Countess Vaughn - Countess (1992)

I remember downloading Countess Vaughn's only album a couple of years ago, but I lost the files, so I decided to buy the CD.  Luckily one seller in China was selling it brand new at a cheap price, as all of the other offers were way too expensive.  I guess it's fairly rare?  Anyway, I became aware of Countess way back in 1988 where she became the junior vocalist champion and overall junior champion on Star Search at age nine.  I remember her specifically because she was very precocious and got on my nerves. lol This win got her a gig on the sitcom 227 that same year, where she stayed for two years.  She continued doing guest spots on television until she finally got a record deal with Charisma Records in 1992. Now thirteen, she was able to perform more mature music, the result being a mainly New Jack swing sound.  Her first single, obviously chosen to showcase her vocals, was the ballad "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World", which was a James Brown cover. It barely dented the R&B charts, and the album and follow-up single, "Wait For Me", were stillborn, which was disappointing because of her vocal talent.  It is likely they didn't know how to market her given her age.  Whatever the case, Countess went back to acting and landed her signature role in 1996 on the show Moesha, playing star Brandy's best friend.  She won a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1998. This led to friction between Countess and Brandy, as Countess thought herself the reason for the show's success.  This feud lasted until 2015, when Countess finally apologized on Instagram. But there's no denying that her popularity led to the 1999 spin-off The Parkers, where Mo'Nique played her mother. The show was an instant success and lasted five years.  After this, however, her gigs were few and far between.  She finally appeared as a regular again in 2006 on the reality show Celebrity Fit Club, where she failed to lose weight.  She then appeared as a contestant on MTV's Celebrity Rap Superstar, but she had to leave the show due to illness. She wouldn't land a regular gig again until she was chosen to star in the reality series Hollywood Divas on TV One in 2014.  She also joined the BET series According To Him + Her, where she continues to do reenactments for the show.  She also appeared with her Hollywood Divas co-stars in the low budget film The White Sistas in 2017.  It is interesting that her music career took a back burner all of these years, since she won Star Search as a vocalist.  She did try to capitalize on her Hollywood Divas success by recording the song "Do You Love Him" aka "Wifey" in 2016, and the making of the video was a plot on the show.  She eventually fired co-star Paula Jai Parker as director and asked another co-star, Lisa Wu, to help her find a director.  The result was an instant disaster when it was released, and Twitter went crazy making fun of it.  The video was ridiculous and didn't feature Countess singing, and the song itself was horribly produced.  It was reedited to feature Countess lip-syncing, but the damage had already been done.  It will be interesting to see if she attempts to step back in to the music world.  If so, please get a new producer, Countess!

Video for Wait For Me

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1 Wait For Me
2 Let's Call The Whole Thing Love
3 Summer Love
4 Unconditionally
5 Just Being With You
6 You Could Fall In Love With Me
7 Fallin'
8 Give Me The Love
9 Once More
10 It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World