Sheryl Crow - I do NOT get this woman at all or her appeal other than she's smokin' hawt! I KNOW that sounds sexist, but the woman rips EVERYONE off when she writes an "original." "All I Wanna Do" is "Stuck In The Middle With You" with different lyrics. I can't believe Gerry Rafferty didn't sue her for that one! Now she's trying to reinvent herself as a soul singer on her new album, but she doesn't have the chops and the results are laughable. It's like all those white guys who try to sound black by sounding constipated. She does the old "yeah-ah-yeah-ee-yeah-ah-yeah" with every syllable. That's not soul, that's just tasteless! She was notorious for taking up with married guys, then expected everyone to feel sorry for her when Lance Armstrong dumped her....after she helped break up his marriage. Again, I don't get her. My sister in law, a person I really respect and a great keys/vocalist thinks Crow is the most talented woman in pop music. Maybe it's me....
A little background on Sheryl Crow and why I have no respect for her. Back in the early 90s keyboardist/producer Patrick Leonard teamed up with an up-and-coming young talent, Kevin Gilbert, to form Toy Matinee. They released 1 album before having a falling out before they even had a chance to tour to support the album. Gilbert formed a band to perform live as Toy Matinee. Included in that band on guitar was Marc Bonilla (who would later team up with Danny Seraphine in California Transit Authority) and keyboardist/background vocalist, Sheryl Crow.
Gilbert & Crow became friends (possibly more, honestly I'm not sure how close they were) and were part of a group of musicians/songwriters who would get together on Tuesday nights to jam and right songs, The Tuesday Night Music Club. Crow and Gilbert inevitably had a falling out. It is believed by many fans of Kevin Gilbert that he had more than a passing influence in the songs that appeared on Crow's debut album,
Tuesday Night Music Club but the closest Crow came to giving him credit was a brief note in her "thank yous" in the liner notes. If you listen to the lyrics on Crow's
Tuesday Night Music Club and compare them to the Gilbert penned lyrics on the Toy Matinee album or even on Kevin Gilbert's 1995 solo album,
Thud you might find the claims of plagiarism on the part of Crow deserve more than a passing shrug or offhand dismissal.
Sadly Kevin Gilbert was found dead on May 17, 1996 at the age of 29, a week before he was scheduled to fly to England to audition with Genesis to replace Phil Collins. He was a fan of old school Genesis and had hoped to return Genesis to their Peter Gabriel era prog-rock roots. He had even performed Genesis
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in its entirety with his band at Progfest 1994.
After Gilbert's passing Crow wrote the song
Sad Sad World about Gilbert's passing a posthumous making amends to her old friend. Gilbert had more talent in his pinky than Crow has in her entire body.
