Here, courtesy of the big heart of Bomitoni, is only my second post by a male artist! One wouldn't blame you for looking at the cover and thinking "Male?", however. LOL I had bought this album eons ago thinking it was a female, both from the name and the cover image, which is very androgynous, IMO. After the first listen, I was disappointed it was a guy and never gave it a chance, selling the CD to the lowest bidder. But now that Bomitoni has shared it again, I realize it isn't half bad! It's obviously influenced by Prince and at times has the Lewis & Jam vibe, like a poppier version of other slightly more successful male artists like Georgio or St. Paul. Nikki released a few singles from this including the dancey "If You Wanna" and "Ooti Ooti", but only the ballad "Notice Me" made an impact, almost making it into the Billboard Top 20, and Nikki faded away. But it has been revealed that Nikki Lee later renamed himself Michael Mozart and married pop starlet Martika, with whom he formed pop-rock group Oppera (though little can be found to verify this, Bomitoni, Martika's biggest fan, is fairly confident it's true!). They have released two albums thus far, and are apparently at work on another. What a match made in heaven for fans of this blog!Video for If You Wanna (Many thanks to Maxwell K for uploading it to Youtube!!):
Download Nikki
| 1 | If You Wanna | |
| 2 | We'll Be Together | |
| 3 | Notice Me | |
| 4 | Whoa, Whoa, Whoa | |
| 5 | Ooti Ooti | |
| 6 | Body Rub | |
| 7 | Do You Love Me | |
| 8 | Wild Boys | |
| 9 | Come On Over | |
| 10 | Shadow Man |
I am VERY fortunate to have owned this CD for quite some time. I discovered Nikki after coming across one of his cassingles in a local thrift store, and immediately fell in love with the song "Come On Over," which I still think is the true shiner of this album. "Ooti Ooti" is a very close second though.
ReplyDeleteGREAT post!
:-)
I actually stumbled upon this cd at a garage sale. Best 25¢ I ever spent. I had no idea about Nikki until I read some people talking about it on a Kids Inc board. So when I came across a physical copy I snatched it up. Though there is no confirmation by Michael's part, if you look at the publishing company for both Nikki and Oppera...they both are mysteriously Stikki Ikki Music. Hmmmm....
ReplyDeleteI actually asked Michael about Nikki via myspace, but Oppera haven't updated their page in ages, so my question remains unanswered.
I see his face and think..."I know all there is to know about the crying game".
ReplyDeleteMartika and Nikki making a group together and calling it oppera. Too bad they still ended up being a Floppera. Poor nikki, never gets a break.
i used to love this song! i was just listening to it on my ipod. vh1 used to play this video all the time in 1990
ReplyDeleteHello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If ossible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Aparelho de DVD, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://aparelho-dvd.blogspot.com. A hug.
ReplyDeleteI've searched high and low for this album within the past year. Oh how I love 80's Prince clones LOL!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the upload.
Omigod, 18 years later I find out this was actually a guy? AND he became one half of Floppera! LOL. I remember my mother being obsessed with the "Notice Me" song. I think for 6 weeks straight she played that cassette single non-stop. I can still remember the song like it was yesterday but I never once added it to my own collection. I will have to get this on Amazon! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAre you freaking KIDDING ME? I love Martika!! And I have this album on CD (an upgrade from the cassette which I won in a dancing competition when I was a teenager) it was at a Christian dance and my moves weren't too Christian so I guess I stood out and at the time they were judging the dancing competition a fight had broken out outside the disco and everyone ran out to watch leaving only me and about 5 people dancing to INXS 'Devil inside'. It was around 1990. Anyways I won a gift basket and this tape was in the basket, never took to the album except for the AMAZING 'Shadow Man' and don't mind 'do you love me' too. I can't believe he's THE Michael Mozart of Oppera! Wow this blog is invaluable! You should be asking for paypal donations lol!
ReplyDelete