Mark's R & B Blog

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: Chaka Khan, Angie Stone, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele and others will honor Patti LaBelle in an all-star tribute on July 5th ... Read More

It looks like June 2008 will be another strong month for R&B, just like the month before it was. Coming up in June is the long-awaited fourth studio album by ... Read More

Calvin Richardson's third album, When Love Comes, came out this past Tuesday (May 27) and a review of it will be posted here on the About R&B site on Monday ... Read More

A couple of weeks ago, yours truly blogged about a singer named KeAnthony (formerly known as 'Cruna'), a rugged cat straight outta Nashville who sings about the hard times he's ... Read More

When word got out in early 2007 that Soul music legend Al Green was working on a new album and that Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, the drummer for revered hip-hop band The ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: The trial of R. Kelly finally began with three days of testimony last week and lived up to its ... Read More

When Usher Raymond married Tameka Foster on Aug. 3, 2007, a lot of his fans were not only disappointed, but worried about how being married would affect his music. Some ... Read More

The boys from Miami known as Pretty Ricky are back, and look what they brought with them: a new song, a new album, a new sound and a new member. ... Read More

Confession time: your Guide to R&B loves - loves - Chanté Moore.  And I'm not talkin' about her music, either. In fact, I haven't even heard the song by her ... Read More

There's a plethora of rock and hip-hop concerts and festivals that get plenty of mainstream media coverage every year: Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo, South By Southwest, etc., etc. But a lot ... Read More

Five years after her debut album -Solo Star - was released (and went nowhere), Solange Knowles, aka Beyonce's little younger sister, has jumped back in the music game. Sol is gearing ... Read More

Since the mainstream music media doesn't cover R&B as well as it does rock, hip-hop and other music genres, sometimes it can be hard to find info on when your ... Read More

You might be familiar - or not - with Ray Lavender (aka Ray-L) from his song "My Girl Gotta Girlfriend," which created a small regional buzz back in the summer ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: Canadian songstress Keshia Chante is rumored to have been cast as the late singer Aaliyah for a biopic that starts ... Read More

Graduations can bring out many emotions: joy, sadness, fear, ambivalence and other feelings can all come into play when getting ready to achieve a degree from high school, college or ... Read More

The nominees for the eighth annual BET Awards were announced on May 15 in New York and the ceremonies were held June 24 in Los Angeles. Among the R&B winners at ... Read More

Your Guide to R&B gets a lot of unsolicited e-mails promoting rappers, so I was about trash the one I received from Atlantic Records about Young Steff based solely on ... Read More

Ladies, do you know a man who's rugged and rough around the edges, but has a soft, tender heart (besides me, I mean)? Well if not, here's an introduction to ... Read More

Ever since Aimee Duffy's debut single, "Mercy," was released in February 2008, there have been plenty of comparisons between her and fellow British Blue-Eyed Soul singers Amy Winehouse and Joss ... Read More

Atlanta-based girl group Cherish first hit the big time in 2006 with "Do It To It," the irresistibly catchy first single from their debut album, Unappreciated. And on their second ... Read More

Atlanta-based girl group Cherish is dropping their second album, The Truth, on Tues., May 13. You should check back on that day for a review, but for now, here's the ... Read More

I might get some angry e-mails from devoted Craig David fans about this, but yours truly is not feelin' the latest song or video by the British R&B-pop singer. Among ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: Lyfe Jennings' new album, Lyfe Change, debuted at No. 4 on this week's Billboard albums chart, selling 80,000 copies. Later ... Read More

If you've read the About R&B review of Lyfe Jennings' third album, Lyfe Change, then you know that Lyfe has gone in a sort of new, sunnier (and more commercial) direction ... Read More

May 2008 is a huge month for R&B due to one album, Usher's Here I Am, which is the follow-up to his massively successful 2004 album, Confessions. Here I Am ... Read More

The difficult thing about reviewing albums like Mint Condition's E-Life is that they're so good and so strong, the reviewer winds up gushing about it and any criticisms look like ... Read More

If you have a hard time shopping for a special someone for Mother's Day, you might want to consider music as an option. Not only is it the gift that ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: John Legend is putting the finishing touches on "Green Light," the first single from his next album, due out ... Read More

This might be hard for those of you under the age of 21 to believe, but back in the late 1980s, Keith Sweat was the man. Back then, before his ... Read More

As of today (May 1, 2008) it's only been a little over a year since Lloyd released his second album, Street Love. But in a couple of months Mr. "Long ... Read More

Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has a new protégé, and he seems to be more excited about her than he has been about almost any artist since B.I.G. was alive. ... Read More