Macy Gray - Roller Coaster Soul Diva

@Macy Gray (born September 6, 1969 is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress, famed for her distinctive raspy voice, and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday and Betty Davis.

Gray has released six studio albums, and received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one. She has appeared in a number of films including Training Day, Spider-Man, Scary Movie 3, Lackawanna Blues, Idlewild and For Colored Girls. Gray is best known for her international hit single "Do Something," taken from her multi-platinum debut album On How Life Is.

Gray's initial success came as a surprise. While attending the University of Southern California, she agreed to write songs for a friend, and a demo session was scheduled for the songs to be recorded by another singer. When the vocalist failed to turn up, Gray recorded them herself. She then met writer/producer Joe Solo while working as a cashier in Beverly Hills. Together, they wrote a large collection of songs and recorded them in Solo's studio. 
  
The demo tape landed Gray the opportunity to sing at jazz cafés in Los Angeles, California. Despite Gray's dislike of her own voice, Atlantic Records signed her. In 1998, she landed a record deal with Epic Records. She was on one of the songs from The Black Eyed Peas' debut album, "Love Won't Wait".
Gray worked on her debut album in 1999, On How Life Is became a worldwide smash. & "I Try" was one of the biggest singles of 1999.

In 2001, she collaborated with Fatboy Slim, The Black Eyed Peas, and Slick Rick (on the song "The World Is Yours", from the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack), as well as acting for the first time in the thriller Training Day. In August 2001, Gray was booed off the field at the Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibition game after forgetting the lyrics to the American national anthem.

Gray's The Id featured appearances by John Frusciante and Erykah Badu on the single "Sweet Baby" (which was co-written with longtime collaborator Joe Solo). In 2002, she appeared in Spider-Man as herself and worked with Santana on the track "Amoré (Sexo)", for his album Shaman.

Also in 2002, she appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD in tribute to Nigerian afropop pioneer Fela Kuti, Red Hot and Riot. She appeared on a remake track of Kuti's classic, "Water No Get Enemy" alongside prominent hip-hop and R&B artists, D'Angelo, The Soultronics, Nile Rodgers, Roy Hargrove, and Kuti's son, Femi Kuti.

She recorded a duet with Zucchero called "Like The Sun (From Out Of Nowhere)", which featured Jeff Beck on guitar released in 2004 on Zu & Co., a duets collection. Her song "Time of My Life" was included in the soundtrack to 8 Mile. A cartoon based on Gray's childhood was being developed, but it never came to fruition.

In 2003, Gray released her third studio album, The Trouble with Being Myself, to rave reviews. The lead single, "When I See You", became a radio hit in the U.S. and a top forty hit in the UK. Nevertheless, it became Gray's third top twenty album in the UK. A greatest hits collection and a live album were subsequently released: The Very Best of Macy Gray (2004) and Live in Las Vegas (2005). Additionally, Gray was featured on Marcus Miller's 2005 album Silver Rain, on a cover of Prince's 1986 song "Girls & Boys". She also appeared on the soundtrack to the film Chicago with Queen Latifah and Lil' Kim on "Cell Block Tango/He Had it Comin'."

Gray began 2007 badly after being kicked off-stage at a concert in Barbados for profanity (which was part of the show), but she was not aware that it was against the law in that country. She gave a public apology that night to avoid arrest.

In March, Gray released her fourth studio album (sixth overall), entitled Big. Two singles, "Finally Made Me Happy" and "Shoo Be Doo", have been released from the album. "What I Gotta Do", another track from the album, is featured on the Shrek the Third soundtrack. It is considered Gray's comeback album, after a four-year hiatus since her last studio album. The album was critically acclaimed and seen by some as her best work to date. It featured collaborations with Natalie Cole, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, and will.i.am, who co-executive produced the album with Gray.

On July 7, 2007, Gray performed at the Brazilian leg of Live Earth at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gray and her band members wore clothes bearing political messages. Gray's dress carried the message "Darfur Red Alert".

In 2008, Macy launched a new campaign under the name Nemesis Jaxson, with upcoming single, "Slap a Bitch".
Macy was available again in another movie soundtrack (she is featured in more than 10 other soundtracks): Confessions of a Shopaholic, with the newest track "Don'Forget Me".

