The Downfall of Terence Trent D'Arby

His marginal talent couldn't overcome the incredible hype his PR team was throwing out there.

Billy don’t fall in love with me!

Didn't he once say he was going to be bigger than the Beatles?

[quote] Unabashedly, he declared that his debut album was the most important since The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. “I think I’m a genius. When I face an interview, I say what I feel. I worked as a journalist for a while, so I understand the mechanisms that govern the pop world: the same poses, the same questions, the same answers; clichés upon clichés. It’s terribly boring,” he told EL PAÍS.

What an asshat.

He believed his own hype and become an arrogant asshole.

He did have talent though - shame.

Chappell Roan - take notes.

Such a twat.

...

Simon Cowell wrote of him in a book, he said something to the effect of "To say that he had his head completely stuck up his ass would be an understatement".

I adore his first four albums. He for sure was an arrogant asshat but he had a spiritual reawakening apparently. Which sorta sucks, because I hate looking up "Wishing Well" and seeing "Sananda Maitreya" where the fabulous moniker "Terence Trent D'Arby" used to be.

It was the absolute height of pretentiousness that he was Terence Trent Darby and added the apostrophe. I love that so much.

Anyone who honestly thinks that Terence Trent D'Arby was only "marginally talented" needs to stop watching their Golden Girls reruns, get up, wash the Cheeto dust off their fingers, and go outside and touch grass. He may not have had staying power, but he was a phenomenal talent.

I loved Fast Car!

[quote]Simon Cowell wrote of him in a book, he said something to the effect of "To say that he had his head completely stuck up his ass would be an understatement".

And if anyone knows anything about having your head stuck up your own ass, it's Simon Cowell.

I loved Oh, Sheila!

His follow up album after the big hits was a total misfire. The title “Neither Fish Nor Flesh.. I Shall Not Be Defined” and the photo to match.. it might as well have been titled “Unlikeable Narcissist.”

[quote] Billy don’t fall in love with me!

I totally forgot about that song. He managed to make a song about a gay friend dying of AIDS all about himself... that's quite something.

He's never been to him.

Get her!

He was alright.

all right.

I had hoped for more from him, but alas he got in his own way.

I fucking loved TTD when I was a 14 year old gayling.

I would sing and dance in my room to that album

He thought he was on the same level as Prince. Bless his heart.

He looks like a woman in OP's pic

I think he could have been like Prince. I don’t know why the second album tanked like that. Like when Me’Shell N’dege’ocello made PLANTATION LULLABIES and she was white hot. Every song was a gem. Then came PEACE WITHOUT PASSION, and it was like she disappeared. She and TTD should have worked together.

I do agree that he was beautiful

OP's upcoming post: Clara "Where's, the beef" Peller in life reviewed

You guys are talking about him like he died. He is still alive. Just changed his name to Sananda Maitreya...

He seems way too bunz or smug or something. Like Prince came across as kind of arrogant, and of course eccentric but in a fun way.

You see, he came across that way without me even knowing about r3.

He was talented and reminds me of Lenny Kravitz, style-wise.

r25 We're well aware, dear

He misspelled millennium.

Maitreya means future Buddha. What a narcissist.

One should not confuse black bullshit with genius, Terry.

OMG I loved Clara Pellar

Listening to his debut album for the first time because of this thread and it’s so dated and feels unlistenable to someone who wasn’t there.

It’s basically late 80’s live keyboard funk.

I love the 80s but this isn’t rock, it isn’t synth or dance, and it’s not R&B or hip-hop so it sounds so bland to me.

It sounds like the sounds of the karaoke tapes I used to have when I was a kid in the 90s and they were cheap keyboard versions of popular songs.

Like I can’t hear the Prince comparisons at all.

Like this is awful! Compared to the music that was out at the time.

It reminds me of this

He's no Mr. Mister

Terrence Tranny D’arby you mean? LOL

He had an affair with Paula Yates (still married to Bob Geldof) before she took up with Michael Hutchence. Can someone explain the appeal of that woman? She wasn't that attractive.

She knew how to tie a good noose.

Say what you want about his cunt attitude; his array of moles killed his career.

Show business; give us your bemoled talent and we’ll make them play monkey in the middle until we’re bored.

R34 Listen to Wishing Well and Sign Your Name. Those are the two songs that cemented him into history. Everything else either is your cup of tea or not. A lot of his soul stuff is not my thing, either but when he gets it right, he really gets it right. And you also are not seeing the dancing when you just listen to the song. And yes also....different era. British soul was ALL the rage in the mid 80s.

He looked like Denise Huxtable

I thought he was Lisa Bonet.

I really do love Wishing Well—fantastic song

I like Unbreak My Heart.

R9. You fool. He didn't sing "Fast Car." He was the one who sang "Rhythm Nation."

LMAO r36 !!!

He used to live with the super groupie Pamela DesBarres.

I remember this quote from him (post name change) “woke pussy is too much trouble. “

R43 😆 😆 😆. Marry me.

r35 "Like, omg" like

r42 " Everything else either is your cup of tea or not"

Wow, brilliant teafake

I'm a 50 year old white dude in Western Mass, R53. What made you think I was Teafake? Honestly curious. I personally have "Prince Akeem" blocked, so it's amusing that someone would assume I am them.

R54 He thinks EVERYONE is me. He is fucked up in the head. Any disagreement he has on this site, he takes as a personal conviction and translates that the poster must be me. I wish Muriel would do something.

r54 My mistake, sorry - newish here. I read your " Everything else either is your cup of tea or not" and "when he gets it right, he really gets it right"

Nothing personal, just such odd, empty, vapid things to say - made me assume it was teafake.

Sorry, newb mistake, please accept my apology.

No worries, R56. Sorry my rhetoric was not more dazzling. I had a really exhausting day. I mainly wanted to point out the two songs that are considered TTD's best, the two songs for which anyone remembers him today.

I thought TTD was massively overrated. The advance hype on him was insane and nothing he did warranted it. The songs, the voice, the moves -- all unremarkable. He had one song I liked -- "Do You Love Me Like You Say You Do?"

If You Let Me Stay is great.

Wishing Well was annoying to me.

Sign your name was a good song. That's about it.