Visual Sound: September 2025

Joan Baez and Janis Ian
“One In A Million”

Born on a farm in Farmingdale, Monmouth County, it was 1965 when Janis Ian, then 14, wrote and recorded “Society’s Child” about an inter-racial romance that her parents, preacher, teachers and friends frowned upon. It became a hit after Maestro Leonard Bernstein featured it on his TV show in 1967. In 1975, she enjoyed a #1 with “At 17.” She came out as Lesbian with the release of her bold 2003 Breaking Silence album. Still outspoken and courageous at 74, she had, a few years ago, teamed up with a true American Hero, folksinger Joan Baez, when she wrote “One In A Million” and asked Baez to sing it with her at a San Francisco protest called “Fight The Right.” Now, she felt the time was right to make it into a video. As she says, “At a time when it's easy to lose hope, we want to remind people that our dreams are still attainable. We are still united in the pursuit of good. And each of us is just one of a million others who also refuse to give up. So stay strong. You are not alone.”

Glenn & Oria
“Mercedes Benz”

“Mercedes Benz” was the last song Janis Joplin ever recorded. Three days later, she accidently overdosed on heroin. She wrote it with Dylan confidant Bobby Neuwirth after they heard it as a poem by beat poet Michael McClure. Glenn & Oria is the father-daughter duo birthed out of the ashes of the Asbury Jukes where Glenn was the lead guitarist. Produced by Neil Seiffer, the vid features Bill Champlin on B3 organ and Gary Dates on drums.

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Melanie
“Roots Of Stone”

Cleopatra Records has been keeping the ‘60s-spirit of alt-folk icon Melanie alive ever since she died last year at 76. She attended high schools in Long Branch and Red Bank. She wrote her first hit, “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain),” about her experience performing at Woodstock in 1969. “Roots Of Stone” is her unfinished Progressive Rock 10-minute masterpiece. It took until now for Delaware psychedelic space-rockers The Bubble, with guest violinist Monika Bulette, to finish what Melanie and husband-producer Peter Schekeryk started around ’73 or ’74.

Alicia Keys
“Fallin’”

“Fallin’” was the lead single from the 2001 Songs In A Minor debut of Alicia Keys. She wrote it, produced it, and when it hit #1, it made her a star. It won three Grammys but lost “Record Of The Year” to U2’s ‘Walk On.” The video’s plot originally had her as the convict but was changed to her visiting her convict boyfriend. In 2013, Keys and her superstar producer husband Swizz Beatz bought their Englewood mansion in Bergen County from comedian Eddie Murphy and sold it in 2022 when they moved to California.

Eddie Murphy
“Party All The Time”

Written and produced by Rick James [1948–2004], this was the lead single from the comedian’s 1985 debut album, How Could It Be. It reached #2 for three consecutive weeks. Murphy had made a $100,000 bet with Richard Pryor that he could do a real music album with no jokes but Pryor never paid up. Murphy’s 25,000-square-foot Englewood mansion (which he sold to Alicia Keys) was called “Bubble Hill” and came complete with a bowling alley, indoor pool and recording studio on its four acres.