u are just enjoying another
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[--oL-sKOOL-cLASSiCS--------------------rELEASE!----]
ARTiST.....: Corina
ALBUM......: Corina
LABEL......: Atco/Atlantic
GENRE......: Freestyle
SOURCE.....: CDDA
TRACKS.....: 10
PLAYTiME...: 47:54
SiZE.......: 65,3 MB
ENCODER....: Lame 3.97 V2
BiTRATE....: VBRkbps
SCENE DATE.: 09/12/2007
STORE DATE.: 00/00/1991
Tracklist:
01. Temptation 04:02
02. Now That You're Gone 04:33
03. If You Believe 04:50
04. Searching 05:04
05. Whispers 04:48
06. No Excuses 05:30
07. It's My Life 04:42
08. I've Got It In For You (Boy/Love) 04:25
09. When I Miss You 05:02
10. Don't Walk Away 04:58
Release Notes:
Born to Puerto Rican parents and raised on the streets of the
Bronx and Spanish Harlem, the gorgeous, raven-haired Corina
had an early knack for entertaining. "When I was little, like
five or six-years-old, I was really shy, extremely shy,"
explains Corina, "and I would lock myself in my room and play
my mothers records. I would perform in front of the mirror for
hours." Noticing her daughters abilities, Corinas mother
enrolled her in voice lessons and ballet classes and entered
her into many different talent contests. When she was a
pre-teen, Corina began working in the recording studio with
different producers, but without any real progress. Not sure
which direction her career would take, Corinas father insisted
that she continue her formal education while pursuing her
singing career. "Im also good with details and Im big on
defending people," Corina says. "The only other thing I
couldve been is a lawyer."
While studying criminal law in college, Corina was still
pounding the pavement trying to get a break. "I was having a
really tough time breaking into the business as a Latina who
basically sounded white," Corina remembers. In 1987 her luck
started to change. Through mutual friends, Corina met Pepper
Negron who became her manager. It was an introduction by
Pepper to Carlos Berrios that really got the ball rolling.
"Carlos played a song for me that I didnt particularly care
for at the time," explains Corina. "I said to him, If I can
write on it and fix it so that it fits me, then Ill do it, and
it turned into Out of Control." Signed to Cutting Records,
"Out of Control" became Corinas first Freestyle hit. The song
can still be found today on any number of Freestyle
compilations, as it is considered an old school classic.
In 1988, Corina recorded and released "Give Me Back My Heart,"
offering many listeners a first look at the singer. "Out of
Control" was released as a picture-less 12"-single, while
"Give Me Back My Heart" offered a glam photo of the singer,
donned in a black wig and thigh-high boots, standing in an
abandoned church. Produced by T.K. Rodriguez, "Give Me Back My
Heart," coincidentally, could be the sequel to "Out of
Control." If "Out of Control" is about the desperation of a
woman whose relationship has ended, then "Give Me Back My
Heart" is the response, with Corina as the heroine demanding
to be set free from an abusive situation. Equally, if not more
successful as her debut single, "Give Me Back My Heart"
offered Corina an appearance on the long-lost freestyle
television show "Latin Connection," and a starring role in the
never-released film Street Dreams, alongside Marc Anthony and
the legendary Iris Chacon.
After the success of "Give Me Back My Heart," Freestylers were
clamoring for Corinas next release. Unfortunately, it was a
long wait before Cutting Records released another Corina song.
In 1990 the wait was over as "Loving You Like Crazy" was
released. Produced by Aldo Marin, "Loving You Like Crazy"
became Corinas third consecutive hit, and like "Give Me Back
My Heart," spawned its own separate 12-inch house remix.
While her first three singles were hugely successful in
markets such as New York and Miami, it wasnt until Corina
re-teamed with Carlos Berrios that she achieved her greatest
commercial success. "Carlos and I fought after Out of
Control," Corina recalls with a smile, "and then four years
later, he called and said, Lets do a song together."
Continuing, she says, "Temptation was a song I played for him
before "Out of Control" and he liked it but didnt know what to
do with it. We put it away and he still had it four years
later." Still unsure about pulling the song from her archives,
Corina needed some prodding before she agreed. "Carlos said to
me, If you dont do it, can I have it for Lisette [Melendez],"
Corina offers. "I said, well let me see what youre doing with
it first, and I went in and he was coming up with this sound
called "new school." He played Lisettes "Together Forever" for
me, which hadnt been released yet, and said "Temptation" was
going to be in that vein."
Corina agreed to record "Temptation," but soon after, she and
Berrios were, once again, at odds. "The best stuff Ive ever
done was with Carlos," she explains. "Its material that no one
has ever heard because either he has it, or I have it, and
weve never released it because we cant seem to get along
outside of working. Its funny because its from the deep anger
that the wonderful work comes out, but outside of that the
records are never released because we want to kill each other,
yet we have this intense love for each other," Corina muses
about their tempestuous relationship.
