Monday January 17, 2022 “Kiss” Prince
In a few days Paul Stanley, vocalist and guitarist in the band Kiss will be 69. Now I realize that Kiss is a very divisive band with those who love them and those whose feelings fall somewhere short of love and since my intention is always to enlighten and entertain, I don't want to have a week of songs that many of you may dislike. OK maybe the occasional bad choice but not a whole week.
So as a form of minor Paul Stanley celebration let’s look at songs that deal with the act of ‘touching with the lips as a sign of love, sexual desire, reverence, or greeting’…the kiss.
And is there a more evocative kiss song than “Kiss” by Prince.
As the story goes, Prince wrote this song for the band Mazerati that was formed by Prince’s bass player BrownMark, yes his name is Mark Brown but he chose to be known as BrownMark. But when Prince heard how good it sounded he took the Mazerati musical track, added his own vocals along with the guitar break and made it his own. And “Kiss” was a number one song, multi-million selling record that won the 1986 Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance.
To say Mazerati felt slighted would be understatement but Prince told BrownMark that he would give him a co-writing credit and therefore a share of the royalties…which according to Mark he did not do.
Stay safe and well…and Tom Jones also had a hit with his cover of “Kiss” which is not the only thing he shares with Prince as they both share the same birthday June 7…maybe a couple of years apart.