Out Of The Blue Keni Stevens hits Number One

Congratulations to Keni Stevens who is number one in the Soul charts! 30 years after his album 'Blue Moods' hit the spot selling over a million copies worldwide.   

Out of the blue marks the long awaited return to the world stage for British soul singer Keni Stevens, who is currently taking bookings for pa's and festivals around the world. 

The CD is currently available in record stores in most parts of the world, and it sure does come Out Of The Blue, the first single from the album ONE WAY TICKET TO LOVE  is available as a download from DSG via iTunes. 

  

Keni Stevens turned the Brit soul scene upside down by daring to move away from 'the dance beat' with his debut album Blue Moods. Blue Moods topped the soul charts in the mid 80's and became a landmark album of ballads selling over 150,000 copies in the UK alone.

This latest work 'Out of the Blue' comes completely 'out of the blue'. The production expertly crafted by musician producer Mx-Ze pulls from classic and contemporary soul, setting up a classy mid tempo backdrop for Keni to deliver in his unmistakable dark smokey style.

Songs are about life, love and relationships taking us on a journey through emotions and feelings we have all touched upon as our lives have unfolded, with its inevitable, twists, turns, ups and downs.

Stevens is the son of a US serviceman and began his career working in a record shop, selling deleted catalogues of soul and lovers rock, rock steady and reggae music. His first move into music came in the mid 1970s, when he joined as lead singer for the group Raw Energy. Raw Energy members included Alan Cooke (now a British actor starring in London Bridge) and Peter Hinds (who went on to play keyboards for 1980s Brit funk band Light of the World). Raw Energy were signed to Conflict Records, but disbanded after 18 months of playing gigs up and down the country.

Stevens was taken on as A&R man for Conflict Records, and being responsible for releasing lovers rock and rock steady music by artists such as Gregory Isaacs in the UK. Stevens also worked as a session singer with Eddy Grant and Marianne Faithfull, before signing to the Elite label as a solo artist in 1985.

Blue Moods period...
Stevens released two singles on Elite Records in 1985, "Night Moves" and "All Day All Night", which were played by specialist UK radio stations. This led to interest in his work, although he was initially mistaken for being a US artist. Polygram offered Stevens a £2.5 million recording contract, which he declined feeling it would threaten his independence.

Staying with Elite Records, Stevens recorded his debut album, Blue Moods. Two singles, "Too Much Too Soon" (on Elite Records) and "Cannot Live Without Your Love" (on the newly formed Jam Today label) were released as 12-inch singles, before Blue Moods appeared on Jam Today in 1987. "Cannot Live Without Your Love" was featured on several soul compilation albums, such as Upfront 6 (on Serious Records).   

Blue Moods sold over 150,000 copies in the UK alone, and over a million worldwide. Stevens appeared on a few television shows to promote the album, including, Solid Soul. He released a further two albums, You and Living on the Edge, on Debut Records.

"I am often asked if I write songs for anyone in particular. The reaction to my answer tells me whether or not the questioner understands my work. The answer is no. My songs are about adult relationships and situations.... I don't expect you to change anything in your life or relationship because of these songs, I can only hope they might shed some light on some of the things that often go unsaid in relationships. Therefore enjoy the songs and take from them anything you might find applicable to your own situation.... That's what this recording is about and after all, if you're reading this you've probably paid for it!" [Reproduced from Keni Stevens' You album sleeve notes.

Great to see Brit Soul back at the top of the Soul charts! The album has been successfully promoted by Gary Van den Bussche of DSG Radio Promotions. 

 Credits from Keni....

All tracks Written by
G. Ingram K Stevens
Except - All That I have
Written by
G Ingram Jess Stevens

Produced and mixed by Mx-Ze
All instruments played by Mx-Ze

Additional Muicians
Ronnie Stazacher- Guitar- All That I have
Steve Salvari - Guitar -Come into my Life
Rico Garofalo- Saxaphone- Loving you is All I have

Background Vocals
Keni Stevens
Jess Stevrens

Additional Voices
Keni Stevens
Jess Stevens
Graham Ingram

Technical Support
Cameron McAnuff- Software and system set up/ Pre Mastering
Paul Waller- Software and system set up.
Chris Cox Tech support.

Special Thanks from Keni Stevens to
Dawn for supporting me and encouraging me to do what I know
Jess Stevens for your immeasurable contribution. Thanks also to Gary Van Den Bussche for his support and endeavour

Special Thanks from Mx-Ze to Lorraine Cavanagh for being so patient with loving
support throughout the project.
Yazon Muzas for pushing me to get a decent set up. Thanks Yaz xx

Last Night A Remix Saved My Life!