First single from Gray's fifth studio album The Sellout, "Beauty in the World," is used as the theme in multiple videos created by Microsoft.

In 2011, Gray signed a deal with 429 Records and started recording a series of covers for her next studio album Covered.  The album's first single is "Here Comes The Rain Again" (originally performed by Eurythmics).
                
                         
                 
Also in 2012, @Talking Book is the stars new album which sees Macy Gray revisiting one of Stevie Wonders most iconic releases as she pays homage to the music veteran by recording the entire album track for track.

Macy describes Talking Book as a love letter to Stevie Wonder rather than it being a tribute or concert style recording. What better way to pay homage to your idol than to record one if their biggest studio accomplishments and to do it so well as Macy has here. 

My Fav on this one: Tuesday Heartbreak, Superstition & You Are The Sunshine Of My Live. She is one of my all time favorites!

As Mixpod just shut down without notice, not even an email...

I only find a free widget 'basic version' for the video player...looking 4 the perfect one as usual.

  

ELECTRO DELUXE - Soul & Funk Cocktail Party -

ELECTRO DELUXE consists of seven musicians among the most active of the French musical stage. Since 2001, the group mixed an unique & original electro music-jazz sound.
 
Like a Soul & Funk cocktail party! 

 
After ten years touring in France and all over the world (China, India, Canada, Mexico, Europe) in the most prestigious festivals (Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz in Vienna, Cervantino, Solidays) the group brought out this year a double live album recorded with a BigBand. 
 
Real musical reservoir, Electro Deluxe is present in numerous current projects. We indeed find the musicians of the group playing with Ben l'Oncle Soul , Michel Jonasz, Hocus Pocus, Milk Coffee and Sugar or Sixun.

Three albums so far: Stardown in 2005, Hopeful in 2007 and Play in 2010, each having welcomed numerous guests among whom Christophe Panzani and Philippe Sellam (saxophones), Guillaume Poncelet, Flavio Boltro and Jean-François Baud, Didier Lockwood, Cynthia Saint-Ville, IMO, Crystal and HKB FiNN , Julien Birot, Ben l'Oncle Soul ...

 

In the center of the Soul revival  scene, on the border between Jazz and Hip-hop, Electro Deluxe takes root between inheritance and modernity, investigating the musical borders without caring about limits or labels. 

I'm gonna see them next summer ☼…YEAH ☺

A.S.M (A STATE OF MIND) - Crown Yard

A State of Mind (A.S.M) is a Hip-Hop English collective, native of Canada, Germany and England which influences come from Funk to Hip-Hop and even Reggae. 

The main group members are: Green T, FP, and Flat. They are accompanied in studio and on stage by Ludivine Issambourg flutist of Wax Tailor, Marco Bernardis, Paul Burton and Mike Davis (saxophonist, trombonist and trumpeter of 6ix Toys) but also the "Rice Krispies" saxophonist Romain Alary, the trombonist Geoffroy de Schuyter and the trumpeter Alex Herichon.

They worked repeatedly with the French DJ Jean Christophe Le Saoût, known under the name of Wax Tailor. The first title arising from this collaboration is "Positively Inclined", then "Say Yes" and finally "Guaranteed", available on albums "Hope and Sorrow", "In the Mood for Life" from Wax Tailor and on "Platypus Funk" from A.S.M .

On 2007 the group brings out his first EP "Pre-Emptive Nostalgia", in March 2008 brings out to Japan the second EP "Cosmic Flavour". In 2010 went out the first album marketed in France:"Platypus Funk".

Their second album Crown Yard went out on October 31st, 2011. A new musical maturity, with the same Hip-Hop vibes, optimistic and 'true-school' found already in their first album "Platypus Funk", an enormous European success arisen from the collaboration with Wax Tailor.
 
What makes this new album different and unique, it's the sophistication of its arrangements and the depth, in which they investigate the musical genres previously only brushed: more specially the Funk, in its original version, but also the Motown Soul, the Reggae-roots and the Afrobeat.

