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98.7 KISS FM ARTIST BIOS
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8/27/2009
In spite of the fact that Faith Evans carved out a recording career in her own right, her name will forever remain linked in the minds of many to her late husband, the Notorious B.I.G. Evans was an active session singer and songwriter before signing her own solo deal and marrying Biggie, and while she never matched the level of his stardom, she continued to come into her own as a vocalist in the years after his untimely death.
Evans was born on June 10, 1973, and grew up in Newark, NJ, where she began singing in church at the mere age of two. A high school honor student, she sang in her school's musical productions before winning a full scholarship to Fordham University. After just one year, though, she left college to put her jazz and classical training to use in the field of contemporary R&B. It didn't take her long to find work, and over the next few years, she sang backup and wrote songs for artists like Hi-Five, Mary J. Blige, Pebbles, Al B. Sure!, Usher, Tony Thompson, and Christopher Williams. Thanks to her work on Blige's 1994 sophomore effort, My Life, Evans met producer/impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed her to his Bad Boy label. In 1995, Evans released her debut album, Faith, which went platinum on the strength of the hit R&B singles "You Used to Love Me" and "Soon as I Get Home." The same year, she met fellow Bad Boy artist the Notorious B.I.G. (some accounts say at a photo shoot, others a phone conversation) and married him after a courtship of just nine days; shortly thereafter, she guested on a remix of his smash single "One More Chance."
Over the next couple of years, Evans continued her behind-the-scenes work, performing and writing ...
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8/13/2010
Beginning with his 1996 album My Heart, singer/songwriter/producer Donell Jones recorded a jazzy and soulful style of urban pop for La Face Records and scored a few modest singles in the process. His first two singles -- "In the Hood" and "Knocks Me Off My Feet" -- established his reputation within the competitive urban market. In particular, the latter song, originally a Stevie Wonder song from Songs in the Key of Life, became a substantial hit for Jones, climbing to the upper reaches of the Billboard R&B chart and driving the album up the charts as well. In addition to his own music, he also wrote songs for other urban artists such as Usher ("Think of You") and 702 ("Get It Together"), among others.
Born the son of a gospel singer, Jones immersed himself in music at a young age. Later, he began to fall victim to the temptations of Chicago's south side, where he grew up. At one point, after involving himself with gang culture, he decided to dedicate himself to music rather than the streets. He met Edward "Eddie F" Ferrell (former Heavy D & the Boyz member turned Untouchables Entertainment president), and the two formed a partnership with La Face. Following the success of Usher's "Think of You" in 1994 (number eight R&B), a song written by Jones, La Face executives L.A. Reid and Babyface gave the blossoming artist the go-ahead to begin work on his solo debut. Executive produced by Ferrell, Reid, and Babyface, My Heart peaked at number 30 on Billboard's R&B chart in 1996, propelled primarily by the success of "Knocks Me Off My Feet" as well as two other singles: "In the Hood" and "You Should Know."
When Jones returned three years later in 1999 with his second album, Where I Wanna Be, ...
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8/6/2010
Lyfe Jennings is a platinum-selling American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist. He plays the guitar, bass, and piano which he integrates into his music. The New York Times referred to him as a "socially minded R&B singer".
Lyfe found his true love for music again while serving time in jail. "Deeper situations tend to lead to deeper music and prison was one of those deeper situations. (Music) gave me an opportunity to express emotions in an unemotional environment." He began to play the guitar, sing, write and even started a music program in the Ohio institution. Upon his December 2002 release he began seriously pursuing his solo career. He spent his second day of freedom recording a four-song CD and the third day performing at a club.
By January 2003, Lyfe had showcased his talent to a nation-wide audience on "Showtime In Harlem" (The Apollo). He received a standing ovation for his acoustic performance of original material, and made his mark by winning the amateur competition five times. "I felt blessed just knowing that at least somebody appreciated my struggle, my experience and my life." During his success at the Apollo, Lyfe began to independently sell his EP "What Is Love". Two songs from the EP, "What Is Love" & "She Got Kids", garnered regular spins at local radio, which aided in the sale of thousands of EPs. To add to Lyfe's success, calls began to pour in from countless agents, promoters and record labels, which prompted the Ohio native to move to NYC to make his dream come true. Soon after Lyfe arrived in New York, he wrote and co-produced a song for a major label, made a cameo in a music video, appeared in publications and performed many solo shows and opening acts for major ...
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8/31/2009
In the late '70s, when the fortunes of Motown Records seemed to be flagging, Rick James came along and rescued the company, providing funky hits that updated the label's style and saw it through into the mid-'80s. Actually, James had been with Motown earlier, though nothing had come of it. After growing up in Buffalo and running away to join the Naval Reserves, he ran away from the Navy to Toronto, where he was in a band with future Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young and Bruce Palmer, and with Goldy McJohn, later of Steppenwolf. As the Mynah Birds, they signed to Motown and recorded, though no record was ever released.
