TEENA MARIE interview in Black Sheep

Check out this great interview with Teena in the latest issue of Black Sheep magazine.

Teena caught up with the guys during her recent trip to London for her (SOLD OUT!) O2 show.

“I think because I’m very truthful in my music,” she says, “and I’m still very passionate about it and still love what I do. Also, I’m very true to myself and to my fan base. I’m not a contrived person. I just do what I feel.”

Read the interview in full here:

http://www.blacksheepmag.com/features/interviews/item/1640-behind-the-grooves

SADE in the USA!

Sade is in the USA  to mark the global release of Soldier of Love!

Yesterday, she performed the single on the Today Show, BET’s 106 & Park, and Letterman … and this is only the beginning!

Check out clips from 106 & Park and Letterman here:

 

106 & Park

 

Letterman

She looks and sounds amazing, right?

The album Soldier of Love is out now. Have you got your copy yet?

 

Introducing YETUNDE JOHNSON

More new talent for us at Soul Food to shout about!

Yetunde Johnson is a singer songwriter from North London, and based on the strength of her debut album Favourite Things, we predict great things for her in 2010.

Yetunde was born in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the UK with her parents when she was five years old. Just two years later Yetunde was singing at her local church every weekend and soon started touring with a youth choir started by her father at various gospel concerts around the UK.

By her late teens it was clear Yetunde had come into her own as a solo artist with her definitive voice and style of writing. She began recording demos in a friends make shift studio which were produced by her brothers production company Niimp (Nothing is impossible) records and spent time perfecting her craft by writing and recording weekly.

During this time she worked with different UK artists such as Loudmouth, Offkey, Yolanda Brown, comedian Eddie Kadi, and shared the stage with gospel legend Ron Kenoly.

By the summer of 2008 Yetunde signed up with Real Music and Management a week before her 23rd birthday. A few months after she was signed to Green Garden Records as their first female solo artist and began recording her debut album in both the US and UK.

Alongside the likes of Anita Mcloud, Chris Arms, Benny Bizzie and Danny Schogger, Yetunde wrote and co-wrote her whole album and also collaborated with label mate Haydon Eshun on a track.

She describes the songs on her album as an outlet of emotions which draw from personal experiences, conversations and humorous situations witnessed in every day life.

We’ve been rinsing the album sampler non-stop since it landed. Cuts such as Sweet Sexy Thing, I’m The One You Want, and Mould Breaker are firin’ and really hit the spot! There’s also a beautiful cover of the classic Thom Bell/Linda Creed-composed You Are Everything, which is both sweetly soulful, and really showcases her vocal chops! 

Slated to be released early 2010, Yetunde’s album titled Favourite Things will definitely be a refreshing edition to the music scene, UK and beyond.

More info on Yetunde at her brilliant MySpace page:

http://soulfoodpr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Also check the Green Garden label site:

http://greengardenrecords.com/

SADE Radio 2 interview!

To mark the UK release of Soldier of Love, Sade was interviewed by Simon Mayo on his Radio 2 Drivetime show yesterday.

It was a great interview – fun too!

If you missed it, you’ll be able to check it out here from later today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qllmt/Simon_Mayo_Drivetime_08_02_2010/

Congratulations, ALICIA!

Congratulations to Alicia Keys,  who scored her first #1 album in the UK on Sunday with The Element of Freedom!

Brilliant news!

To celebrate, check out this beautiful live version of Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart, that Alicia  performed for U.S radio at the tail-end of last year!

Leroy Burgess reviewed!

Soul Survivors magazine have given a brilliant write-up of Leroy Burgess’ forthcoming retrospective Throwback Vol. 2 Sugar Hill 83-87.

Writes Fitzroy:

“40 years after making history with his self-promoted group Black Ivory, Mr Boogie Leroy Burgess with old and new adversaries, graces us with another collection of unreleased version of his compositions. Bugz In The Attic’s Daz I Kue added his drum programming and sequencing skills to tighten’s Leroy’s musical ship for all to sail upon.

Apart from his versions of songs he penned for Venus Dodson’s Shining, Debbie Blackwell’s Once You Got Me Going, and Black Ivory’s Hustling, there is an amazing rendition of Skip Scarborough’s Don’t Ask My Neighbour.

Leroy’s precisely harmonized vocal placements and keyboard solos rise like a phoenix and amongst the nine new tracks my favourites are Don’t Stop, It’s The Weekend, and Doing Me Tonight.

Due for release in March 2010 with rumour of an album launch party in London, it’s time again to Get Loose with the Mr Big B!!”

Great review, right?

As ever, more info on Leroy’s MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/leroyburgess

Spread the love!

We know that as Sade fans, you’ll be familiar with the band’s seminal work over the last three decades. But what about your family and friends who aren’t counting down the days to the ‘Soldier Of Love’ release? 
Well, we’ve got the perfect thing to introduce them to Sade’s fantastic back catalogue. 
 
A special You Tube playlist featuring the videos of some of Sade’s best known and most-played hits, which you can check out (and send on!) now over on Sade’s official YouTube channel. 
 
Here are a few ‘featuring Sade‘ tidbits  that not everybody might know… 
 
‘Your Love Is King’ – British singer Will Young covered the song in 2005 for the soundtrack to the film ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’ 
 
‘No Ordinary Love’ – This track was featured prominently in the 1993 film ‘Indecent Proposal’. 
 
‘By Your Side’ – The song was featured in an episode of the fourth season of Sex and the City, “The Good Fight”. 

Check out the playlist here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A7DA9B1BA99A3F05

SADE speaks to the New York Times

The New York Times ran an extensive interview with Sade this weekend.

Sade speaks so rarely to the press, that again, this is a piece to be savoured…

It’s a fascinating read, as she talks extensively about the writing and recording process for the Soldier of Love album.

Read the interview in full here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/arts/music/07sade.html

Soldier of Love released today!

At last, the day has arrived!

It’s been a decade since the last Sade studio album hit stores, but our patience has finally been rewarded because the release day for Soldier of Love is here!

To say we have looking forward to savouring the album in full since the Soldier of Love single dropped, (and the subsequent appearance of further tracks online),  is a massive understatement!

Check the newly released TV spot for the album to get you in the mood…

The album is available from trad, online, and digital retailers. However you purchase the album, we hope you enjoy it!

Today is Sade’s day – so watch for more themed posts throughout Monday (and most probably, the week!)

More TEENA at the O2!

We can’t resist posting another fan-shot clip from Teena Marie’s killer return to the UK stage last Saturday night at the O2.

The camera-work may be shaky, but the brilliance of Lady T’s vocals on Casanova Brown shine through. We’re speechless everytime we see this – that’s how brilliant she is!

Enjoy.