Sunday October 20th, 2002
New CD's this past week:
Andreus - Street troubadour (UK release)
Dave Hollister - Things in the game done changed
Gerald Levert - G-Spot
Short news stories this week:
TLC's 'Girl Talk' Number One Most-Added At Radio
TLC's "Girl Talk," the debut
single from the group's fourth album, 3D,
out November 12 on Arista Records, has become the Number One most-added
song at top 40, rhythm/crossover, and urban mainstream radio formats.
The song, produced by Edmund "Eddie Hustle" Clement, who also helmed
Usher's "U Remind Me," impacted radio on October 7.
The album, executive-produced by TLC members Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins,
Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and
Arista head
Antonio "L.A." Reid, features production from Dallas Austin, Babyface
and Darryl Simmons, the Neptunes, Rodney Jerkins, Organized Noize,
Raphael Saadiq, and Timbaland and Missy Elliott.
In 1992, TLC released its quadruple-platinum 1992 debut, Ooooooohhh...
On The TLC Tip. That album was followed by 1994's 11-times-platinum
Crazysexycool, and 1999's FanMail which has sold more than 6 million
copies.
Michael Jackson's Former Brother-In-Law Lists Family Oddities
Michael Jackson and his family practiced a
bizarre ritual in which they
sacrificed a live monkey. This is just one of the allegations made by
sister LaToya Jackson's former husband, Jack Gordon, who has penned The
Jackson Family: The True Story Of The Most Powerful Family In The Music
Industry. The book comprises the oddities Gordon claims he witnessed
when he was brother-in-law to the "King Of Pop."
According to Gordon, the Jackson family was in the backyard of their
Encino, California, home in 1986 when the monkey-burning ritual
occurred. "They asked me to leave, and to never talk about it again,"
he
told the New York Post.
But the strange allegations don't stop there: Gordon claims that he
frequently witnessed Michael physically abusing his pet chimpanzee,
Bubbles. "I saw him punch him, kick him in the stomach. The chimp was on
the ground crying. Michael used to say, 'He doesn't feel it. He's a
chimpanzee," he said.
As for Michael's failed marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, Gordon says, "He
paid Lisa $15 million to marry him, with the promise of a music career."
Gordon also touches on Michael's ever
whiter appearance, claiming he
witnessed the singer inject himself "with some kind of fluid, after
which Michael would say, 'I'm getting lighter, I'm getting lighter.'"
John Branca, a lawyer representing Michael Jackson, reports that all of
Gordon's accusations are "pure fantasy."
Jack Gordon and LaToya Jackson married in 1989 and ended their
relationship in 1997 amid allegations that he physically abused her.
Mariah Carey And Justin Timberlake Team Up For 'Yours'
Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake have
teamed up to record a version of
the song "Yours" for Carey's upcoming debut album for her MonarC Music
imprint, which is a part of the Island/Def Jam Music Group. Carey's
album is due out December 10, and the track featuring the *NSYNC singer
will be added to the set pending Carey's final approval.
Producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis produced "Yours" in two
recording
sessions--first with Carey and then with Timberlake, who overdubbed his
own unique harmonies and vocals. The first single from Carey's new
album, the Jam & Lewis produced "Through The Rain," was the most
added
track last week at AC radio.
Carey previewed some of her other new
songs, including the
gospel-flavored ballad "My Saving Grace" and "I Only
Wanted," at an
intimate listening party she held recently as part of her current
promotional tour.
Carey also collaborated with Cam'ron on a
radio-friendly cover of his
song, "Oh Boy." Just Blaze produced "Oh Boy," in addition to
another
song titled "You Got Me," which features rappers Jay-Z and Freeway.
Dr.
Dre and Vidal Davis produced the song "Clown," while Jermaine Dupri
collaborated with Carey on "The One."
The aforementioned and other top-notch producers like DJ Quik, 7
Aurelius, Irv Gotti, and Damizza are helping Carey get her musical
career back on track with this album after her last effort, Glitter,
ended up being a commercial disappointment.
Dave Hollister Says His New Work Still Addresses Relationships
R&B singer Dave Hollister's third solo
album and Motown Records debut,
Things In The Game Done Changed, came out on Tuesday (October 15).
Hollister, who is on tour with Kelly Price
and Glenn Lewis, recently
shared how his latest offering is different from its predecessors: "I'm
just in another place, you know, as far as my spiritual life now. I'm in
another place, you know, label-wise, and the body of work is just
different from, you know, normally. Not just, like, lyrically, because
lyrically I'm basically still Dave--still talking about the ups and
downs of relationships, you know what I mean? It's just that now I'm
talking about different subjects in the ups and downs of the
relationship."
Toni Braxton Works With Gotti, Neptunes, Husband On New LP
Toni Braxton and husband Keri Lewis are
making more than just a family
together these days.
The couple, whose second child is due in the spring, co-executive
produced Braxton's next album with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and L.A.
Reid, and worked on many of the songs together.
More Than a Woman, due November 19, also features super producers Rodney
Jerkins (see "Toni Braxton Making 'Hit After Hit,' Rodney Jerkins
Promises"), Irv Gotti and the Neptunes, who handled the album's up-tempo
first single, "Hit the Freeway."
Braxton's fifth album finds the sultry singer stepping out as a
songwriter and experimenting more with hip-hop, according to her Arista
Records spokesperson.
"I'm ready to show other sides of what I can do musically," Braxton
said
in a statement. "My first love has always been R&B, and I've been into
hip-hop since it first started. On each of my albums I've done things to
introduce people to other aspects of what I'm about musically. It's so
funny, when people hear I'm working with the Neptunes, they're like, 'I
wonder what that will sound like.' I'm just being a part of my own
generation, and we grew up with rap and hip-hop as well as R&B."
