Joy Ike's Sophomore Album "Rumors"

It is easy to label an artist as soulful, but increasing difficult to find a real soul artist in today’s music scene. Joy Ike is the needle in the haystack. Her recently released sophomore album, 'Rumors', rises above the rest busting through with a soul sound that has drawn comparisons to Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, and Regina Spektor.

Her single "Sweeter" has received praise from NPR’s music critics with All Things Considered calling her, "a unique blend of neo-soul, with just the right dash of pop...a truly compelling act to watch."

'Rumors' has also racked up an incredible amount of attention in her hometown of Pittsburg, PA and has garnered new listeners across the country building a band of passionate new followers.

Joy released 'Rumors' her second full length album independently and continues a grassroots attempt to stay true to her values.

Joy Ike "Sweeter" MP3

More on Joy Ike:

www.joyike.com

www.myspace.com/joyike

Sonny Rollins Receives Miles Davis Award

Tenor sax player, Sonny Rollins won the Miles Davis Award last Sunday at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Previous recipients of this award include Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner and Mike Stern. It is meant to honour an international artist for the entire body of his or her work.

His nickname is the Saxophone Colossus and he has been performing for the past five decades! His original style is bebop, but he has also explored other genres such as calypso, funk, R&B and pop.

Sonny Rollins will be touring in various venues throughout Europe, Japan, and New York until November. Check out his touring dates here.

Check out Sonny's video library, including his Podcasts, peformance clips, interviews and special features about the Sonny Rollins Group on his website.

Here's one of the videos of this legendary saxophonist:

BET Awards Prince with Lifetime Achievement Award

Sunday night, BET awarded Prince with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Four incredible women, Janelle Monae, Esperanza Spalding, Alicia Keys, and Patti Labelle paid tribute to the music legend by performing "Let's Go Crazy", "If I was your Girlfriend", "Adore", and "Purple Rain". One could really not be moved after seeing these great artists perform for Prince, and moved he was. After their performance, Prince received the Lifetime Achievement Award and gave a great speech which you can listen to below.

BET Videos

Now Prince will be on his way to Europe, where he will be performing in several countries. Soon he will also be releasing his new album 20Ten through the Belgian newspaper "Het Nieuwsblad" and the German "Rolling Stone" magazine. I am very excited to see how it will be released in North America (in particular Canada :-))

In the meantime enjoy the tribute, the ladies were amazing and I got to discover a new amazing talent Esperanza Spalding, I can't stop listening to her music since Sunday!

Happy Birthday Prince

He doesn’t celebrate his birthday, but I still want to wish him a happy birthday! Prince turned 52 today, which actually seems to be a lucky number if you add the 5 and the 2. The music legend also coincidentally dropped a new song titled “Hot Summer” through his hometown’s radio 93.9 The Current. Check it out and don’t forget to leave your comments!

The track can be heard on Drfunkenberry’s blog or directly on The Current, enjoy!

Prince is featured in Ebony Magazine – On Newsstands Now!

As previously reported, Prince covers the June Ebony magazine issue. Prince talks religion, his love life and much, the article also includes never before seen photos and the musical genius in his own words. 

Entering the world of Prince Rogers Nelson is like slipping into the altered reality of The Matrix. After Ebony recently spent 12 hours with the icon, we learned that he is as deliberate as he is mysterious and deeply loyal of those in his inner circle but fiercely guarded and suspicious of most others, at least at first interaction. Prince has definitely carved out his own rules and makes no bones about it. That’s what truly makes him who he really is while remaining true to himself. He has also been very fortunate to work with some of the best musical artists, Sheila E., for example, and intriguing crooners, Vanity, in the business. (read more on Ebonymagazine.com).

I haven’t bought my copy yet, but will later today if I can find it in Vancouver, can’t wait to find out if a new album will be released soon! Prince looks amazing on this cover, what a great idea for the front of the magazine, get your copy now and leave your comments.