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Posts tagged as “Boyz II Men”

MUSIC MONDAY: “Ultimate Soul of the Season” – The Black Christmas Soundtrack – Expanded Edition 2023

MUSIC MONDAY: “Ultimate Soul of the Season” – The Black Christmas Soundtrack – Expanded Edition 2023

By goodblacknews on December 4, 2023

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

Welcome to the holiday season, Good Black News family!  We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving – and are counting down the 25 days of Christmas now that it’s December.

In what’s become a holiday tradition, we’ve updated our now massive Black Christmas music Spotify playlist with a whole heap of new songs. The month of November was spent searching far and wide across the internet for new releases, old classics now on Spotify, and other tunes and artists we missed in previous years.

So here it is – a refreshed and revived “Ultimate Soul of the Season – The Black Christmas Soundtrack – Expanded Edition 2023”.

We’ve now got over 700 songs across 40+ hours (and we’ll add more if some crucial tunes get released in the next few weeks) – with the goal to be one of the most definitive Black Christmas playlists around.

If you’re still subscribed to the list from a previous year, we’re here to let you know it’s now updated and bigger/better than ever.

If you’ve not subscribed, check it out while you are wrapping presents, baking cookies, decorating your tree, or just sitting cozily in front of a nice roaring fire, with football on mute in the next room.

As a reminder, we set out to make a mainstream Christmas radio station that you can use in the background all season long. But in the GBN tradition, the focus is on Black artists (plus occasional duet partners and a little Robin Thicke).

While other holiday radio focuses on Brenda Lee and Bing Crosby, we’ve got Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. When they play Michael Buble, we play John Legend, or Hamilton star Leslie Odom.

Of course, we’ve got The Jackson 5, Donny Hathaway, the original Eartha Kitt version of “Santa Baby,” Stevie Wonder, and two different renditions of The Temptations doing “Silent Night.” And just like everyone else, Mariah Carey!

We’ve sequenced the list carefully – so that you don’t overload on the same songs, tempos or artists too frequently. You can just let it play – or hit shuffle. Or you can even use it as a base of songs to edit down into your own personal list of favorites.

In addition to soul and pop, there’s some jazz, some gospel, some blues, some a capella, and even disco, reggae and Black country in the mix. Hopefully you find all the classics you need, and some brand new surprises you didn’t know you wanted.

This year’s big new Christmas releases include albums from Brandy (currently starring in the new Netflix hit Best. Christmas. Ever!), jazz star Gregory Porter, and hot new soul star October London.

Ace producer Adam Blackstone has assembled an album with friends that include Keke Palmer and Boyz II Men. And on the traditional side, Grammy-winning Best New Artist Samara Joy has issued an EP, and the legendary Johnny Mathis has issued new tracks as well. We’ve got a couple songs from all of these.

MUSIC MONDAY: A Merry Motown Christmas Music Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: A Merry Motown Christmas Music Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 13, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Less that two weeks away, Christmas 2021 is fast approaching. Which means (if we’re lucky), more shopping, more gatherings, more cooking, eating and more time with loved ones. Which in turn means –more holiday music!

This week, we’re offering a collection near and dear to our ears that includes classic and modern takes on holiday favorites by artists who recorded on the legendary Motown label:

From Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, Four Tops, Jackson 5 to the Supremes, the Hitsville U.S.A. first gen hitmakers are doing their thing, as are next gen artists Ne-Yo, Boyz II Men, Kim Weston, Tiana Major 9 and more.

Wishing you all the best as we celebrate the season. Enjoy!

MUSIC MONDAY: “Boys to Men” – a Bangin’ R&B Boy Bands Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Boys to Men” – a Bangin’ R&B Boy Bands Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 8, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

In the post doo-wop era, the majority of male vocal groups were singing about the adult themes of romance, employment, travel or societal issues.

But when Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers aimed and hit a much wider (and younger) target audience with their laments on love and life (1956’s #1 R&B, #6 pop hit “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”), the group opened up the airwaves for generations of boy bands to come.

From the Jackson 5 to New Edition to Boyz II Men to Blackstreet, 3T, Troop, Ready For the World, Jodeci, Dru Hill, Shai and Guy, youth-oriented all-male R&B groups have used vocal blends and harmonies to create some of the best bangers, bops and slow jams ever recorded, as well as been springboards for several superstar producing and solo careers.

