Mica as a singer
The range, power, and sheer soulfulness of Mica's singing made a major impact on the UK scene and in the following year, 1988, she released her debut, platinum-selling album with 4th & Broadway when she was 17 years old. "My One Temptation" was the lead single. This led to a collaboration with American soul singer Will Downing on a cover version of a classic "Where Is the Love", made famous by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack in the early '70s.
The follow-up album, Contribution was released in 1991. This extended Mica's soul and gospel influences to bring in hip-hop and house music and It featured the track "If I Love U 2 Nite", written especially for Mica by Prince, which she recorded at his Paisley Park studios. With Omar Lye-Fook, a classically trained musician Paris recorded "I Should Have Known Better" in 1990. It was issued on the B-side to "I Never Felt Like This Before". Paris also recorded with Anita Baker, Bonnie Raitt and Natalie Cole on the album Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa (1990), and provided the title track to Isaac Julien's Young Soul Rebels movie soundtrack the following year. She worked with the saxophonist Courtney Pine ("Redemption Song" - 1992), the Stereo MCs ("Don't Let Up" - 1992) and Bobby Womack ("I Wish I'd Never Met You" - 1991).
Mica's third album, Whisper A Prayer (1993) marked another departure for Mica, fusing soul, jazz and blues with lush string arrangements. Garnering further top twenty singles ' Never Felt Like This Before and ' Wanna Hold On To You'. This followed by more collaboration work on album tracks with Guru on his Jazzmatazz II ("Looking Through Darkness" in 1995), Mark Morrison ("Tears For You" - 1996) and Maxwell ("Mantra" - 1996).
Paris released the album Black Angel on Chrysalis in 1998. It contained a cover version of U2's "One", and a duet with James Ingram. "Black Angel" produced two more top twenty singles 'Stay' and 'Carefree'. More collaborations followed with Omar ("Confection" - 1994), Max Beesley ("High Vibes" - 1994), Dubversive ("Police & Thieves" - 1998), the Mobo All Stars compilation album in 1998, Mister Exe ("One Million Smiles" - 1998), Prince ("Just My Imagination" - 2000) and Boy George ("I Could Be Someone" - 2000). A particularly memorable collaboration with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Jools Holland on Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic track, '("I Put A Spell On You' followed in 2001. The trio had regrouped on numerous occasions to perform the hit.
A best of collection was released in 1999.
Two years later Paris lent her voice to Walt Disney Pictures (Touchstone Pictures) soundtrack for, High Heels and Low Lifes, which was later included in the Primal Screen soundtrack compilation album (2001).
In 2003, following 3 sellout nights at London's The Jazz Cafe Mica released the Moby sampling 'Heart' with Seraphim Suite. Mica also joined Omar onstage for his gig at The Shepherds Bush Empire. She also contributed to the track 'I Don't Understand' on Milk & Sugar album Housmusic.de. 2004 saw Mica feature as a guest on 'The new Inspirational Choir' album 'Inspirations' along with Keisha White and Jocelyn Brown. This took Mica back to her Gospel roots.
Mica collaborated on the track 'Bodyswerve' by M-Gee in 2005. The track was incredibly successful in the club charts and can be found on many dance compilations released to this day.
In 2005, Paris released the album If You Could Love Me (Wounded Bird Records), which featured backing from the Brecker Brothers on the title track. Also in 2005, she released an album, Soul Classics, a collection of the most celebrated and loved soul tracks chosen by listeners of her BBC Radio 2 programme 'Soul Solutions' and then jetted off to Australia for a few months to do some live performances at the Basement in Sydney.[1] Mica can also be found duetting on the track 'Run' with Jimmy Barnes on his 2005 "Double Happiness" album.
Mica collaborated with Lemar on the track 'Can't you see' on his album 'The truth About Love' in 2006.
In February 2008 Mica released the duet 'Secret lovers' with Alexander O'Neal. This was followed by a residency at the Indigo 02 'Mica Paris & friends' in May and every last Sunday of each month.
2009 sees the release of Mica's new album 'Born Again', indicating a fully fledged return to her first passion: music. She has embarked on a nationwide tour meeting fans old and new and reminding her millions of TV fans what first put her in the public eye twenty- two years ago. This includes sell out dates at the Jazz Cafe in February 2009 to showcase her upcoming material. The album is released June 1st and has been produced by the legendary 'hit- maker', Brian Rawling. James Morrison (singer) wrote Mica's first single, 'Baby Come Back Now' - an up- tempo retro tune, penned especially for Mica's soaring vocals.
