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Keyshia Cole began her career at 12 when she met MC Hammer and the later rapper Tupac Shakur. Her debut album, The Way It Is, was nominated for two Grammy awards in 2007 for "Best Contemporary R&B Album" for "Just Like You" and "Best Rap-Sung Collaboration" for "Let it Go" (w/Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim). Cole has received countless awards and nominations from the American Music Awards, Music Choice Awards, NAACP Awards, BET Awards, Vibe Awards, ASCAP Awards and more. Keyshia Cole recently released her latest single, "Forever is a Thing," supporting her recent Lifetime-original biographical television film "Keyshia Cole: This is My Story."
Trey Songz, the undisputed master of modern R&B, blending pop, hip-hop, and soul will showcase his unique sound with hit songs "Heart Attack," "Na Na," "Slow Motion," "Can't Help But Wait," and more. This Grammy Nominated and winner of Soul Train's "Best R&B/Soul Male Artist" has surpassed over 20 million albums and singles world-wide and continues to dominate popular culture today.
K. Michelle will command the stage performing her hottest songs, this singer, actress, and television personality who became a breakout star on VH1's Love & Hip Hop will perform songs from her debut album, Rebellious Soul. Rebellious Soul debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200. Her most recent release, I'm The Problem, includes the No. 1 hit "Scooch," which topped Billboard's Adult R&B Charts this past summer.
S.J. Presents Inc. has over 20 years of experience in music and entertainment, concert production, and event/partnership marketing. S.J. Presents is birthed from a brand that has produced and promoted sold-out concerts for legendary greats and fan favorites like Erykah Badu, H.E.R., Usher, Charlie Wilson, Fantasia, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Chaka Khan, Tyrese, Earth, Wind and Fire, New Edition, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and comedians Martin Lawrence, Monique, Tracy Morgan and Cedric the Entertainer. S.J. Presents has worked alongside leading New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut venues, including Madison Square Garden, The Beacon Theater, Barclays Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Prudential Center, and The Bushnell Theater. S.J. Presents builds and leverages complete 360-integrated marketing and promotional campaigns and makes it known that they are not only a concert production and promotion company but a lifestyle entertainment brand.
The Washington, D.C. Chapter of GRAMMY U participated in a GRAMMY SoundChecks with Trey Songz. Songz, an Atlantic recording artist, welcomed the opportunity to speak to the students and invited them to his dressing room for a question-and-answer session following his concert soundcheck.
Songz recounted his experiences in breaking into the music industry at the age of 15 and recording his debut album, I Gotta Make It, in 2005. Songz also shared his thoughts on juggling the business side of the industry with the creative side, being affiliated with a major label, and the importance of a publicist and manager's role within an artist's creative team.
This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system.
"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."
He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiance, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.
To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood."
It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown. The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.
Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.
Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton, who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic, psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis, Silk Sonic, and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat, respectively.
There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.
Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.
L'Impratrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.
Franc Moody's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.
Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether.
Living Legends is a series that spotlights icons in music still going strong today. This week, GRAMMY.com spoke with Billy Idol about his latest EP, Cage, and continuing to rock through decades of changing tastes.
Billy Idol is a true rock 'n' roll survivor who has persevered through cultural shifts and personal struggles. While some may think of Idol solely for "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding," the singer's musical influences span genres and many of his tunes are less turbo-charged than his '80s hits would belie.
Idol first made a splash in the latter half of the '70s with the British punk band Generation X. In the '80s, he went on to a solo career combining rock, pop, and punk into a distinct sound that transformed him and his musical partner, guitarist Steve Stevens, into icons. They have racked up multiple GRAMMY nominations, in addition to one gold, one double platinum, and four platinum albums thanks to hits like "Cradle Of Love," "Flesh For Fantasy," and "Eyes Without A Face."
His latest release is Cage, the second in a trilogy of annual four-song EPs. The title track is a classic Billy Idol banger expressing the desire to free himself from personal constraints and live a better life. Other tracks on Cage incorporate metallic riffing and funky R&B grooves.
While there is recognizable personnel and a distinguishable sound throughout a lot of his work, Billy Idol has always pushed himself to try different things. Idol discusses his musical journey, his desire to constantly move forward, and the strong connection that he shares with Stevens.
Steve has said that you like to mix up a variety of styles, yet everyone assumes you're the "Rebel Yell"/"White Wedding" guy. But if they really listen to your catalog, it's vastly different.
Yeah, that's right. With someone like Steve Stevens, and then back in the day Keith Forsey producing... [Before that] Generation X actually did move around inside punk rock. We didn't stay doing just the Ramones two-minute music. We actually did a seven-minute song. [Laughs]. We did always mix things up.
Then when I got into my solo career, that was the fun of it. With someone like Steve, I knew what he could do. I could see whatever we needed to do, we could nail it. The world was my oyster musically.
"Cage" is a classic-sounding Billy Idol rocker, then "Running From The Ghost" is almost metal, like what the Devil's Playground album was like back in the mid-2000s. "Miss Nobody" comes out of nowhere with this pop/R&B flavor. What inspired that?
We really hadn't done anything like that since something like "Flesh For Fantasy" [which] had a bit of an R&B thing about it. Back in the early days of Billy Idol, "Hot In The City" and "Mony Mony" had girls [singing] on the backgrounds.
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