This Music Monday, GBN offers you 75 songs and almost 6 hours of the best of the genre from the 1960s through the 21st century.

So, as the Jacksons famously sang, enjoy yourself!

MUSIC: A Stevie Wonder Sing Off – “The Wonders of A Cappella” Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC: A Stevie Wonder Sing Off – “The Wonders of A Cappella” Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 31, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

Maybe it’s the history of caroling in December. Or maybe its half a dozen years of NBC’s hit musical competition show The Sing Off – which also usually took place in December. In any case, beyond just Christmas music, December has us in the mood for some good a cappella music.

Today is also the sixth day of Kwanzaa where the principle of Kuumba — Creativity — is celebrated. So we’ve taken a different approach to today’s GBN playlist – combining a cappella singing with that superstar with the deep catalog of hits that we saluted here at Good Black News this past spring, Stevie Wonder (after all, we’re still in his 70th birthday year!)

So, if you are still in the mood for something cheery and fun to brighten up the waning moments of 2020 and welcome in the New Year, please check out “A Stevie Wonder Sing Off – The Wonders of A Cappella,” a playlist devoted to Stevie Wonder remakes done with voices only.  Early in the playlist Stevie himself joins the all-male group Straight No Chaser on his iconic hit “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).”

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:3143V2ZMVZAWdZEPa56r2G”]

With The Sing Off  in the early 2010s, and with hit musical dramedy series Glee and the trio of Pitch Perfect movies, vocal a cappella music hasn’t always been so culturally ubiquitous.

In the late 1970s, there was the famous vocal group Manhattan Transfer – but their hit “Boy From New York City,” while featuring doo wop styles, also featured plenty of instruments playing behind them.  And then there was Bobby McFerrin‘s memorable “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” – which ultimately seemed to be a fun novelty more than a musical movement.

For many of us, though, college was where we were first exposed us to a cappella singing.  It was at a Northeastern campus where this author first met GBN founder Lori Lakin Hutcherson, that we first ran into preppie kids in jackets and ties at Harvard and Yale singing in choral groups on campus that mixed contemporary pop songs with corny classics like “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.”

Harvard’s Krokodiloes and Yale’s Whiffenpoofs date back to 1946 and 1909, respectively, but the Fisk Jubilee Singers, established in 1871, were among the first American (and African American) college choral ensembles to gain international prominence for their a cappella prowess.

Contemporary versions of the Krokodiloes and Whiffenpoofs are featured in today’s playlist (no Jubilee Singers – they primarily perform traditional spirituals), along with groups from Howard, Dartmouth, Stanford, Syracuse, Duke and MIT and other colleges.

Boyz II Men, the all-Black group Committed (Season 2 winners of The Sing Off) and other non-collegiate a cappella purveyors like The Nylons and Rockapella are also represented.

So, we hope you’re in the mood to take a slightly different approach to the holidays with this uplifting list of year-round classics from Stevie and this list of a cappella masters.  And if you don’t mind just a little more holiday cheer, we couldn’t resist throwing a cappella versions of Stevie’s “What Christmas Means to Me” and “Someday at Christmas” onto the list too.

And, a friendly reminder, for those who still haven’t jumped on the Christmas music train, but want to, you can also check out GBN’s already published holiday playlists:

Enjoy!

MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

MUSIC: “That’s The Way Love Goes” – End of Summer Celebration of ’90s Slow Jams (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on September 4, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

As we head into Labor Day Weekend, the unofficial end of Summer, it’s one more chance to relax a little amidst such a stressful year for so many of us.

We’ve had such a great reaction here at Good Black News to so many of our Spotify playlists, including our decade-spanning slow jam playlists that we made for the ‘70s (Ultimate ‘70s Slow Jam Summer) and the ‘80s (Ultimate ‘80s Champagne Slow Jams).

So it only made sense, in time for the long weekend, to unveil our playlist of slow jam faves from the ‘90s – entitled Ultimate ‘90s Sunset Slow Jams, available at this link here, and of course you can listen to or access below. All you ‘90s soul music fans, it’s time to favorite this playlist and represent!

