Nick Kamen was first and foremost, a model in the UK, where he was featured on the cover of the 1984 magazine, The Face. However, by 1986, he was burning up the Europe charts with his single, Each Time You Break My Heart, written and produced by Madonna.
The track would go on to be the lead single from his 1987 self titled debut, which is what I'm firing up today. It definitely has a Billy Ocean, Rick Astley type vibe to it, making it sound a bit familiar to the ears.
A surprising tune was his cover of Benny Mardones' Into The Night. While it was "interesting", it was definitely inferior in every way to the original. Whereas the song was very important to Mardones personally, and he delivered it with every bit of passion and soul in his voice, Kamen is just singing it like it's just another song in a Rolodex of expendable tracks.
Kamen also delivers a cover of the 1966 Four Tops hit, Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever, which again he does little justice to. You can't just take that "Motown Sound", and let anyone sing it. Especially not in synthpop format. It does no justice to the original at all.
Overall the album was decent. Kamen definitely shines the most on Each Time You Break My Heart, which feels like the most refined song of the bunch. Then again, would one expect any less from Madonna? Especially by 1987.
He definitely shines better when singing his "own" tracks, versus tackling covers, which quite frankly, are outside of his wheelhouse. Though, ultimately, I suspect this album will wind up being forgettable for me beyond the Madonna track.
Though he would go on to release albums consecutively between 1988 and 1992, and then make a minor resurgence in 2020 with his sixth and final album, Kamen never really made it big past Europe. Sadly, he passed away in 2021 after a long battle with bone marrow cancer.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS February 16, 1980 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS February 16, 1985 |
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