 
This new album of ASM looks like a 70s movie Soundtrack. While their young and overflowing energy shines in each of the pieces, the depth of grooves, the precision of the rhythms and the musical complexity of highlighted "CROWN yard" send a very clear message… ASM is in the place!!!

Hypnotic Soul - Dajla - Soul Poetry & The Meaning Of Life

DAJLA is the Arabic translation of River TIGRIS, Mesopotamian river, soul sister of Euphrates River. Dajla is like this river: her spirit runs free and strong amongst the land of music. She's a lead singer, a songwriter, a pianist and a bassplayer.

 

Dajla grew up in the West coast of France, raised by a Soul and R'n'B loving dad originally from Tunisia/Kabylia, and an American-Gypsy rock loving mum in the midst of the cool 1970's... 

She started playing Jazz and classical piano at the age of 6 at the local music college. She picked up the bass at 17 deeply influenced by her encounter with Angelo Moore from Los Angeles band Fishbone in 1992.

After a few years playing bass and keys for various bands in Paris and London and several trips to the US, she meets producer/drummer/guitarist/keyboardist Benji "Blow" Bouton on her return to France in 2004. Together they found what they'd been looking for…

 

Their love for Hip-Hop beats, P-funk, Soul, Blues, Jazz took them to another space, where music knows no boundaries… 

Dajla writes and rhymes to transcend the frustration, “ego trips” and alienation of a money driven world gone mad… Through her poetry and lyrics she states LOVE as the ultimate concept and viable alternative.




French producer Wax Tailor introduces them to his label in 2006 and "Soul Poetry", their first LP was released with Undercover Records in 2006, then a second time in Feb. 2007 with two bonus tracks.
Dajla & Benji Blow now, got a band together, where she plays bass and sings and have already performed at various festivals and in many countries from Africa to America and Europe. 

 
"One of the few artists able to challenge U.S. soul singers." (Liberation) 

"This album -a miracle of hypnotic soul- brings us the same soothing and peaceful feeling as Jill Scott's first opus did."

(Groove/album of the year)

"Dajla is following the steps of Erykah Badu and Portishead..." 

(Rap Mag) 

"This young prodigy is the nu-soul revelation of the year."
(Longueur d'Ondes)

Bonus & if you  want a really good sound download her 2 albums (Soul  Poetry & The Meaning Of Life)...Enjoy, especially 'Hold me' :)

DAJLA "The Motherland feat. Metropolis"
 

Amp Fiddler - Waltz of a Ghetto Fly & Singles

Having studied jazz in school and with Harold McKinney while growing up in Detroit, Joseph "Amp" Fiddler is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter and record producer. His musical styles include Funk, Soul, Dance and Electronic music. He is probably best known for his contributions to the band Enchantment, and as part of George Clinton’s Parliament and Funkadelic groups from 1985 until 1996. 

Fiddler has worked with Moodymann, Stephanie McKay, Jamiroquai, Prince, Was (Not Was), the Brand New Heavies, Fishbone, Corinne Bailey Rae and Nu Soul artist Maxwell. 

While he was working with his brother, Bubz (bass guitarist, producer and songwriter), he released the album With Respect in 1990 on Elektra, recording under the name Mr. Fiddler. Although the record didn't fare well commercially, it was a solid update of '70s funk with modern production sensibilities. 

In 2002, Amp issued a 12" called Basementality on the Genuine label. Featuring a remix from close associate Kenny Dixon, Jr. (aka Moodymann), the record was an even split between modern Soul and Funky club music with Fiddler's talents boldly displayed.

The Love and War single came out the following year, and the full-length Waltz of a Ghetto Fly saw release in 2004. "Trust me guys, this is essential listening"...On & On. His album, Afro Strut, was released in the U.K, in 2006.

Two years later, Fiddler and Sly & Robbie kicked off the Strut label's collaboration-oriented Inspiration Information series. 

               
Amp Fiddler is credited with introducing Hip-Hop producer J Dilla to the Akai MPC sampling drum machine and also to A Tribe Called Quest member Q-Tip, who introduced the young Dilla into the music industry world.

His warm, expansive, mellifluous music emerges as earthy, supremely relaxed, and rooted in the Funk and Soul that Amp feels most connected to. And, as he suggests, it is music for the head as much as food for the heart and soul.

Steely Dan is an American rock band consisting of core members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Rolling Stone has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies."

The band's music is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies played by Becker and Fagen along with a revolving cast of rock and pop studio musicians. Steely Dan's "cerebral, wry and eccentric" lyrics, often filled with sharp sarcasm, touch upon such themes as drugs, love affairs, and crime. 

The pair is well-known for their near-obsessive perfectionism in the recording studio, with one notable example being that Becker and Fagen used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the tracks that resulted in 1980's Gaucho — an album that contains only seven songs.

Steely Dan toured from 1972 to 1974, but in 1975 became a purely studio-based act. The late 1970s saw the group release a series of moderately successful singles and albums. They disbanded in 1981, and throughout most of the next decade Fagen and Becker remained largely inactive in the music world. During this time "a cult following" remained devoted to the group.

In 1993, the group resumed playing live concerts; later Steely Dan released two albums of new material, the first of which earned a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. They have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001.

& For me... It was just :) a wonderful first time...

Victor Davies - Hear the Sound

Victor Davies’ third album, Hear the Sound, has much to live up to. His 2001 self-titled debut was met with critical acclaim leading Q magazine to declare that “Davies' caressing tones could sell sunshine to an Australian". In 2003 his next album, Hoxton Popstars, delivered a number one single in Japan (‘Fire’ held the spot for two weeks). 

This last release, Hear the Sound, which includes a duet with Grammy-nominated Brazilian artist Bebel Gilberto, shows all the signs of continuing this upward trajectory.
Victor’s distinctive sound is realized through his captivating fusion of Latin, Soul, Funk, Jazz and acoustic aesthetics. 

While his music has proved popular around the world Hear the Sound will be somewhat of a homecoming for Victor as it is his first release on a U.K. label. Having established his talent overseas the recent musical shift towards authentic artists in Britain confirmed that the time is right for the Thai kickboxing East Londoner to pursue such achievements at home.

Hear the Sound continues the tradition of artists such as Terry Callier, Jon Lucien and Gilberto Gil while also seeing Victor give a nod to his soul roots with tunes that recall the Isley Brothers and Curtis Mayfield. The album is comprised of songs relating to the emotions and feelings associated with relationships – love, lust, and obsession – as well as addressing political and social issues.

As on previous albums, all songs are written and produced by Victor who also plays most of the instruments (everything except brass and strings). “I found this album easier to record than the others,” Victor says, “I wanted it to be easy to listen to so I approached the recording in a relaxed manner in order to create a warm, comfortable sound in production.”

For an artist who has always been proudly independent of other musicians, this album is noteworthy for including Victor’s first duet track. ‘Comigo (With Me)’ was recorded in Paris with Brazilian star Bebel Gilberto. 

Victor says, “The idea was to do a real traditional kind of duet. I loved Bebel’s two previous albums so when she said she was into the track and would like to sing on it that was really cool. Bebel is very sweet and wears her emotions on her sleeve which comes across really well on ‘Comigo’.”

 
                   

Bebel adds: “When I first heard Victor's song 'Comigo', I immediately connected to his sound. As soon as we decided to do the recording, we end up in Paris singing and having a good time. It was that delicious and easy. Victor is such a talent and I’m so happy to be part of this.”

The decision to call the album Hear the Sound is significant to Victor. “The title is about getting people to listen to the music: don’t get distracted by the hype or the image, just listen. It’s a real back to basics statement.”

Jamie Lidell - Little Bit of Feel Good...

Jamie Lidell (birth name Jamie Lidderdale; born 18 September 1973 in Huntington, England) is an English musician and soul singer living in Nashville, United States. He also has a group with Cristian Vogel called Super Collider.

Lidell is known for layering tracks made with his voice into a microphone and performing the percussion and melody as a sequenced, beatboxing one-man band. Then over his augmented voices, he sings soul-inspired songs. This exercise makes for energetic live performances. Lidell has become renowned for his diverse range of genre-exploration. 

Following the release of his 2008 album, Jim, Lidell commented:

I want it to be about music, I think every musician does. But I think inevitably it ends up becoming about personality, which is what gives rise to the music, so people want to make sure that they get a bit of both. The more things do well, the more people want to know why it does well.

His song "Multiply" was used on the television show Grey Anatomy, and was also included on its second soundtrack. Another song from his album Multiply, "A Little Bit More", was featured in a series of commercials for the U.S. retailer Target.

He often collaborates with Canadian musicians such as Gonzales, Feist and Mocky. He has also recently collaborated with British electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco for the song "Off The Map". In 2006, he was part of a live performance collaboration with David Link and F. M. Einheit, which was released on CD as 'Echohce'.

In early 2009, Lidell's Jim won in The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Pop/Rock Album.

In 2009 he contributed a cover of Grizzly Bear's song "Little Brother" to the Warp20 (Recreated) compilation, as well as having his song "A Little Bit More" covered by Tim Exile.

In March 2010, Lidell announced that he is releasing a new album entitled Compass which is being produced by fellow musician and occasional collaborator Beck. The album was released in May 2010.  The title track is featured in the Rockstar video game Red Dead Redemption, and is one of only four songs in the game to include vocals.

Unique Mixture of Soul & Jazz - Molly Johnson - Another Day

Molly Johnson began as a child performer, receiving formal training from the National Ballet School and the Banff School of Fine Arts. Molly's career started in the mid-1960s when as a young grade schooler, she and her brother, Clark Johnson, actor and director (Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire), were tapped by legendary Toronto producer Ed Mirvish to appear in Porgy and Bess at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. 

In time Porgy and Bess was followed by South Pacific, Finian's Rainbow and other musicals. The budding child star was soon enrolled by the National Ballet School as she desired to become a choreographer. 

By the age of seventeen, Molly was fronting a disco band named A Chocolate Affair. The group lasted just over a year.

Although she has performed as a Jazz singer throughout her career, she did not release a Jazz album until her self-titled solo debut in 2000.

She was lead vocalist for two rock bands, Alta Moda and Infidels in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as frequent contributor to Big Sugar, who also became a prominent Canadian band in the 1990s. 

Both of her bands had notable hits in Canada (Alta Moda's "Julian" and Infidels' "100 Watt Bulb" and "Celebrate"), but both bands broke up (for different reasons) after just one album each.

Also in the mid-to late-eighties, she performed with popular Toronto group Breeding Ground, most notably on their hits Happy Now I Know and Ceremony of Love, both of which received consistent college radio airplay, and even had rotation on MuchMusic. 

She also performed with them live whenever her commitments with Alta Moda weren't in conflict. 

 

In 1989 she performed the song "The Best We Both Can Be" for the film Babar: The Movie, and also provided voice work for Babar and the Adventures of Badou in 2010.

In the mid-1990s, Molly also organized an annual concert series, the Kumbaya Festival, as a benefit for Canadian charities working around HIV and AIDS.
 
Johnson went on to release Another Day in 2003.

This album was well received at home and went on to be successful in France, where she continues to tour. In 2006 she released her third solo album Messin' Around.

She made history at the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, becoming the first Canadian female vocalist in the festival's 17-year-history to sell out a show on the mainstage. 

She has even regaled royalty during a private command performance aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia before the Prince and late Princess of Wales, as well as having performed for Nelson Mandela and Quincy Jones.

   

On November 11, 2008, Johnson released her fourth full-length album, a record of standards entitled Lucky, via Universal Music Canada and Universal Music France. In March 2009 Lucky took home the Juno Award for "Vocal Jazz Album of the Year".

Her latest release The Molly Johnson Songbook includes 14 studio recordings and 2 previously unreleased tracks – featuring the Daniel Lanois' song Still Water from his acclaimed album, Acadie.

The Molly Johnson Songbook also features a Cole Porter composition not included in the Juno Award Winning Lucky sessions. 
A truly distinctive voice – unique mixture of Soul and Jazz – Molly delivers luscious interpretations of Jazz standards & original repertoire such as “Lush Life”, “Ode to Billie Joe”, “Melody” & “Rain” on this beautiful collection of music. 
Also featured as an iTunes exclusive track is the Daniel Lanois composition, St. Ann’s Gold.