Search - Zulema :: Best Of: Rca Years

Lost Lady of Soul on CD at last!

David Ybarra | Portland, OR United States | 08/15/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the most amazing singer/songwriters of the 1970s,18 tracks of Zulema Cusseaux's recording career on RCA are digitally remastered and discriminatively selected for this tasteful collection of her magnificent work. Sometimes funky ("Wanna Be Where You Are"), sometimes sensitive ("Coins in a Bottle"), Zulema's distinct style of soul is always dramatic, passionate and unapologetically in-your-face. Classics like "Standing in the Backrow" and "It Will Never Be the Same Again" shine beside hard to find tracks like "You're So Empty Inside" and "What Kind of Person Are You." This lady doesn't play around! Like her lyrics, her voice is powerful, holding nothing back. At times, her full-blown delivery is similar to the style of Chaka Khan, yet Zulema's fire is distinctly her own. Check this CD for just a taste of her finest work, and then go find the vinyl albums and savor what didn't make it on this collection. A great CD with some choice cuts, just needs a Volume Two now!!"

Multi-Talented And Now Just 60 Years Of Age - Where Is She I

David Ybarra | 08/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After singing with a long-forgotten group known as The Lovelles in the late 1960s, Zulema Cusseaux from Tampa, Florida became a member of Faith, Hope And Charity with whom she had two hits for the Maxwell label in 1970 before moving on to a solo career (those being So Much In Love - # 14 R&B/# 51 Billboard Hot 100 - and Baby Don't Take Your Love - # 36 R&B/# 96 Hot 100).



In 1972, now with the Sussex label and using only her unique first name (which means "peace" in Arabic), she cut the LP Zulema in 1972, followed in 1973 by a second album, Mrs. Z. She also had a # 91 R&B single for Sussex that year with Telling The World Good-Bye (Try To Find Yourself) b/w Tree.



By 1975 she had joined RCA Victor, now also the label of her former group, Faith, Hope And Charity, but whereas they scored with a # 1 R&B/# 50 Hot 100 on To Each His Own, and would also post three more hits with RCA, her only hit single there was Wanna Be Where You Are, a # 58 R&B b/w No Time Next Time. However, her RCA albums were very well received, beginning with the 1975 soundtrack LP Honey Baby, Honey Baby in conjunction with The Friends Of Distinction and jazz pianist Weldon Irvine. That was followed that year by R S V P, and in 1976 with the LP Suddenly There Was You.



By 1978 she had moved to the small LeJoint label where she cut the album Z-Licious and the hit single Change [# 46 R&B], followed in 1979 by I'm Not Dreaming, billed to Zulema and Friend - the friend being the song's writer and producer Van McCoy. It went to # 76 R&B and was her final charter, meaning that, except for her brief stint in 1970 with Faith, Hope And Chariry, she never did grace the Billboard Pop 100 charts.



Which, when you listen to her lovely clear voice, is indeed strange. She was also a multi-instrumentalist who wrote most of her own material, and produced a great deal of it, making this strikingly beautiful black diva a pioneer in that regard. Apparently she upped and quit the business after leaving LeJoint, but at just 60 years young, unless her voice has completely abandoned her you have to think that there is at least one more album left.



In this compilation you get a sampling of her work at RCA Victor, including both sides of her lone single R&B hit there."