Sunday October 7th 2001
Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and R&B Album Chart October 13
New CD's this week:
Ali Ollie Woodson
Ali Ollie Woodson is the former leadsinger
with the Temptation (remember "Treat
Her Like A Lady?) and this is his solo debut. It includes production work from
Preston Glass on such excellent tracks like "Drama In The Bedroom",
"Power Of
A Woman", "Angel", "Believe That" and more. If you are
into soul music with a
Capitol S, you don't want to miss this album!!
Short news stories this week:
Brian McKnight Donates $70,000 To Police
And Firefighter Funds,
Announces 44-City Tour
Singer-songwriter Brian McKnight has
announced that he will donate a
total of 70,000 to the true superheroes in this country, whom he refers
to as "the people who do things every day that go unrecognized, like
firefighters and police."
In addition, McKnight has dedicated his latest album Superhero to those
everyday "superheroes."
McKnight is donating $10,000 to the New York Firefighter's 9-11 Disaster
Relief Fund, which benefits the families of the firefighters of the New
York Fire Department. Sears, the sponsor of McKnight's tour, will match
his gift with a $10,000 donation to the National Police Athletic League (PAL)
Scholarship Fund, benefiting PAL students nationwide.
Sears and McKnight are also providing a $50,000 grant to the National
Association Of PAL. The funds will help to provide positive after-school
programming for children in cities where he is performing. McKnight will
personally visit the kids at local PAL centers in both the New York City
and the Washington, D.C., areas.
McKnight, who has two sons ages 8 and 11, said in a statement, "We, as a
nation, are humbled by the bravery of our firefighters and police, and
we mourn for the families who have lost loved ones. As we struggle to
understand our changing world, it's clear that now, more than ever, our
children need to have access to positive and safe activities.''
McKnight's 44-city North American tour, Sears Presents An Evening With
Brian McKnight, begins Saturday (October 6) in Columbia, South Carolina.
Luther Vandross Sets Sights On Fall
Tour
R&B crooner Luther Vandross will hit
the road this fall to support his
recently released, self-titled album. Prior to hitting the road, Vandross will
appear at BET's tribute to Patti LaBelle in Washington, D.C., on Saturday,
October 20. The next night (October 21), Vandross kicks off his tour in
Boston and will then play 13 additional dates, all of which are east of the
Mississippi, through mid-November. An opening act for the tour has yet to
Be announced.
Shaggy, Vandross Cancel European Appearances
Shaggy is the latest high-profile artist to
postpone engagements across
the Atlantic in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. last month.
The MCA singer's promotional tour of the U.K. and Ireland, which
was to start Tuesday in Belfast, has been rescheduled for mid-February.
Dates in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand will go ahead as
planned for late October and November. A spokesperson says the move
comes "in the light of the events" of Sept. 11.
Meanwhile, Luther Vandross has canceled his appearance at the U.K.'s
sixth annual MOBO (Music of Black Origin)
Awards last thursday (Oct. 4) at the London Arena. Vandross was to be
honored with the MOBO lifetime achievement award. He is "still not
comfortable with flying," says a spokesperson.
Last week, Janet Jackson canceled previously scheduled European tours,
citing similar travel concerns.
Following 'Instructions' Jermain Dupri
If anybody is drafting a blueprint for
industry longevity and success,
it's Jermaine Dupri. The 27-year-old producer/songwriter/artist/entrepreneur
drops his sophomore solo album, "Instructions," this week via his
Columbia-
distributed So So Def label. It's the follow-up to his platinum-certified and
Grammy-nominated 1998 debut, "Jermaine Dupri Presents - Life in 1472:
The Original Soundtrack." Dupri raps on nearly every song on the 20-track
"Instructions." He and Ludacris open with "Welcome to
Atlanta," while Da
Brat is showcased on the hot number "You Bring the Freak out of Me."
Xscape,
also part of the So So Def family, is featured on "Rock With Me," a
melodic
pop venture. Usher croons the hook to "Get Some" -- which also
spotlights
Boo & Gotti and So So Def artist R.O.C.
Other notable guests include Jagged Edge, Bilal, Backbone, Kurupt, Too
Short, Eddie Cain, and Field Mob.
"When I do a record as an artist, I want to feel like an artist,"
Dupri says.
"I feel like I'm cheating myself if I don't get the full-fledged experience
that
an artist gets by being directed and letting other people contribute to the
album.
As a producer, it gives me a chance to work with all these new cats coming
out, like Backbone and Field Mob."
Aaliyah Biography Slated For December
Book written by Christopher John Farley,
pop music critic for Time magazine.
A little more than three months after a plane crash took the life of 22-year-old
singer Aaliyah, a paperback biography on her life and career will arrive in
bookstores. Aaliyah: More Than a Woman is scheduled for release in early
December, according to the tome's author,
Christopher John Farley. Farley, the pop music critic for Time magazine, said
he amassed interviews conducted with the singer/actress and those close to her,
including her high school principal, producers Timbaland and Jermaine Dupri,
and friend Beyoncé Knowles.
The biography is built around an interview Farley did with Aaliyah for a feature
in Time that ran in July, around the time of the release of her most recent
album,
Aaliyah.
