For a brief time in the 1980s, Stevie Woods had a real moment. The smooth vocalist signed with Cotillion Records and released Take Me To Your Heaven in 1981. Take Me boasted an A-Team of backing musicians, including Ray Parker, Toto’s Steve Lukather and Chicago’s Bill Champlin, with German producer Jack White at the helm.
White had a talent for gathering great songs from around the world and working to be the first to release them in America with one of his proteges, such as Woods and Laura Branigan. And Take Me was so doggone melodic and hooky front to back that the White formula actually worked pretty well. Woods, sounding like a young, hip Johnny Mathis, breezed through the material beautifully, and the album’s first single, “Steal the Night,” was a crossover smash, hitting the top 30 on the Pop charts and slightly lower on the R&B Charts.
Woods never was able to successfully follow up his initial success on two follow up albums on Cotillion. He moved permanently to Europe, where he stayed busy on stage and television. In 2010, he recorded a live performance in Europe that showed why he continued to have success on the other side of the pond. He displayed his talent as a song stylist, deftly handling a number of classic pop and jazz songs. One of them was a terrific version of Johnny Mathis’s classic song, “Misty.” Sadly, he died four years later at the very young age of 62.
“Misty” is our latest SoulTracks Lost Gem. Check it out below and tell us what you think.
