#294 HEART & SOUL by Kathy Troccoli (1984)

HEART & SOUL by Kathy Troccoli (1984)
Reunion Records - SPCN 7-01-000512-5

Producer: Brown Bannister

File Under: CCM

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

Long Distance Letter

Throaty. Powerful. Breathy. Sultry. Chesty. Dusky. All of these adjectives have been used to describe the wonderful alto voice of Kathy Troccoli, a New Yorker with an Italian Catholic upbringing and a star quality that has taken her beyond the confines of Contemporary Christian Music.

Born in 1958, Troccoli grew up on Long Island. After college she found work as a nightclub singer, but a co-worker at her day job witnessed to her and led her to faith in Christ. After opening for the group Glad, Ed Nalle helped her record a demo; the demo wound up in the hands of Mike Blanton and Dan Harrell (the management team for Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith)...and the rest is history. Kathy ended up contributing background vocals on Grant's Age to Age album before releasing a project of her own in 1982. The title song from that '82 album - Stubborn Love - became a huge radio hit, causing the album to be the best-selling debut by any female artist in the history of CCM. Kathy Troccoli was on her way.

Expectations were high for Troccoli's sophomore release, 1984's Heart & Soul...and, for the most part, the album delivers. Yes and Know, Open My Eyes, I Belong to You and Island of Love are standard CCM pop fare, but songs like Hearts of Fire, the opener (Long Distance Letter), and Bittersweetness are memorable, danceable, and anything but "standard." Overall, Heart & Soul showcases radio-friendly arrangements, hooks that stay on your mind, and rhythms that cause your feet to want to move. The production and arrangements would've been right at home on mainstream Top 40 radio. The record boasted a list of top-flight session players, including drummer Paul Leim, Dann Huff on guitar, and Ernie Watts on sax. The danceable grooves on this album were driven primarily by keyboards and percussion. Lenny Castro provided the rhythmic accompaniment, while keys were played by the accomplished quartet of Michael W. Smith, Keith Thomas, Phil Madeira and Shane Keister. 

Long Distance letter is a song I remember playing over and over when I was a young, very green radio DJ at WEAB ("The Rock of the 80s!") in Greer, South Carolina. Mighty Lord, written interestingly enough by Phil Madeira, is gospel-infused and contains a "scat vocal" (something you don't hear everyday on CCM pop albums). Holy, Holy is a danceable worship song (?) that was ahead of its time and sounded for all the world like something off Michael W. Smith 2. It benefits from a myriad of instruments, expertly played, and some stratospheric background vocals. The list of backing singers on this record is lengthy and impressive. It includes Chris Harris, Donna McElroy, Gary Pigg, Jackie Cusac, Kim Fleming, Marty McCall and Melody Tunney. Hearts of Fire gives the studio musicians a chance to show off a bit, especially bassist Mike Brignardello. The songwriting roster for Heart & Soul is also a who's who: Gary Chapman, Keith Thomas, Brown Bannister, Michael W. Smith, Phil Madeira, Amy Grant, Pam Mark Hall, Billy Sprague, James Ward, Mark Gersmehl, and Chris Eaton, among others.

Troccoli's New York attitude was effectively captured on the album cover. She's always been a pretty lady, something that did not hinder her career in the least -- a career, by the way, that often straddled CCM and the secular music business. She hosted television shows like Queens and VH1 Countdown, opened for a time for Jay leno in Las Vegas, and toured with acts such as Michael Bolton, Boyz II Men, the Beach Boys and Kenny Loggins. Other TV appearances include The Tonight Show, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, The 700 Club, and Entertainment Tonight. She's had a mainstream Top 40 hit in the early 90s (Everything Changes) and has won 2 Dove Awards, one for a powerful pro-life song titled A Baby's Prayer. 

All in all, 24 recordings, 18 number-one radio hits, 19 Dove Award nominations, 2 Dove Awards, and 3 Grammy nominations...and she shows no signs of slowing down. A Kathy Troccoli concert these days is likely to include big band classics, jazz standards, tender hymns, and, of course, her CCM hits. In addition to her music, she has authored a handful of books and is a popular speaker at women's conferences. It's been a career that has spanned more than thirty years.  

“I am doing exactly what I believe I was created to do,” Kathy says on the bio page of her website. “To encourage, motivate, and offer hope. What a privilege.”