Real Music People

Rumors are going around that Amy Winehouse is about to leave her current label after her next album so she can get her own label up and running. Wino was supposedly influenced to go into the label thing by Alex Haynes, the guy who she was rumored to have an affair with and is also her manager’s assistant. A source told UK’s Sun “For the first time in her career, Amy is beginning to have her head turned by the cash she can make.” The source also says that Wino wants to sign her friends Remi Nicole and Tyler James and have control over her own finances. If this is true, it will likely end in disaster. Amy can barely take care of herself. How will she take care of a business?

The body of 31-year old saxophonist Jason Rae, the husband of soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae, was found on Saturday. The Daily Mail is reporting that Corinne was not in the apartment when her husband’s body was found. Reports also say that Jason was found dead from a suspected drug overdose. A man was also arrested under suspicion of supplying the drugs to Jason but that man has since been released on bail. Jason was the saxophonist for the Haggis Horns, an eight-piece live funk extravaganza who combine funk, soul, hip hop and afrobeat with jazz virtuosity. My condolences go out to the family.

Much like Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse is the talk of the town. But unlike Britney, people have more positive things to say about the British singer these days – save for Natalie Cole. Sheryl Crow is the most recent celebrity to comment on Wino and here’s what she had to say: “I want to collaborate with Amy [Winehouse] because she’s really hot and cool right now. I know one song ‘Rehab’ was very popular particularly because a lot of young people are in rehab as well. In fact I’m thinking about going. It looks like loads of fun and I know my career will benefit from it.” Weird, but eh.

Mary J. Blige is on the new issue of Interview magazine and in her, pardon the pun, interview, she talks about none other than fellow singer Amy Winehouse. She says that “Someone like Amy Winehouse is so important to the music business right now. It’s very painful (to see her battle drugs). I hope she makes it. I think it (the music industry) kind of got lost and we ended up in a drought for a while, but I see it making a turn, so instead of music being just synthetic, we’ll see it going back to actual instruments. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.” We’re all hoping for it.

Can you say pathetic? I can understand love struck but this is just dumb. Amy Winehouse has cancelled her UK tour and all promotional appearances through 2008 because she’s too upset about her husband Blake Fielder-Civil being in jail. Professionalism is definitely not in her vocabulary.Wino released a statement on Tuesday saying “I can’t give it my all onstage without my Blake. I’m so sorry but I don’t want to do the shows half-heartedly; I love singing. My husband is everything to me and without him it’s just not the same.”

The few shows she has done have been slammed by critics and fans. It at least saves everyone else and they get refunds too.

Out of four albums released over the span of her career, all four have debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. Her most recent album was released last week, entitled As I Am.

A #1 debut is not her only Thanksgiving blessing this week, though. Keys has already sold 742,400 copies and is her highest performing debut yet. Her first album Songs in a Minor (2001) sold 235,800 copies while her sophomore album The Diary of Alicia Keys sold 618,300. Unplugged (2005) sold approximately 196,000 copies. This year, her closest competition was Josh Groban’s Neel, a Christmas themed album, which hit #2 with around 223,000 copies.

This recent increase in album sales has shown us that it is indeed beginning to look at a lot like Christmas. And a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised to find a copy of the R&B songster’s latest gift in their stockings!

If you were looking for a truly impressive night out then you are going to want to see what you can do about getting yourself tickets to take in the “Cover Your Eyes” Tour which is sure to be a great night out whether you decide to attend with family or with friends. Featuring such acts as Kenotia and City Sleeps as well as Bedlight for Blue eyes, this tour promises to be an amazing night out that you are not going to want to miss so make sure you see what you can do about getting yourself tickets to catch these great bands and more in action.
Highlights of this tour include stops at such venues as Jaxx in West Springfield, Virginia on November 15, The Brewery in Raleigh, North Carolina on November 16, Soapbox in Wilmington, North Carolina on November 17, The 7 Venue in Douglasville, Georgia on November 18, The Pit in Jacksonville, Florida on November 19, Island Oasis in Winter Park, Florida on November 21, Dark Room in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on NOvember 24, Fat Daddy’s Sound Shack in Lewisville, Texas on November 25, White Rabbit in San Antonio, Texas on November 26 and The Blue Goat in Salina, Kansas on November 28 as well as The Foundry in Joplin, Missouri on November 29 and The Cellblock in Mesa, Arizona on December 4. There are also a slew of other performances that you know you aren’t going to want to miss out on!

Keith Sweat, the celebrated master of the slow jam, unwraps his first-ever holiday music collection, proving there’s no one better qualified to deliver a Yuletide disc titled A Christmas Of Love. The R&B and soul superstar’s new album of newly recorded contemporary Christmas songs will be available November 20 at all retail outlets and online.

The album’s nine songs spotlight the Harlem-born singer’s signature mix of smooth vocals coupled with warm, supple groove. Sweat puts his unmistakable mark on the classic “The Christmas Song,” as well as “Under The Tree,” “Once A Year” and “It’s Christmas Again”– a trio of songs Sweat cowrote. With “Point Of Christmas,” the religious artist pays tribute to the “reason for the season.”

He has sold more than 14 million records and garnered five #1 R&B albums, 15 Top 10 R&B singles, six #1 hits, four Top 5 pop singles, three multi-platinum and three platinum albums, two platinum and three gold singles, widespread critical acclaim and a rabid international following. Today, Sweat hosts his own syndicated radio show, The Sweat Hotel, in 19 markets.

Sharon Jones, who recently released 100 Days, 100 Nights, a definite contender for one of the year’s top albums, has just premiered the video for the title track, a song that shows off the more soulful direction the singer has taken on the record. The video, which was shot for $50, looks like it’s straight from 1960s television, in blurry black-and-white, the band on risers behind her as Jones herself takes center stage.

If you haven’t seen Jones and her band, the Dap-Kings (who’ve also worked with Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson, including in this video), live in action, you’ll soon have your chance. The diminutive 51-year-old singer is just about to start a tour, and if it’s anything like her past ones (besides the excellent, and very funky, musicianship, last year she danced with fans on-stage and played a James Brown medley, among other things), it’s definitely worth checking out.

Billed as the first Santana compilation to span his entire career, it is true that Ultimate Santana does indeed run the gamut from 1969’s “Evil Ways” to 2002’s “Game of Love,” but if you think that means it handles all phases of his career equally, you’d be sadly mistaken. Essentially, this 18-track set plays like a collection of highlights from his Supernatural-era comebacks, spiked with a couple of classic rock oldies — because that’s what it really is.

It contains no less than ten superstar duets, including new numbers with Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger (the streamlined and smoothed “Into the Night,” which has little of Kroeger’s trademark growly histrionics) and Jennifer Lopez and Baby Bash (”This Boy’s Fire,” a dance number where Santana seems incidental), plus a version of “The Game of Love” with Tina Turner (don’t worry, the lighter, brighter, superior Michelle Branch version is here too)

In other words, this is certainly not a hits disc for the fan of his earliest music, or his most adventurous music either; it’s for the pop fans won over by his latter-day comeback, and for those listeners, it’s the hits disc they’d want — but for everybody else, it’s better to seek out other compilations or original albums, because those paint a better picture of what Santana was all about than this crisp, clean collection of lifestyle pop.