James had a journeyman's career playing bass in various groups before signing again to Motown as an artist, songwriter, and producer. His first single, "You and I" (May 1978), topped the R&B charts and reached the pop Top 40. "Mary Jane" (September 1978) was another hit. Both were on James' debut album, Come Get It! (June 1978), which went gold. Subsequent efforts were not as successful, though Bustin' Out of L Seven (January 1979) featured the R&B hit "Bustin' Out" (April 1979). James returned to form with the number one R&B hit "Give It to Me Baby" (March 1981), featured on the million-selling Street Songs (April 1981), which also featured the hit "Super Freak."
James turned his production attention to resuscitating the career of the Temptations, recently returned to Motown, and "Standing on the Top" (April 1982), credited to the Temptations featuring Rick James, was an R&B Top Ten. (He also produced recordings by Teena Marie and the Mary Jane Girls.) James' follow-up to Street Songs was the gold-selling Throwin' Down (May 1982), which featured the hit "Dance Wit' Me." The title song of Cold Blooded (August 1983) became James' ...
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8/31/2009
Neo-soul singer and pianist John Legend combined the raw fervor of contemporaries Cody ChesnuTT and the burning precision of D'Angelo. Born John Stephens, Legend was a child prodigy who grew up in Ohio, where he began singing gospel and playing piano at the tender age of five. Legend left Ohio at 16 to attend college in Philadelphia, and it was there that he first found a larger audience. Not yet out of his teens, Legend was tapped to play piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything" in 1998. After completing college, he moved to New York, where he began to build a loyal following playing in nightclubs and releasing CDs that he would sell at shows. He also became an in-demand session musician, playing and occasionally writing for a wide array of artists, including Alicia Keys, Twista, Janet Jackson, and Kanye West. It wasn't until West signed the young talent to his new label that he adopted the Legend name with 2004's Solo Sessions Vol. 1: Live at the Knitting Factory. Get Lifted, his first studio album, was released later in the year. On the strength of enduring single "Ordinary People," the album reached the Top Five of the Billboard 200. This led to three Grammy Awards: Best R&B Album, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. Once Again, which peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and number one on the R&B/hip-hop Albums chart, followed in October 2006. Live from Philadelphia, sold exclusively at Target stores, was a successful stopgap release that predated October 2008's Evolver.
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7/6/2010
Known for her role as the scene stealer, "Shug Avery" in Oprah Winfrey's mega Broadway hit, The Color Purple (Alice Walker); the Tony Nominated actress and national recording artist hails freshly from the chilly Midwest.
Having shared the stage with several artists as JENNIFER LOPEZ, American Idol winner FANTASIA, MARY J. BLIGE, CELINE DION, QUINCY JONES, STEVE SPIELBERG and most recently rapper, QTip, R&B balladeer, JOE as well as ANGIE STONE to name a few.
The singer/songwriter says one of her most rewarding professional highlights was performing alongside singers LISA FISCHER & PAULETTE MCWILLIAMS as a Vowell on the children's PBS special Between the Lions which encourages children's literacy. Elisabeth said, "teaching children to read through the power of music is the ultimate.”
It comes as no surprise, how Elisabeth quickly garnered the 2007 BET AWARD Nomination for “BET J Cool Like That” for her It Can Happen To Anyone album (Blue Note Records). She also, received the VH1 Best New Video Release for her BE WITH YOU video (directed by Lenny Bass) and the New York Humanitarian Award for her contribution to the arts. Her alma mater, Berklee School of Music (Boston, MA) honored the performer with the Distinguished Alumna Award in recognition of her achievements in the arts. Further, United Airlines and Corona featured Elisabeth’s music along with co-writer/producer, Toby Gad in their nationwide campaigns.
Currently, Elisabeth is working on her sophomore album and performing nationwide at concerts, conferences, galas and festivals for such clients as 98.7Kiss FM radio, Health Corp with Dr. OZ, The UniWorld Group, National Black Caucus, ASCAP, The Links, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and others.
This super woman enjoys exercising regularly and has been expanding her horizons by setting aside her time, talent and successes to encourage young inner city girls through her foundation, ...
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7/6/2010
Dru Hill was one of the most popular vocal groups of the 90s, a group that bridged old school and new school, but which never reached its huge commercial possibilities due to internal and external strife.
Founded in Baltimore, Maryland, Dru Hill consisted of Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin, Mark "Sisqo" Andrews, Larry "Jazz" Anthony, and James "Woody Rock" Green. Mark Andrews and James Green met each other in middle school, and both later became acquaintances of Tamir Ruffin when all three began pursuing careers in the music industry. Ruffin, nicknamed "Nokio" (an acronym for "Nasty on Key in Octave") enlisted Andrews and Green (whose respective nicknames of "Sisqo" and "Woody" came from their childhood) to form a singing group. The trio added Larry "Jazz" Anthony, an opera student, to complete their lineup. The group was named "Dru Hill" after Druid Hill Park, a popular park on the West side of Baltimore. Most of their early repertoire was made up of gospel music; the group eventually switched to the more commercially viable genre of R&B.
