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Ray Ray (album)
''Ray Ray'' is the second studio album by American R&B singer, songwriter, and producer Raphael Saadiq. It was released October 5, 2004, by his record label, Pookie Entertainment. After being dropped from Universal Records, Saadiq formed the label and recorded the album. He pursued a 1970s-inspired musical direction that was looser than his 2002 debut album, '' Instant Vintage'', and produced ''Ray Ray'' with Michael Angelo, Jake and the Phatman, and Kelvin Wooten. Titled after Saadiq's childhood nickname, ''Ray Ray'' features funky, groove-oriented songs and Saadiq's characteristic fusion of programmed beats, strings, neo soul melodies, and live guitar. They are arranged in a song cycle and touch on lighthearted romantic themes and socially conscious messages. The album debuted at number 86 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, but fell off the next week. It received generally positive reviews from music critics. Although some were ambivalent towards its loose blaxploitation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group career, he has also produced songs for such artists as Erykah Badu, Jill Scott (singer), Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC (group), TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend. Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the "preeminent R&B artist of the '90s". Saadiq was also a member of The Ummah, a music production collective, alongside D'Angelo, Q-Tip (rapper), Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and J Dilla; and was a member of the Supergroup (music), supergroup Lucy Pearl with Dawn Robinson. He has released five solo albums, including the critically acclaimed retro-styled ''The Way I See It'' (2008) and ''Stone Rollin''' (2011). The more contemporary-sounding ''Jimmy L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a recording act will be remembered by its " number ones", those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, and acquired its current name in March 1992. Its previous names include the ''Billboard'' Top LPs (1961–1972), ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), ''Billboard'' Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums (1985–1992). The chart is based mostly on sales – both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday (to coinc ... [...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] |
Kelis
Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she learned to play the saxophone and won a spot in the Girls Choir of Harlem. After she graduated from high school in 1997, Kelis took on a variety of jobs before landing a backup vocal slot on an album track called "Fairytalez", released by the American hip hop group Gravediggaz. She then began working with music producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, known as The Neptunes, which ultimately resulted in her being signed to Virgin Records in 1998. Kelis released her debut studio album ''Kaleidoscope'' with Virgin Records on December 7, 1999. Inspired by jazz and disco music from the 1970s, the album was a critical and international success. It spawned three singles: "Caught Out There", " Good Stuff", and " Get Along W ... [...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] |
Muze
Founded in 1991, Muze, Inc. was a business-to-business provider of media information, metadata, and digital preview samples that enable search, discovery, and purchase of digital entertainment content. "Muze was founded by Zullo and Trev Huzley in 1986 under the name ''Digital Radio Network'', which used to trade air time with rock music radio stations, giving the stations a segment that allowed listeners to call up and get information on album being released on CD in exchange for allowing Digital Radio to sell advertising time to sponsors." Muze media information databases are used by businesses to support the sale of entertainment products – such as music tracks and albums, videos and DVDs, books, and video games – and to attract and retain subscribers to Internet, mobile, and social networking sites. Muze was based in New York City with operations in North America and the United Kingdom. In April 2009, Macrovision (now TiVo) announced that it had signed a definitive agreem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CD Universe
CD Universe.com is an e-commerce site that sells music CDs, mp3 downloads, movies, and video games worldwide. CD Universe also offers a wide selection of miscellaneous items such as stuffed animals, jigsaw puzzles, board games, etc. History CD Universe was created in 1996 by founder and CEO Charles Beilman in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States, where it is still maintained and operated. CD Universe lists over 940,000 physical products and over 6 million downloadable songs. In 1999, CD Universe was sold by Charles Beilman to eUniverse. Charles Beilman bought CD Universe back from eUniverse in October, 2000 after eUniverse decided they wanted to focus on their entertainment business (they eventually owned MySpace). In 2009, CD Universe began selling digital music in the DRM-free mp3 format, through their relationship with Neurotic Media. Mr. Beilman retired in January 2020. Charity work In September 2014, CD Universe began an effort to help raise money for the well known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony! Toni! Toné!
Tony! Toni! Toné! was an American soul/ R&B band from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq (born Charles Ray Wiggins) on lead vocals and bass, and their cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drums, keyboards, and background vocals. Additional original founders are Choreographer/Bassist Elijah "EB" Baker, Songwriter/Producer/Keyboardist Antron "Ice Cream" Haile, and Producer/Jazz Guitarist John "Jubu" Smith. Originally, the band went by "Tony, Toni, Toné" as a joke, until they realized it "had a nice ring to it". After their debut album '' Who?'' in 1988 followed by '' The Revival'' in 1990, the group achieved their greatest commercial success with the double platinum certified ''Sons of Soul'' in 1993. Tony! Toni! Toné! disbanded after the release of their fourth album ''House of Music'' (1996), which critics cite as their best w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics. The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover and was published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in the United States, it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions. Penske Media Corporation is the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The newspaper was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Irish Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to the Russian oligarch and former KGB Officer Alexander Lebedev in 2010. In 2017, Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in it. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The website and mobile app had a combined monthly reach of 19,826,000 in 2021. History 1986 to 1990 Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330 It was produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
News International
News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ''The Times'', ''The Sunday Times'', and ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun'' newspapers; its former publications include the ''Today (UK newspaper), Today'', ''News of the World'', and ''The London Paper'' newspapers. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc.The Times Online Style Guide – see entry for News International for change from plc to Ltd On 31 May 2011, the company name was changed from News International Limited to NI Group Limited, and on 26 June 2013 to News UK. History< ...
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The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, which is owned by News Corp. Times Newspapers also publishes ''The Times''. The two papers were founded independently and have been under common ownership since 1966. They were bought by News International in 1981. ''The Sunday Times'' has a circulation of just over 650,000, which exceeds that of its main rivals, including ''The'' ''Sunday Telegraph'' and ''The'' ''Observer'', combined. While some other national newspapers moved to a tabloid format in the early 2000s, ''The Sunday Times'' has retained the larger broadsheet format and has said that it would continue to do so. As of December 2019, it sells 75% more copies than its sister paper, ''The Times'', which is published from Monday to Saturday. The paper publishes ''The Sunday Ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
