Rick Astley, who many Americans will remember for his infectious '80's dance-pop classic "Never Gonna Give You Up", has just returned to the top of the UK pop charts with his latest album. It has been twenty-nine years since the still boyish-looking British singer last hit that mark with his debut "Whenever You Need Somebody" back in 1987. He had retired from music in 1993 but came back in 2002 and later became an viral Internet sensation when his hit song became a meme called "rickrolling".
Taking it's title from Astley reaching this birthday milestone last February, "50" delivers more of the soulful pop songs he's been doing long before Adele was even in diapers. The singer's eighth studio album will not hit stateside until October and there's word he plans to tour the country which he hasn't done in many years. In the meantime, take a look at the video for the gospel-flavored pop single, "Angels On My Side":
It has been a week later and the world is trying to recover from the devastating tragedy that occurred in Orlando at the Pulse nightclub. The senseless loss of forty-nine innocent and beautiful lives is still very hard to comprehend. As a way to heal and to help with the difficult times ahead for the survivors and the families of the victims, a few musical artists have made creative contributions to assist in the best way they can.
Christina Aguilera has released a moving ballad called "Change" She will be donating 100% of the song’s proceeds for the next three months to the National Compassion Fund to directly benefit the Orlando shooting victims and their families. You can purchase the song right now through Apple Music.
Out singer/songwriter, Melissa Etheridge has written a powerful song dedicated to the victims of this terror attack. Using the name of the gay club for inspiration, "Pulse" deals with coping with pain and loss while reinforcing the never-ending power of love. When the single is officially released, proceeds will be going to a LGBT charity.
UPDATE: I have to include the recently released, wonderful single of the Hal David/Burt Bacharach song "What The World Needs Now is Love" sung by Broadway For Orlando. This collective of performers of the New York stage, past and present, came together on June 15th to record this classic with 100% of proceeds going to the LGBT Center of Central Florida. It is available now for download through BroadwayRecords.com and iTunes, Take a look at the video of the recording that features plenty of faces you will recognize
Two British alt-soul vocalist are making their long-awaited return to the music scene. First, we have Laura Mvula, who dazzled us with her 2013 debut album, "Sing To The Moon", back with the follow-up release, "The Dreaming Room". Following the first single, "Overcome" that featured Nile Rodgers, the latest is "Phenomenal Woman" which is inspired by the poem by the late, great Maya Angelou. I love the video for the song which is a colorful, dance-filled celebration of women filmed in Cape Town, South Africa:
It's been about five years since we last heard from Corinne Bailey Rae. After having to cope with the tragic loss of her musician husband, Jason Rae in 2008, the thirty-seven year old singer found love again with another musician, Steve Brown whom she married in 2013. That is reflected on her third album, "The Heart Speaks in Whispers" which finds Rae (who co-wrote and produced much of the album with Brown) in a more upbeat, groove-oriented vibe than on her last release, "The Sea" in 2010. There are certainly moving songs about love to be found here as well. Check out this great video for the single, "Green Aphrodisiac" which features the singer performing interpretive dance with two impressive male dancers. Now, I'm not sure if Rae is actually singing about weed here but have a listen and see what you think:
Sean Combs has taken back the name "Puff Daddy" for his upcoming "Bad Boy Family Reunion" tour. It reunites many of the artists that recorded on Combs' Bad Boy label in the '90's all on one stage. Expect to see such rap and hip-hop greats like Mase, Faith Evans, Mario Winans, 112, Total and Lil' Kim in addition to a musical tribute to the legendary Notorious B.I.G.
This celebration of the 20th anniversary of Bad Boy Entertainment will begin in late August and run through October. In case you may have forgotten, here are just a few of the hits made by some of these performers:
Finally here is our Miss Janet with the last video from her sensational album, "Unbreakable" that was released shortly before she took some take off to have a child. "Dammn Baby" is classic Janet Jackson as she shows the world she's one hot mama that still got the moves:
Deborah Cox made her mark on the soul and pop charts in the '90's but it was on the dance floor where she was the true queen, achieving the feat of reaching the top of that chart twelve times.
Born and raised in Toronto, Cox began singing professionally at the age of twelve as she worked on television commercials and entered several talent contests. Even though she worked as a background vocalist for Celine Dion for a brief period, Cox struggled to break in to the Canadian music business. In 1994, she decided to give America a try and moved to Los Angeles. It didn't take long for her talent to be recognized here and Clive Davis quickly signed her to his Arista label.
The year after her arrival, Cox released her self-titled debut where the album found some success with the singles, "Sentimental" and "Who Do U Love" which became her first number one song on the dance chart. Cox received serious attention with a dance-mix of the song "Things Just Ain't The Same" for the soundtrack of the film, "Money Talks". This very popular single also reached the top of the dance charts.
The haunting ballad, "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here", the first single from the 1998 follow-up album, "One Wish", became a smash hit reaching number one on the r&b chart and a re-mix on the dance while it peaked at number two on the pop chart. Another single, "We Can't Be Friends", a duet with R.L. of the soul group, Next, also became a number one r&b hit and reached the top-ten on the pop chart. "It's Over Now" and "I Never Knew" from the album both became number one dance chart-toppers. "One Wish" would go on to sell over a million copies.
The third album, "The Morning After" came out in 2002 but didn't reach the same commercial heights of the previous record although Cox had three more number one dance songs including "Absolutely Not" from the "Dr. Dolittle 2" soundtrack.
