Paul V. Randolph, aka "Randolph" is an American

bass player A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...

, singer, songwriter, and producer from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. His musical style ranges from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, house, rock and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

. He is best known as the vocalist for the German collective,

Jazzanova Alexander Barck, Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany Jazzanova is a German Berlin-based DJ/producer collective consisting of Alexander Barck, Claas Brieler, Jürgen von Knoblauch, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, and Axel Reine ...

. Randolph has performed with well-known musicians, including Tony Allen,

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire co ...

, Alice Cooper, Amp Fiddler, Hubert Laws, Josh White Jr, Mark Farner and Nigel Hall.

Early life and education

Randolph was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He and his family relocated to

Sao Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

when he was six years old, where he learned to play guitar. He graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in Marketing.

Career

Randolph joined the Detroit-based New Orleans-style funk and blues band, Mudpuppy as lead vocalist and bassist, along with fellow Detroit musician,

Amp Fiddler Joseph Anthony "Amp" Fiddler is an American singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. His musical styles include funk, soul, dance and electronica music. He is probably best known for his contributions to the ba ...

. The pair later performed and recorded as a duo. During this time, Randolph also released his first solo CD, ''This Is...What It Is''" in 2004 on Kenny Dixon, Jr.'s Mahogani Music label. His second solo album, ''Lonely Eden'' was released in 2007, with contributions from

Stephanie McKay Stephanie McKay is an American soul singer and songwriter from the Bronx in New York, whose music includes elements of soul, funk, rock and hip hop. McKay's career has spanned over 20 years, during which time she has collaborated with artists ...

and

Waajeed Robert O'Bryant, also known as Waajeed is a Detroit-born music producer, and one half of the hip hop and R&B group Platinum Pied Pipers, and a founding member of Tiny Hearts. He formed the Bling47 record label in 2002, which has released proj ...

. Randolph's overseas travels with Amp Fiddler lead him to meet members of the group Jazzanova. Randolph was the lead vocalist on three singles from Jazzanova's 2008 album ''Of All The Things'' on

Sonar Kollektiv Sonar Kollektiv is a German record label founded in the late 1990s by the DJ and producer team Jazzanova(Claas Brieler, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer). The label specializes in downtempo music. The intention was to create an i ...

, which peaked at number six on the

Billboard Chart The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

's Top Contemporary Jazz category. He also sang on the 2012 Jazzanova release, ''Funkhaus Studio Sessions'' (Sonar Kollektiv). He was named 2010 Artist of the Year by

Real Detroit Weekly ''Real Detroit Weekly'' (often called just ''Real Detroit'') was a weekly newspaper distributed free of charge every Wednesday from 1999 to 2014, that focused mainly on entertainment news from metro Detroit. It had a proportion of advertisements s ...

, Randolph has releases between 2012 and 2017 that include, "Chips 'n Chitlins" with Zed Bias; Isoul8 - "Stay- Stay-Stay" and "Waves of Love"; DJ Kawasaki (Japan)- "Where Would We Be"; BoddhiSatva (Africa)- "Soldier"; Mikael Delta (Greece) - "This Is The Place"; and Opolopo (Sweden)- "Sustain". In 2017, a duet written and produced for jazz singer Kathy Kosins - "Could You Be Me", and a collaboration with South African dance music producer Ralf Gum - "We Repeat". In 2018, Randolph debuted the single "Heavy" from his third album ''In The Company Of Others'', with remixes by British producer Ashley Beedle, and authored the song "It's Beautiful" for Jazzanova's ''The Pool'' album. In 2019, two of his productions as a solo instrumentalist "Will The Party Ever End" and "Dancing In The Moon Light" charted on the Smooth Jazz and Indie Soul charts. Randolph's production of "Put The Voodoo On Me" earned him a Grammy nomination, and his production of "What You Do To Me" garnered enthusiastic commercial recognition. In late 2019, Randolph was requested by

Bob Ezrin Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin' ...

to record bass and background vocals on

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

's "Breadcrumbs" EP. Shortly after these sessions he was hired as bassist and background singer for Mark Farner formerly of Grand Funk Railroad. His 2020 productions included two singles with jazz flutist Hubert Laws, as well as other solo releases and collaborative releases. The year 2021 yielded a call back and co-production with Bob Ezrin for the Billboard #1 Rock Album of 2021 Alice Cooper's ''

Detroit Stories ''Detroit Stories'' is the twenty-first solo and twenty-eighth overall studio album by American rock musician Alice Cooper. The album was released on February 26, 2021, by earMUSIC. It crowned Billboard's Top Album Sales chart (dated March 3, 20 ...

''. In 2022, he sang and recorded bass for the ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'' Golden Buzzer receiving 'Detroit Youth Choir' full length album, ''Rockspell''. In addition to his musical talents, Randolph is also a voiceover artist and session singer with SAG/AFTRA and has done national spots for McDonalds, and Corona Beer. In 2022, Randolph started his own record label Sun Temple Records, has charting productions and a schedule of future releases.

Discography

Albums

* ''This Is...What It Is'' (Mahogani Music, 2004) * ''Lonely Eden'' (Still Music, 2007) * ''Echoes (Of Lonely Eden)'' (Still Music, 2010) * ''Chipz 'N Chittlins w/

Zed Bias Dave Jones, better known as Zed Bias, is an English electronic musician based in Manchester, who operates within the UK garage/ 2-step, broken beat and UK funky genres, as a producer and as a DJ. He has also released material under various ps ...

'' (

P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

, 2012)

Singles

* "The Real Thang" – Van Renn (1993) * "The Man" – Van Renn (1994) * "The (Real) Love Thang" – L'Homme Van Renn (1995) * "Luv + Affection" – L'Homme Van Renn (1996) * "People Make The World Go Round" – Innerzone Orchestra * "Sucker for a Pretty Face" – Trus Me – In The Red * "On My Heart" – ISoul8 feat. Paul Randolph * "I Love You" – As One feat. Paul Randolph * "I'm Down" – As One feat. Paul Randolph * "Don't Take It Personal" – Wahoo feat. Paul Randolph * "Ruff N Tuff" – Tettory Bad * "Let Me Show Ya" – Jazzanova feat. Paul Randolph * "Lucky Girl" – Jazzanova featuring Paul Randolph * "Dial A Cliche" – Jazzanova feat. Paul Randolph * "Truth" – The Clonious feat. Paul Randolph * "Shine Your Light" – Simbad & Paul Randolph * "Joy Vibration" – Tomson feat. Paul Randolph * "Magic" – John Arnold feat. Paul Randolph * "Tower of Love" – Makoto feat. Paul Randolph * "My Magic" – Zoetic feat. Paul Randolph * "Stay, Stay, Stay" – ISoul8 feat. Paul Randolph * "Waves of Love" – ISoul8 feat. Paul Randolph * "Captain of Her Heart" – Kiko Navarro feat. Paul Randolph * "I Human" – Jazzanova feat Paul Randolph * "I'm Free" – Catz N Dogs feat. Paul Randolph * "Soldier" – Boddhi Satva Paul Randolph * "Luminous Stasis" – Dial 81 feat. Paul Randolph * "Especially For You" – Rodney Hunter feat. Paul Randolph

References

"Bobby Murray – I’m Sticking WIth You, Album Review"
''Blues Blast Magazine''

External links

Paul Randolph Myspace Page

Paul Randolph Soundcloud Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Paul Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from Detroit Musicians from Michigan