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Attention Musicians, Vocalist and Bands
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| ERYKAH BADU VORTEX TOUR |
Erykah
Badu will promote her album "New Amerykah Part I (4th World War)"
with the launch of a 12-week, 49-city outing titled "The Vortex
Tour," which begins May 4 in Detroit and ends June 15 in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Philly-based band The Roots will be the
opening act for many of the dates.
| Headlines |
R&B
songtress Chante Moore has a new
solo record deal with Peak Records. She will unveil her first solo
offering 'Love The Woman' produced by George Duke
in stores on June 17.
Singer Omarion has been released
from Columbia Records. A source at the label confirmed that the Sony
imprint decided to drop the former B2K lead singer.
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BMA R&B PICKS |
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By
the time he was just a teenager, Usher already had a record deal and
a gold album. By the time he graduated from high school, he'd
established himself as one of the most visible artists in R&B. Armed
with a soulful voice and impressive songwriting skills, Usher's
songs vary from floor-rattling dance tracks to between-the-sheets
ballads. Between 1994 and 2004, he released six albums, appeared in
several films, earned multiple platinum plaques, and collaborated
with a wide variety of top-shelf artists. Though he was already a
well-established famous singer (and occasional actor), 2004 was the
year he really blew up worldwide, thanks to the infectious,
chart-topping single "Yeah" produced by Lil Jon. The song, and his
album Confessions, netted him three Grammy Awards and propelled him
to the upper tier of music superstardom. 
Say
what you may about her fashion sense or "diva-tude," but there is no
doubt that Mariah Carey defined 1990s urban pop music. Carey ruled
the charts during the Clinton decade -- her 1990 self-titled debut
album alone spawned four No. 1 hit singles, and she would have 11
more before the new millennium. Over the years, artists from
Christina Aguilera to Ciara would name her as an influence. Her
albums are always expertly crafted and performed, making her MTV
Unplugged EP a surprisingly warm change of pace. Her dominance of
the charts in the 1990s earned her the title of Billboard's Artist
of the Decade. Despite heavily publicized personal trials in the
early part of the new century, Carey returned to the forefront of
modern music with The Emancipation of Mimi, which spawned her 16th
and 17th No. 1 hits. In 2008, Mariah returned with the hit single
"Touch My Body" and the subsequent album, E=MC2. The single pushed
her past Elvis into second place (behind the Beatles) for the most
No. 1 singles for an artist in the modern era.
Erykah
Badu's sound echoes with strains of lush 1970s soul, cucumber-cool
jazz and modern-day hip-hop -- a blend that made her music a
noteworthy standout in a sea of Xeroxed sound-alikes when Baduizm,
her debut album, dropped in 1997. Although her unflappable, purring
vocals garnered well-deserved comparisons to the legendary Billie
Holiday, Badu, who was born Erica Wright, got her start with some of
today's hottest acts, beginning with D'Angelo, whom she opened for
in her hometown of Dallas in 1994. That show led to a record
contract, collaborations with artists such as the Roots, and Baduizm,
written almost entirely by Badu. She followed her triple-platinum,
Grammy-winning debut with a successful 1998 live album (which
included the hit song "Tyrone") and Mama's Gun, which Badu released
in 2000 after taking some time off to raise the son she had with
Outkast's Andre 3000. Badu worked through the writer's block that
followed by organizing the Frustrated Artist Tour and releasing EP
Worldwide Underground in 2003. Five years passed (during which she
reportedly completed three albums' worth of material) before Badu
put out her next studio album, 2008's New Amerykah. 
