to rock music. It was published from 1966 to 2006. In its heyday the magazine had a full-time editorial staff that included some of the biggest names in rock journalism, including Paul Nelson, David Fricke, and Kurt Loder, and rivaled Rolling Stone in...
and other publications.
1980–1985: Electro/hip hop
In the early 1980s Lotti Golden transitioned from artist to writer/producer. Golden's 1982 international dance hit I Specialize in LoveI Specialize in Love
"I Specialize in Love" is a song written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. It was a hit in U.S. nightclubs in the early 1980s when performed by American singer Sharon Brown, the niece of songwriter Phil Medley...
co-written with musician Richard Scher, enabled her to move into record production: "The success gave her [Golden] the freedom to demand production rights to her songs." In an interview for the anthology, Signed, Sealed and Delivered-True Life Stories of Women In Pop, Golden stated that performing live was OK, but she preferred the recording studio, "that wonderful world of sound [where] anything was possible."
As a writer/producer, Golden gained artistic control of her work, becoming a major progenitor of electro and early hip hop. UK music historian Kevin Pearce describes Golden's transition from artist to producer: "I can still remember the delight at reading [David] Toop's "Rap Attack" and realizing that the Lotti Golden involved as part of electro pioneers Warp 9 in the early '80s was the same Lotti Golden recording for Atlantic in 1969… with Bob Crewe producing the fantastic Motor-Cycle, one of the greatest and criminally rarest records ever".
Golden, with co-writer/producer Scher, wrote and recorded under the moniker Warp 9, a production project at the forefront of the electro movement, to which they eventually added live personnel. Warp 9's electro classics "Nunk," (1982) and "Light Years Away," a tale of ancient alien visitation, (1983) are described as "the perfect instance of hop hop's contemporary ramifications," ranking among the most iconic of the electro hip hop era.
The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...
, a UK music publication that covered fashion and music trends, explained how electro/hip hop producers like Golden would use audience response to try out their recordings: "In the DJ booth...Jellybean
John Benitez
John Benitez, better known as "Jellybean Benitez" is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, remixer and music producer of Puerto Rican descent...
is seaming tracks together... the principal electro-beat composers, like John Robie
John Robie
John Robie is an American musician and record producer, widely credited as the driving force behind many of the most successful songs from the early 80's electro boom and is best known for his work with the New York record producer Arthur Baker.-Early years:...
, Arthur Baker
Arthur Baker (musician)
Arthur Baker is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, and the British group New Order.-Early career:...
, Lotti Golden and Richard Scher of Warp 9… make The Funhouse a testing ground." Golden and Scher were among the early production teams utilizing the Roland TR-808
Roland TR-808
The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer was one of the first programmable drum machines . Introduced by the Roland Corporation in early 1980, it was originally manufactured for use as a tool for studio musicians to create demos. Like earlier Roland drum machines, it does not sound very much like a real...
drum machine creating a brand of "electo hip hop records with...gorgeous textures and multiple layers." Newsweeks "Language Arts & Disciplines" highlighted Warp 9's experimental use of vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
s in the sci-fi influenced "Light Years Away." DJ Greg Wilson, the first to embrace electro in the UK, including Warp 9, calculates its legacy as "huge," ushering in the computer age, hip hop and generating "a whole new approach to popular music." Golden's work with Warp 9 continues to appear on electro compilations and remix albums including Crucial Electro
Street Sounds Crucial Electro
-External links:*...
, (1984), Absolutely the Very Best of Electro, (1997) DJ Kicks Chicken Lips
DJ-Kicks: Chicken Lips
DJ-Kicks: Chicken Lips is a DJ mix album, mixed by Chicken Lips. It was released on 3 November 2003 on the Studio !K7 independent record label as part of the DJ-Kicks series.-Track listing:...
, (2003) The Definitive Electro & Hip Hop Compilation, (2004), and viral video mashups such as Beastie Boys Vs Warp 9 - Master Of Intergalactic (2010).
