Dru Hill and Chico DeBarge are coming to Detroit! The Kedar Entertainment artist will be performing at the MotorCity Casino Hotel on Sunday, December 26. The quartet—who were recently the stars of Centric’s Keith Sweat’s Platinum House—have been going non-stop since the release of their comeback album, InDRUpendence Day. Touring with Chico—the youngest brother of the legendary DeBarge family—is the ultimate christmas present for any R&B lover.

Tickets are $50.00 and $35.00 (General Admission floor/standing) and are on sale now at all Ticketmaster locations and Ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available through the MotorCity Casino Hotel Box Office Friday-Sunday at 8 PM.

Dizzy’s Club at New York’s Lincoln Center recently was the site for the celebration of Tia Fuller’s third release, Decisive Steps.  The setting sun over Central Park served as the breathtaking backdrop as Fuller and her band mates took the stage.  Proceeding to entertain a full house, Fuller never failed to yield the spotlight to the talented players sharing the stage, one of which was her sister on the grand piano.  Throughout the evening, Fuller’s gift was in full bloom as she alternated between the alto and soprano saxophone, and even displayed her skills playing the flute.

Hailing from a family of musicians, Fuller was raised on the music of jazz greats like Coltrane and Bird.  Graduating from Spellman College with full honors (Magna Cum Laude), Fuller went on to pursue music education in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Colorado, also with full honors (Summa Cum Laude).  It’s no wonder that this young jazz musician would ultimately embark on a world tour as part of mega-superstar, Beyonce’s funky all-female band.  On working with the celebrity, Fuller believes that the surprisingly down to earth, Beyonce is destined for greatness.  “Her work ethic is incredible. She strives for perfection and pushes those around her to do the same.” Read the rest of this entry »

Seven years have passed since R&B group, Dru Hill dominated the airwaves.  When the rumored return of the group seemed to become concrete, tongues began to wag.  People questioned how relevant they would be after so many years away—not to mention a few line-up changes. Well, Dru Hill is proving they are back and in full force.

Performing for a sold out, standing room only crowd earlier this week at New York’s BB King’s Blues Club & Grill, Dru Hill brought their very best and didn’t miss a beat.  Thunderous applause accompanied the group charging the stage.  Sisqo, still sporting his trademark bleached cut, Jazz, Nokio, to everyone’s surprise now wears his hair in a purple mohawk and newest member, Tao were prepared to reclaim the spotlight. Read the rest of this entry »

L'Renee Takes Soul On Tour

L’Renee had a most productive year in 2009. Coming off of her 2008 Christmas album, “Merry Christmas,” L’Renee turned around three months later with a live jazz album, “Jazz,” recorded at the legendary Baker’s Keyboard & Lounge in Detroit. Closing out the year,  L’Renee returns with Europe. Still most of this D-town diva’s hard work since her critically-hailed sophomore project, 2^nd Chances, has been under the radar. To help spread the word about this delectable five-octave divette’s prolific efforts, L’Renee Musique Inc. is offering all three of her latest projects for little to nothing (or big bucks!) through a pick your own price campaign. But, get it while you can. The Pick Your Own Price (even Free) campaign ends Jan 31, 2010. First Marcell & The Truth and Darien Brockington, and now L’Renee is joining in; are LP giveaways “in” and EP giveaways “out” in 2010?

Finnish Soul! Who Knew?

Last year set an all new high-bar in blue-eyed soul thanks to artists like Adele, Duffy, Jamie Lidell, Sam Sparro and Alice Russell in the UK and vocalists like Jennie Laws, Leigh Jones, Robin Thicke, and Mycle Wastman on this side of the pond. These artists destroyed the dismissive image of the white artists over-singing and over-emoting to gain an ounce of soul cred ala Michael Bolton and Joss Stone. So this year’s blue-eyed soulsters had a lot to live up to. Some like Jonas made the grade and others like Mayer Hawthorne didn’t (great songwriter, but showers singers out-sing this man). Acts like Quadron and Pepper Pots got some deserved notices from the hipsters, but I needed a bit more vocally for them to make the cut. Which blue-eyed soul singer knocked your socks off in ’09? Here’s who did mine: Read the rest of this entry »

Bringing Back Mo' Sunshine Lemonade

The jazzy lady from Chi-town demonstrated plenty of promise on her refreshing, if wildly uneven debut, Overtones and Innuendos. Read the rest of this entry »

Let's Call These What They Are...Pop Music

Where, oh where have the songwriters gone. Oh where, oh where can they be?  With Rod Stewart, Michael McDonald and Boyz II Men on their respective third covers project, and any number of veteran artists from Seal to Deniece Williams releasing whole albums of covers, one can’t help but wonder what the Great American songwriter of soul is doing? Standing on street corners holding an unemployment sign in one hand and a waving tin cup in the other? Ne-yo can’t write every damn thing, and Dream, well, Dream will always have “Umbrella,” won’t he? Read the rest of this entry »