Jevetta Steele - Here It Is

Jevetta Steele was a member of the gospel group The Steeles before this, her first solo effort. The album is a gem too. Jevetta is one of the most talented vocalists Prince ever had the pleasure to work with. While he usually favors the gruffy soul diva sounds of Rosie Gaines, Mavis Staples and Chaka Khan, Jevetta has a smoother register, somewhat reminiscent of Whitney Houston. While Prince's takes are usually the focus of a project, Here It Is has lots of other quality material backing it up. Prince's cuts are still some of the best material on the album. Here It Is is unique among albums Prince has written songs for because there are two different variations, separated by a couple of years. In 1989 Jevetta signed to a 7 album contract with Elektra. As part of her deal, Elektra signed her family's group, which she is also a member of, The Steeles. She rode high after her version of "Calling You," from the movie Baghdad Cafe was nominated for an Academy Award for song of the year. The track was later featured prominently in a national AT&T telephone commercial. However, Elektra underwent some changes and the new executives felt the label had too many acts in the same vein and Jevetta's project was put on hold. Two years later, the label put the album out in some parts of Europe and it sold 100,000 copies with limited promotion. The core of album itself was similar to the version released in 1993 , however, there were some differences in track listing, content and the mix on several songs. On this effort, Prince wrote two songs: "And How" and "Skip To My You My Darling." Both tracks were well suited, gospel oriented, songs that fit Jevetta's sound well. This album was particularly rare due to it's limited release and short run, but does exist on compact disc. Here It Is did not see an international release until Columbia Records put out a substantially reworked version of the album. The tracks were placed in a different running order and several were remixed differently. The result was an album that went from being very good to outstanding. Although, Jevetta has stated in interviews she prefers the first version because it is more true to her sound. Columbia was interested in a more pop oriented album. This time, Prince's two previous songs were replaced with outtakes from the sessions with Martika for her album Martika's Kitchen. "Open Book" and "Hold Me" are both beautiful ballads that Jevetta performs flawlessly.

General Data [First Pressing]

Label	Musidisc
Release Date	1991
Cat. Number	108772

General Data [Second Pressing]

Label	Columbia Records
Release Date	August 10, 1993
Cat. Number	CK 53900

Tracks Written By

First Pressing

• "And How" (w/David Z/ Levi Seacer Jr.) [ Lyrics | MP3 ]
• "Skip 2 My U My Darling" (w/Jevetta Steele/ Levi Seacer Jr.) [ Lyrics | MP3 ]

• "Open Book" [ Lyrics | MP3 ]
• "Hold Me" (w/ Martika and Levi Seacer Jr.) [ Lyrics | MP3 ]