Maysa | Back 2 Love
(Shanachie)
by Brent Faulkner
It has been argued that R&B has been suffering an identity crisis for some years. Questions arise like ‘should R&B musicians mold themselves into pop artists for relevancy and commercial lucrativeness,’ and ‘should they embrace the explicit, salacious conformity that has become part of seemingly every genre?’
Saun & Starr | Look Closer
By Peggy Oliver
Call it coincidence or better yet, call it destiny when two or more people immediately connect with each other while managing to continue their circle of life through various spaces of time. Sandra ‘Saun’ Williams and Starr Duncan-Lowe grew up a short distance from each other in The Bronx, New York. Yet it was their meeting at a local talent show that began their journey of a much respected friendship – musically and personally – and the rest is more than history.
Con Funk Shun | More Than Love
By Peggy Oliver
When someone speaks of ‘absence making the heart grow fonder,’ it could take on a number of scenarios, especially a reuniting of a musical group that once broke their bonds and then returns again for old time music making sake. Con Funk Shun, one of the influential seventies and eighties R&B-funk ensembles, emphatically brought their audiences to the dance floor and oozed the best in romance.