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Adriana Evans ,

known as Adriana Madera, is an American R&B vocalist. She was born in San Francisco, California and was one of the first Neo soul artists. Her debut album Adriana Evans was released in 1997 and reached the No. 33 position on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Adriana Evans was immersed in music from a young age, with her mother Mary Stallings singing with jazz artists like Count Basie, and her godfather being jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. As such, Evans finds a great deal of her musical upbringing in jazz music. ….Read More

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Helen Folasade Adu ,

(born 16 January 1959), better known as Sade, is a British Nigerian singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the popular Brit and Grammy Award winning English group, Sade. She is the most successful solo female artist in Britain, having sold over 50 million albums.
Soldier of Love is the upcoming sixth studio album from British soul, Pop, and R&B band Sade. It is their first new material since the 2000 multi-platinum Lovers Rock. The album is slated for release on February 8, 2010. The first single “Soldier of Love” premiered on December 8 on band’s official website. ….Read More

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The Sea ,

is the upcoming second studio album by English singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae. The album is set to be released on January 26, 2010.

According to Rae, some of the songs carry personal themes, mainly related to the death of her husband, Jason Rae. “Are You Here” is one of those songs. “I’d Do It All Again” was written two months before he died in January 2008 after the couple had had an argument, and is a testimony to the strength of her love for him.

“I felt like I was playing and composing using music to help me with all the different feelings he was feeling.” Corinne said that when she began to write “Are You Here” even though it might be better that the song was not released because it is very personal and intimate. ….Read More

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Minnie Julia Riperton ,

(November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American singer-songwriter best known for her vocal range of more than five octaves and her 1975 single “Lovin’ You”. She was married to songwriter and music producer Richard Rudolph (1968 until her death in 1979). She was also the mother of music engineer Marc Rudolph and actress/comedienne Maya Rudolph. ….Read More

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Edwin Starr ,

(January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003) was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit “War”.
Starr was born Charles Edwin Hatcher in Nashville, Tennessee in 1942. He and his cousins (soul singers Roger and Willie Hatcher) moved to Cleveland, Ohio where they were raised. He has a wife named Annette Mary Hatcher and a son named Andr’e Hatcher and two grandchildren Alont’e Renfroe and Maryah Hatcher.

In 1957, Starr formed a doo-wop group, The Future Tones, and began his singing career. Starr lived in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s and recorded at first for the small record label Ric-Tic, and later for the famed Motown after it absorbed Ric-Tic in 1968. ….Read More

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Randi Laubek ,

(b. 30. July 1973) Is a Danish singer and songwriter. She debuted in 1997 with Ducks and Drakes and received in 1998 three Grammy for this release, partly as Year Danish singer, Year Danish songwriter and Danish Album of the Year. In 2000 She again received a Grammy as Year Danish singer.

Randi Laubek music style is a mixture of pop, soul and jazzBut is really difficult to put in the bay. Her texts are lyrical and supported by the good voice. ….Read More

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Leona Louise Lewis ,

(born 3 April 1985) is an English pop and R&B singer–songwriter. Lewis rose to fame in 2006 as the winner of the third series of the British television series The X Factor.

Lewis has become a multi-platinum selling artist and three time Grammy Award nominee. She has released two albums to date, Spirit and Echo, in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Spirit became the fastest-selling debut album and the biggest seller of 2007 in both the UK and Ireland, and made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the Billboard 200 with a debut album. Her second album, Echo, was released in November 2009. ….Read More

Courtesy Of MC Blog

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James Joseph Brown ,

(May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006), originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as “The Godfather of Soul”, was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing. He was also called “the hardest working man in show business”.

As a prolific singer, songwriter, dancer and bandleader, Brown was a pivotal force in the music industry. He left his mark on numerous artists. Brown’s music also left its mark on the rhythms of African popular music, such as afrobeat, jùjú and mbalax, and provided a template for go-go music. ….Read More

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The Distance ,

is the third studio album by American blue-eyed soul singer Taylor Hicks, released on March 10, 2009. It is the first release by Hicks under his own independent label, Modern Whomp, after parting ways with Arista Records. The Distance was produced by Simon Climie and features 11 tracks on the main version, including the single “What’s Right Is Right” and “Nineteen,” which tells the story of a teenage football star who joins the armed forces after the 9/11 attacks. ….Read More

Taylor Hicks – The Distance

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Roderick David “Rod” Stewart ,

(born 10 January 1945) is a Scots-English singer and songwriter born and raised in London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage. ….Read More

           Track Listing :

01. It’s The Same Old Song
02. My Cherie Amour
03. You Make Me Feel Brand New
04. (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher
05. Tracks Of My Tears
06. Let It Be Me
07. Rainy Night In Georgia
08. What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted
09. Love Train
10. You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me
11. Wonderful World
12. If You Don’t Know Me By Now
13. Just My Imagination

Rod Stewart – Soulbook P1

Rod Stewart – Soulbook P2

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Pauline – Never Said I Was An Angel ,

           Track Listing :

01. Never Said I Was An Angel
02. If You Don’t Know Me
03. Red Carpet
04. Give Me A Call
05. Dancin’
06. The Misconception
07. Happy People
08. Sunshine Boulevard
09. Loving You
10. It’s OK
11. Running Out Of Gaz
12. Don’t Leave

Pauline – Never Said I Was An Angel

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24-Carat Black ,

Culled from the aborted sessions for their second album, 24-Carat Black’s Gone: The Promises of Yesterday works as both a dusty excavation of a forgotten soul group’s music and as a starling document showing the transition between the gritty early 70’s sound and the glittery mid-to-late 70’s sound.