So what makes the perfect record? 
So often you can have an outstanding voice or song, but the production sucks. So it does not show the real potential the song has. In these days with recording budgets being cut, mostly as a sign of poor sales, more and more artists are recording their projects at home, then getting them remixed to a more mastered state for release. 

 Quality production with real instruments luckily still happens, as we have recently heard with Rumer, even a real string section was included. The days of big soulful orchestras like Barry White's  Love Unlimited Orchestra or MFSB  (The Philadelphia International Records House orchestra/ Band) are rare, as many of those had in the region of 50 musicians. This year, I signed a demo of a song that was over seven years old and first I arranged some edits / Re-Edits on the track, which then lead to a remix, which resulted in one of Soul Music's biggest songs of the year in the UK. Do the artists like remixes of their work? They stated after the releases prior to their album presentation to me, after gaining a name from the remixes, If I'm totally honest. ''If you want an album full of other peoples mixes etc then i suggest you ask someone else to write the songs and release their own album''. So the big question is, do some artists feel offended that their work has been changed? or the fact that the remix producer has stolen the limelight, but the song at the end of the day remains the same! To me, the remix reaching other market places the original mix might not have & therefore expanding the songs potential.

 Promotion is a key element to the singles success, no point spending the earth recording the song, then not spending money on promotion. Just how many artists think that their Facebook friends and fans will buy it in droves & then wonder why they have no chart position?. 

Back in the day there weren't so many genres, so if it was a new single by say, Kool & The Gang, it would have climbed in all the charts including the Dance, Soul, National chart, without the later worry for the label to establish the track to the House or other market places, although many classic's has been remixed since, they do bring a new younger fan base or new audience to the song and quite often establish a top selling album for all involved, be it in the title form of ,Re-Loaded, Re-Hashed, The Remixes, Expanded edition, or even a greatest hits with new extra remixes.. 

Melba Moore recently used our services to promote her latest single, ''Just Dance'' the original mix had an R&B vibe, with Radio DJ's asking for other remixes, with Melba's permission, I got the single remixed for her, the first two remixes released just before Christmas with the other two remaining remixes set to be released in the new year.

They say a good song never dies, where in fact in some cases the artist might have passed, but their music will stay with us forever, often becoming more popular after rather than before their death. The remix does benefit all parties! The remix producers normally or often has to re-write the backing track to fit the original vocal part of the song, therefore they could receive co writing royalties cheques for their work, but if it generates sales that would not have happened without the remix, then fair is fair. Most of today's artists expect remixes to be done. The most recent work by Lisa Stansfield  has just been re-released as part of a remix album package, whether or not the artist gets to hear all the remixes is another thing, as quite often they are writing new songs for the next album. 

(Lisa Stansfield talks to Gary Spence on Solar Radio)

Often the remix can also re-chart a song like Drizabone, Rufus and Chaka Khan experienced in the UK top 20 with their classic songs, Real Love and Ain't Nobody.
If you are a re mixer or producer it would be great hearing from you, likewise if you have your own Soul classic stored on a computer somewhere - You can send your show real to me Gary Van den Bussche at  discosoulgold@live.com. Thanks for reading.

A Disco Inferno! The return of The Trammps after 35 years!

Fueled by the drum work of Earl Young and the vocals of the late Jimmy Ellis, The Trammps were among the first great disco groups.

The Trammps first hit our turntables in 1972 with their cover with,"Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" and "Sixty Minute Man" frome their debut Legendary Zing album. They are best known for their Grammy winning song, "Disco Inferno," which was originally released in 1976, but went on to become a worldwide smash hit when it was included on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. They had a big top 5 single in the UK with "Hold Back The Night" in 1976, and followed with such hits as "That's Where the Happy People Go," "Hooked For Life," "The Night The Lights Went Out," "Stop and Think."

Now, after years away from the studio, group co-founder Earl You has issued a new single with his current version of the group, Earl Young's Trammps. As were the group's biggest hits, this new song was recorded live in Philadelphia. Earl Young stated on his Facebook page, "we are jamm'in. great philly musicians...you play live or go home!! 'that's how we do it in philly."

The song was written by, The Steals Brothers, who have penned great classics like "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" for the Spinners, "Honeybee" for Gloria Gaynor, along with many others

Out Now through Amazon :Buy it here

Read the Review from :Soul Tracks