Warp 9's hits brought Golden to the attention of Island Record's chief Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
, resulting in a world-wide publishing deal with Island Music. Golden (with Scher) went on to write and/or produce artists including Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
' hit single "Dirty Looks" from her Red Hot Rhythm & Blues
Red Hot Rhythm & Blues
Red Hot Rhythm & Blues is a 1987 album released by Diana Ross on the RCA label. The album was the last contractual album the singer released on RCA before heading back to Motown Records the end of the following year...
album and TV Special, Patti Austin
Patti Austin
-Life and career:Austin was born in Harlem, New York. She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents....
, Jennifer Holliday
Jennifer Holliday
Jennifer-Yvette Holliday is an African-American singer and Tony Award-winning actress. She started her career on Broadway in musicals such as Dreamgirls, and later became a successful recording artist...
(Say You Love Me
Say You Love Me (album)
Say You Love Me is Jennifer Holliday's 1985 music album released on vinyl and cassette. It was released by Geffen Records. In 1985, two singles were released from the album. The singles were Hard Time For Lovers and No Frills Love...
), The Manhattans
The Manhattans
The Manhattans are an American popular R&B vocal group, with a string of hit records spanning four decades. Their best known million-selling songs being "Kiss and Say Goodbye" and 'Shining Star' in 1980...
, Brenda K. Starr (I Want Your Love
I Want Your Love (album)
I Want Your Love is Brenda K. Starr's unofficial debut album. This was a small label release on Mirage Records in 1985. It features her Freestyle music hit, "Pickin' Up Pieces" which peaked at #9 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1986, as well as the popular ballad, "Love Me Like the First...
) featuring guest rapper Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
and remix artists including Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen is a German singer and actress.-Early years:Hagen was born as Catharina Hagen in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen , a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen, an actress and singer...
and Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...
.
During the early 1980s Golden began a longstanding collaborative relationship with producer Arthur Baker
Arthur Baker (musician)
Arthur Baker is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, and the British group New Order.-Early career:...
, co-writing the Latin Freestyle classic "Pickin' Up Pieces," by Brenda K Starr and co-producing Jennifer Holliday's Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Hard Times For Lovers" (Geffen). Golden contributed background vocals/arrangements for many of Baker's projects including the Goon Squad's "Eight Arms to Hold You,"
Eight Arms to Hold You (song)
"Eight Arms to Hold You" was a song recorded for the soundtrack to the film The Goonies. The song was recorded by a studio group called Goon Squad that was put together by producer Arthur Baker. It was utilized in a scene in the film where the character Data puts a loud tape recorder into the...
featured on The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was the soundtrack album released in conjunction with the 1985 film The Goonies. The album is known primarily because it included song "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" by singer Cyndi Lauper, who had a cameo in the film...
and Artists United Against Apartheid
Artists United Against Apartheid
Artists United Against Apartheid was a 1985 protest group founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to protest apartheid in South Africa...
, Sun City
Sun City (album)
Sun City was a 1985 album that contained several versions of the Steven Van Zandt-led Artists United Against Apartheid's "Sun City" protest song against apartheid in South Africa as well as other selections in the same vein from that project.-History:...
, where Golden is among the sixty-one artists (including Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Gil Scott Heron) who participated in what rock critic Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
describes as "the most diverse line up of popular musicians ever assembled for a single session." Golden appears in the video.
1985–1989
Lotti Golden relocated to Los Angeles in 1985 establishing herself in LA's booming songwriting scene, signing a worldwide publishing deal with MCA Music (later renewing and extending her contract with David Renzer, Chairman/CEO of the Universal Music Publishing GroupUniversal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group is a music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group.UMPG owns or administers more than 1 million copyrights. They are one of the largest music publishing businesses in the world with more than 47 offices in 41 countries...
). In 1986, MCA Creative Director Carol Ware introduced Golden to writer/producer Tommy Faragher
Tommy Faragher
Tommy Faragher is an American producer, composer, songwriter, singer, and arranger. He is originally from Redlands, California.-Performer:Tommy Faragher started his career as a singer and keyboardist with his family, who formed a group called The Faragher Brothers...
