Chaka Khan, Ledisi, Sheila E., Lisa Fischer, Dee Dee Bridgewater, India.Arie, Lalah Hathaway, Patti Austin, Terri Lyne Carrington, Siedah Garrett and Brenda Russell have formed TWIST(Tuff Women In Strange Times) a supergroup of women artists to rally voter participation for the 2020 election. Activist, author and professor Angela Davis will appear in a series of videos encouraging voting under the TWIST2020 banner. The campaign has started with a video of the late Maya Angelou and it can be viewed at www.twist2020.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. There will be a live event on October 20th titled This Is Why I Vote at 8PM ET that can be viewed on www.twist2020.com, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Viewers are encouraged to use #WeAreTWIST2020 on social media. 

TWIST2020 will feature daily portraits from each artist regarding the theme “This Is Why I Vote?” referencing the women who inspired them to take political action. Sheila E. and Terri Lyne Carrington created music for each video in the series. There will also be an all-star video version of the song “L.O.V.E.(Let One Voice Emerge)” previously composed and recorded by Austin, Garrett and others for the Voter Participation Center voter registration campaign in 2013.   

Austin, who is the brainchild behind TWIST, says the campaign is to remind voters particularly women of the historic power they have to make a difference especially in light of September 18, 2020, passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She says, “We’ve all got incredible stories about a school teacher, our mother, or her mother, or just other powerful women that influence our lives. We’ve got this election coming up. We have the power of the world in our hands, given to us by the women who came before us.”

Patti Austin, Tammy McCrary, Julie Bergman and Gwendolyn Quinn are the producers of TWIST2020. 

[youtube id=”3ma53rEhUQ0″]Terrace Martin co-directs his video for “Intimidated” featuring Lalah Hathaway and Rapsody with director Jasper Graham. The whole thing is black and white and Martin sings looking into the camera as the lady he likes struts through the streets. “Intimidated” follows “Trail Mix (Feat. Buddy & Rose Gold” and “All I Own.” 

[youtube id=”VcMWUArO8ak”] Donny Hathaway wrote “This Christmas” with Nadine McKinnor hoping to create the ultimate Xmas song for African-Americans. “This Christmas” wasn’t received well after its initial release in 1970 but by the ’80s it was customary to hear it on Black radio around holiday time. Listeners knew when they heard the beaming horns intro it was time for the holiday.  The presence of the song each year on those radio stations, its re-release in 1991 and cover versions from Patti LaBelle and many others instituted classic status for “This Christmas.” Hathaway and McKinnor’s intention to capture the spirit of a soulful holiday achieved its goal of becoming the most popular Black Christmas song. Hathaway’s daughter Lalah recently covered “This Christmas” for a Spotify Singles recording session. When she was asked by Essence magazine whose version of the song did she like most she replied:

“Donny Hathaway’s is my favorite. I know it’s Christmas when I hear daddy’s version. I would like to hear more of [it].”

[youtube id=”zI58Y2_0jRc”] Lalah Hathaway’s new album Honestly is coming out the first week of November. The video for the lead single features her singing while looking into the camera as images of  America’s issues with race and violence float by in the background. Honestly’s official date is November 3rd but you can pre-order the album now.