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Kidd Milestone

Contributor — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:40:40 +0000

Jason Kidd picked up his 11,000th career assist in the fashion that one might expect an alley-oop lob to Tyson Chandler in the first quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Maverick beat the Sixers 99-90.

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The Fashion Lounge NY LA Tokyo Runway Show Part II |Featuring Ingrea Aberra Behind The Scenes 1 0f 4

Contributor — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:29:57 +0000

Chris Isaak

Contributor — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:00:36 +0000

Chris Isaak signed a contract to Warner Bros. Records in 1984 for his first album Silvertone. The tracks “Gone Ridin’” and “Livin’ for Your Lover”, from this album, were featured in David Lynch’s cult classic Blue Velvet. Isaak’s second self-titled album Chris Isaak was photographed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber. Isaak’s contract was renewed in 1988 when Warner Bros. moved him to their Reprise Records label. His best-known song is “Wicked Game”. Though released on the 1989 album Heart Shaped World, an instrumental version of the song was later featured in the 1990 David Lynch film Wild at Heart. Lee Chesnut, an Atlanta radio station music director who was obsessed with Lynch films, began playing the vocal version and it quickly became the station’s most-requested song. Chesnut spread the word to other radio stations around the country and the single became a national top 10 hit in February of 1991. The music video for the song was directed by Herb Ritts and was a big MTV and VH1 hit; shot in black and white, it starred Isaak and Danish supermodel Helena Christensen rolling on the beach, embracing and whispering in each other’s ears. Another less-seen version of the “Wicked Game” is directed by David Lynch and comprises scenes from the film Wild at Heart. In 1995 Isaak split with long time guitarist James Calvin Wilsey, and that year’s Forever Blue and the accompanying tour featured Hershel Yatovitz on guitar.

In 1999, Isaak’s “Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing” was featured in Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The song is on his 1995 album Forever Blue. The music video for the song is directed by Herb Ritts, it was shot in color, it starred Isaak and French supermodel Laetitia Casta in a motel room. This was Isaak’s second collaboration with Ritts.

Isaak also composed a theme song for US late-night television variety/talk show, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. In 2001, Isaak starred in his own television show, The Chris Isaak Show. It aired from March 2001 to March 2004 in the United States on the cable television network Showtime. This adult comedy show featured Chris Isaak and his band playing themselves with the episode plots based on fictional accounts of the backstage world of Chris Isaak–the rock star next door. In 2004, his track “Life Will Go On” was featured on Chasing Liberty’s soundtrack, which starred Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode. His track “Two Hearts” was featured in the closing credits of the 1993 film True Romance, directed by Tony Scott, written by Quentin Tarantino, and starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette.

Isaak’s longtime producer, Erik Jacobsen, was instrumental in his sound for 15 years. Jacobsen is known for his production work with The Lovin’ Spoonful, and solo albums from Spoonful’s John Sebastian and Jerry Yester. Isaak ceased working with Jacobsen on his 2002 album, Always Got Tonight.

Isaak was ranked #68 on VH1′s 100 Sexiest Artists.