"On each album she grew, and hopefully she'll be a model for other young
singers,"
Farley said. "The way she approached her craft was that she didn't only do
what
she thought was going to be hot, but she did the stuff that she thought was
going
to challenge her and her audience while being interesting and good to listen
to."
And like the chances she took on the album, Farley said Aaliyah took the same
risks in her life. "There are a lot of young singers out there who don't
always
challenge themselves the way Aaliyah did. She challenged herself in terms of
the [acting] roles she took - playing a 6,000-year-old vampire in 'The Queen
of the Damned' is a daring role whether it turns out well or poorly."
Stevie Wonder Sued For Palimony
Stevie Wonder's ex-girlfriend has filed a
$30 million palimony lawsuit against
him, claiming that he gave her a sexually transmitted disease. Angela McAfee
alleges in a lawsuit filed yesterday (Oct. 4) in Superior Court that Wonder
concealed a contagious venereal disease from her and passed it to her through
sexual contact. According to the lawsuit, McAfee discovered that she had
contracted genital herpes from Wonder in October 2000.
McAfee claims that Wonder, whose real name is Steveland Morris, sought a
relationship with her for more than a decade. He persuaded her to quit working
as a wardrobe consultant in August 1996 and move into his estate, the lawsuit
said.
The couple verbally agreed five years ago that he would be the sole income
earner
and she would remain at home, the lawsuit said. They lived together until
February
when Wonder allegedly breached the agreement.
Wonder's attorney, Laura Wasser, said McAfee's claims have no merit. "The
only
breach that has been made is one of Stevie's trust in someone he had heretofore
called a friend," Wasser said.
The lawsuit states that McAfee helped the 51-year-old blind singer with medical
and personal problems, including redesigning his home with Braille inscriptions.
It also alleges that Wonder promised to provide lifetime support for her even if
their relationship ended.
'Vintage' Saadiq Album Due Next Winter
Lucy Pearl/Tony! Toni! Tone! principal
Raphael Saadiq is putting the finishing
touches on his debut solo album, "Instant Vintage," due to be released
in late
January/early February 2002 on Universal/Pookie Records.
Saadiq has spent time in various studios in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York,
and has elicited guest contributions from the likes of D'Angelo, T-Boz of TLC,
the Organized Noize production team (Outkast, Goodie Mob), and singer Angie
Stone, whose forthcoming J Records album, "Mahogany Soul," features
production
work by Saadiq.
"The music will always stay soulful until the day I die, but with this
record you
can expect a more gritty, dark and light sound, meaning it will have more of an
underground vibe," Saadiq says in a statement about the new album, for
which
he wrote all the songs. "This record is shaping out to be riskier and
funkier than
anything I've ever done."
Saadiq left Tony! Toni! Tone! in 1998 and formed R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl
with Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest and Dawn Robinson
from En Vogue. The group's self-titled debut entered The Billboard 200 at No. 26
in June 2000.
Erick Sermon Jumped From Window, Police Say
Reports that rapper Erick Sermon was in a
major car accident last week are false,
according to the Paterson, New Jersey police department.
The rap star and producer responsible for making songs for Ja Rule, Redman, and
Keith Murray is said to have jumped out of a window. "He definitely was not
in a
car accident," Paterson, New Jersey Lieutenant Traina said. "He did
jump out of a
window. I don't know if it was suicide. Maybe girlfriend problems?"
A spokesperson for Sermon's label J Records the media that she did not have an
official comment. "The label was told that he was in an accident, and we
did not
prepare a statement yet," she said..
Last week, it was reported that Sermon was seriously injured in a car accident
while
on his way home after taping the video for "I'm Hot," the second
single from his J
Records debut Music, scheduled to be released October 23.
The album's first single "Music," samples Marvin Gaye's "Turn On
Some Music,"
and also appears on the What's The Worst That Could Happen? soundtrack. Sermon's
latest release, "I'm Hot," samples Gaye's "Sexual Healing."
Janet Jackson Cancels European Tour
Janet Jackson has canceled her forthcoming
European concert, tour citing travel
concerns for her entourage following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. last
month.
"My European fans are among the most loyal and I was very excited to share
this
show with them," Jackson says in a statement. "I have agonized over
this decision.
Like most people, the events of Sept. 11 have troubled me enormously and I
remain
concerned about the foreseeable future. If anything happened to anyone on this
tour,
I could never forgive myself."
The artist was due to play 22 dates across Europe, beginning Oct. 31 in
Stockholm
and wrapping Dec. 17 in Birmingham, England. Jackson's planned performance at
the MTV Europe Music Awards 2001, set for Nov. 8 in Frankfurt, Germany, has
also been nixed. "She won't be coming to Europe at all [this year]," a
spokesperson
confirms.
Jackson's current North American dates are unaffected by today's news, and will
continue As previously reported, the artist's All for You tour has been plagued
by
postponements due to a variety of problems, ranging from a respiratory infection
to scheduling conflicts.
Jackson is touring behind her latest Virgin album, "All for You,"
which is No. 54 on
The Billboard 200 in its 22nd week on the chart. The single "Someone to
Call My
Lover" is No. 10 on The Billboard Hot 100.