Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!

Daddy B. Nice's #53 ranked Southern Soul Artist



Portrait of Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation! by Daddy B. Nice
 


"When I Step In The Club"

Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!

May 1, 2023:

Stephanie McDee is now the #28-ranked artist on Daddy B. Nice's new Southern Soul: The New Generation chart.

Click here.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

January 26, 2023:

DADDY B. NICE'S 16th Annual SOUTHERN SOUL MUSIC AWARDS

Best Female Vocalist:
With "Stef" barking out party-starter euphemisms like a dominatrix cracking a leather whip...

Stepanie McDee ----- “Let Me Take You There”

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "Let Me Take You There" on YouTube.

See Daddy B. Nice's BEST OF 2022.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

July 19, 2015:

New Album Alert!


Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS CD AT CD Universe.

Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS CD at Amazon.

Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS CD at iTunes.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "Taking Care Of Business" on YouTube.

Browse all of Stephanie McDee's albums in Daddy B. Nice's CD Store.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "Annie Mae's Cafe" on YouTube.

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May 25, 2014: CHART-CLIMBERS!



Stephanie McDee Debuts At #53 On Daddy B. Nice's Top 100 21st Century Southern Soul Countdown!


The rankings span fifteen years, from 2000 through 2015. SEE THE CHART.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" in her new official video on YouTube.

At the end of 2013, Daddy B. Nice honored Stephanie McDee with the most "Best Of Southern Soul" awards of any female artist, including....

Best Mid-Tempo Song: "When I Step In The Club" by Stephanie McDee

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

Best Female Vocalist: Stephanie McDee, "When I Step In The Club"

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

Best CD: Stephanie McDee's RETURN OF THE SOUTHERN SOUL QUEEN

Sample Stephanie McDee's Return Of The Southern Soul Queen.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

....and in addition to awarding "When I Step In The Club" and "Lion Of Judah" top spots on the Top 25 Southern Soul Songs of 2013, your Daddy B. Nice wrote about Stephanie McDee's collaboration with Pokey as follows:

. 24. Do The Hokey Pokey------Pokey featuring Stephanie McDee

What makes an artist blossom after years of inertia and neglect? Stephanie McDee's funny, iconic song "Monkey Talk" was a close "also-ran" for Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists & Songs (90's-00's). In 2013, a decade later, the tough journey-woman and undeniable comeback-lady of the year returned with a treasure trove of pent-up material, including this powerful new duet with leathery-voiced Pokey: the children's song "Hokey Pokey" transformed into an adult line-dancer's dream come true.

Listen to Pokey and Stephanie McDee singing "Do Tha Hokey Pokey" on YouTube.


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To automatically link to all the citations, awards and references to Stephanie McDee on the website, go to Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.

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--Daddy B. Nice


About Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!

November 12, 2013: Re-posted from Daddy B. Nice's NEW CD REVIEWS

STEPHANIE MCDEE: Return Of The Southern Soul Queen (Miracle) Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.

Stephanie McDee's funny, iconic song "Monkey Talk" was a close "also-ran" for Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists & Songs (90's-00's). Now, a decade later, Stephanie returns with a treasure trove of pent-up material in Return Of The Southern Soul Queen.

Style-wise, it's a wild mixture of southern soul, zydeco and electronica, with over-the-top forays into sixties' girl-group soul-pop and contemporary Louisiana gumbo-gospel. In effect, it's a double album (17 tracks) of gorgeous zydeco-influenced southern soul with minimal filler.

(The exceptions are the tracks "Ghetto Life" and the entry and exit cuts--straight rap--almost as if McDee were marketing fifteen excellent southern soul numbers to an audience entirely made up of hip-hop enthusiasts.)

But that is a small blemish on a collection of songs that has not only taken the southern soul scene by surprise but coincided with the arrival of a new creative movement of Louisiana-based artists who are influencing the direction of Southern Soul: McDee herself, Tyree Neal, Tucka, Cupid, Rude, Simone De and--just emerging--Pokey.

(Not to short-change their antecedents Jackie Neal, T.K. Soul, Kenne' Wayne, Lebrado, Big Cynthia...)

As repeat readers know, your Daddy B. Nice posts a "Top 10 'Breaking' Southern Soul Singles Review every month. McDee scored an unprecedented #1 single in back-to-back months with "When I Step In The Club" and "Lion Of Judah" (October-November 2013).

Along with her fellow Gulf-coast performers, McDee virtually hijacked November's Top 10, pushing away otherwise worthy charting efforts by the likes of Andre Lee, Karen Wolfe, Nathaniel Kimble and Chandra Calloway.