Kanye West

Contributor — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:00:25 +0000

In a short span of time, Kanye West went from hitmaking producer to just plain hitmaker, as his stellar production work earned him a solo record deal and soon his beats were accompanied by his own witty raps on a number of critically and commercially successful releases. His flamboyant personality also made a mark. West showcased a dapper fashion sense that set him apart from most of his rap peers, and his confidence often came across as boastful or even egotistic, albeit amusingly. This flamboyance, of course, made for good press, something West enjoyed plenty of during his sudden rise to celebrity status. He was a media darling, appearing and performing at practically every major awards show (and winning at them, too), delivering theatrical videos to MTV that were events in themselves, and mouthing off about whatever happened to cross his mind. For instance, he once spoke out against the rampant homophobia evident in much rap music, and he also posed for the cover of Rolling Stone as Jesus Christ. He seemed to court controversy. West’s steady presence in the celebrity limelight, on the other hand, could sometimes eclipse his considerable musical talent. His production ability seemed boundless during his initial surge of activity, as he not only racked up impressive hits for himself like “Jesus Walks” and “Gold Digger,” but also graced such fellow rap stars as Jay-Z and Ludacris with smashes. In addition to these many accomplishments, it’s worth noting how West shattered certain stereotypes about rappers. Whether it was his appearance or his rhetoric, or even just his music, this young man became a superstar on his own terms, and his singularity no doubt is part of his appeal to a great many people, especially those who don’t generally consider themselves rap listeners.From out of left field (i.e., Chicago, anything but a hip-hop hotbed), West was an unlikely sensation and more than once defied adversity. Like so many others who were initially inspired by Run-D.M.C., he began as just another aspiring rapper with a boundless passion for hip-hop, albeit a rapper with a Midas touch when it came to beatmaking. And it was indeed his beatmaking skills that got his foot in the industry door. Though he did quite a bit of noteworthy production work during the late ’90s, it was his work for Roc-a-Fella at the dawn of the new millennium that took his career to the next level. Alongside fellow fresh talent Just Blaze, West became one of The Roc’s go-to producers, consistently delivering hot tracks to album after album. He first caught everyone’s ear in 2001 when he laced Jay-Z’s earth-shaking Blueprint album with “Takeover” and “Izzo (H.O.V.A.).” Both songs were enormous successes, partly so because of West’s trademark beatmaking style, which was largely sample-based — in these brilliant cases the former track appropriating snippets of the Doors’ “Five to One,” the latter the Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back.”More high-profile productions followed, and before long word spread that West was going to release an album of his own, on which he’d rap as well as produce. Unfortunately, that album was a long time coming, pushed back and then pushed back again. It didn’t help, of course, that West experienced a tragic car accident in October 2002 that almost cost him his life. He capitalized on the traumatic experience by using it as the inspiration for “Through the Wire” (and its corresponding video), which would later become the lead single for his eventually released debut album. That debut album, The College Dropout (2004), was continually delayed while West continued to churn out big hits for the likes of Talib Kweli (“Get By”), Ludacris (“Stand Up”), Jay-Z (“’03 Bonnie & Clyde”), and Alicia Keys (“You Don’t Know My Name”). Then, just as “Through the Wire” was breaking big-time at the tail end of 2003, another West song caught fire, a collaboration with Twista and comedian/actor Jamie Foxx called “Slow Jamz” that gave the rapper/producer two simultaneously ubiquitous singles and a much-anticipated debut album. As with so many of West’s songs, these two were driven by somewhat recognizable sample-based hooks — Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire” in the case of “Through the Wire,” and Luther Vandross’ “A House Is Not a Home” in the case of “Slow Jamz.”In the wake of his breakout success, West earned a whopping ten nominations for the 47th annual Grammy Awards, held in early 2005. The College Dropout won the Best Rap Album award, “Jesus Walks” won Best Rap Song, and a songwriting credit on “You Don’t Know My Name” had West sharing the Best R&B Song award with Alicia Keys and Harold Lilly. Later in the year, he released his second solo album, Late Registration, which met with enormous success, hit the top of the charts, and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in early 2006. That same year, the live album Late Orchestration: Live at Abbey Road Studios found West performing his hits with a 17-piece string orchestra. The album and accompanying DVD were only released in Europe. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

Chris Brown

Contributor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:31:14 +0000

Less than two years ago, he was the 16-year-old boy next door, a teenager from the small town of Tappahannock, VA (population: 2,000), with a world of talent and big dreams, fueled by the artists he grew up with, from Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder and Donnie Hathaway to Michael Jackson and Usher.

Now, with the release of Exclusive, his sophomore album for Jive Records, Chris Brown is ready to take his place alongside those heroes.

“Exclusive is something that not everybody can get,” he says, explaining the title. “I feel it’s an album especially for my fans. It’s not for the critics or the haters… or people that get it just to fit in. It’s only for those who truly want to hear my music.”

Exclusive is the follow-up to his self-titled debut, released in November 2005, which debuted at #2 in Billboard and was recently certified double-platinum, having sold 1.9 million copies in the U.S. and more than three million worldwide.

The Dixie Chicks

Contributor — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:15:18 +0000

The Dixie Chicks rose from relative obscurity in 1998 to become one of the most popular acts in contemporary country music. Their origins date back nearly a decade earlier, to 1989, when fiddler Martie Seidel and her banjo-playing sister Emily Erwin formed the group in Dallas with bassist Laura Lynch and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy; after getting their start on local street corners, the quartet soon graduated to clubs, receiving an enormous boost when Seidel earned third place honors at the National Fiddle Championships. Originally, the Dixie Chicks (their name inspired by the Little Feat song “Dixie Chickens”) promoted a classic cowgirl image, complete with a sound inspired by traditional country, folk, and bluegrass; they even titled their 1990 indie-label debut Thank Heavens for Dale Evans.With 1992′s Little Ol’ Cowgirl, the Chicks began slowly moving toward a more contemporary sound, a transformation that in part resulted in the exit of Macy; with Lynch assuming lead vocal duties, the remaining trio resurfaced in 1993 with Shouldn’t a Told You That. Shortly after the Chicks signed with Sony’s newly revived Monument imprint in 1995, Lynch left the group as well — according to a December 10, 1998, feature in the Dallas Observer, both she and Macy were likely victims of Seidel and Erwin’s desire to foster a more youthful image; the magazine goes on to call the group “the country version of Menudo, hiring and firing based on age.” Soon named as Lynch’s replacement was then 21-year-old lead vocalist Natalie Maines, the daughter of steel guitar legend Lloyd Maines.The lineup switch brought with it a new contemporary wardrobe and an equally modernized country sound; still, few predicted the enormous success of the Dixie Chicks’ 1998 major-label debut, Wide Open Spaces. After the album’s advance first single, “I Can Love You Better,” became the group’s first Top Ten hit, both “There’s Your Trouble” and the title track went on to top the country charts. Within a year of Wide Open Spaces’ release, the record had gone quadruple platinum, and the Dixie Chicks had become superstars — not only did they take home Best Vocal Group honors and the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association, but they were also named Favorite New Country Artist at the American Music Awards. Wide Open Spaces additionally earned a Grammy for Best Country Album on its way to becoming the best-selling duo or group album in country music history.Fly followed in 1999, immediately returning the Dixie Chicks to the upper reaches of the country charts with the lead single, “Ready to Run.” “Goodbye Earl” was also a smash single for the group. In May 2002, the Dixie Chicks joined Shakira, Mary J. Blige, Cher, and Celine Dion for the Fifth Annual VH1 Divas Show in Las Vegas. Three months later, the girls were back in the game with release of their sixth album, Home, their first for their own Sony imprint, Open Wide Records. Top of the World Tour: Live and its accompanying DVD arrived in 2003, followed by the chart-topping album, Taking the Long Way, in 2006. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Kenny G

Contributor — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:49:43 +0000

Kenny G has long been the musician many jazz listeners love to hate. A phenomenally successful instrumentalist whose recordings make the pop charts, Kenny G’s sound has been a staple on adult contemporary and smooth jazz radio stations since the mid-’80s, making him a household name. Kenny G is a fine player with an attractive sound (influenced a bit by Grover Washington, Jr.) who often caresses melodies, putting a lot of emotion into his solos. Because he does not improvise much (sticking mostly to predictable melody statements), his music largely falls outside of jazz. However, because he is listed at the top of “contemporary jazz” charts and is identified with jazz in the minds of the mass public, he is classified as jazz.Kenny Gorelick started playing professionally with Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1976. He recorded with Cold, Bold & Together (a Seattle-based funk group) and freelanced locally. After graduating from the University of Washington, Kenny G worked with Jeff Lorber Fusion, making two albums with the group. Soon he was signed to Arista, recording his debut as a leader in 1982. His fourth album, Duotones (which included the very popular “Songbird”), made him into a star. Soon he was in demand for guest appearances on recordings of such famous singers as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Natalie Cole. Kenny G’s own records have sold remarkably well, particularly Breathless, which has easily topped eight million copies in the U.S.; his total album sales top 30 million copies. 1994′s holiday album Miracles and 1996′s Moment continued the momentum of his massive commercial success. He also recorded his own version of the Celine Dion/Titanic smash “My Heart Will Go On” in 1998, but the following year he released Classics in the Key of G, a collection of jazz standards like “‘Round Midnight” and “Body & Soul,” possibly to reclaim some jazz credibility.Faith: A Holiday Album was released that same year, followed up by a limited edition re-release of the 1997 Greatest Hits disc. 2002 found Kenny G dipping into tropical territory with Paradise, which featured guest appearances by Brian McKnight and Chanté Moore. This was followed by a music video collection, another holiday album, entitled Wishes, and, in 2003, a second greatest-hits collection, Ultimate Kenny G. Perhaps in a bid to shake up his discography a bit, in 2004 Kenny G released At Last…The Duets Album, which featured “duets” with LeAnn Rimes and Chaka Khan. Two years later, smooth jazz’s king of the soprano sax returned to a purely instrumental approach on the brassy, big-band-inspired albums Holiday Collection and I’m in the Mood for Love. 2006 was also the year the artist was dubbed the best golfer in music by Golf Digest, beating out Vince Gill for the number one spot. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

John Legend

Contributor — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:22:32 +0000

In 2004, John Legend (then known primarily as an in-demand all-star studio session man) stepped into the solo spotlight as a premier singer-songwriter-pianist-performer in his own right with his debut album Get Lifted. Driven in part by the hit singles “Ordinary People” and “Used To Love U,” Get Lifted was a critical and commercial triumph, earning John an astounding eight Grammy nominations — he won Best New Artist, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (“Ordinary People”) and Best R&B album — and selling more than three million copies worldwide.For most performers, achievements of that magnitude would be the culmination of a dream. For John Legend, however, awards and sales are merely fringe benefits. His real goal and gift is to tap into something honest and true within his audience and himself and to connect on that level. When asked what he hopes his fans will glean from his much-anticipated sophomore album, John replies, “I want them to hear that I’ve grown. That I’m trying to take them to new places and to be excited about that. This album is an expansion more than anything else. I’m trying to be me and embrace all the parts of me that have grown up, listened to more music and soaked up more influences. Get Lifted was me then. This is me now.”Once Again, John’s new album, is many things, chief among them, it’s a pop/soul album fueled by intelligence, intuition, sensuality, spirit and a creativity made possible when which includes Raphael Saadiq, Kanye West, Craig Street and will.i.am, who brought the lead single, “Save Room,” to John. Breezy and sexy, “Save Room” is a joyful, cool love song, inspired by an old AM radio single, “Stormy,” by the Classics IV (a 60′s Top 40 band best-known for “Spooky”). As John recalls, “will brought the sample. I didn’t even know the original. I just knew it was a nice organ sound and wanted to write to it. I just started mumbling along to it, finding my place in the melody and it worked for me.”Laced with a somewhat more dramatic flair is the mid-tempo “Where Did My Baby Go.” Says John, “It was one of the only songs written before I began recording this album, and was in my head for a long time. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it because at the time it didn’t sound like anything I’d done before. It ended up fitting perfectly because I ended up writing more stuff in that direction so it became a precursor to where I was going this time.”John takes a somewhat political perspective on the stately “Coming Home,” which he says is “about a soldier who wants to come back to his family and his uncertainty about being away and whether or not he might die. It’s subtle but it still manages to speak to some important issues about life and death, war and peace.”Relationship ups and downs are the subject of the swaying Kanye West-produced “Heaven Only Knows.” “It’s a song that just came together in a natural effortless way, which is how Kanye and I work,” John explains. “He played me a sample and a drum loop, and I started writing around it.” Legend recorded 30 tracks, including four with Kanye, for his new album. Two of the West-produced tracks made the final track list, with West also serving as co-Executive Producer of the album. “On a creative counsel level,” John says, “I benefit from his taste and judgment.”"Show Me,” which John cites as one of his favorites, is hushed, haunting and deliberately ambiguous. Co-produced by Raphael Saadiq and Craig Street (Me’Shell NdegéOcello, Cassandra Wilson), “Show Me” was, according to John, “intended to be about God, but I also wanted it to have the feel of a romantic song as well. But while I could have done what I usually do and write about a relationship, this felt like such a spiritual song. I’ve never sung or recorded my voice like that. When I’m with a girl and I have a song in my head I kind of whisper it in her ear, like an intimate whisper. That’s how I did the vocal for this song.”Even more so than he did on Get Lifted, John went boldly in his own creative direction on Once Again, opting to write, not from a marketing standpoint, but from his heart and soul and personal experience. “I listen to a lot of music,” he says about the preparation for the album. “The producers I work with — like Kanye, will & Craig — listen to a lot more and we just brainstorm and don’t limit it to what ‘s going on in urban music right now. I didn’t wanna put a box around it. You make music, try and make it as good as you possibly can, trust the people around you and hope and pray that what you really love is something a lot of other people will also love. With Get Lifted, we managed to make a strong record that people related to. We succeeded because it was distinctive and touched a chord. So I figured, ‘Let me just keep making music that’s really good and that touches people. Music that they can feel, which has some beauty to it and that transcends what the marketers are gonna tell you, and we’ll figure out a way to get it to people.’”John Legend (nee Stephens) grew up in Ohio, surrounded by every musical influence from gospel to hip-hop. While attending the University of Pennsylvania (where he majored in English), Legend found time to make his own music, whether it was recording his own albums, performing at talent shows and open mics, or directing the choir at a local church. In fact just months before he began work on Get Lifted, Legend finally ended a nine-year tenure as music and choir director at Bethel A.M.E. Church in northeastern Pennsylvania.In 1998, John got his first taste of success, playing piano on “Everything is Everything,” off Lauryn’s Hill’s multiple-Grammy winning album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. He also honed his chops touring throughout the East Coast, opening up for bigger R&B acts, and recording and selling several live concert albums. In 2001, a college roommate introduced John to the then up-and-coming producer/artist Kanye West. By 2002, Legend was part of West’s creative team, appearing on albums by Talib Kweli, Common, Mary J Blige and on West’s 2004 breakthrough The College Dropout. That same year John lent his vocal talent to Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name” and appeared on Jay-Z’s acclaimed Black Album.In late 2003, Legend became the first artist signed to Kanye’s KonMan Entertainment (later renamed Getting Out Our Dreams) with a deal with Columbia Records followed in May 2004. Preloaded with pre-release buzz, Get Lifted debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 and #1 on the R&B Album chart the week of its release three days after Christmas 2004.Three years ago, John Legend was a highly regarded session musician. Today he’s an artist who proves that, even in an age of expediency and crass commercialism, real talent not only still matters but will be acknowledged. When asked how success has affected him, John replies, “I think I’m happier, not just because of winning Grammys and selling records, but because it’s really fulfilling to have all these things happen with something you love to do. To have the chance to see your music be elevated and to have almost universally positive response to that music, makes me feel better every day. I feel more confident and inspired, and that’s fun. I’m feeling truly creative and I’m hoping that feeling will stay around, because my hope and belief is that most people are down to grow and explore with me.”

