The Funk, Soul, R&B Thread.

[KenK]

Originally Posted by JabarR

Five Star

The five-piece group of siblings from Romford, Essex were masterminded by their father and manager, Buster Pearson, in the style of The Jackson 5. He was a former session musician who had worked with Wilson Pickett and had set up Tent Records Inc. to release the group's material, backed by RCA Records. Following the release of Five Star's debut album, Luxury of Life in 1985, the group scored their first Top 10 hit in 1986 with "System Addict". The group also began to gain a following in the United States and several singles made the Billboard Dance and R&B Charts Top 10. Their second album, Silk And Steel, released in 1986, included five UK Top 10 chart hits: "Can't Wait Another Minute", "Find The Time", "Rain Or Shine", "Stay Out Of My Life" (penned by Denise) and "The Slightest Touch". The album itself reached number one and sold 1.2 million copies in the UK alone. In 1987, the group won the BRIT Award for Best British Group, and also saw the release of their third album, Between The Lines, which reached number seven in the UK. However, none of this album's singles made the Top 10.
In 1988 the group attempted to change their clean-cut image to a more adult-oriented "leather clad" look, matched with a slightly harder-edged dance sound. Led by the Leon Sylvers III produced single, "Another Weekend", their fourth album Rock the World met with only moderate success, and was their last Top 20 album. The album's second single, "Rock My World", became their last Top 40 hit, and further singles from the album were unsuccessful.
In 1989 their Greatest Hits collection peaked at a lowly No.53 on the UK album chart. In April of that year, the group had made an infamous appearance on the British children's TV show Going Live, when, during a live phone-in, a teenage caller called them "****ing crap". To make matters worse, amid reports of bankruptcy, the family had been forced to sell their Berkshire mansion after only two years [1] . The family then moved to Hatfield, Hertfordshire.[1]
Now at loggerheads with RCA, Buster Pearson signed the group to Epic Records in 1990, and the group's fifth studio album, Five Star, was self-produced at the family home. Despite heavy promotion, its two singles, "Treat Me Like A Lady" and "Hot Love", failed. A planned third single, "What About Me Baby" was shelved, and the UK release of the album abandoned. In October, Stedman Pearson pleaded guilty to a charge of public indecency after being arrested in a public toilet in New Malden in London.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Following this, the band relocated to the United States.
After the 1991 release of their sixth album, Shine, Epic Records dropped the group. In 1994, the group released an album on their own Tent label, Heart And Soul, which was reissued in 1995 in the UK. Again, chart success eluded them and the group informally ended. Denise got married and had children, and Delroy went into musical production.
In 2001, a new Five Star single, "Funktafied", peaked at number 99 on the U.S. R&B Chart.[7] However, the accompanying new album Eclipse was not a success and was the group's final album to date. Five Star returned to the UK in 2002, as a trio of Stedman, Denise and Lorraine, to perform on various tours, including the Here and Now nostalgia tour. In 2005, "System Addict" was re-recorded and re-released. Five Star were booked to perform a gig at Butlins in October 2006, in which all five members were billed. However, three impersonators were used to mime to backing tapes.[1]
Denise revealed in 2007 that she was working on solo material.[8]
In March 2007, the group's record label, Sony BMG, released a compilation DVD of all their videos, Five Star Performance.
For Five Star's 25th anniversary in 2008, Denise joined Stedman and backing dancers for gigs at Butlins during October and November 2008. Earlier that year, Denise stated in an interview with The Guardian newspaper that if she could convince sister Lorraine to join them, then all five original members of the group would like to perform one last tour together.[1] The following year, she made her West End debut performing in Thriller - Live at the Lyric Theatre from January to December 2009.
In 2010 it was announced that Cherry Pop records would be releasing Special Edition CDs of their first two albums Luxury of Life and Silk and Steel.

**Dies**

[Chris Wallace]

Originally Posted by SoulManX

Baby come to me





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN-iL...elated&search=

One of my favorite old school ballads. From a time when people knew how to write a love song.

[E-Man]

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace

One of my favorite old school ballads. From a time when people knew how to write a love song.

People still know how to write love songs. Case in point:

[ObakeTora]

Originally Posted by E-Man

People still know how to write love songs. Case in point:

Nobody can top Confunkshun





a free pizza coupon for anybody who remembers Haywoode....




and lets not forget D-Train...





AHH D-TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!

I loveses me some D-train!!!!!!!!

[Chris Wallace]

Originally Posted by E-Man

People still know how to write love songs. Case in point:

THis is the exception. Stuff like "I bet the neighbors know my name" is the rule now.
Anyways...

[Chris Wallace]

[E-Man]

I have to confess that I slept on Ne-Yo too much. Before I just looked at him as a guy with potential that had one good album(In My Words) and one disappointing album in Because of You. Well I just listened to Year of the Gentleman, randomly, last night and it's really good. If he comes out with more albums like that he'll definitely have carved out a decent legacy. Here are two great cuts from the album.

