Home Boys

Eric Wainaina: Eric Wainaina seems to have been born to “speak truth to power”. His middle class up-bringing in Nairobi and thorough music grounding at the Berklee College of Music don’t make him the most likely candidate for leading social revolutions, yet this is precisely what he has done ,time and again, through his music, right from his career onset in Nairobi. His earliest songs, Daima and Nchi Ya Kitu Kidogo became anthems sung across the country – both of them powerful indictments of the authoritarian and ethnically divisive governments that have governed Kenya since independence.

The Valentinos @soulwalking : The Valentinos were a family group from the East 85th & Quincy area in Cleveland, Ohio. The family were, actually, the brothers Bobby, Cecil, Harris, Curtis and Friendly Womack Jnr, all of whom went on to later success in varying degrees.

Joe Simon @Wikipedia : Simon has had a number of his songs sampled by other artists, including OutKast, who sampled “Before the Night is Over” in their hit “So Fresh, So Clean” and Lil’ Kim, who sampled Simon’s “It Be’s That Way Sometimes” in “Magic Stick”, featuring 50 Cent. Memphis Bleek sampled Simon’s “Trace Your Love” for his track “Alright” on the 2005 534 album.

Solomon Burke : At a time when rock and roll was in its infancy and R&B was just starting to get its groove on, Solomon Burke burst onto the scene, shattered the cultural barriers of the time, scored a massive hit with “Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Empty Arms)” and quickly redefined the way the world would think about music. Conquering hearts, moving hips and electrifying fans in ways no one thought possible, the Philadelphia born legend’s soul-stirring smashes and charismatic presence captured the imagination of young people like no one else of his era. Dubbed by legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler as “the best soul singer of all time,” Burke, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer since 2001, is more than simply a pioneering American legend from another time and place–he is an innovator whose timeless music spans generations and has inspired millions of fans and hundreds of recording artists across the decades

J.B. Davis @locobop.com : Which brings us to the subject of J.B. Davis, a veteran New Orleans performer born and raised along the Gulf Coast in Mobile, Alabama, and Moss Point, Mississippi, where the emphasis is on a musical approach that matches the soft, gentle breezes blowing off Gulf Coast waters. Reworking a dozen tunes familiar to hardcore blues and R&B fans, Davis gives each one its own soul-satisfying treatment, showcasing his smooth-as-silk vocals with understated-but-clearly-rocking band arrangements.

Peter Torsiello : Mr. Torsiello’s studio work as a guitarist and vocalist includes work with Paul Cotton (Poco)- Film composer Matthias Weber- the 100th musical episode of “That 70’s Show” – MGM TV show “Fame L.A.” – composer and guitarist for the Jeff Jones CD “Mosaic” and Parent’s Choice Award winning CD “Sing a Little Song, Do a Little Dance” – the hit prime-time series “Third Watch” – and a commercial for J.C. Pennys. Peter’s lead guitar work and songwriting is beautifully exemplified on the CD “Passage Home” for the band “Twist of Faith” from which two tracks have been featured on the hit CBS series “That’s Life.”

Les Brown @explorePAhistory.com : For some four decades, Bob Hope, the most peripatetic of entertainers, boasted he never left home without Les Brown. Lucky for Hope, then, that the only excuse Brown’s father would accept from his young son for avoiding work in the family bakery was Les’s music lessons. Otherwise, Les Brown might have spent his life sweating over a pastry oven instead of cooking with his celebrated band

Freddy Cole : Cole doesn’t apologize for sounding like his brother, Nat “King” Cole. There are certain unmistakable similarities. He plays piano and sings and performs live with guitar and upright bass, just like Nat. Yet his voice is raspier, smokier, jazzier even. But he has emerged from the awesome shadow cast by his elder brother. In truth, his phrasing is far closer to that of Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday than that of his brother and his timing swings a little more. His vocals – suave, elegant, formidable, and articulate – are among the most respected in jazz. Cole’s career continues to ascend as he has moved into the front ranks of America’s homegrown art form with a style and musical sophistication all his own.

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