Toni Braxton

Contributor — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:55:12 +0000

Toni Braxton (born Toni Michelle Braxton on October 7, 1967) is an American R&B/adult contemporary singer-songwriter and actress. Known for her husky alto voice, Braxton has won six Grammy Awards and has sold over forty million records worldwide. Her US number-one hit “Un-Break My Heart” is the second biggest single by a female artist ever.With her 1993 self-titled debut album she topped the Billboard charts and continued that streak with her second studio album “Secrets” which spawned the number one hit “Un-Break My Heart”. After a messy bankruptcy she returned with her chart topping third album, “The Heat”. Her later two albums, “More Than A Woman” which was her last on Arista and “Libra” which was her first and only release on Blackground were underpromoted and resulted in a commercial disappointment for Braxton. She later left Blackground and is now currently unsigned to a record label.She is currently performing in her successful Las Vegas act, Toni Braxton: Revealed. Toni is in the studio working on her sixth studio album.

Keite Young

Contributor — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:34:16 +0000

He was born in Fort Worth, TX. Singer, songwriter, producer, and musician Keite Young found himself in a talented musical family. His grandfather was a blues singer who performed under the name Big Daddy Young while his mother and father, Carrie and Dalon Collins, toured with Kirk Franklin & the Family.

Keite started writing songs when he was eight years old but did not start singing until his late teens, by which time he was already an ordained preacher.

He taught himself to play keyboards, drums, and guitar and spent his time making home demos of his songs, which prepared him for his current success.Young’s debut album, The Rise and Fall of Keite Young, blends a mixture of soul, funk, R/B, and a some gospel.