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.
It's not very often that a group hits the top spot on any chart with
their first record but Levert (Sean and Gerald Levert and Marc Gordon)
did just that last year with "(Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind" when the
record, taken from their debut album entitled "Bloodline", became a
black music No. 1. A little over a year later, with a solid stint on
the road behind them, Levert are threatening to repeat their initial
success with "Casanova", the insistent, hypnotic ditty produced by
Reggie Calloway.
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!
"AFTER
a series of near misses during his Arista years, 35-year-old {safm}Jeff
Lorber{/safm} has attained that elusive crossover hit first time out on
Warner
Brothers. "Facts Of Love" is the record and it not only provides Jeff
with a slab of gold, it also welcomes two exciting new vocal talents to
an unsuspecting world ? Karyn White and Michael Jeffries.
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?
It is safe to say that, if sheer talent and vocal ability, was ever the
true yardstick of an artist?s popularity someone like David Sea would
be massive, a worldwide musical phenomenon.