, "on a hunch that the two young writer/producers would click as a team." The pair quickly gained a reputation for "richly produced, finely crafted urban dance music." By 1987 Golden was working almost exclusively with Faragher, telling Cashbox: "We have a gold record [The Jets] our first year working together." Golden returned to New York's Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
with Faragher, building a state-of-the-art recording studio, "decorated with archival black and white photos of John Coltrane, Billy Holliday, [and] Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
, souvenirs from Lotti's jazz-fan parents."
On Valentine's Day, 1988, Golden & Faragher were featured in the Business Section of the New York Daily News. The article disclosed the pair feared romantic involvement would ruin their working relationship, but eventually they took the chance, got married and formed their own production operation. In fact, the production on their own material was "so good they were invited in to produce tracks they didn't write," which included the R&B Pop group, the Jets
The Jets (band)
The Jets are a family band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, composed of brothers and sisters who specialize in pop, R&B, and dance music, particularly Latin freestyle.The group officially formed in 1985, with the original lineup fizzling out by 1990...
' LP Magic on MCA (1987), certified RIAA Platinum, followed by Brenda K. Starr
Brenda K. Starr (album)
Brenda K. Starr is the eponymous second album and major label debut by Brenda K. Starr.-Release:Released in 1987. It produced the singles "Breakfast In Bed", "I Still Believe", and "What You See Is What You Get"...
, certified RIAA Gold, yielding the single "You Should Be Loving Me," which appeared on the soundtrack and film She's Out of Control
She's Out of Control
She's Out of Control is an independent American 1989 coming of age comedy film starring Tony Danza, Ami Dolenz and Catherine Hicks. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri...
. In 1988, Golden and Faragher were enlisted by A&M
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
to write and produce EG Daily's
Elizabeth Daily
Elizabeth Ann Guttman , better known by her stage names of Elizabeth Daily and E.G. Daily, is an American voice actress, actress, singer-songwriter, and musician...
sophomore effort Lace Around the Wound
Lace Around the Wound
Lace Around the Wound is the 1989 sophomore album by American singer, actress and musician, E.G. Daily. In the UK, the album was titled Fly....
(1989), featuring the single "Some People." Although the album never got the promotional push it deserved, several songs were later covered by Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
and appeared on the hit TV show California Dreams
California Dreams
California Dreams is an American teen-oriented sitcom that aired from 1992 to 1996 on Saturday mornings during NBC's TNBC programming block. It was created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon and executive produced by Peter Engel, all known for their work on Saved by the...
.
The real breakthrough for Golden in her partnership with Faragher came in 1989, when producer Arthur Baker phoned, announcing that Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...
was looking for a hit single to launch Taylor Dayne's
Taylor Dayne
Taylor Dayne was born Leslie Wunderman on March 7, 1962 before later adopting her current stage name. She is an American pop vocalist, songwriter, and dance artist. Overall, she has had eighteen individual hit songs reach the top ten in Billboard magazine...
sophomore LP. By the time Baker arrived, Golden had a working chord progression and title. The three completed the song in one session and Baker left with the demo in his pocket, vocals by Golden, resulting in the Top 5 Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
hit, "With Every Beat of My Heart
With Every Beat of My Heart
"With Every Beat of My Heart" is a song by Taylor Dayne, the lead single from her second album Can't Fight Fate.The single became Dayne's fifth consecutive top 10 single in the United States, peaking at number five. This was her first single to ever include a non-album track for a B-side "With...
," the lead single from Dayne's Certified RIAA 3X Platinum Can't Fight Fate
Can't Fight Fate
Can't Fight Fate is the second album by American singer Taylor Dayne. The album continued her chart success and was certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA...
(Arista) album.
1990s
Lotti Golden was honored with the ASCAP Pop Award for songwriting in 1991. Golden's first hit single of the decade, "If You Lean on Me" recorded by Canadian rocker Colin JamesColin James
Colin James is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who plays in the blues, rock, and neo-swing genres. He grew up as a Quaker.-Early years:...
on Sudden Stop
Sudden Stop
Sudden Stop is the second studio album by Canadian blues musician Colin James released in 1990 on Virgin Records. The album was recorded in Vancouver and Memphis, Tennessee....
