THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

931-Black Legend-You See the Trouble with Me.

2000-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 1.24. The upside of being a Barry White tribute act is that you can eat as much as you want, in the knowledge that it is part of your job. The downside of course is health complications in later life.

Black Legend was the collaboration between the two Italian music producers Enrico ‘BSJ’ Ferrari, and Ciro Sasso, and the British vocalist Elroy ‘Spoonface’ Powell. The trio charted in the top 40 in nine European countries in 2000 with their interpretation of ‘You See the Trouble with Me,’ which went all the way to Number 1 in the UK, and although it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in America, it did peak at Number 7 on Billboard’s ‘Dance’ music chart. They followed the success of ‘You See the Trouble with Me,’ also in 2000 with a cover version of ‘The Doors’ classic ‘Light My Fire,’ (see also best songs 235) which was recorded in a similar ‘House Music’ style, but this time they failed to repeat the success, and ‘Light My Fire’ disappeared without trace. In the UK, Black Legend just escaped joining the list of ‘One Hit Wonders’ when their third and final single release ‘Somebody’ crept inside the top 40, peaking at Number 37 in 2001. ‘Somebody’ which was accompanied with a promotional video, samples the 1986 ‘Dance-R&B’ track ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On but the Rent,’ (UK-Number 5) performed by the American singer Gwen Guthrie (1950-1999.)

The original version of ‘You See the Trouble with Me’ was co-written by Barry White, (1944-2003) (see also best songs 560-476 and 153) and Ray Parker Jr. of ‘Ghostbusters’ fame, and went on to reach Number 2 in the UK in 1976, although it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. ‘You See the Trouble with Me’ is one of three songs on this ‘Best 1000 songs list’ that appear twice in recordings by different artists, (see also best songs 931-863-214-145 and 112) coincidentally both versions of ‘You See the Trouble with Me’ have sold approximately the same amount of copies in the UK, said to be 250,000, the Black Legend recording ended the year 2000 as the 40th best selling single of that year in the UK.

Black Legend had asked permission to use the original vocals of Barry White for their cover of ‘You See the Trouble with Me,’ but White declined them permission, which is said that after the success of the song it cost White a substantial amount in royalties that he could have made. Black Legend then turned to the British vocalist Elroy Powell, who goes by the stage name of ‘Spoonface,’to record the vocals in a similar style to that of Barry White, Powell also provided the vocals on the two follow up singles ‘Light My Fire,’ and ‘Somebody.’ Over the years Powell has worked with other artists including the Sugababes, and Craig David, he has also worked as an actor, notably appearing in 2015 in the ‘Star Wars Episode VII,’-‘The Force Awakens,’ as Rosser Weno, and also as a regular character on the BBC television soap opera ‘Eastenders’ as a market trader since 2014.

At the time of writing Ciro Sasso continues to tour Europe as ‘Black Legend,’ playing his ‘DJ sets.’ Sasso is also the owner of ‘Reverse Records,’ and the ‘iLike Records’ labels, that since 2003, have issued ‘Dance Music’ worldwide. The other producer of ‘You See the Trouble with Me,’ Enrico ‘BSJ’ Ferrari, was born in Priverno, Italy, in 1963, the ‘BSJ’ stands for ‘Barry Saint Just,’ Prior to joining forces with Sasso for the ‘Black Legend’ project, Ferrari had released his first music in 1994. He also set up his own record labels in 2013,’TRAKTORIA Records,’ and ‘DOMOZERO’ Records, in order to distribute music worldwide.

1975, We’re goin’ to an Album, with a song. ‘Put your hands together, come on, y’all, clap your hands. You know, yeah that’s right. Put your hands together, come on sing it, trouble, baby. Can’t do nothin’, no, darlin,’ can’t feel, can’t feel nothin.’