Mindi Abair may be a hardworking artist — but that doesn’t mean the process of creating music isn’t a whole lot of fun. With the release of her In Hi-Fi Stereo album, the sax diva is giving some insights into her songwriting process. She told SmoothViews.com that, “For me writing is a social thing. I’ll call up a friend and go “Hey, wanna get breakfast and write a song?”… We get together and…write the song that is in our heads, we write the song that we’re feeling. We listen to old records for inspiration and kind of jam or just start playing… we’ll have a blast and see what comes out.”
What came out for In Hi-Fi Stereo was about 45 songs. For Abair, paring down the list wasn’t easy: “It took a few weeks. I would put them up against each other and feel out which ones I loved and which ones I just liked. I thought about which ones go together and which ones don’t really fit in. I played them for friends to see what they thought. I’d play them in the car or on the plane and just see which songs I went back to.”
The first single from the album, “Be Beautiful,” originally appeared on United We Cure, a charity CD to raise money for breast cancer research. It remains one of Abair’s favorites: “That is such a great anthem. It’s full or words people need to hear: believe, belong, be strong, be beautiful.”
Abair performs tomorrow night [July 30] in Honolulu.
Look for Mary J. Blige on the Home Shopping Network this weekend [July 31] as she unveils her brand new fragrance, “My Life.”
The Grammy-winner has spent the last seven months developing the scent. She tells the AP, ”Me and a lot of my fans want to smell soft and a little fruity — but not too fruity with bees chasing us around - and also strong and beautiful… It’s all there.” The scent is a blend of tuberose, jasmine and the aforementioned “fruity” notes.
Part of the development process was for Blige to wear the fragrance herself every day: “I knew exactly what I wanted it to smell like. I needed to love it and be able to live with it for years. I am not impressed with the hot thing.”
As for naming the perfume, Blige went with the title of her second album. “When I put myself out there with that album I was asking for help,” she says. “When my fans heard those songs, they told me they needed help too, and told me, ‘We’re going through this together,’… I’ve named the scent ‘My Life’ because it’s not what we are; it’s what we’ve shared… My life is my journey and I’ve always shared it through my music. I can’t wait to share my story with millions of women through HSN.”
For every sale of My Life perfume, $1 will be donated to Blige’s Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now organization.
Al Jarreau continues his recovery in France, and has announced he’ll resume his European tour on August 3. The 70-year old Grammy-winning singer had experienced breathing problems prior to a show last week and checked into a local hospital; he was later airlifted to a facility in Marseille where doctors performed a successful catheter ablation to treat an arrythmia that had just developed.
Jarreau’s first concert back will be in Hanau, Germany. Upon doctor’s recommendations, he’s had to cancel 3 shows, but is expected to complete the remainder of his tour.
For the second year in a row, Beyonce has topped the Forbes’ list of the “12 Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30.”
In a single year, the “Single Ladies” singer raked in over $87 million from her concerts, House of Dereon clothing line, and deals with Nintendo and L’Oreal. And she’s only 28. Following her on the list were Britney Spears and Lady Gaga.
That dough came in handy after being busted for texting-while-driving. GossipOnThis.com reports that the diva was recently pulled over in New York after cops spotted her engaging in some illegal tweeting. A source reported, “Beyoncé was really embarrassed because she only recently got her driver’s license. She tried to charm that cop and told him she had no idea that texting while driving was against the law. He had no idea who she was. He just slapped her with the ticket, which was worth more than $100!”
It had to happen: a 30-year old woman is claiming that she is the love child of Michael Jackson and Diana Ross‘ sister, Barbara — and she wants a piece of Jackson’s estate.
Mocienne Petit Jackson has filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court requesting the OK for a DNA test to prove her claims. Petit Jackson, who lives in the Netherlands, says that the hitmaker impregnated her mother when he was 17. She also accuses Jackson’s mother, Katherine, of plotting to abduct her when she was 9 and send her to Belgium in order to preserve Michael’s reputation. In court papers, Petit Jackson says the plot failed and the “seven kidnappers” were later murdered. She states that she’s coming forward now to “formally claim my part of my father’s inheritance.”
Additionally, Petit Jackson is asking for custody of the late superstar’s three children in order to “give them a more normal life.” There’s been no comment from reps of either Ross or Jackson’s families.
Grammy-winning singer Colbie Caillat is hard at work on her third album — and getting a helping hand from her producer father.
Caillat posted on her website that the two are in the studio togethe and the project should be out later this year. Her dad, Ken Caillat, has worked on albums by Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and REO Speedwagon. He also won a Grammy for his production work on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
The 25-year old singer burst on the scene in 2007 with her album, Coco, which yielded the hit single, “Bubbly.” In 2009, she released Breakthrough. That same year, she won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for her duet with Jason Mraz, “Lucky.”
Her current tour picks up again on August 3rd with dates in Portugal.
Don’t look to “friend”, “like” or “tweet” Corinne Bailey Rae: the singer hates the whole social networking thing. In an interview with the U.K.’s Daily Star, she says she’d much rather have face to face interactions with her fans, rather than virtual ones. ”The Facebook thing is about showing off. I really dislike that. It’s attention-seeking. Sometimes I hang around a venue at the end of a gig for hours. If people say, ‘I like this song’, I’d much rather have a normal conversation.”
