Pop Divas Today, Lacking ‘60s Soul, Are Just for Show

Considering that my wife sang backup for Michael Bolton for six years (two years of which Celine Dion was the opening act), and that I have a next-door neighbor whose ex-nanny would play “My Heart Will Go On” at deafening volume about 600 times a day, I feel that I am fully qualified to confirm that you hit the nail on the head (“Her Heart Will Go On,” by Mike Boehm, Calendar Weekend, Oct. 22).

I would like to add, however, that it’s not just a case of “the singer--not the song” that is relevant in discussing the diva phenomenon. There is a very large missing element that can be expressed in one word: soul.

In one sense, the soul of the ‘60s was the shotgun wedding of black church music and R&B.; That union produced some of the finest and most enduring popular music in a relatively short time.

It also brought forth a standard of singing that seems almost unbelievable in retrospect. In the broader sense, soul, or the lack of it, explains why we are moved more by one syllable from Aretha than by entire albums from singers such as Celine Dion, Mariah Carey or Michael Bolton.

It also explains why Al Green, Merle Haggard or Bob Dylan, whom some people would barely consider singers, can express more in the shading of one word than the aforementioned parties could ever hope to in a career.

Your piece will hopefully lead some listeners to look beyond the grand, empty gesture and think about what they are buying.

ALAN DEREMO

San Juan Capistrano