If you’re not familiar with Howard Hewett’s voice, go to Youtube or Spotify and allow yourself to be taken to school by one of R&B music’s first-class voices. Since breaking onto the scene as 1/3 of Shalamar with 1979’s #1 smash “The Second Time Around,” Howard has experienced varying degrees of success, but he’s never been out of the game for very long. In the mid ’90s, he was one of the first veteran R&B artists to go the independent route, along with Teena Marie and his former group-mate, Jody Watley. In the years since, he’s released material in the R&B as well as gospel fields, but this year’s “Better Guy” finds Hewett making a much more concerted effort to get in front of the ears of soul music listeners than he has recently.
The mid-tempo joint doesn’t try too hard to be trendy, which is a good thing. We don’t need our classic vocalists to go over the top in efforts to appear of-the-moment (hi, Aretha.) “Better Guy” has a relaxed but contemporary flavor somewhat reminiscent of Ne-Yo’s best work. It was co-written and co-produced by Troop’s Steve Russell (who has maintained steady bank as a songwriter since his group’s glory years.) Russell also appears in the video alongside Howard and actor Michael Jai White.
Hopefully, “Better Guy” is the intro to a new album from Hewett. There’s always more room in my collection for great music.
Follow Howard on Twitter as @justavocalist.
For some old school flavor, check out Howard’s 1990 classic “Show Me.” This is a slow jam to end all slow jams, and my favorite of his solo joints.