Using only his first name from the early ’80s until a comeback CD earlier in the ’10s, Milwaukee’s Harold Stewart plied lover man R&B with a voice triangulating influences from Freddie Jackson, Luther Vandross and Al Jarreau. With One People, he applies his tenor to some convincing odes to sexy times, yet now his lyrics sometimes extend to the whole of humanity, as the title One People suggests.
Over beats that range from loping reggae to what could be a shot at one of the peppiest of Southern soul line dances (think Cupid’s “Cupid Shuffle” upped by several beats per minute), he castigates Democrats and Republicans alike, preferring to align himself with the hoi polloi he sees both parties screwing over. His generosity of subject matter may not position Stewart in the mainstream of commercial urban music, but his sound is a cozily eclectic fit in black adult contemporary circles.