Cox tested out her acting skills on Broadway with an acclaimed performance in the Elton John-Tim Rice musical "Aida" in 2004. She left Arista Records and joined the label, Decca to release "Destination Moon", a jazz tribute album to legendary vocalist, Dinah Washington. The singer released her last studio album to date in 2008, "The Promise", a collection of r&b songs that featured another number one dance re-mix hit , "Beautiful U R".
Although she's been busy raising her three young children, Cox continues to perform, recently appearing on Broadway again with a revival of the musical "Jekyll & Hyde" in 2012 and there are plans for some new music. In the meantime, let's listen to two classic songs by Deborah Cox:
While possessing a butter smooth, soulful voice like his fellow Brits, Sam Smith and Adele, Daley has not made nearly as large of an impact here in the States, at least not yet. I recently discovered the talented twenty-six year old vocalist through his Pharrell produced song, "Look Up" which had reached the top-ten on the U.S. Adult R&B Chart back in 2013.
Born Gareth Daley in Manchester, England, he first got noticed through performing at open-mic nights and posting himself singing on his Myspace page. Daley's first major breakthrough came when he got involved with Gorillaz co-creator Damon Albarn . He co-wrote and sang on the track, "Doncamatic" for the "Plastic Beach" album in 2011. He later released that year a free download mix-tape titled "Those Who Wait" which became a viral sensation throughout Europe.
After releasing another mix-tape and opening for such artists like Emeli Sande, Jessie J and Miguel, this finally lead to Daley's debut studio album, "Days + Nights" in 2014. This impressive collection blends together old-school soul and modern beats along with Daley's solid song-writing skills and soaring, passionate vocals. Put it all together and this is a record you must hear.
There's word that he's got some new music on the way but in the meantime check out the video for the sensual song, "Look Up" and discover for yourself the magical, musical gift named "Daley":
I can't believe it's been thirty years since Pet Shop Boysreleased their debut album, "Please". The record featured the now classic tunes "Suburbia", "Love Comes Quickly", "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" and still my favorite track from them, "West End Girls". There is no doubt that their early sound can be attributed to the current popularity of electronic dance music. Now, the boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, are back with their thirteenth album. "Super". With production duties once again handled by Stuart Price, the band dives deeper in to pure electronica yet retain much of their pop sensibilities. The first single, "The Pop Kids" takes a nostalgic look back at the dance scene in the '90's when they first started out. This song also became Pet Shop Boys' eleventh number one song on the U.S. Dance Club chart.
Tegan and Sara, those formerly alt-rocking Canadian twins, continue to move in an eletropop direction. With their eight album, "Love You To Death" due out in June, the ladies may be seeking commercial success but only want it on their terms and the single, "Boyfriend" clearly indicates that. The song involves a love triangle with a confused girl caught between a boy and another girl.
After taking some time off to have her second child, Alicia Keys is finally back with some new music since 2012's "Girl On Fire". The first single, "In Common" is a smooth dance hall-flavored track that should easily put the artist back on the charts. For the music video directed by Pierre Debusschere, Keys is lovely and fresh-faced in this slick black& white clip featuring energetic dancers in a pseudo-cityscape.
Finally, Justin Timberlake is not only lending his voice to the upcoming animated film, "Trolls" (due out later this fall) but he has also just released a song for the soundtrack. "Can't Stop The Feeling", co-written and produced by pop wizard, Max Martin, has already reached the the top of the charts in seven countries including the U.S. The song feels very similar to "Happy", another catchy, feel-good song for an animated film that swept the globe. Even the music video, directed by film maker Mark Romanek, features average people dancing and singing along to the song.
Forty years ago this week, The Sylvers were riding the top of the charts with "Boogie Fever". This family act originally from Memphis had found modest success as performers before this breakthrough took them to number one on both the pop and r&b charts.
There were a total of ten Sylvers children with nine of them part of the singing group at various points in their musical career. The four oldest children (Olympia, Leon, Charmaine, and James) began as a singing group called "The Little Angels" and performed on television and opened for several soul acts. A few years later, younger brothers, Edmund and Ricky joined the group and then became known as "The Sylvers". They released their self-titled debut album in 1972 with two singles, "Fool's Paradise" and "Wish I Could Talk To You" reaching the top-twenty on the r&b chart. The following year, the youngest member in the act, Foster had a hit solo single, "Misdemeanor" (written by Leon) that reached number seven on the U.S. soul chart.
By 1975, sisters, Angie and Pat became part of the group before The Sylvers signed to a major label, Capitol Records. The family was teamed-up with producer Freddie Perren (who had worked with another famous family act, The Jackson 5) and helped take them to the next level. Their fourth album, "Showcase" featured "Boogie Fever" and that single went on to sell over two million copies.
Charmaine decided to leave the group before the release of the follow-up album, "Something Special" in 1976. Also produced by Perren, the album featured two more hits, "Hot Line" and "High School Dance".
Wanting to take control over their music and feature a more mature sound, The Sylvers wrote and produced their next album, "New Horizons" in 1977. This failed to reach the level of popularity of their previous efforts and while the group went on to create some critically-acclaimed records, they were never able to recapture the magic of their past success. The Sylvers came to an official end in 1985 after their final album, "Bizarre" failed to find an audience.
Let's go back and watch The Sylvers perform their hit live on The Midnight Special:
