The Stonewall Celebration Concert is the debutstudio album by Brazilian singer Renato Russo, released in 1994. The album had a sale of 250,000 copies in the first year of its release. It was one of the first Brazilian albums to be totally recorded with computers. and it sees Russo covering English-language songs by Madonna, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Billy Joel, among others.
Background and planning
Russo took inspiration from a Nick Drake album to create his solo debut. Because the economical moment was favorable, the label gave him total freedom to create his material. The original plan was to do a special show with Russo singing accompanied by Carlos Trilha on the piano in order to raise funds to the Ação da Cidadania Contra a Fome, a Miséria e Pela Vida campaign, created by Herbert de Souza, who died in 1997 of AIDS-related issues. After an initial performance at actor Marco Nanini's house and after listening to Trilha's keyboard programming for the show, Russo decided to register the project in studio while keeping its fundraising objectives towards that campaign. 48 songs were prepared for the album, but only 21 made it to the final track list. Four had to be cut in the last minute due to a 70-minute limitation imposed by the CD factory; these were later released on the posthumous solo albumO Último Solo. Russo believed he was the only one to know "Cathedral Song" at that time, but singer Zélia Duncan released her self-titled debut album that same year and it contained a Portuguese-language version of it.
Concept
The album was a tribute to twenty five years of the Stonewall riots in New York City. The cover is a tribute to Rock 'n' Roll, de John Lennon, and shows Russo by the door of his building at Rua Nascimento Silva. The building's number was digitally removed later in order to preserve the musicians privacy. The booklet provides information twenty-nine social entities, including the Grupo Gay da Bahia, ISER, Greenpeace, Sociedade Viva Cazuza and ABIA.
Songs
The repertoire brings standards of American music and songs featured in films - of which many were part of his musical education. Some of the songs included are: "Cathedral Song", Tanita Tikaram's music phenomenon of the 90's; "Miss Celie's Blues", from the soundtrack of The Color Purple, composed by Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton; his own version of the theme of Walt Disney's Pinocchio, "When You Wish upon a Star", written by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline;"Cherish", Madonna's success, but with a more folk tune and his strong vocal impression; and Bob Dylan's record "If You See Her, Say Hello", from the original 1975 album Blood on the Tracks, with the title changed to "If You See Him, Say Hello".
