Lotti Golden

[7] Golden's songs have been recorded by Grammy Award winning artists: Diana Ross, Celine Dion, Al Green, Patti LaBelle, B.

"[7] By the age of fourteen Golden was making forays into Manhattan, singing on demo sessions and peddling her songs to publishers,[7] landing her first cover by Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles.

"[14] The songs on Motor-Cycle deal with subjects like gender identity ("The Space Queens (Silky is Sad)"), drug use ("Gonna Fay's"), and urban alienation ("Who Are Your Friends").

[17] In July 1969, Newsweek ran a feature story, "The Girls: Letting Go": "There has surfaced a new school of talented female troubadours, who not only sing, but write their own songs.

What is common to them – to Joni Mitchell and Lotti Golden, to Laura Nyro, Melanie, and to Elyse Weinberg, are the personalized songs they write, like voyages of self-discovery, brimming with keen observation, and startling in the impact of their poetry"[18][19] 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,[20] 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"[10] with lyrics that evoke "a Kerouac novel.

"[21] On an album of "restlessly epic roadhouse suites"[22] Golden uses the story-based format, featuring a cast of archetypal characters while playing the part of "emcee" of her own "aberrant cabaret.

"[10] In addition to features in national publications, Lotti Golden was identified by Carrie Donovan of Vogue as a fashion trendsetter, making several appearances in the magazine.

[29] In the years since its release, Motor-Cycle continues to gain popularity via the Internet, and social media "thanks to the unusual persistence of her [Golden's] art, and the power of listeners' preferences.

[31] 2003: Golden's spoken voice on "Gonna Fay's" (Motor-Cycle) is the centerpiece for "What a Bringdown"[32] on I Am the Messiah (Spin-ART) by MC Honky, "widely considered to be Mark Oliver Everett (or "E") of the rock band Eels."

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.

"[40] 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.

[41] Golden, with co-writer/producer Scher, wrote and recorded under the moniker Warp 9, a studio production project at the forefront of the electro movement, to which they eventually added live personnel.

Described as "the perfect instance of hip hop's contemporary ramifications,"[6] Golden and Scher worked "real emotion and intelligence into the world of experimental hip-hop and electro.

[6][44][45][46][47] Among the early production teams using the Roland TR-808 drum machine, Golden and Scher[48] created a brand of "electo hip hop records with gorgeous textures and multiple layers.

[49] The Guardian (May 2014) characterized Light Years Away as " a cornerstone of early 80s beatbox afrofuturism, inspired by Grandmaster's Flash's The Message, a brilliantly spare and sparse piece of electro hip-hop traversing inner and outer space.

"[43] DJ Greg Wilson, the first to embrace electro in the UK, calculates the genre's influence on art and culture as "huge," ushering in the computer age, hip hop, and generating "a whole new approach to popular music.

[51] Golden (with Scher) went on to write for, produce and/or remix 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), Nina Hagen and Jimmy Cliff.

During the early 1980s Golden began a longstanding collaborative relationship with producer Arthur Baker,[52] co-writing the Latin Freestyle music classic "Pickin' Up Pieces" by Brenda K Starr[53] and co-producing Jennifer Holliday's Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Hard Times For Lovers" (Geffen).

[54] 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.

Golden worked with Baker on Artists United Against Apartheid, Sun City,[55] and 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.

"[51] 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, Billie Holiday, [and] Lester Young, souvenirs from Lotti's jazz-fan parents.

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.

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 3× Platinum Can't Fight Fate (Arista) album.

Golden and Faragher's work with the O'Jays, fused urban R&B with their classic soul sound, coming "closest to accomplishing that fusion with the smoking, politically charged "Something For Nothing.

Golden and Faragher made music history in 1993, producing the British R&B girl band Eternal, the first female group to reach one million units (album sales) in the UK.

[68] Eternal's debut LP, Always & Forever (EMI), certified 4× Platinum by BPI paved the way for other female UK groups like All Saints and the Spice Girls.

Golden continued working into the early 2000s,[79] but because her recording studio was lost in the divorce process, she could no longer artistically justify writing songs without creative control.

In the book, Wolman recalls first hearing about Golden from Ahmet Ertegun and Jann Wenner; the trio routinely hit the New York clubs, scouting new talent, (see photo "The Making of Motor-Cycle, 1968-9").

On the B-side, is a girl-group inspired song written by Golden, "Annabelle With Bells (Home Made Girl)," a "gem that sounds like the Ronettes for the hippie generation.

Lotti Golden and Ahmet Ertegun, NYC 1968
Lotti Golden and Ahmet Ertegun, NYC 1968
Lotti Golden performing, Nashville, Tenn., 1971 text
Lotti Golden in 1971
Lotti Golden, Riverside Park, NYC, 1981
Golden in 1981