Immediately after "Temptations" release, which was five months
later than "Together Forever" due to delays in paperwork by
Cutting, Corina took a lot of heat about the similarities
between the two songs. "Beside the fact that we dont sound at
all the same, and were completely different, there were all
the comparisons," Corina notes of that period. "What people
dont understand is that it was Carloss sound, not mine, nor
Lisettes." Still, with 285 radio stations across the country
adding the song, "Temptation" peaked at number six on the Hot
100 in the summer of 1991. Even with all the negative
comparisons, Corina notes, "I wound up with what I thought was
a great song. It was the highest-charting song I ever had, and
it supposedly was one of the dance records that went the
furthest from that genre of music."
With an album in the can for Cutting Records, the major labels
came knocking to sign the "unknown" with the Top Ten hit.
Corinas self-titled debut album was released by Cutting and
Atco Records in 1991. A video for "Temptation" was produced
that remains one of Corinas proudest achievements. "Whispers"
and "Now That Youre Gone" were, respectively, the second and
third singles released from Corina, and although they didnt
chart as high as "Temptation" were still widely successful.
Success wasnt all that it was cracked up to be for the young
and somewhat naive Corina. "Ive suffered immensely over the
years, even while I had success," she proclaims. "During the
most success Ive had, I cried all the time because I was
really unhappy. To everyone else I was having all this
success, but it wasnt in the direction I wanted to be in."
Continuing, Corina admits, "Atco didnt have a clue who I was.
To them I was just another Latin girl from the South Bronx who
got lucky. They were used to dealing with "artists" who didnt
know anything about business, and refused to accept that I
wasnt one of them."
The video for "Whispers" was considered "big-budget" at the
time, being filmed in a castle with elaborate sets and
costumes. A video wasnt produced for "Now That Youre Gone" as
that single was released just as Atco Records was undergoing
major management changes. The redirection of the label to R&B
and changing its name to East/West Records forced Corina to
reevaluate whether she wanted to stay on and possibly be made
to record music she didnt feel comfortable singing. Opting not
to do that, Corina asked to be released from her contract.
As radio stations began dropping freestyle music from their
playlists, Corina and many other freestyle artists found
themselves label-less, and without an outlet for their music
to be heard. Fortunately, though, for fans, a call from former
Latin Rascal Albert Cabrera led to Corina recording "Constant
Craving (I Need You)" for his compilation album entitled Trip
Hop Dance 2000.
Soon after, Corina was offered the opportunity to remake
Noceras popular classic, "Summertime Summertime" to appear on
Def Jams So So Def Bass AllStars Volume II, an offer she
accepted, but not without hesitation. "At first I didnt want
to do it," says Corina, "because all these years Ive been
trying to make my music grow with me." Agreeing only on the
condition that shed be able to record a Spanish version,
Corina grew disappointed with how the song was going to be
marketed. Adamant that she didnt want to do a "booty" video,
Corina insisted on including all races in the video as to not
alienate any of her fans. Unhappy with the way it was shot,
Corina asked Columbia Records not to release the video for
which they replied, "Honey, we spent a lot of money on this,
its coming out." Clips from the Corina shoot were mixed in
with leftover clips from the "My Boo" video to create the
video for "Summertime Summertime." Laughs Corina, "The video
came out, a huge old pool party going on, and none of my Latin
and white friends are at the party. And I love all people, but
it couldnt be a one-sided party." Continuing, Corina notes, "A
lot of the dance sequences we did on the beach were cut out
because I had gay dancers. I fought fiercely with So So Def
about it. I was honest and told them that I am a proud Latin
female with a large Latino and Caucasian following. I reminded
them that I did the single because they wanted to expose
themselves to that."
Not a total fiasco, "Summertime Summertime" allowed longtime
fans to see and hear the singer again after a break that
lasted a couple of years. And for Corina, singing the song in
Spanish was a tribute to her roots, but she wont be following
in the footsteps of many former freestyle artists by recording
a Latin album. "I had the opportunity to do a Salsa album in
1989," she recalls fondly, "but I said no because at the time
I held onto memories of my mother playing it really loud on
Saturday mornings, waking me up and annoying me as I tried to
sleep." All kidding aside, she adds, "The truth is, I wasnt
going to do it just because I needed the money, and at the
time, it wouldve been the only reason I wouldve done it."
In 1999, Corina, under the moniker Corina Katt, will be
featured in the Tim Robbins film Cradle Will Rock, where she
portrays artist Frida Kahlo in an all-star cast that includes
Ruben Blades, Susan Sarandon, Vanessa Redgrave, Bill Murray
and sibling actors John and Joan Cusack.