"So You Can Cry"


"Fade Into the Background"

[SpeterMan3]

Ne-Yo is one of my favorites. I was listening to him a little in class today.


Sidenote, I want to make a Chris Brown thread (music, discussion, etc) but I'm wondering how pointless it may or may not be. Feedback? Other than "I hate that [insert insult here]" <- that can go to the thread, if I make it, lol.

[SpeterMan3]

^I'm going for it.. it's gonna die anyway lol

[SuperT]

I don't know if this goes in here, but I didn't see any other R&B thread.

Beyonce's new CD just leaked and I am kind of SHOCKED (pleasantly)! It is a VERY R&B/Soul heavy album. Very few (if any) club bangers like everyone was expecting, not a lot of Pop crossover either, which I think is good.

It gives me a very 90's R&B vibe. She focuses a lot more on her vocals and the emotions in the songs than just making huge hits.

Like it A LOT!

[KenK]

Opinions on The Weeknd?

(I can't get this damn YouTube tag to work, so I'm just posting the links)

"What You Need" **Unofficial** video

The Party & The Afterparty

Coming Down

[RockSP]

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace

One of my favorite old school ballads. From a time when people knew how to write a love song.

Not to mention they both sound great...and I mean live.



Your average "singer" today should watch that and slit his/her/it's throat.

[Incrediblejeff]

I just wanted to post this.This song is terribly hilarious
"We Don't Burn Angels On the Fire"

I do like her Prince stuff though.

[E-Man]

Here are a few current artists with a great sound. Chris Wallace, this is for you, man. May these songs restore your faith in music, and also control the raging spirits that dwell within you.

Eric Roberson- "Too Soon"


Eric Roberson again with "Pretty Girl"


Mateo with "Human" aka the struggling man's theme song.


Andy Allo(was on G4 doing The Feed) with "Conclusions"

[chamber-music]

Anyone listen to James Blake he has a slight contemporary R&B sound

[E-Man]

Originally Posted by KenK

Opinions on The Weeknd?

(I can't get this damn YouTube tag to work, so I'm just posting the links)

"What You Need" **Unofficial** video

The Party & The Afterparty

Coming Down

I'm late as hell on this, but I like him. He's got a good voice, so there's a lot to work with for him. A lot of R&B artists sound the same now on the commercial level, but guys like The Weeknd and Miguel have good vocals. One thing I like a lot about Miguel is how he seems to have gotten more control over what he wants to sing. His first album was good, but it was a little more in line with the current radio model. His Kaleidoscope Dream is a big change for the better. It's unique in the realm of R&B, and you can tell he has a bit more control over what is on that album. I'm about to listen to more of The Weeknd than the few songs I've heard, so I'm hoping that he drops a lot of good vocals on there for me to sing along to.

[chamber-music]

I'm waiting for Jai Paul to finally drop his album. His got some of the most original sounding production around and he is a decent singer.

His mixtape was awesome.

[E-Man]

Originally Posted by chamber-music

I'm waiting for Jai Paul to finally drop his album. His got some of the most original sounding production around and he is a decent singer.

His mixtape was awesome.

I never heard of him, but I'm listening to BTSU right now. He sounds like he has thrown some African vocal patterns in there with some electronic sounds. I can get with this.

[chamber-music]

Jai Paul's music is pretty diverse.

Jai has tracks like Jasmine which sounds like a synth Prince song, 100,000 which sounds like a 8 bit computer game, flip out with african tribal drums and bird noises as well as St8 out of Mumbai which sounds like 80s rnb/pop music .

[chamber-music]

Anyone like Sam Smith?

[Slipping_Halo]

Greetings, ladies and gents!

My Progressive Funk band, Blue Food, is in the running for the guest spot on Manrabash in North Carolina. The band with the most votes gets to share the stage with Mantra, Snarky Puppy, and a bunch of other cool acts.

If you could take 30 seconds of your time to click this link, click Blue Food, and click "Vote," I would really, truly appreciate it.

You can vote once per IP address, so anything you can do to help boost us up would be awesome.

Thanks everyone!

[Gabe99]

The Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership Is Landing at the Smithsonian

[chamber-music]

Anyone like Rag N Bone Man. New British artist making contemporary soul and r'n'b music. He looks like Action Bronson.

[SuperT]

Anyone caught Tinashe's new album that just dropped yesterday? It's surprisingly very good!



Favorite tracks: Aquarius, Bet, How Many Times (although the end is ruined by Future TERRIBLE rapping), All Hands on Deck and Thug Cry.

[E-Man]

Never heard much of Tinashe besides a YouTuber mentioning that some chick Catfished him with her picture. I'll have to check it out to see if she's got the singing to go with the beauty like Lianne La Havas does.