Pop Music : D’Arby’s Hard-Line Talent Will Be the Bottom-Line Payoff

SAN DIEGO — Terence Trent D’Arby is the latest in a string of black vocalists to career down the path of success blazed by Michael Jackson and Prince. Less than a year after the release of his debut album, “Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby,” the 26-year-old New York City native is already in overdrive.

Top 40 radio and MTV are all over his first two singles, “If You Let Me Stay” and “Wishing Well.” The entire album has become a turntable mainstay in techno-funk dance clubs throughout the country.

And, on his first major national concert tour, which includes a stop tonight at the California Theater in downtown San Diego, D’Arby is having no trouble at all selling out multithousand-seat arenas normally reserved for established superstars.

Unlike so many other recent Jackson/Prince clones with similar overnight success stories, D’Arby isn’t likely to be a flash in the pan. His musical engine is fueled not by style and gimmickry, but by substance and talent.

D’Arby’s infectiously melodic music comes from a voice as honeyed as Sam Cooke’s, as throaty as Wilson Pickett’s and as sensually emotive as Smokey Robinson’s. Judged solely on appearance, Terence Trent D’Arby could easily be mistaken for just another pretender to the throne of Michael Jackson and Prince. But, once he opens his mouth, it becomes clear he’s the heir apparent.

See them once, and you’ll want to see ‘em again. See ‘em again, and you’ll want to rush out and buy all their records. Buy all their records, and you’ll wonder why the Neville Brothers, after more than 30 years of serving up a deliciously potent brew of rhythm-and-blues, funk and reggae, have yet to capture the public’s fascination the way Madonna’s bellybutton or Prince’s pompadour did in a comparative split second.

The rich vocal harmonies, rhythms and Mardis Gras revelry of brothers Aaron, Art, Charles and Cyril Neville once prompted Linda Ronstadt to call them her favorite rock band, adding that to sing with them was to feel “like Cinderella going to the ball.”

The New Orleans quartet has toured with such other admiring peers as the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, and Huey Lewis and the News, and made a special appearance at the 1984 Olympics.

But, in the music business, as in all other pop arts, quality is no guarantee of commercial success. So today, shortly after the release of their latest album, “Neville-ization”--on the tiny independent Rounder Records label--the Neville Brothers are still plying the nightclub circuit, playing to no more than a few hundred people at a time.

The Neville Brothers appear Sunday night at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

Other San Diego-area pop concerts this week cater to virtually every musical taste.

For jazz fans, there’s Tito Puente, tonight at the Bacchanal on Kearny Mesa Road; the Chico Freeman Quartet, tonight through Sunday at Elario’s in La Jolla, and Bobby Short, Friday at the Hotel del Coronado’s Grand Ballroom.

For country-rockers, there’s J.D. Souther and Karla Bonoff on Thursday at Rio’s in Loma Portal, and B.J. (“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”) Thomas on Friday at the Bacchanal.

Also appearing at the Bacchanal are veteran heavy metal band Blue Oyster Cult (Thursday) and new wave favorites the Call (Saturday).

For slam-dancing punk fans, the Spirit in Bay Park has a Thursday night program featuring Black Flag singer Henry Rollins, Social Spit and the Slurps, and on Saturday night will play host to Tex and the Horseheads, the Screamin’ Sirens and Johnny Quest.