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Freddie Jackson VibeZ

Fourteen tracks from a man who had ten number ones on the R&B chart in the 1980s and is somehow still filed as a footnote. Freddie Jackson deserves better.

The quiet storm's most reliable voice

Freddie Jackson came out of Harlem, sang in church at White Rock Baptist, and worked as a backing vocalist — including for Melba Moore, who became his mentor and got him signed to Capitol. His 1985 debut Rock Me Tonight was an immediate enormous success, and he spent the rest of the decade as one of the most consistent hitmakers in R&B.

His register is specific: the quiet storm, the late-night radio format built on slow, romantic, adult soul. Jackson is arguably its definitive male voice — a warm, unhurried baritone-tenor with a gospel foundation and no interest whatsoever in vocal acrobatics.

The reason he is under-discussed is largely that critics have never valued this lane. The audience always has.

What to listen for

"Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)" is the record — six weeks at number one on the R&B chart and one of the defining slow jams of the decade.

"You Are My Lady" is the other pillar, written by Barry Eastmond, and it has been played at more weddings than most people could count.

"Jam Tonight" is the up-tempo one and shows he could move when he wanted to, and "Tasty Love" and "Have You Ever Loved Somebody" continue the run.

"I Don't Want To Lose Your Love" and "After All This Time" are the deeper album cuts, and "Transitions" is the most musically interesting.

The covers are worth attention. "I'll Be Around" is the Spinners, "I Wanna Get Next to You" is Rose Royce, "I Wanna Know Your Name" is the Intruders, and "Save the Best for Last" is Vanessa Williams. He interprets rather than imitates, which is the mark of a real singer.

"Hey Lover" is not the LL Cool J song.

Go deeper

Rock Me Tonight (1985) and Just Like the First Time (1986) are the two albums.

Melba Moore deserves following — a Tony winner and a formidable singer whose own catalogue is excellent, and without whom Jackson's career might not have happened.

For the quiet storm tradition generally: Smokey Robinson's A Quiet Storm (1975) gave the format its name, and Luther Vandross, Peabo Bryson, Will Downing and Najee are the other essential names. It is one of Black radio's most durable inventions and one of its least documented.

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