Last night, BET and Centric TV (formerly BET Jazz) aired the Soul Train Awards featuring moving tributes to R&B legends Anita Baker and Ron Isley. The most moving performance (in my opinion) was by the very talented singer Tamia.
After watching Tamia’s stirring performance of Baker’s “Giving You The Best That I’ve Got,” many wondered why she hasn’t put out a new album.
It turns out the 35-year-old Grammy winner’s promising career was cut short when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a debilitating disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. Tamia, who is best known for her hits “You Put a Move On My Heart” and “Stranger in My House”, is one of the truly great singers of our time.
Tamia’s debut album, More, is considered a classic among her devoted fans. The CD received favorable reviews when it dropped in 1998, but it was largely slept on by the black community.
One of the singles, “So Into You,” was sampled by rapper Fabolous for his single “Into You”. The single peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2003.
This video also includes Faith Evans’ cracked out rendition of Baker’s classic hit “No One In The World”. It was a horrible performance by today’s standards — and that’s putting it mildly.
More performances on MissInfo‘s blog.
