Only one friend of mine has ever been able to demonstrate that they know as much about this album as I do. And it kinda shocks me cuz it had all the right ingredients for a hit record.
Released in 1994 on GospoCentric, Personal Inspirations is the debut gospel album from Stephanie Mills. No novice to performance (she was the original “Dorothy” in The Wiz on Broadway and had a wildly successful R&B career), she recorded this project LIVE. On production? None other than Donald Lawrence, her long-time musical director. On background vocals? The Tri-City Singers.
I won’t say that I adore every track– some are simply nostalgic at this point. But there’s no denying that she’s got some real gems on this project. From the album’s opener, “I Had A Talk With God,” to her cover of The Caravans’ ”Sweepin’ Through The City,” Stephanie Mills demonstrates that she’s no outsider to the gospel genre.
My favorite track on the project is “He Cares,” written by John P. Kee (and, on which, he makes a guest appearance). It’s classic. As if it weren’t enough on its own, she does a reprise of it and grabs Arnetta Murrill-Crooms (remember her lead vocal on Tri-City’s “I Am God”?) from among the background vocalists… beautiful.
Other stand-outs for me is her remake of the Winans’ classic “Everything You Touch,” “Everybody Ought To Know,” “I’m Gonna Make You Proud,” and the gospel version of her own R&B hit, “Power Of Love,” re-titled “Power Of God.”
I’m not saying that it should’ve been #1 on Billboard for a year. But I am saying that it was good initial effort, with great production, nice songs and arrangements…
I couldn’t find many clips online from the project, so bear with me on the YouTube video below (audio only). And also, click here to hear that reprise of “He Cares” (the person disabled embedding, so I couldn’t post that video).
Whatd’ya think???
Stephanie Mills was a strong favorite of mine growing up- her voice is magnificent! I'm loving the heart to heart with God-Amen! Has she not attempted anything recently in the Gospel spectrum?
My mom is a devoted Stephanie fan, so growing up, she would incessantly play this. I probably know all of the songs by hard. Her favorite is Proud of Me.
I love the inspirations
i love "He Cares" that's always playing on my ipod
I don't think the album was slept on as much as it was simply promoted as a gospel project to gospel lovers. I was a radio programmer when this album was released and I played several of the tracks for nearly a year before I phased them off my playlist. The most receptive tracks were "In the Morningtime" (originally by Tremaine Hawkins) and "He Cares"---I could not play them enough (sometimes twice in a four hour rotation). Actually, I would have loved for Stephanie to include a remake of 'Tremaine's' (Hawkins) Fall Down. To this day, I think it would have been a great cover and the right track to give the album crossover appeal...Oh well...the memories!