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Essence Music Festival
The Essence Festival, known as "the party with a purpose", is an annual music festival which started in 1995 as a one-time event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ''Essence'', a magazine aimed primarily towards African-American women. It became the largest African-American culture and music event in the United States. Locally referred to as the Essence Fest, it has been held in New Orleans, Louisiana since 1995 except in 2006, when it was held in Houston, Texas due to Hurricane Katrina's effect on New Orleans and 2020 when it was cancelled. A spinoff iteration of the festival was also held in Durban, South Africa in November 2016. The festival features artists simultaneously performing on a main stage as well as four standing-room only superlounge stages. In 2008, for the first time since its 1995 inception, the festival was not produced by the original producer team. Instead, Essence Communications, owner of the festival and the ''Essence'' magazine, contracted Rehage Ente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caesars Superdome
The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). Plans were drawn up in 1967 by the New Orleans modernist architectural firm of Curtis and Davis and the building opened as the Louisiana Superdome in 1975. Its steel frame covers a expanse and the dome is made of a lamellar multi-ringed frame and has a diameter of , making it the largest fixed domed structure in the world. The Superdome has routinely hosted major sporting events; it has hosted seven Super Bowl games (and will host its eighth, Super Bowl LIX, in 2025), and five NCAA championships in men's college basketball. In college football, the Sugar Bowl has been played at the Superdome since 1975, which is one of the "New Year's Six" bowl games of the College Football Playoff (CFP). It al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Thomas (singer)
Carlton Neron Thomas (born June 15, 1972) is an American R&B singer. Biography Thomas was born in Aurora, Illinois and attended East Aurora High School. He sang around Chicago and became a member of The Fourmula. He branched out, however, and traveled to New York City, where he sang at clubs during open-mic nights. One such performance caught the eye of Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed Thomas to Bad Boy Entertainment in 1997. Career With the single "I Wish" released in late 1999, topping the R&B charts for six consecutive weeks, creating strong interest. '' Emotional'', his debut album was released on April 18, 2000. On the strength of this single, and the album's other singles, "Summer Rain" at No. 18, which also appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film version of '' Shaft'', and the title track "Emotional" at No. 8 on the R&B charts, the album was certified platinum with over 1 million in sales. Later rapper Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" interpolated Thomas' " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer and frontwoman of the vocal group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. Following the group's name change to Labelle in the 1970s, they released the popular number-one hit "Lady Marmalade". As a result, after the group split in 1976, LaBelle began a successful solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album, which included the career-defining song, "You Are My Friend". LaBelle became a mainstream solo star in 1984 following the success of the singles "If Only You Knew", "Love, Need and Want You" (later sampled for 2002's "Dilemma"), " New Attitude" and "Stir It Up". Less than two years later, in 1986, LaBelle scored a number-one album ''Winner in You'' and its number-one duet single, " On My Own", with Michael McDonald. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patti Austin
Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter. Music career Austin was born in Harlem, New York, to Gordon Austin, a jazz trombonist. She was raised in Bay Shore, New York on Long Island. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have referred to themselves as her godparents. When Austin was four years old, she performed at the Apollo Theater. As a teenager she recorded commercial jingles and worked as a session singer in soul and R&B. She had an R&B hit in 1969 with "Family Tree". She sang backing vocals on Paul Simon's 1975 number-one hit " 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". The jazz label CTI released her debut album, ''End of a Rainbow'', in 1976. She sang "The Closer I Get to You" for Tom Browne's album ''Browne Sugar'', a duet with Michael Jackson for his album '' Off the Wall'', and a duet with George Benson on "Moody's Mood for Love". After singing on Quincy Jones's album '' The Dude'', she signed a contract with his record labe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly
Maze, also known as Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly and Frankie Beverly & Maze, is an American soul band founded by Frankie Beverly in Philadelphia in 1970. Under its original name Raw Soul, the band relocated to San Francisco and was introduced to Marvin Gaye. Gaye took the group on the road with him as one of his opening acts, and in 1976, he suggested that they change their name from Raw Soul. Maze released 9 Gold albums from 1977 to 1993. Their well-known songs include "Happy Feelin's", "While I'm Alone", "Golden Time of Day", “Southern Girl”, "The Look in Your Eyes", "Joy and Pain", "Before I Let Go", "We Are One", " Back in Stride", "Can't Get Over You" and "The Morning After". The band has maintained a large and devoted following. Career Frankie Beverly started the band as Raw Soul in 1970. They recorded a couple of singles on the small Gregar label, but without any major hits. With a few personnel changes, a relocation from Philadelphia to the San Francisco Bay Area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kelly Price
Kelly Cherelle Price (born April 4, 1973) is an American R&B and gospel singer. She started her singing career in 1992. Price originally garnered attention by singing backing vocals for Mariah Carey on multiple songs, including her ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number one singles: "Fantasy" and " All I Want for Christmas Is You"; before rising to greater prominence after making uncredited guest appearances on the number one single "Mo Money Mo Problems" by The Notorious B.I.G., as well as "Feel So Good" by Mase, which prompted her to release her own music. Her debut album ''Soul of a Woman'' (1998), was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album's lead single " Friend of Mine" reached the top 20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In 1998, Price was featured on the Whitney Houston single "Heartbreak Hotel" alongside Faith Evans, which peaked at number two and earned the trio a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe (singer)