24-Carat Black began as the brainchild of Dale Warren, a composer who sought to document the harsh realities of inner city life. The result of Warren’s first effort with 24-Carat Black, Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth, is a lost classic of the seventies, and has been sampled by hip hop artists ever since being rediscovered in dusty cut-out bins.

Gone: The Promises of Yesterday isn’t Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth part two- instead, it’s replaced the portraits of urban America with conga beats and Pan-African rhythms atop a steady R&B foundation. What lies on the six tracks featured on the album are the beginnings of psychedelic soul shedding its skin and transitioning to Quiet Storm-oriented slow jams.

The album is full of great grooves and interesting hooks, but doesn’t feel like an entire album. Instead, it feels like a sketch of something that has been lost in time. In a sense it works more that way. A full album would have the “unreleased masterpiece” tag attached to it and could sink under its own weight. But instead Gone: The Promises of Yesterday is a document of what could have been, and what could have been sounds pretty damn good.

           Track Listing :

01. The Best Of Good Love Gone 05:41
02. I Want To Make Up 06:40
03. I Don’t Love You 02:17
04. I’ll Never Let You Go 05:11
05. Gone The Promises Of Yesterday 05:57
06. I Begin To Weep 11:50

The 24-Carat Black – Gone: The Promises Of Yesterday

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Asa ,

(pronounced Asha) is a 25 year old Nigerian guitarist/songstress with an amazing smoky smooth voice (a bit like Macy Gray or Erykah Badu) and a folk/soul/jazz style akin to Tracy Chapman, India.Arie, Norah Jones, or even Lauryn Hill on her MTv Unplugged disc. I discovered her eponymous debut only last week (after my brother had raved about it) and it is fantastic; breezy acoustic guitar driven music with lovely harmonies, and largely philosophical lyrics. Her enunciation is crisp and clear, and the musicianship and production is top notch! She grew up listening to Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, and Bob Marley (among others), has played with artistes like Tony allen, Les Nubians, and Manu Dibango, and has opened for John Legend, Akon and Beyoncé.

Sung mainly in English, with some singing in Yoruba, the songs touch on injustice (the acoustic, reggae tinged bouncy “Jailer”), uncertainties of life (”No one knows”, with ethereal harmonies and ever so faint scratching set to a bubbly bass line), alarm at the state of society (the light acoustic “Fire on the mountain” with lyrics like “Hey Mr soldier man /Tomorrow is the day you go to war /But you are fighting for another man’s cause /And you don’t even know him /What did he say to make you so blind ?” – It has a slight Bob Marley feel), and love (the tender jazzy “Subway”).

“360″ is an ambient sounding acoustic ballad. Similar is “Bi’ban ké”, a love song done in English and Yoruba. The fittingly titled “Eyé àdaba” (dove in Yoruba) is a soft ballad with calming strings. “Awé” is a soaring jazzy ballad with finger snaps, while “Peace” is reggae tinged.

Standouts to me are the closing pair of songs; the ode to her mother “So beautiful” (outstandingly sung in English and Yoruba, it is a tempo shifting acoustic ballad/Highlife tune sprinkled ever so lightly with talking drums) is so heartfelt, and “Iba” (a tender acoustic ballad sung in Yoruba, with a soothing vocal performance) closes this perfect disc. I do not speak Yoruba, but no understanding is needed with music this beautiful.

Asa – Asa

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Justin Tokimitsu Nozuka ,

(born September 29, 1988) is a Canadian/American singer-songwriter. Nozuka was born in New York City’s Queens area, the son of Holly Sedgwick and Hiromitsu Nozuka. His father is Japanese and his mother an American of English ancestry.
Nozuka began writing his own songs at age 12 and the earliest of his songs on Holly, “Supposed to Grow Old” and “I’m in Peace,” were written when he was 15. While attending St. Andrews College, an international boarding school in Aurora, Ontario, Justin learned to play guitar from Mexican classmates. From there, he went to the Etobicoke School of the Arts. His musical influences stem from artists such as Lauryn Hill and Marvin Gaye. He recently graduated from the Etobicoke School of Arts in Ontario. ….Read More

Justin Nozuka – Holly

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Ay.o ,

(born as Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin on 14 September 1980 in Frechen near Cologne, Germany) is an Afro-German singer-songwriter. She uses the Yoruba translation Ay.o or Ayo. of her first name Joy. The name has to be written with a dot below or behind the o – without it, it would refer to a pitted board game popular among the Yorubas.

Her debut album Joyful, which was first released in 2006, reached Double-Platinum status in France, Platinum in Germany and Poland, Gold status in Switzerland and Italy and Greece. The album was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 by Interscope Records.

She has a son, Nile, who was born in late 2005 with her partner, the Afro-German reggae singer Patrice. At the end of 2007, she moved with her family to the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan in New York City.

The president of UNICEF France, Jacques Hintzy, announced on 4 February 2009 that the singer was named patron of UNICEF to promote the right to education for all children in the world. ….Read More

           Track Listing :

01. Down On My Knees
02. Without You
03. Letter By Letter
04. How Many Times?
05. And It’s Supposed To Be Love
06. Watching You
07. Only You
08. Help Is Coming
09. These Days
10. Life Is Real
11. What Is Love?
12. Neva Been

Ay.o – Joyful

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