The songs on Return Of The Southern Soul Queen are all about stretching boundaries, defying expectations, re-working supposedly off-limits or out-of-fashion styles and doing it all with a sure Southern Soul hand without which they'd fail miserably.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube while you read.

Assisted by Tyree Neal on guitar and production, for example, McDee's vocal in "When I Step In The Club," flits like a butterfly against the tapestry of Neal's looping guitar riff, weaving first one way and then another, totally in the moment like the jazz "scat" singers of old. "When I Step In The Club" is sure to become "bumper music" for generations of future deejays who want to dispense its potent but subtle good-time sensual vibes to radio fans.

"Married To One Man (In Love With Another) Remix" recycles an older song of McDee's by way of wild and fearless producer Shonta (pronounced shon-tay), who gives it an overblown "MacArthur Park"-style arrangement that perfectly complements McDee's husky, proletarian vocal. The synthetic strings and keyboards play off McDee's street-wise grit to achieve a kind of southern soul mini-symphony.

Shonta (shon-tay) oversees an even wilder (and from a northerner's perspective almost "punkish") concoction in what McDee calls "a little bit of Louisiana gospel gumbo"--"Lion Of Judah." The song (or chant) is basically melody-less, but the vocal and the chorus (complete with zydeco organ, marching-band brass, vocoders and an insane rhythm section) exert a contrapuntal tension of hurricane intensity.

In his November Top Ten Single #1-ranked analysis, Daddy B. Nice wrote of "Lion Of Judah":

You can imagine Rosie Perez dancing to "Lion of Judah" instead of Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" at the beginning of Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing."

But any one of seven or eight of the songs on the CD could become popular radio singles.

Vying for immediate radio time are the very Southern Soul-tinged "Cheating On Me," featuring Tyree Neal, along with "Good Thang Man" and "You Used To Be A Good Man," while effective redo's of "Monkey Talk," "Call The Police" and "Busted" sound better than ever.

"I Get So Emotional" boasts a Tyrone Davis flavor, or going back further, a vintage Motown-Philly sound. However, for an album with so much quantity, it's remarkable how few antecedents can be detected. "Caught Up," for instance, bases its melody on the old Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell standby, "Your Precious Love." But that's about it.

McDee's voice--by no means sophisticated or finished--possesses a funky integrity that nevertheless fits whatever style she exercises, whether it be the relatively traditional balladeering of "All I Want" or the uptempo, hook-driven paces of "Hideaway Motel" (an homage to Marvin Sease). There's no over-reaching, no pratfalls, just solid singing in the service of rhythm and fun.

To get so much great music--hummable, danceable, non-perishable music--in such humble and straightforward circumstances (and under the auspices of a singer who sounds more like a right-on journey-woman than a Shirley Brown wannabe) doubles the novelty and pleasure.

Highly recommended.

--Daddy B. Nice

Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's Return Of The Southern Soul Queen CD at iTunes.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube.

Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's RETURN OF THE SOUTHERN SOUL QUEEN on Amazon.

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Stephanie McDee Discography:

Living The Blues (2002) Southwest

Southern Soul Queen (2003) Miracle

Return Of The Southern Soul Queen (2012) Miracle

Taking Care Of Business (2015)


Tidbits

1.

Stephanie McDee on YouTube


Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "Monkey Talk" on YouTube.

Listen to Stephanie McDee and Pokey singing "Do The Hokey Pokey" on YouTube.

View down-home grown folks dancing to Stephanie McDee singing "Call The Police" on YouTube.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "Cheating On Me" on YouTube.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "It's A Party At The Trail Ride" on YouTube.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "Married To One Man (Remix)" on Jango.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "Good Thang Woman" on YouTube.

Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "You're Busted" Live on YouTube.

2.

For avid fans, here is the original write-up...

....On Stephanie McDee's "When I Step In The Club" and the subsequent e-mail exchange between Stephanie and Daddy B. Nice.

See Daddy B. Nice’s Top Ten "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles Review for. . .

OCTOBER 2013

1. "When I Step In The Club"---- Stephanie McDee

I searched a year for the title and artist to this song--the old story of the shepherd obsessed with the one "lost" black sheep out beyond the known flock. Then, the other day, the artist herself--"Monkey Talking" Stephanie McDee--dropped the CD in your Daddy B. Nice's lap.

A pleasantly-stinging, four-bar guitar hook (Tyree Neal does the admirable picking) repeats endlessly, which would get boring if it weren't for an amazingly gritty, in-the-moment vocal that will thrill all true Southern Soul aficionados. "When I Step In The Club" is like listening to the great, scat-singing Ella Fitzgerald reincarnated as a rough-and-tumble Southern Soul diva free-associating in a den of men.


Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube.

Sample/Buy "When I Step In The Club" mp3 or Return Of The Southern Soul Queen CD on iTunes.<

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THANK YOU LETTERS

RE: STEPHANIE MCDEE RETURN OF THE SOUTHERN SOUL QUEEN CD REVIEW


Hello Mr. DaddyBNice,

This is Ms. Stephanie McDee and I am so sorry for getting back with you so late but I have been on the run doing concerts and filming a new movie called "Mississippi Blues". I'm just getting time to sit down and go through my email. When I began to read all the beautiful things you said about me it brought joy and tears to my eyes. That you would pick my favorite song on the whole album and make it number one on your Top Ten for October. I am so excited thank you for welcoming this lost black sheep back to the fold it means the world to me!!!!!!!!!!
Ms. Stephanie McDee
The Southern Soul Queen


And, a month later, after Daddy B. Nice had published the following column....

Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .

NOVEMBER 2013

1. "Lion Of Judah" -----Stephanie McDee

Hurricane energy. You can imagine Rosie Perez dancing to "Lion of Judah" instead of Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" at the beginning of Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing." From a northerner's perspective, McDee's vocal brings a hint of punk to southern soul. The acapella coda is awesome.

Stephanie McDee and her funny, iconic song "Monkey Talk" was a close "also-ran" for Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists & Songs (90's-00's). Now, a decade later, Stephanie returns with a treasure trove of pent-up material (see last month's #1, "When You Step In The Club") and a wild and fearless producer, Shonta (pronounced "shon-tay").


Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's "Lion Of Judah" mp3 at Amazon.

Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's "Lion of Judah" at iTunes.

Sample/Buy Stephanie McDee's Return Of The Southern Soul Queen CD at iTunes.

....Stephanie McDee wrote back:

Dear Mr. Daddy B. Nice

Hello how have you been doing? I seen the November charts and I was so excited and amazed to see "The Lion Of Judah" charted number one along side with "When I Step In The Club" it left me speechless. I never had no one to say that many amazing things about my music. It showed me that you really took the time to really listen to it because exactly what you said is the feel I wanted to have which is the flavors of the sixties. That real pop-soul flavor because that was real music back then and because I really wanted to capture that sound and bring it back to this era. I thank you so much for noticing the style of music in each song and most of all I thank you for the beautiful sketch of me thats funny it looks like me (laugh out loud). Thank you once again for your love and support of my music.

Stephanie McDee
The Southern Soul Blues Queen


Listen to Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube.

Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Stephanie McDee.

Read Daddy B. Nice's New CD Review of Stephanie McDee's RETURN OF THE SOUTHERN SOUL QUEEN.

May 24: 2014

Listen to the new video of Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube, with snapshots of fellow artists.

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3.



November 12, 2013: NEW ALBUM ALERT

See Daddy B. Nice's new 5-star CD Review of Stephanie McDee's Return Of The Southern Soul Queen.

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Honorary "B" Side

"Monkey Talk"




5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy When I Step In The Club by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
When I Step In The Club


CD: Return Of The Southern Soul Queen
Label: Miracle

Sample or Buy
Return Of The Southern Soul Queen


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Monkey Talk by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Monkey Talk


CD: Return Of The Southern Soul Queen
Label: Miracle

Sample or Buy
Return Of The Southern Soul Queen


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Lion of Judah by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Lion of Judah


CD: Return Of The Southern Soul Queen
Label: Miracle

Sample or Buy
Return Of The Southern Soul Queen


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Married To One Man (In Love With Another) by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Married To One Man (In Love With Another)


CD: Return Of The Southern Soul Queen
Label: Miracle

Sample or Buy
Return Of The Southern Soul Queen


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Annie Mae's Cafe (Swing Out Song) by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Annie Mae's Cafe (Swing Out Song)


CD: Taking Care Of Business
Label: Music Access

Sample or Buy
Taking Care Of Business


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Call The Police by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Call The Police


CD: Living The Blues
Label: Southwest

Sample or Buy
Living The Blues


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Good Thang Woman by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Good Thang Woman


CD: Return Of The Southern Soul Queen
Label: Miracle

Sample or Buy
Return Of The Southern Soul Queen


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Hideaway Motel by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Hideaway Motel


CD: Southern Soul Queen
Label: Miracle

Sample or Buy
Return Of The Southern Soul Queen


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Taking Care Of Business by Stephanie McDee Now #28 on Southern Soul The New Generation!
Taking Care Of Business


CD: Taking Care Of Business
Label: Music Access

Sample or Buy
Taking Care Of Business





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