Joseph Lewis Thomas (born July 5, 1972), known mononymously as Joe, is an American R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Ashburn, Georgia, he later relocated to Atlanta and signed a record deal with Polygram Records in 1992. He rose to prominence after releasing his debut album ''Everything'' the following year. He followed it with a series of successful albums under Jive Records, including '' All That I Am'' (1997), the international bestseller ''My Name Is Joe'' (2000) as well as the multi-certified albums '' Better Days'' (2001) and '' And Then...'' (2003). Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the pop and R&B record charts, including the number-one hit " Stutter", the top ten entries " All the Things (Your Man Won't Do)", "Don't Wanna Be a Player", and " I Wanna Know" as well as his collaborations "Faded Pictures", "Thank God I Found You" and "Still Not a Player". Since his departure from Jive, Joe has released most of his projects in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jill Scott (singer)
Jill Heather Scott (born April 4, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter, model, poet and actress. Her 2000 debut album, '' Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1'', went platinum and the follow-ups '' Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2'' (2004) and '' The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3'' (2007) both achieved gold status. Scott made her film debut in 2007 in '' Hounddog'' and Tyler Perry's ''Why Did I Get Married?''. In 2008, she starred in the BBC/HBO series ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'', based on the novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. After a four-year hiatus from music, Scott released her fourth album, ''The Light of the Sun'', in 2011. In 2014, she starred in the film '' Get on Up'' as the second wife of James Brown. In 2015, she released her fifth album, ''Woman.'' Beginning in 2018, Scott appeared in The CW DC Comics superhero series ''Black Lightning'' as Lady Eve. Early life Scott was born on April 4, 1972, in Philadelphia. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeffrey Osborne
Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and lyricist. He is the former drummer and lead singer of the American R&B/soul group L.T.D., with whom he began his musical career in 1970. Biography Early life and family Osborne was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Born the youngest of twelve children which consisted of five brothers and six sisters, Osborne's family was musically inclined. Some of Osborne's siblings went on to have music careers as well; his brother Billy Osborne was his band-mate in L.T.D. Osborne's father, Clarence "Legs" Osborne, was a popular trumpeter who played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington. Osborne's father died in 1961 when Osborne was thirteen. L.T.D. Osborne began his music career in 1970 becoming a member of the American soul band "Love Men Ltd.", who would later become known as L.T.D. The band recorded hit singles such as " (Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again" (1977), "Concen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas ( Lee; born February 18, 1941) is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans". Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but never experienced their level of commercial success. In 2007, she won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for '' After the Rain'', her first Grammy in a career spanning over 50 years. Life and career Born Irma Lee, in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, United States, she was the daughter of Percy Lee, a steel chipper, and Vader Lee, who worked as a maid. As a teenager, she sang with a Baptist church choir. She auditioned for Specialty Records at the age of 13. By the time she was 19, she had been married twice and had four children. Keeping her second ex-husband's surname, she worked as a waitress in New Orleans, occasionally singing with bandleader Tommy Ridgley, who helped her land a record deal with the local Ron label. Her first single, "Don't Mess with My Man", was released in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut album ''Baduizm'' (1997), placed her at the forefront of the neo soul movement, earning her the honorific nickname "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Neo Soul" by music critics. Badu's career began after she Opening act, opened a show for D'Angelo in 1994 in Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth; leading to record label executive Kedar Massenburg signing her to Kedar Entertainment. Her first album, ''Baduizm'', was released in February 1997. It spawned four singles: "On & On (Erykah Badu song), On & On", "Appletree (song), Appletree", "Next Lifetime" and "Otherside of the Game". The album was certified music recording sales certification, triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Benét
Eric Benét Jordan (born October 15, 1967) is an American R&B/neo soul singer-songwriter and actor, who has received a total of four Grammy nominations to date for his musical work. Biography Early life Benét was born on October 15, 1966 in Mobile, Alabama and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the youngest of five siblings. Career Benét sang with a Top 100-style group called Gerard in the late 1980s. Benét, his sister Lisa, and his cousin George Nash Jr. formed a band called Benét and released a self-titled album in 1992, and it went on to sell over 100,000 copies. Two years later, Eric Benét broke onto the music scene with his solo career and signed with Warner Bros. Records, releasing his debut solo album, ''True to Myself'' in 1996. His second album, ''A Day in the Life'', was released in 1999 and featured his smash hit "Spend My Life With You (featuring Tamia)". The song rose to No. 1 on the US Billboard R&B charts (for 3 weeks), was certified gold, and nomin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
