Thursday, February 14, 2008

A free Lynden David Hall download

I wanted to find a nice romantic song for y’all on Valentine’s Day. I stumbled upon a sad story instead.

Lynden David Hall was a young British neo-soul singer and songwriter whose 1997 debut album, “Medicine 4 My Pain,” was hailed by critics in the U.K. It spawned a hit single called “Sexy Cinderella.”

But Lynden didn’t keep coming with the hits, and he was dropped by his label a few years later. He continued to write, record and perform. He appeared in the 2003 movie “Love Actually,” where he sang “All You Need is Love.” (Here is that scene.)

In the fall of 2003, Lynden David Hall was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes. While fighting the disease, he got involved with cancer-related charities.

Lynden died on February 14, 2006 – Valentine’s Day – at the age of 31, leaving behind a wife who now oversees his musical and philanthropic legacy.

If you have a MySpace account, you can download a FREE MP3 of Lynden David Hall’s live version of “Medicine 4 My Pain.”

Click here to stream it on my Vox blog.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to LOVE his music! Discovered him when I was studying abroad my junior year in England back then..damn, that was 10 years ago...I'm old...

He still holds up nicely though...

Undercover Black Man said...

^ I wonder why he never made any noise in the U.S.? I mean, they must've tried.

Anonymous said...

Right! And that was during that whole Maxwell/D'Angelo/Kenny Lattimore era so brothers making that kind of music were on the come up.

For some reason though "black" British artists don't click long over here. Scary Spice does not count! I am counting Sade, however, LOL.

But other than the mega success of Sade, off the top of my head, I am hardpressed to think of others to match.

Mica Paris had a moment, Craig David had a second. Soul II Soul still gets lifts from the nostalgia of Keep on Moving on the so-called Grown and Sexy old school R&B radio stations. Corinne Bailey Rae showed some promise.

Omar has a cult following here, like Brand New Heavies and older versions of Incognito. I'm guessing Terrence Trent D'Arby is very much remembered. I think Hil St. Soul has or had some buzz.

But Beverley Knight never blew up. Never heard more than a smidge of Shola Ama here or The Lighthouse Family. Whatever happened to Ms. Dynamite? Rhian Benson? Santessa? Where's Lemar? Asa? Hell, even Jamelia?

Meanwhile, the white folks obviously do well, sending over Amy Crackhouse, Joss Stone, Dusty Springfield, and tons of others, even the awesome Lewis Taylor who I wish would return to making music.

Undercover Black Man said...

^ Dang... half those people I never heard of. But I liked Ms. Dynamite and Craig David.

Happybutterfly said...

All those peeps are still here doing their thing albeit quietly. Although Lemar and Craig David really need to go back to the hole they came out of!

Undercover Black Man said...

^ Welcome, Happybutterfly. Thanks for commenting.