"helped [the LP] gain platinum status and made the album #2 on the US charts." The song, co-written with Faragher, was featured in the 1991 action film, Run
Run (1991 film)
Run is a 1991 film, directed by Geoff Burrowes. The movie stars Patrick Dempsey and Kelly Preston.-Synopsis:Boston law student and part-time mechanic Charlie Farrow is asked by his boss to deliver a new Porsche from Boston to Atlantic City for a client...
.
Golden and Faragher received high marks for their next project, injecting urban R&B into the legendary O'Jays'
The O'Jays
The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1963 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert , Walter Williams , William Powell , Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005...
classic soul sound. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide states: "[The O'Jay's] Emotionally Yours [LP] comes closest to accomplishing that fusion with the smoking, politically charged "Something For Nothing" [by Golden & Faragher]. And...the title track—an obscure late Dylan number." The album won the O'Jays their first American Music Award in 1991. Dubbed "luminous tunesmiths and veteran popsters" in Billboard, Golden & Faragher's 1993 international hit, "The Right Kind of Love" (Giant Records) co-produced with Robbie Nevil
Robbie Nevil
Robert S. "Robbie" Nevil is an American pop singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist. He is best known for his 1986 Billboard Hot 100 #2 hit, "C'est La Vie".-Life and career:...
(Billboard Top 15) was featured on Fox's hit TV series Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
(listed by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
as #20/ top TV shows of the past 25 years) and appeared on the Beverly Hills 90210: The Soundtrack
Beverly Hills 90210 (soundtrack)
Beverly Hills 90210: The Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the TV Show Beverly Hills, 90210, released in 1992. Subsequent soundtrack albums were released in 1994 and 1996 .-Track listing:# "Bend Time Back Around" – Paula Abdul # "Got 2 Have U" – Color Me Badd Beverly Hills 90210: The Soundtrack is...
.
In 1993, Golden and Faragher made music history, producing the British R&B girl band Eternal
Eternal (band)
Eternal were an English R&B girl group formed in 1992. The group featured two sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, alongside Kelle Bryan and Louise Nurding...
, the first female group ever to reach one million units (album sales) in the UK with their debut LP, Always & Forever
Always & Forever (Eternal album)
Always & Forever is the debut album by the British R&B vocal group Eternal.- Overview :Always & Forever was a huge success, peaking at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified 4x Platinum by the BPI for sales of over 1.2 million copies. It was one of 1994's best selling albums in the...
(EMI), certified 4x Platinum by BPI
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
. Eternal paved the way for other female UK groups like All Saints
All Saints (band)
All Saints were a British/Canadian girl group. Founded in 1993 as All Saints 1.9.7.5, the group consisted of founding members Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis, and sisters Nicole Appleton and Natalie Appleton...
and the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
. Golden's experience as a vocalist helped shape Eternal's vocal sound on the four songs she co-produced and wrote with Faragher, including the international hit single "Oh Baby I...
Oh Baby I...
"Oh Baby I..." is a single by the English band Eternal. It was the fifth single to be released from their debut album Always & Forever. The single entered in at #7 on 30 October 1994 on the UK Singles Chart, climbing to its peak of #4 a week later. The single spent 7 weeks in the UK Top 20, which...
", which topped the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
at #4. The first UK girl group with six singles to reach the Top 15 on the UK charts from their debut LP, Eternal went on to become one of Britain’s most successful girl groups achieving both international and domestic success.
In 1994, Golden co-wrote "Keep on Pushing Love" for veteran soul singer Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
. The four way collaboration (Golden, Green, Baker & Faragher) resulted in "one of [Green's] finest recent releases." The single appears on Green's 1995 LP, Your Heart's in Good Hands, "a solid project that approaches the Rev. Green's classic work with Hi Records." In 1993 and 1994, Golden and Faragher landed two #1's on Billboard's Jazz Charts, with Soul Embrace by Richard Elliot
Richard Elliot
Richard Elliot is a Scottish-born saxophone player.He was a member of the funk band Tower of Power playing tenor sax for 5 years during the 1980s. He also worked on Stacy Lattisaw's 1986 album "Take Me All The Way". His solo career took off when he remade the Percy Sledge classic "When a Man...
followed by Diane Schuur
Diane Schuur
Diane Schuur is an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Deedles", she has won two Grammy Awards, headlined many of the world's most prestigious music venues, including Carnegie Hall and The White House and has toured the world performing with such greats as Quincy Jones, Stan Getz, B. B...
