The mid-1970s music scene can be applauded for many things, but the then-contemporary hairstyles of blue-eyed soul/R&B vocalists is not one of them. Witness the towering mountain of curly locks sported at the time by Canadian vocalist Gino Vannelli!
His hair aside (and I’m not one to throw stones here, having myself also experimented with such a “style”), Gino was very popular with soul/R&B fans, having made his network television debut on SoulTrain in 1975 — then only the second white artist to have appeared on the program — and having toured that same year as the opening act for none other than Stevie Wonder. Gino reached the zenith of his career with his 1978 album Brother to Brother, a platinum seller whose sales were driven largely by its lead single “I Just Wanna Stop,” which reached # 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Gino a Grammy nomination. We feature here Gino’s return to SoulTrain in March 1979 to perform the track. Enjoy.
By Robb Patryk
