I don’t recall if it was during Jesse Johnson’s pre-concert meet & greet chat or whether another audience member brought it up, but Tamara and the Seen was mentioned.  I was complete unaware, or hadn’t paid attention to the fact that Jesse was the producer of her first album and two 12” singles “Everybody Dance” and “Affection”, the former which literally made me jump onto the dance floor when it was played in 1986.  Memories of a 21 year old dancing to almost anything that conjured up a Prince-feeling – and “Everybody Dance” was right in that sweet spot Vanity/Apollonia Minneapolis girl sound that had me poppin!  

Her follow up “Blueberry Gossip” … hmmm.  (Not produced by Jesse) Well.  I have it in my collection and it did have two R&B chartings and a remake of “Everyday People”.  Ta Mara (Margie Cox) is one of the few artists with such a limited discography, that lasted only 3 years and then “poof”.  But she didn’t really “disappear”.  There’s a full album that she recorded with Prince that has not been released and she co-wrote “I Need You” with Jesse Johnson for Paul Abdul.  You can buy listen to her 2003 MP3 of “Margie’s Little Demo” on Amazon Prime and hear how her voice has matured. 

And … a member of The Seen (Oliver Lieber) also had some huge success writing for Paula Abdul – “It’s Just the Way That You Love Me”, “Forever Your Girl” and “Opposites Attract” – plus (here comes my love of the obscure) “Romeo and Juliet” by Stacey Earl – a CD that I bought just because it had a cute female pop singer on the cover. Oh, and it was a dollar.