Miki Howard "Ain't Nobody Like You"

Album: Femme Fatale (Giant)
Songwriters: LeMel Humes
Hit #1: November 14th, 1992 (1 Week)

From her New Jack-seasoned cover of Aretha's "Until You Come Back To Me", to the pre-rock standard "Imagination" and a slew of piercing R&B ballads ("Come Share My Love", "Baby Be Mine", "That's What Love Is"), Miki Howard, a child of gospel-singing parents, could be considered Black music royalty with the top-notch material she rolled out from the mid-80's to early-90's. Like Anita Baker, Howard earned much kudos (and several R&B charting hits) due to her appreciation of jazz and live instrumentation, but her album sales never seemed to match her great talent. Looking for an increased profile boost, Howard left longtime label Atlantic and moved to Giant for her fourth album.

"Ain't Nobody Like You", the first single from Femme Fatale, saw Howard toeing a bit out of her comfort zone, being a bit more sensual and raising the tempo up a bit. Written and produced by longtime collaborator LeMel Humes, the song rides an earthy bass, keys and electric guitar groove as Miki plants focus on a man whose pull is so magnetically strong, she's ready to give up on the rest of the male population. In expressing how much the cat's meow this man must be, her jazzy voice effortless ascends from seducing lows to electrifying highs on the verses. On the arresting chorus, a multi-tracked attack of piercing intensity, her feelings are made abundantly clear: he is the ONE ("I've been up and I've been down/ I've had my feet swept off the ground/...I've had boys in and out my door/ But I know you're the only one for me").

Unfortunately (and extremely unfairly), even with this #1 single in it's hold (becoming her sole pop chart entry) and input from David Foster and Diane Warren alongside covers of Billie Holliday and Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Femme Fatale still couldn't get Miki the Gold plaque she so deserved. Radio support soon dried up as well, but Howard has remained a critics' favorite with a string of independent releases, the most recent, Miki Sings The Classics, dropping in 2006.



DL: "Ain't Nobody Like You" (YFH)