IN THE music industry it seems that new forms of music are competiting against old. Take Hip Hop for example. R&B artists dis hip hoppers, jazz vocalists poke fun at rhymes and drum machines. Nobody seems to like each other .. .or do they?
Read the success story of Colonel Abrams trapped. It's an interview
that Colonel Abrams gave for Blues and Soul magazine in 1985.
You may be forgiven if you think 'Deja' has a sort of familiar ring.
The name may be new, but the duo boast a partnership spanning more than
ten years. And though the name alludes to something we've seen before,
Curt Jones and Starleanna Young are looking forward to the future, not
back to the past. Dropping the name Aurra is a positive move to
exorcise ghosts from the past, and start afresh with a whole new sound.
To say Freddie Jackson is at the cross roads of his career would be something of an understatement. As far as cross roads go, Freddie's reached his spaghetti junction .. . in the rush hour! A slew of silky smooth hits in the eighties, kick started with undoubtedly his best collection to date, the two million selling "Rock Me Tonight" in '85, which of course, contained the monstrous title track along with the likes of "Calling" and "You Are My Lady", has, over the course of nine years and five albums gradually slowed down along with record sales. As the era for the smooth candlelight and champagne crooners in the '80's has given way for the riff happy, baggy jeans, bandana and Timberland hip-hop/soul homies in the '90's, naturally many of the older guard have been left concerned with the change of pace of their careers.
The group name Slave has been with us a long time but not necessarily so the new personnel and the new direction. However, latest recruit Keith Nash explains why the 'new' Slave are ready to carry on the tradition.
IF predictions were my line, Motown's newest signing Stacy Lattisaw
could, in time, become a serious threat to the likes of Teena Marie and
Janet Jackson. She was, to all intents and purposes, quite a surprising
addition to the Motown family because prior to this, very little had
been heard about the nineteen year old singer.
You know, it's been fourteen
years since "If Loving You Is Wrong" and something like nine years
since we last had an album from Luther Ingram.
And yet, after one listen to Luther's new album (rather unimaginatively
tagged "Luther Ingram"), it's as if the crooner has never been away.
But he has!
I 'm a totally nutty person. I even laugh at my own jokes" giggled one
of our newest chart singers, Vesta Williams. The lady may
wound oh-so-serious on record, but when it comes to interviews she's a
different person entirely.
Whilst the name Miki Howard may be new to you, the gifted
vocaliste is anything but a newcomer. In fact, quite the contrary
because Miki's prior main claim to fame was as lead singer with Side
Effect, a group who were by the critics but whose commercial pedigree
never materialised.
FINDING out that Atlantic Starr? whose music has marked them as a real
staple in anyone's black music diet for the past 9 years ? have only
ever had one gold album came as a shock to me when keyboardists
Jonathan Lewis revealed that very information during the course of our
recent interview, held in conjunction with the forthcoming release of
the group's Warner Brothers' debut, "All In The Name Of Love". You
could, as they say, have knocked me down with a pennyfeather ? or some
kind of feather!