She added, ”I’m trying to be here, present, enjoying this time in my life right now. I don’t want to be someone who can’t wait to tweet or blog about a moment. Live in the moment.”
Rae is currently on tour supporting her current album, The Sea. It was also recently announced that she’s been nominated for Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize for the best British album of the last year. The award will be handed out this fall.
Smooth jazz keyboardist Keiko Matsui celebrates a birthday today [July 26.] Matsui received her first piano lessons at age five, following a Japanese tradition claiming that a child introduced to music at this time will study for years to come. Considered a prodigy, Matsui augmented her classical training with an interest in jazz; at 17, she was recording with a local fusion group.
She met husband, Kazu, on a trip to the U.S.; they used money set aside for their honeymoon to record her first solo project, A Drop of Water. Since then, she has regularly been named Top Female Contemporary Jazz Artist on several prestigious music lists.
Matsui is credited with discovering saxophonist Paul Taylor, who played on three of her albums.
Kirk Whalum is adding to his ever-expanding discography with the upcoming, Everything Is Everything, scheduled for release on August 31 [Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue Records]. The album is a tribute to the music of Donny Hathaway, and Whalum is giving a few hints as to what fans can expect. For one, “It’s the first time you’ll hear me with a chamber orchestra.”
The idea for the tribute seemed a natural follow-up to Whalum’s last project, The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter III, which prominently featured Hathaway’s daughter, Lalah. He told a reporter, “I think there are certainly some common denominators with me and [Donny]. My brand of music reflects the fact that I’m a messenger. I’m a Christian and I’m influenced by the Bible. My message is love. That’s been a theme of my albums and it certainly is with this album. I think there is more of a need for love in society than ever before. We’re going through some difficult, turbulent times. But we’ll get through them with some love.”
Naturally, Lalah Hathaway appears on the project, which also features guest shots from Rick Braun (flugelhorn), Jeff Golub (guitar) and R&B group Musiq Soulchild.
It didn’t take long for singer Robin Thicke to adjust to being a new father. The 32-year old singer and his wife, actress Paula Patton, welcomed son Julian in April– and he tells People magazine that he’s having fun learning the ropes. ”I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with the baby lately, learning how to be a dad. I look forward to every day with him, watching him grow and learn… I want to teach him basketball and Al Green. I want to teach him Michael Jackson and all that fun stuff.” But Thicke admits he has his favorite and not-so-favorite parts of parenting: “I did change a couple of diapers. And then I got tired of that. I like doing the holding and the playing more.”
The singer is currently on the smooth jazz charts with Kenny G on the hit single,”Fall Again,” from Kenny’s new album, Heart and Soul.
Mindi Abair may be a hardworking artist — but that doesn’t mean the process of creating music isn’t a whole lot of fun. With the release of her In Hi-Fi Stereo album, the sax diva is giving some insights into her songwriting process. She told SmoothViews.com that, “For me writing is a social thing. I’ll call up a friend and go “Hey, wanna get breakfast and write a song?”… We get together and…write the song that is in our heads, we write the song that we’re feeling. We listen to old records for inspiration and kind of jam or just start playing… we’ll have a blast and see what comes out.”
Al Jarreau continues his recovery in France, and has announced he’ll resume his European tour on August 3. The 70-year old Grammy-winning singer had experienced breathing problems prior to a show last week and checked into a local hospital; he was later airlifted to a facility in Marseille where doctors performed a successful catheter ablation to treat an arrythmia that had just developed.
For the second year in a row, Beyonce has topped the Forbes’ list of the “12 Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30.”
Don’t look to “friend”, “like” or “tweet” Corinne Bailey Rae: the singer hates the whole social networking thing. In an interview with the U.K.’s Daily Star, she says she’d much rather have face to face interactions with her fans, rather than virtual ones. ”The Facebook thing is about showing off. I really dislike that. It’s attention-seeking. Sometimes I hang around a venue at the end of a gig for hours. If people say, ‘I like this song’, I’d much rather have a normal conversation.”
Kirk Whalum is adding to his ever-expanding discography with the upcoming, Everything Is Everything, scheduled for release on August 31 [Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue Records]. The album is a tribute to the music of Donny Hathaway, and Whalum is giving a few hints as to what fans can expect. For one, “It’s the first time you’ll hear me with a chamber orchestra.”
It didn’t take long for singer Robin Thicke to adjust to being a new father. The 32-year old singer and his wife, actress Paula Patton, welcomed son Julian in April– and he tells People magazine that he’s having fun learning the ropes. ”I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with the baby lately, learning how to be a dad. I look forward to every day with him, watching him grow and learn… I want to teach him basketball and Al Green. I want to teach him Michael Jackson and all that fun stuff.” But Thicke admits he has his favorite and not-so-favorite parts of parenting: “I did change a couple of diapers. And then I got tired of that. I like doing the holding and the playing more.”