Search - Laura Nyro :: First Songs

David Geffen gave up his day job to manage Laura Nyro after he heard these songs. Artists then knocked on his door begging to record them. But no one sang them sweeter than Nyro herself; not Blood, Sweat & Tears with "And When I Die," The Fifth Dimension with "Wedding Bell Blues," or even Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End." This is a remarkable collection of mature songs for anyone, much less the 20-year-old Brooklyn girl who penned them. Nyro, of course, would go on to make ever deeper, richer, sweeter soul-inflected music; but she would never be as shyly innocent or as patently joyful as on First Songs. --Michael Ruby