I remember reading a review of an album called Soul Of My Heart in the late 90s in Vibe magazine. Soul Of My Heart was announced as a release on Motown’s MoJazz sublabel and the artist in question was Ronee Martin. Well, I’ve tried to track down this album over here in Germany because the review made me curious and I thought this may be a rewarding album for me. Unfortunately I’ve never got hold of a copy and haven’t read in any other magazine about it then. I guess Ronee’s album suffered the same fate like Trina Broussard’s debut album for Sony, i.e. that it was never really released except for some promotional copies.
So imagine my surprise when I saw the same Ronee Martin recently with an album release on cdbaby.com. It’s good to see that such a gifted singer hasn’t given up and finally has released an album that’s widely available and you don’t have to pay silly prices as for her Sensation release from 1987.
The album Come Through My Door has written class all over it. Actually this could easily be a major label release judging from the design and sound. I know I sometimes have my reservations about major labels but with Ronee being the executive producer (which usally means the one who gave the money) and co-writing most of the songs things are a little bit different here. Although Ronee’s sound can be a little bit too MOR-soul at times (Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight or Ann Nesby spring to mind) it’s the music she really feels and wants to do.
If you listen to soul music for a long time you may recognize some of the musicians Ronee has worked with on this album. For example the wonderful midtempo soul groover Get Real was written by Ronee and Valerie Pinkston (also known as Valerie Pinkston-Mayo and a famous session singer) and produced by Marquis “Hami” Dair. Hami was also the producer of the obscure soul duo 10 dB whose album Steppin’ Out was released in 1989 by Crush Music/Dominion/K-Tel, a company that’s notorious for bad compilations. Get Real is a future classic that marries old school soul with neo soul and would be worth the album’s prize alone.
But Ronee has more gems to offer like the album’s title track Come On Through My Door. This is an amazing intimate ballad with Ronee singing her heart out over Marquis Dair’s acoustic guitar play.
The show-stopping ballad I Wish You All The Best gives every so called soul diva a run for their money with Ronee’s heartfelt performance only accompanied by producer Byron J. Smith on piano.
Ronee’s self-written Giving Up is a pleasant mid-tempo song about a lost love with a slightly southern soul feeling.
The southern soul feeling gets picked up by the beautiful Little Sister, an encouraging downtempo song about friendship with inspiring vocal input by Ronee on lead and background vocals.
Even the more MOR orientated songs like Round And Round (co-written by Frank McComb) or the gospel inspired I’m Sorry For Leaving You work very well.
The only song that fails to impress me is Ronee’s cover of the Temptations’ My Girl here renamed My Guy. Her version isn’t bad but somehow she can’t win over the programmed beats by producer Daryl Smith.
Come On Through My Door is a very good album that offers something for fans of old school and new soul music alike and it’s a welcome return for Ronee Martin into the spotlight.

Tracklisting of Come On Through My Door: 1. Get Real/ 2. Giving Up/ 3. My Guy/ 4. Little Sister/ 5. Round and Round/ 6. Come On Through My Door/ 7. I Wish You All The Best/ 8. I’m Sorry For Leaving You | released 2005 BLTN Music

For more infos visit roneemartin.com and cdbaby.com.

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