Dru Hill's big break came in 1996, when manager Haqq Islam arranged for them to perform at the Impact Convention in May. The group was signed to Island Records' "Island Black" division shortly afterward through a production deal with Islam's University Music, and immediately began recording their debut album. The self-titled Dru Hill album was released in 1996, and became a gold-selling album. The first single, "Tell Me", was featured on the soundtrack to the Whoopi Goldberg film Eddie, and was a Top 5 R&B hit in the United States.
Stylistically, Dru Hill was the middle-ground between the smooth, gentlemen-like Boyz II Men and the self-proclaimed "bad boys of R&B," Jodeci. Dru Hill received a lot of criticism, especially from the members of Jodeci, for what ...
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6/21/2010
The year was 1986 and, despite its international popularity, critics were saying that rap music was a fad that would not endure into the next decade. people within the industry, while more confident of its longevity, proclaimed that rap was an genre in which women would never excel. now, more than ten years after their debut, cheryl james, sandi denton and dee dee roper—collectively known as salt-n-pepa—are able to enjoy the last laugh as they ride the success of their latest release brand new.
Cheryl james, a brooklyn native, and sandi denton, a transplant from kingston jamaica, met while studying nursing at queens borough community college in the mid eighties. both women also worked as telephone sales representatives for sears, alongside fellow undiscovered talents kid 'n' play and martin lawrence. but it was writer/producer hurby azor who would launch their career by asking them to participate in a class project. azor, a student at the center for media arts was assigned the task of producing a record…a task he would complete with aplomb. cheryl and sandi were recruited to perform the vocals for "the showstopper", an azor-penned reply to doug e. fresh's "the show". the record earned azor an "a" and attracted the attention of pop art records, who released the song in 1985.
In 1986, having changed their name from super nature to salt-n-pepa, cheryl and sandi signed with independent next plateau records and released hot, cool & vicious—written and produced by hurby "the lovebug" azor. the album produced a string of successful singles, but it was not until d.j.s across the country started flipping over the single "tramp"—a rewrite of the 1967 otis redding/carla thomas song—that the group went supernova. "push it", the notorious flipside that cheryl and sandi have since declared was just a joke, became an ...
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6/21/2010
More than any other hip-hop group, Run-D.M.C. are responsible for the sound and style of the music. As the first hardcore rap outfit, the trio set the sound and style for the next decade of rap. With their spare beats and excursions into heavy metal samples, the trio were tougher and more menacing than their predecessors Grandmaster Flash and Whodini. In the process, they opened the door for both the politicized rap of Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions, as well as the hedonistic gangsta fantasies of N.W.A. At the same time, Run-D.M.C. helped move rap from a singles-oriented genre to an album-oriented one -- they were the first hip-hop artist to construct full-fledged albums, not just collections with two singles and a bunch of filler. By the end of the '80s, Run-D.M.C. had been overtaken by the groups they had spawned, but they continued to perform to a dedicated following well into the '90s.
All three members of Run-D.M.C. were natives of the middle-class New York borough Hollis, Queens. Run (born Joseph Simmons, November 14, 1964) was the brother of Russell Simmons, who formed the hip-hop management company Rush Productions in the early '80s; by the mid-'80s, Russell had formed the pioneering record label Def Jam with Rick Rubin. Russell encouraged his brother Joey and his friend Darryl McDaniels (born May 31, 1964) to form a rap duo. The pair of friends did just that, adopting the names Run and D.M.C., respectively. After they graduated from high school in 1982, the pair enlisted their friend Jason Mizell (born January 21, 1965) to scratch turntables; Mizell adopted the stage name Jam Master Jay.
In 1983, Run-D.M.C. released their first single, "It's Like That"/"Sucker M.C.'s," on Profile Records. The single sounded like no other rap at the time -- it was ...
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6/21/2010
Though the Sugarhill Gang inaugurated the history of recorded hip-hop with their single "Rapper's Delight," a multi-platinum seller and radio hit in 1979, the group was cooked up to cash in on a supposed novelty item. Music-industry producer and label-owner Sylvia Robinson had become aware of the massive hip-hop block parties occurring around the New York area during the late '70s, so she gathered three local rappers (Master Gee, Wonder Mike, and Big Bank Hank) to record a single. Infectious and catchy, "Rapper's Delight" borrowed the break from Chic's "Good Times" and became a worldwide hit, eventually selling more than eight million copies. Most industry people figured rap for a short-lived trend, and though they were dead wrong, the Sugarhill Gang certainly didn't carry the torch; despite several modest hits ("8th Wonder," "Apache") the trio faded quickly and was gone by the mid-'80s, only returning in 1999 with Jump on It, a rap album for children.
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