Mica as a radio and television presenter
Throughout 2000s Mica actively engaged her other talents, as a celebrated television presenter, an actress and author. Although she remained behind the microphone, in 2002 Paris moved to the presenter's chair, when she hosted the 'Soul Solutions' programme on BBC Radio 2 and narrated several music documentaries for the station. She also presented the 2002 Channel 4 television documentary The Gospel of Gospel which revealed the influence of the black American church tradition on pop music. Produced and directed by David Upshal, it featured contributions from Ray Charles, Isaac Hayes, B. B. King, Al Green, Chaka Khan, Alexander O'Neal, Edwin Hawkins, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Mary Mary. Furthermore, she broadcast a two-part show, 'Purple Reign: The Prince Story', on BBC Radio 2 which covered the entirety of the American artist's controversial career and featured interviews with George Clinton, Chaka Khan and Jimmy Jam.
In 2005 Mica appeared on week three of the ITV reality show, Hit Me, Baby, One More Time, which was won by Carol Decker. The same year she made an appearance in, and was the winner of, week one in the second series of Come Dine With Me. From 2007, she was a co-host for two seasons of the popular consumer style programme, What Not to Wear for BBC Television. Other television presenting has followed with Mica being and expert judge on Gok Wan's Miss Naked Beautyfor Channel 4 and ITV's CelebAir. Paris continues to appear on a variety of television programmes – from Channel 5's news talk show, The Wright Stuff, ITV1's all-female panel talk show, Loose Women, and BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing.
Mica as an actress
In 1993, Mica turned to the stage, where she starred in two acclaimed West End shows, 'Mama I Want to Sing' and 'Sweet Lorraine'.
In October 2004, Paris took part in the UK tour of the stage play, The Vagina Monologues.
In 2007, she played the part of Amelia Walker, a (fictitious) American jazz singer, in a drama made for television, Marple: At Bertram's Hotel; during the drama the character gives a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and also sings with Louis Armstrong's band in the hotel dining room whilst both were guests at the hotel, which was central to the plot.
Mica as an author
While presenting 'What Not To Wear', Mica encountered many woman who's stories touched her. She began to examine her own life and choices and was compelled to tell her story in a bid to inspire confidence and self- esteem to those woman and others that find life overwhelming at times. Thus her book "Beautiful Within: Finding Happiness and Confidence in Your Own Skin" was born. It was published by Simon & Shuster UK. ISBN-10: 1847370853, ISBN-13: 9781847370853 and was an instant hit. The paperback was released August 2008.
What's Going On
Mica Paris Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, yea
Father, father
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Ah, what's going on
In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on
Father, father, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's going on - Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby
The lyrics of Mica Paris's song "What's Going On" are an appeal for peace and love during times of war and discrimination. The opening stanza addresses the many tears shed by mothers due to the loss of their children to war, while the second stanza is an appeal to fathers not to escalate the situation by advocating for war. The chorus urges everyone to speak up and ask for an explanation for what's happening in the world, to seek to understand one another rather than resort to aggression. The final stanza is a call for understanding and acceptance of those who may look, dress or behave differently than we do.
The lyrics are reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's 1971 classic of the same name, which was an anti-war anthem as well as a commentary on social issues such as poverty and police brutality. Like Gaye's song, Mica Paris's "What's Going On" was also inspired by the social and political climate of the time and was released in 1989 at a time when the world was still grappling with issues of racial discrimination, war and other global issues. The song is a reminder that love, understanding and unity are powerful tools that can help us overcome hate, division and conflict.
Line by Line Meaning
Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Addressing mothers, Mica Paris expresses her concern about the large number of women who are crying due to events taking place in the world.
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
Addressing brothers, she expresses her dismay at the significant number of men who are losing their lives as a result of conflicts and other tragic events occurring globally.
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, yea
In this line, she emphasizes the importance of finding a way to bring love to the world to address the issues that are leading to the suffering of so many people.
Father, father
We don't need to escalate
Addressing fathers, she advocates for a peaceful resolution to the issues causing people distress as it is not necessary to escalate the situation into violence and war.
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
Mica Paris implies that war is not the answer to the problems faced by people since only love and compassion can overcome animosity and hate.
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
She opines that peaceful protests involving picket lines and picket signs shouldn't result in violent crackdowns from the authorities who may retaliate forcefully.
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Ah, what's going on
She asks for open communication to understand the underlying issues and better learn why things are happening the way they are.
In the meantime
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on
She cheers for positivity and embracing values that promote greater understanding and love making the world a better place to be.
Father, father, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
She notes that society judges people based on factors such as their appearance, and this judgment is often misguided as it fails to address the real issues and needs of society.
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh
Mica Paris stresses the need for finding a way to promote greater understanding toward others and the underlying issues affecting people.
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's going on - Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby
She challenges people to engage in open dialogue, and only then can everyone learn about what's going on and take constructive action to bring positive changes to society.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ALFRED W CLEVELAND, MARVIN P GAYE, RENALDO BENSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind