In the news this week....
John Legend is officially a married man. The R&B crooner tied the knot with model
Chrissy Teigen in Italy on Saturday. According to
E! News, the couple wed in a small ceremony at an estate on Italy’s Lake Como, a favorite of celebrities including George Clooney and Madonna. The Grammy-winning singer and Sports Illustrated model, who have been dating since 2007, got engaged in December 2011 during their holiday vacation in the Maldives. Legend professed his love for Teigen during an interview with Oprah earlier this year. “I knew I loved her,” he said. “I knew I could see myself living with her and spending time with her forever. I knew I could envision us having kids together.” The couple showed just how deep their love is while shooting the intimate video for “All of Me,” a ballad Legend penned about his new wife. The newlyweds will have a little time to honeymoon before Legend returns to the U.S. to kick off his “Made to Love” tour on Oct. 20. (R&Bnews)
Ten years after his death in 2003, the late, great soul musician Barry White has finally received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and it couldn’t have been a better day, as he received the star on his birthday (Sept 12). His wife, Glodean White, accepted the honor on his behalf, and the likes of Berry Gordy, Walter and Scottie of the Whispers, singer-songwriter Brenda Holloway, producer Jesus Barber, L.A. city councilman Tom LaBonge, and Soul Train producer Tony Cornelius were just a few of the many celebs who came out to pay tribute to the music virtuoso. Producer of Walk of Fame ceremonies Ana Martinez said, "People can't get enough of Barry White's music, and even though he passed away many years ago, his songs will live on in the hearts of many. We are honored to have Barry White, his legendary voice and timeless songs immortalized on the Walk of Fame." White was known for his bass voice and soulful, romantic songs, such as “Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe,” and “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up” with his 40-piece ensemble The Love Unlimited Orchestra. (singersroom)
This weeks playlist for Sunday 15th September 2013
Hour One
Amazonics - Redemption Song
Monday Michiru - No Woman No Cry
Joe Sample The Road Less Traveled
Teddy Pendergrass - Good To You
The O'Jays - Used To Be My Girl
Yarbrough & Peoples - Special
Maze - I Want To feel I'm Wanted
Syleena Johnson - Guess What
George Benson - Let's Do It Again
Tony Stone - Can't Say Bye
The Controllers - Sleeping Alone
Anthony David - Body Language
Hour Two
'Three-inna-Row:
The Isley Brothers
1 I Need Your Body
2 I Once Had Your Love
3 Groove With You
Kenny Lattimore - Weekend
Rahsaan Patterson - We You Are
Jon B - They Don't Know
Wornell Jones - Must Be Love
Coke Escovedo - Runaway
The Jones Girls - The Feeling Is Killing Me
Melba More It's Hard Not To Like You
Maze - While I'm Alone
The Isley Brothers Biography:
Three brothers, O'Kelly (Born 25 December 1937, d. 31 March 1986),
Rudolph (Born 1 April 1939) and Ronald Isley (Born 21 May 1941), began
singing gospel in their home-town of Cincinnati, USA, in the early 50s,
accompanied by their brother Vernon, who died in a car crash around
1957. Moving to New York the following year, the trio issued one-off
singles before being signed by the RCA Records production team, Hugo And
Luigi. The Isleys had already developed a tight vocal unit, with
Rudolph and O'Kelly supporting Ronald's strident tenor leads in a
call-and-response style taken directly from the church. The
self-composed "Shout" - with a chorus based on an ad-libbed refrain that
had won an enthusiastic response in concert - epitomized this approach,
building to a frantic crescendo as the brothers screamed out to each
other across the simple chord changes. "Shout" sold heavily in the black
market, and has since become an R&B standard, but RCA's attempts to
concoct a suitable follow-up were unsuccessful.
The group
switched labels to Wand Records in 1962, where they enjoyed a major hit
with an equally dynamic cover version of the Top Notes' "Twist And
Shout", an arrangement that was subsequently copied by the Beatles. In
the fashion of the times, the Isleys were forced to spend the next two
years recording increasingly contrived rewrites of this hit, both on
Wand and at United Artists Records. A brief spell with Atlantic Records
in 1964 produced a classic R&B record, "Who's That Lady?", but with
little success. Tired of the lack of control over their recordings, the
Isleys formed their own company, T-Neck Records, in 1964 - an
unprecedented step for black performers. The first release on the label,
"Testify", showcased their young lead guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, and
allowed him free rein to display his virtuosity and range of sonic
effects. However, the record's experimental sound went unnoticed at the
time, and the Isleys were forced to abandon both T-Neck and Hendrix, and
sign a contract with Motown Records.
They were allowed little
involvement in the production of their records and the group were teamed
with the Holland/Dozier/Holland partnership, who effectively treated
them as an extension of the Four Tops, and fashioned songs for them
accordingly. This combination reached its zenith with "This Old Heart Of
Mine" in 1966, a major hit in the USA, and a belated chart success in
Britain in 1968. UK listeners also reacted favourably to "Behind A
Painted Smile" and "I Guess I'll Always Love You' when they were
reissued at the end of the 60s. Such singles were definitive Motown: a
driving beat, an immaculate house band and several impassioned voices;
but although the Isleys" records always boasted a tougher edge than
those by their stablemates, little of their work for Motown exploited
their gospel and R&B heritage to the full.
Tired of the
formula and company power games, the Isleys reactivated T-Neck in 1969,
along with a change of image from the regulation mohair suits to a
freer, funkier "west coast" image, reflected in their choice of
repertoire. At this point too, they became a sextet, adding two younger
brothers, Ernie (Born 7 March 1952; guitar) and Marvin (bass), as well
as a cousin, Chris Jasper (keyboards). While their mid-60s recordings
were enjoying overdue success in Britain, the Isleys were scoring
enormous US hits with their new releases, notably "It's Your Thing" and
"I Turned You On'. These records sported a stripped-down funk sound,
inspired by James Brown And The JBs, and topped with the brothers"
soaring vocal harmonies. They issued a succession of ambitious albums in
this vein between 1969 and 1972, among them a live double set that
featured extended versions of their recent hits, and In The Beginning, a
collection of their 1964 recordings with Jimi Hendrix. In the early
70s, the Isleys incorporated into their repertoire a variety of rock
material by composers such as Bob Dylan, Stephen Stills and Carole King.
Their
dual role as composers and interpreters reached a peak in 1973 on 3+3,
the first album issued via a distribution agreement with CBS Records.
The record's title reflected the make-up of the group at that time, with
the three original vocalists supported by the new generation of the
family. Ernie Isley's powerful, sustained guitar work, strongly
influenced by Jimi Hendrix, became a vital ingredient in the Isleys'
sound, and was featured heavily on the album's lead single, "That Lady',
a revamped version of their unheralded 1964 single on Atlantic. 3+3
also contained soft soul interpretations of material by Seals And Croft,
James Taylor and the Doobie Brothers. An important key track was the
Isleys" own "Highway Of My Life", which demonstrated Ronald's increasing
mastery of the romantic ballad form. Having established a winning
formula, the Isleys retained it throughout the rest of the 70s, issuing a
succession of slick, impressive soul albums that were divided between
startlingly tough funk numbers and subdued Ronald Isley ballads. The
Heat Is On in 1975 represented the pinnacle of both genres; the angry
lyrics of "Fight The Power", a US Top 10 single, contrasted sharply with
the suite of love songs on the album's second side, aptly summarized by
the title of one of the tracks, "Sensuality". "Harvest For The World'
(1976) proved to be one of the Isleys" most popular recordings in
Britain, with its stunning blend of dance rhythm, melody and social
awareness (the song hit the UK charts in 1988 in a version by the
Christians).
In the late 70s, the increasing polarization of the
rock and disco markets ensured that while the Isleys continued to
impress black record buyers, their work went largely unheard in the
white mainstream. "The Pride", "Take Me To The Next Phase", "I Wanna Be
With You" and "Don't Say Goodnight" all topped the specialist black
music charts without registering in the US Top 30, and the group
responded in kind, concentrating on dance-flavoured material to the
exclusion of their ballads. "It's A Disco Night', a UK hit in 1980,
demonstrated their command of the idiom, but a growing sense of
self-parody infected the Isleys' music in the early 80s. Conscious of
this decline, Ernie and Marvin Isley and Chris Jasper left the group in
1984 to form the successful Isley, Jasper, Isley combination. The
original trio soldiered on, but the sudden death of O'Kelly Isley from a
heart attack on 31 March 1986 brought their 30-year partnership to an
end. Ronald and Rudolph dedicated their next release, Smooth Sailin", to
him, and the album produced another black hit in Angela Wimbush's
ballad, "Smooth Sailin' Tonight". Wimbush now assumed virtual artistic
control over the group, and she wrote and produced their 1989 release
Spend The Night, which was effectively a Ronald Isley solo album. The
artistic innovations of the Isley Brothers, continued by the second
generation of the family in Isley, Jasper, Isley, belie the conservatism
of their releases since the late 70s. Their 1996 release Mission To
Please attempted to move them into the same smooth urban soul territory
as Keith Sweat and Babyface. In 2001 they were awarded over $5 million
in a lawsuit, to be paid by singer Michael Bolton for plagiarism of
their song "Love Is A Wonderful Thing". Later in the year, their new
album Eternal proved their enduring appeal when it debuted in the US Top
5. For a third time the Isley Brothers had managed to reinvent
themselves, and even more success was to follow in 2003 when Body Kiss
reached the top slot on the US album charts.
The Isley Brothers
represented the apogee of gospel-inspired soul on their early hits, they
pioneered the ownership of record labels by black artists, and invented
a new funk genre with their blend of dance rhythms and rock
instrumentation in the early 70s. Their series of US hits from the 50s
to the 90s is one of the major legacies of black American music.
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