's Heart To Heart album, (GRP) featuring "Freedom" performed by blues legend, BB King.
Throughout the 1990s Golden and Faragher continued to write and produce international hits that appeared on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
and UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
for artists including Dana Dawson
Dana Dawson
Dana Dawson was an American actress and singer.-Early life and career:Dawson made her acting debut at the age of 7 in a national tour of Annie. She was an understudy of the character Mimi, in the national tour of Rent in 2000 and joined the Broadway cast in 2001...
the group Montage Nick Howard and Arthur Baker. In 1997 Eternal's Greatest Hits LP
Greatest Hits (Eternal album)
Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by the British R&B girl group Eternal. Released in October 1997, it peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified 3x Platinum by the BPI for sales of over 900,000 copies....
reached the #2 spot on the UK Albums Chart. In 1998, Golden & Faragher introduced UK R&B artist Hinda Hicks
Hinda Hicks
Hinda Hicks is a Tunisian born singer, with British nationality having moved to West Sussex as a child.-Introduction:Hicks originally sang with an R&B band called the Fabulous Fug Band and at one time sent a demo of her vocals alongside Aretha Franklin's "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" to Phil...
with the Top 25 hit, "If You Want Me" propelling her debut album, Hinda (Island Records) to #20 on the UK Albums Chart, winning two 1999 Brit Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
nominations.
Golden's partnership with Faragher continued for over a decade. An interview in the Music Connection provides insight into the collaborative methodology that made the pair a successful team: "I get involved in a lot of technical things, working out the arrangement and stuff like that," Faragher states, "[and] Lotti works on the complete feeling." Describing how songwriters can sometimes get too close to their work, becoming unwilling to modify or delete sections, Faragher pointed out, it was Golden, the iconoclast, who was willing to scrap work she felt wasn't up to par: "I might be attached to a certain section we worked so hard getting, and Lotti would say, 'Maybe we should throw this part out.' I go, 'Oh, no, you're kidding. I'm shocked-[but] she's right. She's absolutely right."' By the close of the decade, Golden's professional partnership with Faragher ended in divorce; they have one child.
2000s: Transition
In 2000, Golden's "I Should've Never Let You GoI Should've Never Let You Go
"I Should've Never Let You Go" is a pop song by Australian female group Bardot, and was the second single from their debut album Bardot...
" co-written with Faragher, was the second hit single from the Australian girl group Bardot's #1 debut album, Bardot
Bardot (album)
Bardot is the debut album by Australian female pop group Bardot, released in May 2000 .The album went to number one in Australia and New Zealand and spawned the singles "Poison", I Should've Never Let You Go" and "These Days" ....
, certified 2× Platinum by ARIA
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
, from the Popstars
Popstars
Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...
reality TV show. Golden continued working into the early 2000s, but because her recording studio was lost in the divorce process, she could no longer artistically justify writing songs without creative control. An earlier interview revealed just how important the production aspect of songwriting had become for Golden: "Golden & Faragher's pursuit of songwriting and production seems eons beyond the days of a cluttered Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
office with an upright piano. What environment does a songwriter need today? Golden: 'This one.' (She gestures towards the conglomeration of keyboards, computers and recording equipment)."
Literacy advocacy
In collaboration with the 92nd Street Y92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y is a multifaceted cultural institution and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, at the corner of E. 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Its full name is 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association...
's Educational Outreach Program, Golden designed a songwriting workshop for the advancement of literacy, engaging New York City public school children in the art and craft of songwriting. The classroom based program, "Lyrics & Literacy/Words are Power" was formulated in accordance with the New York State Learning Standards for the Arts and implemented in East Harlem by Golden and the 92nd St. Y.