Veronica "Ronee" Martin was born on 24 November 1953 in Columbia, Virginia, and upon graduating high school she moved to Washington D.C. to live with her mother. At age six, she became fascinated with music and would begin performing solos in church, with her tastes gradually evolving from gospel to country to Motown, and she would begin performing professionally as she entered adulthood. She worked as a backing vocalist for artists like Wynton Marsalis and Patti LaBelle, and also worked with Van McCoy, who produced the group Destiny that she was a part of. They were the opening act for two more late greats, Aretha Franklin and Eddie Kendricks, and they also toured with Special Delivery. She then moved to California to record demos for Burt Bacharach, Carol Bayer Sager, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Alan Rich, Jud Friedman, and Gerry Stober. She was also a song-writer, and wrote the lyrics for 'This Is Love', which was recorded by Gladys Knight on her 'Good Woman' album. After signing to the Soundwings Record label in 1985, she released her debut album, 'Sensation', which featured guest appearances from Hubert Laws, Joe Sample and Tom Scott. In 1995 Bruce Walker (former general manager of MoJazz and Motown A&R VP), announced that they had just found their very own Anita Baker, and signed her to his label, where she started working on her second album, with a release date set for June/July 1996, later delayed to April 1997. Promotional CDs of 'Soul Of My Heart' were distributed, but the transition at Motown at that time did not favour adult orientated music, and so the album was cancelled and remains unreleased. Nothing much more was heard from Martin for 20 years, until she appeared on the eleventh season of 'America's Got Talent', competing against other artists such as Grace VenderWaal. MoJazz missed a trick in not releasing 'Soul Of My Heart', as it really is an excellent soul/R&B album, and so here it is for you to enjoy.
Track listing
01 As Long As I'm Loving You
02 Good To Be Loved
03 When It Comes To Me
04 No Trouble At All
05 Finally Over You
06 It's Spring Again
07 I Believe In Love
08 The Pressure's On
09 I Can Smile Again
10 Anything For You
11 A Better Man
12 Giving Up
