Mark's R & B Blog June 2008 Archive

The year 2008 is just about halfway over, so its time to take a look back at the first six months of the year and revisit some of the best ... Read More

Although other music genres have been known to rely on abstract images and photographs as cover art, R&B and Soul music have always been known for their warm, intimate portraits ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: Amy Winehouse bounced back from her recent health problems to sing at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert in London on ... Read More

If his name and face seem familiar, it might be because Mishon (pronounced MY-shawn), is already known in acting world: he played the role of Tay on the former ABC ... Read More

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

On his debut album, Turbo 919 (released in the U.S. on June 24, 2008) songwriter-producer Sean Garrett is trying to follow in the footsteps of other behind-the-scenes music industry people ... Read More

According to the homegirl Ebonne Jones (aka Eb the Celeb), R&B singer Joe (aka Joe Thomas) has left Jive Records for Kedar Massenburg's Kedar Entertainment and is getting set to ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: Newly unsealed documents from the R. Kelly trial include a star witness' claim that she was paid $100,000 from ... Read More

This song's been floating around the Internet for about a month or so, but yours truly had to wait until an authorized version of it was made available by Interscope ... Read More

Anthony David's major-label debut, Acey Duecy (released in the U.S. on June 24, 2008) is a good ol' fashioned bluesy Soul album that once again gives credence to the theory ... Read More

So if you thought summer kicked off during Memorial Day weekend in the United States, think again. Every year, summer officially starts on June 21, 2008 and lasts until Sept. ... Read More

One week from today, on June 24, 2008, Acey Duecy, the major-label debut by Georgia-born and raised R&B/Soul singer Anthony David comes out. The CD's pretty good - a review of ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: R. Kelly was acquitted on June 13 of charges that he appeared on a videotape having sex with an underage ... Read More

R. Kelly was acquitted today (Fri., June 13) of charges that he appeared on a videotape having sex with an underage girl. The jury cleared the R&B superstar of all 14 child ... Read More

I'd heard of Little Jackie through the music grapevine before, but I'd always assumed that Little Jackie was a female and that 'she' was a rapper. Wrong on both counts. ... Read More

Last week I blogged about British Soul/R&B singer James Hunter and his new album The Hard Way, which came out in the U.S. on June 10, 2008. At the time, ... Read More

British R&B/Soul duo Hil St. Soul (pronounced Hill Saint Soul) may not be huge in the U.S., but over the course of their career, they've established themselves as a solid, ... Read More

If you're an NFL fan, then it's more than likely that you've heard of Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice. The man's a household name not just in football ... Read More

Some of the more interesting news and rumors from the past week: Usher's Here I Stand, with 433,000 copies sold, was the second biggest debut in the U.S. this year behind ... Read More

On her fifth album, Lalah Hathaway continues to straddle the line between R&B and jazz. Self Portrait, which was released in the U.S. on June 3, 2008, has the laid-back ... Read More

Coming up on the About R&B site this Friday will be a review of Self Portrait, the latest album by Lalah Hathaway, the daughter of the late, great R&B vocalist ... Read More

If you've checked out your Guide to R&B's list of the most noteworthy albums coming out in June 2008, then you know that British Soul singer James Hunter has a ... Read More

A couple of times in the past (here and here) yours truly has blogged about One Chance, the four-member make vocal group from Chicago who are proteges of R&B king ... Read More

If there's one thing Calvin Richardson isn't, it's subtle. The 13 songs on his third album, When Love Comes (released in the U.S. on May 27, 2008) are filled with ... Read More

On Ashanti's fourth studio album, The Declaration, which will be released in the U.S. on June 3, 2008, she once again proves that you really don't need vocal talent to ... Read More