Tashan

Tashan ranks among the finest soul and R&B singers, yet his career suffered from appearing at an inopportune stylistic moment. His vocals proved too organic and unpolished for urban contemporary radio while lacking the Southern regional flavor and blues inflection that might have appealed to that audience. New York roots gave him fluency in hip-hop and rap, and his Def Jam albums featured intense collaborations with Alyson Williams. In the middle of the 1980s he wrote and produced the track “Yours for a Night,” which Whodini recorded. Def Jam/Columbia signed him in 1985, issuing Chasin’ a Dream the following year and On the Horizon in 1989. Neither album achieved broad commercial success, although Tashan found greater acceptance in England. His third album appeared in 1994.