Terence Trent Darby, aka Sananda Maitreya, combines soul, rock, and funk.
It appeared that nothing could stop Terence Trent D'Arby after the release of his 1987 debut album, "Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby."
D'Arby appeared to have it all - enormous talent, a versatile voice, and a commanding stage presence.
And then there were the songs. "Wishing Well," his initial hit, had an infectious keyboard riff and a dynamic vocal, which drew Prince comparisons. "Sign Your Name,"' a sexy, clever ballad, also made the charts. The disc was filled with R&B, rock, and pop, and 3,000-seat venues were filled with fans during his supporting tour.
WHO: Terence Trent D'Arby.
WHAT: Eclectic rock-pop.
WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday.
WHERE: B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 W. 42nd St., Manhattan. (212) 997-4144.
HOW MUCH: $30 in advance, $35 day of show.
While receiving mixed reviews, D'Arby's follow-up "Neither Fish Nor Flesh" was an even more ambitious and accomplished effort. It was his attempt to deliver a "Sgt. Pepper"-esque album and it genre-jumped with abandon - from R&B to gospel to pop to funk to rock. "Billy Don't Fall," the infectious initial single, a touching gay-straight bonding tale, appeared poised to climb the charts.
When the album flopped, D'Arby claimed Columbia had mishandled it. In a phone call from Helsinki, Finland, he said that when Columbia CEO Walter Yetnikoff, who had championed D'Arby, was replaced by Tommy Mottola in 1987, "Everything was different."
D'Arby said that Michael Jackson, a Columbia label mate, "was upset since I was getting so much attention. He wanted me to take a fall, so some political games were played. The people who were handling me at the time weren't savvy enough to deal with what was happening. So I was, in effect, de-promoted.
"'Neither Fish Nor Flesh,' which is my favorite album I ever made, got the shaft. It was tough getting smacked around by your childhood idol. It was my awakening to the business. As Keith Richards said, 'That's the price of an education.'"
Unlike some of his peers, D'Arby, who will perform Thursday at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in Manhattan, is a human encyclopedia of rock. He wasn't allowed to listen to secular music until he was 15 - his father was a Pentecostal preacher - "but I just ate it up, particularly the Beatles." A New York City native, he moved to London after singing with a band while serving in the U.S. Army in Germany; his early hits there helped jump-start his career in America.
He still loves the Beatles. "What they did was picture perfect," said D'Arby. "They affect my life on a daily basis. The other night, John Lennon came to me in a dream. I believe he came to me to make me feel better. Over the past few years, I've needed to feel better."
To echo one of Lennon's last singles, D'Arby, 41, is starting over. After releasing two solid but ignored albums, 1993's "Symphony or Damn" and 1995's "Vibrator," he won a six-year legal battle to drop Sony. Recently, he changed his name to Sananda Maitreya - after, he said, he heard angels address him that way in a dream. D'Arby, who still answers to his given name, signed with Universal in 1996 and found himself writing with Glen Ballard (who co-wrote and produced "Jagged Little Pill" for Alanis Morissette).
"I was told that it would be a great situation since he's a songwriter as well," D'Arby said. "It didn't work out, and that's nothing against him. We didn't really collaborate. It's just one of those things. I have to follow my own vision."
Now D'Arby, who lives in Milan, Italy, is putting out his first album on his own label, Sananda Records, and is embarking on his first U.S. tour since 1996 in support of it. "Wildcard!" will be released June 3.
On it, D'Arby continues to combine soul, rock, and funk in a reassuring and familiar manner. The initial single, "O Divina," is already a hit in D'Arby's new homeland.
"In Milan, I'm treated with the respect that doctors receive in America," he said. "It's wonderful living where artists are revered.
"But I'm ready to head back to America as an artist to see how it goes."