Braxton co-wrote several of the More Than a Woman tracks with her sister
Tamar, including "Let Me Show You the Way," "Selfish" and
"Me and My
Boyfriend," which is based on Tupac Shakur's "Me and My
Girlfriend."
Other tracks expected to make the final track list are "Better Man";
the
Lewis-penned, rock-flavored "Lies, Lies, Lies"; and
"Always," a love
song written by Brandy's husband, Big Burt.
Braxton, who released The Heat in 2000 and a holiday album last fall,
shot the video for "Hit the Freeway" in Los Angeles last month with
directors David Meyers (Britney Spears, Pink) and Charles Infante
(Kurupt).
The singer is filming another video in L.A. this week, for "Baby We Can
Do It," a collaboration with Cash Money's Baby (see "Cash Money's Baby
Makes Video Plans With P. Diddy, Toni Braxton").
Remaining 3LW Pair Too Busy To Hold Auditions For New Member
Only six weeks have passed since Naturi
Naughton left the group, and
Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams have already recorded more than an
album's worth of songs and shot their first video as a duo.
"It's different," Bailon said Tuesday on the set of 3LW's new video,
"Neva Get Enuf." "At the same time, it almost feels like it's a
new
beginning, like a new birth for 3LW, which is really cool that we're
able to do different things now. You'll see that we're not attached at
the hip. There are gonna be scenes where it's just Kiely doing her dance
thing, ... so a lot more of our personalities is definitely gonna be
shown in this video."
Since Naughton's controversial departure (see "3LW Become 2LW: Naturi
Says She's Out Of Group"), Bailon and Williams have recorded five new
tracks for A Girl Can Mack, due October 22, as well as the entire
holiday collection Naughty or Nice, due November 26. They also recently
began filming a movie together, playing singers in "Cheetah Girls"
(see
"3LW Holiday Album Due; Members Land Film Roles").
3LW are so busy, in fact, they haven't even begun to think about
screening potential replacements for Naughton. "For right now," Bailon
said, "it's just the two of us, and we wish Naturi the best of luck in
doing her thing."
Bailon and Williams said they returned to the studio and delayed the
release of A Girl Can Mack three weeks because several tracks had been
leaked on the Internet and they wanted to the album to be fresh.
Among the new material is "Neva Get Enuf," which was produced by
Presidential Campaign and features Lil' Wayne, and the album's third
single, the Lil' Kim collaboration "I Want That." Treach from Naughty
by
Nature also appears on the album, on the party anthem "Put 'Em Up."
"Neva Get Enuf," which samples Teddy Pendergrass's "Close the
Door," is
about feeling lonely while you watch your best friend collect a
pocketful of phone numbers. "Which is so true, it's so us," Williams
said. "I never have nobody, and (pointing to Bailon) she always has
somebody. It's horrible."
Horrible also describes what Bailon and Williams thought of the
mid-tempo tune the first time they heard it. "We were like, 'Ew, we hate
this song," Williams said.
"We had to put some 3LW flavor on it, and it ended up being a really hot
song," Bailon said. And because of the sample, "a lot of older people
can like the song as well."
For the video, directed by Erik White (Ludacris, B2K), Bailon and
Williams wanted to capture a day in the life of 3LW. "We get up out of
our houses, we go to ..." Williams explained, before Bailon finished:
"Go eat some fast food, walk around our neighborhood."
"Basically, we look at the cuties, they look at us," Williams added.
"There's a lot a cutie-type looking."
"You know how most videos the guys be checkin' out the ladies? We
flippin' that around a little bit and it's us checkin' out the guys in
this video," Bailon explained.
As for Naughty or Nice, the girls said not to expect a typical holiday
album. Only one of the tracks is a classic, "Have Yourself a Merry
Little Christmas," and even that is sung "Marilyn Monroe-style."
"We have song called 'Aw, Hell No,' and it's about all the wack
Christmas gifts you could ever get," Bailon said. "You open up an ugly
knit sweater and you're like, 'Aw, hell no.' "
After wrapping the video for "Neva Get Enuf," Bailon and Williams will
return to the set of "Cheetah Girls," where Bailon plays a New York
native named Chanel and Williams plays a Texas girl named Aquanette.
"It's really fun 'cause we get to come out of character, because I'm
prissy and uppity, and in real life I'm a tomboy and I just like chill
in big jeans and wear boys pants," Williams said.
Solange Knowles, Beyoncé's sister, was originally cast to play
Aquanette, but when she had to back out to promote her album, Williams
stepped in. The Disney movie, produced by Whitney Houston, will be in
theaters next summer, according to the girls.
India.Arie Couldn't Handle the Business
There's no doubt that India.Arie was very
busy last year promoting her
debut album, "Acoustic Soul." The hard work didn't start there. From
the
minute India began writing the album, to the moment she inked her deal
with Motown, to the time she shot her first video, to the day her album
was released, all the way up to the night she walked away empty-handed
at the Grammy awards-India has been working hard. During a recent
interview with the BET Radio Network, India said that last year was so
"grueling" that she almost quit. She went on to say that, although she
came close to throwing in the towel, she was able to get back on her
feet and keep pushing. She justified it simply by saying, "This is what
I want to do." India.Arie will definitely get a chance to do what she
wants next month as she goes on a national headlining tour, with
supporting acts, Floetry and Slum Village. The tour is named after her
latest album, "Voyage To India," which is in stores now.