Given the romantic mood created by Patti Austin's "Baby Come To Me," it's only natural to wonder if she's ever made love while her hit song was playing.
The Grammy winner was recently at the Dakota for four of "the best shows we've ever had there, on every level," said Dakota owner Lowell Pickett. "Patti Austin was as good as any singer who's ever been in that room, and she's incredibly funny."
Austin is an absolute card who joked about ditching music for a comedy stage. Why do that when she's having such great success keeping Ella Fitzgerald relevant with funny stories about the "First Lady of Song" sprinkled between Austin's own renditions of her music?
Austin sang from her "For Ella" album, to the consternation of some fans who wanted to hear R&B music such as her 1981 duet with James Ingram that became a No. 1 hit in 1983 after "General Hospital" characters Luke and Laura made love to the song written by Rod Temperton.
The tastefully seductive love song is one Austin never tires of singing, she told Minnesota Public Radio while here for the performances and a luncheon at the Dakota with locals interested in the singer's campaign against domestic violence.
As an exhausted Austin left the Dakota, it took her a few seconds to understand exactly what I was asking, as you can see at startribune.com/video.
When she realized I wanted to know if SHE had ever used her own background music for lovemaking, her revulsion was palpably hysterical.
"Oh, my, ooooh, that sounds horrible," said Austin, making a face. "That sounds like a horrible idea."