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:43oaIWo1oj8UlZSqX3Oix1″/]

R&B music in the ‘90s underwent a true sea change that had been slowly building up through the prior decade. If ‘80s slow jams were the sound of lushly-produced, upscale elegance via superstar duets from well-dressed veteran singers, the ‘90s tossed a lot of that in the rearview mirror. 

#AAMAM: “Black and Proud” – Celebrating Black LGBT Musical Pioneers (LISTEN)

#AAMAM: “Black and Proud” – Celebrating Black LGBT Musical Pioneers (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 28, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

As June is both African-American Music Appreciation Month and Pride Month, and today is the anniversary of the beginning of the landmark Stonewall Riots marking the unofficial launch of the gay rights movement, Good Black News today brings you a musical playlist celebrating some of the Black LGBT musical pioneers of the contemporary music era.

Just last year, rapper Lil Nas X made history in multiple ways when his genre-bending country/rap tune, the infectious ‘Old Town Road’ (which, in remixed form, included country star Billy Ray Cyrus), launched on TikTok and headed straight to #1, where it stayed for 19 weeks.

In the process, the 1:53 minute song (which was the shortest song to hit #1 since the mid-1960s), literally became the longest running #1 in chart history, outlasting the 16 week #1 runs of  Mariah  Carey & Boyz II Men’s ‘One Sweet Day’ and Luis Fonsi/Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber’s ‘Despacito’.

One year ago during Pride Month, in the middle of the song’s #1 run on the charts, Lil Nas X revealed himself to be gay and joined what has become a burgeoning scene of LGBTQ artists among the Gen Z crowd, many of them African-American. Frank Ocean, Kehlani, Brittany Howard, Azealia Banks, Janelle Monae, and Big Freedia are just some of the other artists that have broken through the pack in recent years, publicly claiming their respective LGBTQ identities even as their careers were still on the rise. 

And musically-talented TV personalities such as one-time reality star Todrick Hall, the now notorious, but nevertheless pioneering ‘Empire’ star Jussie Smollett, ‘Glee’ co-star Alex Newell and ‘The Flash’ co-star Keiynan Lonsdale have also helped pave the way, bringing Black, openly LGBT faces into millions of homes.  

Hopping around Spotify in the search for Black LGBT artists now leads to not just these artists, but dozens of other openly LGBT independent artists making it happen in rap, dance, soul, and pop.

It wasn’t always this way, however. So in today’s playlist, we are celebrating 15 significant, pioneering LGBT artists who got their starts between the late 1950s (when the contemporary pop/rock music era began) and the end of the 20th century. The truth is that we’ve always been watching and listening to LGBT artists – the general public just may not have known it at the time.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:4yKQ0sDG4PrmMLcjYVDPl6″/]

Some of these artists we’re celebrating in our list were loud and proud right from the start. With others, we didn’t publicly know they were part of the LGBT community until after they passed away.  

The goal with this list is not to stir up controversy, but rather celebration and re-interpretation – so we’re steering away from the numerous popular artists about whom there are simply rumors.  Perhaps time and the history books will reveal more about the stories of many other artists from an era of music in which most prominent artists remained in the closet.  

For now, it’s interesting to look back at these 15 Black artists and see the array of musical and personal journeys, and examine them anew. We present the artists in roughly chronological order of their career prominence, and feature five songs from each – trying to include early work, a big hit or two and something recent if they are still making music.  

We hope this playlist will both introduce you to some talented but unheralded artists, and help you re-evaluate some artists you may already know and love – and can now see in a new light.  

Boyz II Men to Collectively Play Teen Angel in Fox’s ‘Grease: Live’

By goodblacknews on January 10, 2016

Boyz II Men
The three current members of Boyz II Men have been tapped to play a character popularized by just one actor in the original 1978 version of “Grease.”
The group has been cast in Fox’s production of “Grease: Live” which will air on January 31 at 7pm EST. They’ll collectively deliver a three-part harmony version of the guardian angel character made famous by Frankie Avalon.
They’ll sing the classic song “Beauty School Dropout,” a number normally addressed toward the character of Frenchy (played by Carly Rae Jepsen in this version).
The group announced the news via social media.

article via eurweb.com