R&B

Movin' Melvin Brown

Tap dance and song homage to African American music

12 Aug 2010

Hitting last year’s Fringe as Ray Charles (and Sammy Davis Jr), the majestic Movin’ Melvin this time around takes us on a song and tap-dancing journey from African slavery to the American roots of soul music, through songs of gospel and R&B. Backed…

Why Lady Gaga is the future of pop

17 Feb 2010

We tried to resist, honestly we did, but Lady Gaga got to The List in the end. It wasn’t the relentless, vom-inducing marketing campaign that did it either. No, no, we survived all that initial fluff; we battled triumphantly against the moneyed barrage…

Soul Power

9 Jul 2009

Just when you thought there were no more films to be made about the Muhammad Ali/George Foreman bout in Zaire in 1974 there comes a remarkable film about the 12-hour, three-night-long concert which took place around the event. In 1974 musician Hugh…

Numbers

25 Jun 2009

The trailblazing stargazers from Glasgow’s Numbers are throwing a party to celebrate a milestone of significant arithmetical value. Six years ago they arrived on the scene, bright eyed and bushy tailed, unwittingly setting new standards in a clubland…

Taio Cruz

7 Aug 2008

Britain’s not had a great rep when it comes to R&B but names like Estelle, Leona Lewis and Jamelia are helping to reinvigorate the scene. And young singer Taio Cruz is adding his weight to the cause. He’s already worked with Omar, Will Young, Wookie and…

Estelle @ ABC Glasgow

Seen on Monday 9 June

12 Jun 2008

Anybody who witnessed, no, anybody who experienced the vivacity of Estelle in Glasgow last night will not be surprised to discover that the American-produced British success story of 2008 is not new to the circuit. In fact, as she explains following…

American woman - Estelle interview

5 Jun 2008

Estelle is a busy lady. It takes three weeks, three reschedules and three attempts at a transatlantic phone call to finally get a word with her. ‘Yeah man, its been promo city lately’ she giggles from a room in the heart of her US label Atlantic’s…

Estelle - Shine

27 Mar 2008

R&B POP (Atlantic/Homeschool) Estelle has paid her dues on the UK R&B circles before departing stateside. A meeting with US R&B star John Legend led to her signing to his Homeschool stable and this, her second album is executive produced by…

Trevor Nelson

13 Mar 2008

One of a rare breed of DJs to have secured an MBE, Trevor Nelson is still the public face of R&B in the UK. Nelson started out playing warehouse parties and on Kiss FM (when it was still a pirate radio station), and, over the years, has proved his…

Holla!

Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sat 13 Jan

19 Dec 2006

R&B/HIP HOP While the need for another R&B club in Edinburgh is debatable, perhaps it takes just one of sufficient quality to raise the tone of the whole scene. Although they’ve often been caricatured - and not always unfairly - as the natural…

Autumn music special - Jay-Z

President Carter

18 Sep 2006

1. With more pseudonyms than Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Sawn Carter’s Jay-Z alias is an abbreviation of his neighbourhood nickname Jazzy, appropriated for his smart dress sense. His Reebok S Carter was the first line of non-athlete training shoe and remains…