I thought I put too much information on my Facebook page, but I wouldn’t put any details of my personal life on a song. Still, it’s amazing how interesting popular music can be when its content derives from real life. I guess that’s why the blues were so popular. I mean, the blues were basically built on someone having bad luck, hard times and problems of the heart, right?

Have you gotten a chance to check out Ushers new single “Papers” from his upcoming album “Raymond vs. Raymond”? Well, I guess you can look at the title of both the single and the album and tell this music is inspired from his failed marriage and pending divorce from his soon to be ex-wife, Tameka.

This couple has been in the news quite a bit since they began dating. Now the divorce almost guarantees they will be in the news for a while longer, especially while the song is in high rotation. There will more than likely be a very popular video following this single as well. That’s if the video tells the same story as the song.

I’m not exactly sure what brought these two together, neither am I sure what made these two get married. But did you not see this coming? I’ll be honest; this was a train wreck waiting to happen.

In the song, he goes on to mention how they would have arguments in the early hours of the morning and how he would expect to have them in the evening when he made it home.  I guess confrontation was a part of their union. It’s been reported that he has called police, alleging that she had scratched one of his cars.  (No charges were filed. Police later said they could not find any evidence to back up the claim. That fueled speculation in the blogosphere that this was part of the publicity effort for the album, which is set for release later this year.)

Could there be a song about this in the works? Well, I hope not, but let’s just hope that the Raymonds can work their problems out for the sake of their young children. I personally don’t think that airing out your dirty laundry in a song is the right thing to do. But what do I know? I don’t write songs, I play them on the radio. On top of that, I don’t even choose the ones I play. In the meanwhile, let’s get set for another hit album from Usher.

Ask Myron:

Q: “I have been hearing a song by a singer named Calvin Richardson. The song sounds a little like Bobby Womack, but I don’t know the name of the song.”


A: The name of the song is “I’m Through Trying to Prove my Love to You.” The reason it sounds so much like Bobby Womack is because it is a remake of a song from Womack’s album, “Poetry in Motion”, a 2-disc set released in 1981.

As a matter of fact, the album in which Richardson’s version comes from is called, “Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack.” The album is obviously a collection of Womack remakes. It is in stores now. Go grab a copy and enjoy.

Q: “Will Whitney Houston be going on tour to promote her new album?”


A: As it stands right now, Whitney Houston is set to tour the UK and Europe for the first time in over a decade with various dates across England and Scotland beginning in April of 2010. This will be her first full tour in a decade when she was promoting her 1999 album, “My Love is Your Love”. So far, no dates for the U.S. have been planned.  

In the meantime, I would suggest you go out and purchase Whitney’s new album, “I Look to You”. It’s really good.

(Myron Mays is a freelance columnist and host of “Myron at Midnite” on WRBO Soul Classics 103.5. Got an entertainment question? Send me an email at myron@myronmays.com or catch me on Facebook and Twitter. If your question is printed in the column, I’ll send you a couple of free tickets to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.)