Thanks to the magic of my friend from Discogs Tobysheldonla, I now have Sonia Papp's Destiny in digital form, the final third of my Sonia Papp album trilogy, and I can finally share her work with you all in my first ever triple post! I previously featured Sonia's first single, "Undercover Lover", on Lost Pop Treasures last year. Unfortunately I've been unable to find any more info on her since then. It's amazing to me that someone who released three albums over a decade has no internet presence whatsoever! The only thing I can say for sure is that she is from Quebec. The hi-NRG "Undercover Lover" was a club hit in Canada in 1988. It took two more years before her debut album was released, and it featured a housier remix of the track. For the album she changed the spelling of her first name from Sonia with an 'I' to Sonya with a 'Y' for some unknown reason. The majority of the album was straight up dance-pop, all produced by John Farley of Canadian disco group Hydro. Nothing more was heard from her until three years later when she released the single "The Mexican", a remake of the 1972 Babe Ruth classic, which was remade into a dance hit by John "Jellybean" Benitez in 1984 and to which Sonya's version is most similar. This was followed by the album Time. Though the album was this time produced by drummer Denis Lavigne of Canadian pop-rock group Paradox, it still contained mostly dance-pop tunes. The album also included a version of "Hasta La Vista", which previous postee Chantal recorded with the group Collage a couple of years earlier. While "The Mexican" saw some local success, the housey title track was the next single and it went unnoticed. I had thought that that was the end of Sonya's recording career until one day, over a decade later, I went into a second-hand CD store and found Love Me Tonight, which was released in 1999, clearly with no fanfare. She reverted back to Sonia with an 'I' for this album, perhaps to signal a reinvention of her sound. While I was surprised to find another album by Sonia, I was even more surprised to hear her new direction, full on rock-pop. It was the first album produced by Matthew Gerrard of Canadian rock group Regatta, who later on went to produce teen pop acts like Nick Carter, Hilary Duff, Raven-Symoné, Jo Jo and 'Hannah Montana'. It also features previous postee Sheree Jeacocke on backing vocals. Alas, this new direction proved no more successful than her previous work and Sonia once again disappeared from the spotlight. Which leaves us here, 13 years later, wondering where this Canadian treasure remains hidden. At least now we can all enjoy her music, and, as always, any info as to her current whereabouts would be greatly appreciated! :)Download Destiny
| 1 | Jamie | ||
| 2 | Destiny | ||
| 3 | Fire Of Love | ||
| 4 | Nobody's Fool | ||
| 5 | Undercover Lover | ||
| 6 | Rescue Me | ||
| 7 | I'll Make You Love Me | ||
| 8 | Heart To Heart | ||
| 9 | Show Me A Sign |
Download Time
| 1 | Time | ||
| 2 | The Mexican | ||
| 3 | Dance Yes, Talk No | ||
| 4 | Hasta La Vista | ||
| 5 | Chemistry | ||
| 6 | You've Got The World | ||
| 7 | Talk About It | ||
| 8 | My Heart Stands Alone | ||
| 9 | I've Been Waiting For This Chance | ||
| 10 | Heart Beat | ||
| 11 | Play The Field | ||
| 12 | The Mexican (Chico Mix) |
Download Love Me Tonight
| 1 | Take Me Down | ||
| 2 | Tell Me Why | ||
| 3 | Love Me Tonight | ||
| 4 | Heart To Heart | ||
| 5 | Dirty Old Sam | ||
| 6 | Without Your Love | ||
| 7 | Let Me Be Your Angel | ||
| 8 | Find A Way To Your Heart | ||
| 9 | My Heart Stands Alone | ||
| 10 | Fire Of Love |
Darn - No links for Destiny are valid. I would love the remix of Undercover Lover.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Jody
Destiny has been reupped. ;)
DeleteTime's links are dead as well. :(
ReplyDeleteLove me Tonight is still good. :)
Thank you!!! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Nasty, both 'Destiny' and 'Love Me Tonight' are dead links. Any chance of a re-up? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSteve
They've been reupped. :)
DeleteWow, that was super fast! Thanks so much!!
ReplyDeleteSteve
I spoke to Sonya Papp in 1993 when I worked at Virgin Records in 1993 as a temp. My job was to open up the mail from all the people trying to get noticed. Sonya sent one her videos. It was great. She was dancing with a group of dancers. Wow. She is talented. She could dance. And she was gorgeous. She had all the makings of a star. I called her agent to ask for more of her music because I was an instant fan. She called me super excited. She thought that Virgin was interested in signing her. I wish they had. The fact is, my job was to open up envelopes and write a canned letter to everyone who sent in material and tell them that the company wasn’t interested. The reality was that the company wasn’t interested in listening to any of the mailings I opened up. I must have opened up and thrown out hundreds of CDS and videos. But Sonya was special. I couldn’t help but notice her and her music. After I spoke to Sonya, I took her music to one of the executives. They were too blind to see that she would have been a huge star at that time. I was upset and embarrassed because I wish that I could have done something for her. It’s so disappointing not to see any material of her out there other than this site. With all the crap out there, I cannot believe that someone with such fun music did not get picked up by one of the major labels in Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to Sonya Papp in 1993 when I worked at a major record label in 1993 as a temp. My job was to open up the mail from all the people trying to get noticed. Sonya sent one her videos from her album Time. It was great. She was dancing with a group of dancers. Wow. She was talented. She could dance. And she was gorgeous. She had all the makings of a star. I called her agent to ask for more of her music because I was an instant fan. She called me super excited. She thought that Virgin was interested in signing her. I wish they had. I had to break the news that my job was to open up envelopes and write a canned letter to everyone who sent in material and tell them that the company wasn’t interested. It broke my heart. I could tell that she was crushed. The reality was that the company wasn’t interested in listening to any of the mailings I opened up. I must have opened up and thrown out hundreds of CDS and videos. But Sonya was special. I couldn’t help but notice her and her music. After I spoke to Sonya, I took her music to one of the executives. They were too blind to see that she would have been a huge star at that time. I was upset and embarrassed because I wish that I could have done something for her. It’s so disappointing not to see any material of her out there other than this site. With all the crap out there, I cannot believe that someone with such great dance music did not get picked up by one of the major labels in Los Angeles. She must be in her 40’s right now. I wish she would make a comeback. She doesn’t need a record label anymore to get noticed.
ReplyDeleteAny chance you could re-up Time (1993), please.
ReplyDeleteIt's been reupped.
ReplyDelete