Laura Nyro
Hear My Song:The Collection, 1966 – 1995
Madfish Music
Laura Nyro was a musician’s musician. Through the ’70s and ’80s critics were always saying that her next album was going to make her a star as big as her songs made other people. Like Carole King, many artists did versions of Nyro’s songs that rose to the Top 20. She wrote “Eli’s Coming,” which was a hit for Three Dog Night. “And When I Die” was a monster hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears. “Wedding Bell Blues” and “Stoned Soul Picnic” were songs The 5th Dimension took to the top of the pop charts. Ironically, the only song Laura got into the top of the charts herself was “Up on the Roof,” a song penned by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.
Hear My Song: The Collection, 1966 – 1995 features 10 remastered original studio albums, 6 live albums including 2 previously unreleased live concerts, Laura’s original demo tape from 1966, and a bonus disc of rarities including mono versions, alternative versions, and live tracks. If I tried to give each of the albums its due, I’d have an 80-page tome like the one written by Vivien Goldman that comes with this deluxe box set. There is just too much good stuff here to shake a cursor at.
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Laura was born in the Bronx, New York, into a Polish Jewish family. Laura’s father was a jazz trumpeter who made his living as a piano tuner. She learned piano at a young age and was performing early versions of songs like “Eli’s Coming” when she was in junior high school. Like many others at the time, Laura honed her singing on street corners and subway platforms singing doo-wop with friends.
Laura’s first album came out in 1967 on Verve/Folkways. The album, More Than A New Discovery, wasn’t a hit for her, but was still very successful spinning off hits, including “And When I Die” for Blood, Sweat & Tears and “Wedding Bell Blues” for The 5th Dimension. Nyro’s reputation as a songwriter was born with this album. After her first album, Nyro teamed up with manager David Geffen and switched to Columbia Records. Her next three albums, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, New York Tendaberry and Christmas and the Beads of Sweat are probably her best known albums. Again, other people took songs from these albums to the top of charts. Christmas, recorded with Duane Allman and the Swampers in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, produced her only chart hit, the cover of “Up on the Roof.”
Gonna Take a Miracle found Laura having fun, working up covers of her favorite “teenage heartbreak songs.” She enlisted Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendrix, and Sarah Dash (better known simply as LaBelle) to back her up. It really sounds like Nyro, relieved of the pressure of writing the songs, was able to let loose and just have fun with the songs.
At the age of 24, Nyro was fed up with the music business and announced her retirement. By that time she was married to David Bianchini and a millionaire. Like many others before her, the marriage and the retirement didn’t last. By 1976 she was divorced and recording again. The tour for her next album, Smile, produced her first live album, Season of Light. The live album showcases Nyro’s jazzy arrangements of her classic songs.
Laura’s recording career slowed down after 1978’s Nested. Nyro was pregnant with her only child during the recording of the album, and her focus shifted to her family and causes like animal welfare and women’s rights. During this time she began performing with musicians from the lesbian-feminist women’s music subculture, such as members of the band Isis. From the early ’80s until her death, Nyro lived with her partner, painter Maria Desiderio.
Laura Nyro died of ovarian cancer in 1997. Her last album of songs from 1994 and 1995 sessions, Angel in the Dark, was released in 2001. Most of the live recordings included with Hear My Song: The Collection, 1966 – 1995 were released after Nyro’s death.
Reviewing this box set has been an adventure for me. I had always thought I should check out Nyro’s music, but I never got around to it. What I’ve learned is that the hype was always justified. She was a great composer. She had a warm, soothing voice and was a great piano player. And she earned her spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
