Licence To Kill BOTB Showdown
In 1989, the 16th spy thriller in the James Bond film series released, Licence to Kill with Timothy Dalton returning as 007 for the last time. The movie theme song bearing the same title was performed by the incomparable, Gladys Knight (reference only).
I turned to secondhandsongs to learn which artists covered this Bond theme song. The site listed nearly two dozen possibilities. Some of the musicians I’ve seen and even used since I began this BOTB series. Not wanting any repeated artists, I ventured to see what YouTube had to offer. I found mostly females covering this Knight’s UK Top 10 hit, as well as one male vocalist contender on Germany’s Idol, and a couple of groups. I wasn’t bowled over by the male artist and while I sorta liked the two groups I discovered, I couldn’t see either as a James Bond theme song nor do I ever see myself buying the recordings. This left me with my female soloists. I narrowed my selections to four singers. Each performer had something to offer with her rendition. In the end, I decided to put in this battle the two artists most closely to Gladys Knight.
My first contest is someone who I thought looked familiar but I’m horrible with celebrity names, especially those of musicians. It turns out this gal from Amsterdam, was a finalist in 2018 on America’s Got Talent season 13. Please listen to Glennis Grace!
Next up is Nina Nyembwe from Germany. Nina uses her chest voice mostly in this recording but I was happy to hear she can hit higher notes adding more range character to her cover. Kindly listen to Nina Nyembwe!
Which artist do you think is the best, Glennis or Nina?
I invite you to visit BoTBers with showdowns going on today.
- CAAC (me)
- The Doglady’s Den (Debbie) retired member, active voter
- Jingle Jangle Jungle (Mary) 1st
- Mike’s Ramblings
- STMcC Presents BoTB (Stephen, BoTB Manager)
- The Sound of One Hand Typing (John)
- Tossing It Out (Lee)
*Unless noted, all other participants will present two battles per month on the 1st & 15th
Polls close noon (EST) on Apr. 6th!
Mark your calendar to return for the results in this showdown, next week same time or at least that’s the plan. As you may know, I’m participating in the A to Z Challenge this month and many of you know how this complicates the schedule sometimes, but I’ll do my best. Speaking of which, watch for my first edition in my Pencil Sketch Inspired Procreate Recreation Art series to publish at 6am. This is CAAC signing off, I hope you’ll swing by in the morning to boogie with me. Have a bandtastic day!
11 Comments
Mary B
Hi Cathy! Hope I’m not too late to get my vote in. I over did things yesterday and ended up spending most of the day in bed today. But overall I have been doing well. I suspect tomorrow the doc will increase my dosage of drugs.
My vote today is for Glennis!
~Mary
Birgit
Glennis does it for me because of her voice. The other lass has a great voice but it is too deep for this song, at least to me.
Eugenia
Both artists are good, Cathy! I like the deepness of Nina’s voice but I feel Glennis put her all into the song. My vote goes to Glennis.
Brian
I like Glennis Grace better as well so she gets my vote!
messymimi's meanderings
Nina Nyembwe’s deeper voice was more appealing to me, my vote goes to her.
Arlee Bird
Nina’s version sounded too studio fabricated to me. I like Glennis Grace’s voice better and I was sold on her version from the opening notes and the guitar licks.
Give my vote to Glennis.
Lee
Sandee
Glennis Grace gets my vote. She nailed this perfectly. Nina didn’t do it for me at all.
Have a fabulous day and weekend, Cathy. Love and hugs. ♥
John Holton
Two very good singers in this Battle make it hard to choose between them. I think there’s a certain energy that goes along with a live performance, and Glennis Grace took good advantage of it and turned in an energetic performance. Nina Nyembwe has a fantastic voice, too, and I hope to find a lot more of both of them in YouTube and elsewhere. In the end it comes down to whose I liked better, so I’ll go with Glennis.
Stephen T. McCarthy
Howdy, CAThy! Happy April, my Friend!!
Both singers can certainly sing, but unfortunately both are doing so in a style that I’m not fond of. I guess it could be described as “Vocal Histrionics”, which means a bit of over-emoting. I’m more of a Karen Carpenter kind of guy than a Whitney Houston kinda guy.
In this Battle, I’ll cast my BOTB bote for Nina Nyembwe, primarily because she didn’t (in my opinion) “overdo it” to the same extent that the young Kamala Harr– er, I mean, to the same extent that Glennis Grace did.
I hope you have a lovely month of A To Zeeing.
Bless and Be Blessed!!
~ D-FensDogG
STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS
angelswhisper2011
I like the deep sound of Nina’s voice, so my vote goes to her. Glennis has a fantastic voice, but this song doesn’t bring out the best of it, at least that’s my opinion🙉Can I have the chick now🐔Double Pawkiss🐾😽💞
Thomas Anderson
Hi again, Cathy!
Foghorn Leghorn doesn’t need to hit me over the head with an ACME Corp. mallet to get me to vote in your April first band battle, dear friend. Although I haven’t seen the movie, I love the song “Licence To Kill.” It’s extremely “Bondish,” and you posted three great renditions. Actually, this was my first time listening to Gladys Knight’s version and seeing that cool mewsic video. It works, and I also approve of Timothy Dalton in the role of Bond. While he will never replace Connery in my mind, he fits the description of 007 better than most of the other actors who have landed the role.
In your April 1 band battle, I’m happy that you picked two female vocalists, a wise and essential move, in my opinion, for covers of Bond film theme songs. Both artists are new to me. Glennis Grace is shown performing in the Dutch concert series Holland Zingt, and it is an awesome performance. I like it even more than that of Gladys Knight and think she should have been chosen to do the original movie theme.
Nina Nyembwe is another fine vocalist. She is soulful and I liked the female backing singers on her version, but overall, her performance was not nearly as exciting, dynamic and spot-on as that of Glennis. Glennis nailed the song, infusing all the necessary fire and passion that I listen for in a theme song from the 007 series. The orchestra that accompanied her is excellent. The two female backing singers rounded out the sound marvelously, and the audio quality for a live performance was first rate. Glennis brought forth everything that is necessary in a winning performance. In this battle of GG vs. NN, I’m voting for GG, Glennis Grace.
Have a happy Friday, happy weekend and a wonderful month of April, dear friend Cathy!