Laura Nyro (born Laura Nigro in 1947) grew up in The Bronx in the 1950s, exposed to all kinds of music as a child (her father was a jazz trumpeter). She taught herself to play the piano and later sang in groups with high school friends. She recorded her first album in 1966, when still in her teens but initially found success when many of her songs were covered by other people, including Barbra Streisand, Blood, Sweat and Tears and The 5th Dimension. Her best song from this period is “Stoney End”, a huge hit for Streisand.

In 1967, following her performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, David Geffen became her manager and her career really began to take off. It is from this period that her best-known work comes. Her second album “Eli And The Thirteenth Confession” , released in 1968 is probably her most popular album, with several tracks covered by other artists.

Between 1969 and 1971, Laura released three more albums, “New York Tendaberry”, “Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat” and “Gonna Take A Miracle”, the latter with the group Labelle, which I think comprise her best work.

Although Laura produced a number of albums in the late 70s and afterwards, she never hit these heights again. Sadly, she died of ovarian cancer aged 49 in 1997.

For many people, her music is seen as difficult at times. She was capable of creating and performing joyous and uplifting music, but also of writing songs that are dark, confessional and private. She mixed the sounds she grew up with into a mix which included Brill Building pop, doo wop, gospel and even Broadway to create something that was entirely her own.

So, where do we go to find the classic Laura Nyro? We could go to “Gonna Take A Miracle”, which is an album of cover versions, performed with Labelle, which is a hugely uplifting and wonderful experience, but it isn’t her work. “Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat” is a tough album in many ways, some of it is pretty bleak, especially the closing number, “Christmas in My Soul”, despite the presence of the Muscle Shoals session crew and Duane Allman. It is, I think, an album for hardcore Nyro fans.

So, we are looking at “Eli And The Thirteenth Confession” and “New York Tendaberry” as the source for a classic, and I think that the former is where I am heading. Laura clearly never suffered from “difficult second album syndrome” because this album is packed with some fantastic music; blue-eyed soul, gospel, Brill Building radio-friendly pop music and confessional personal songs way ahead of the Laurel Canyon movement of a couple of years later.

So, what will I nom as her true classic song? For me, there is only one choice. CLICK HERE to hear it.