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Posts tagged as “Kelly Rowland”

Keke Palmer, Questlove, Ciara and Others Encourage Students to Apply to College Via Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative’s “Laundry” Campaign

Keke Palmer, Nick Cannon, Questlove and Kelly Rowland urge students to pledge to apply to college via Reach Higher’s “Laundry” campaign (screenshot via youtube)

It’s November! And that means it’s National College Application Month. Celebrate by joining former first lady Michelle Obama alongside Keke Palmer, Ciara, Bailee Madison, Karlie Kloss, Nick Cannon, Questlove, Kelly Rowland and many more for the launch of Reach Higher’s all-new “Laundry” campaign!

In the hands of college admissions offices across the nation are applications for entrance into college. Why not be one of them? Students across the country are encouraged to pledge to apply. After all, Knowledge is Power and Reach Higher has rolled out a fun, encouraging campaign to get students to apply.

The celebration began Thursday, November 8th, as celebrities and other notable figures shared social media posts encouraging students across the country to pledge to apply to college. In exchange for making this commitment, celebrities are pledging to do students’ laundry for an entire semester. (In reality, the celebrities will not be able to do anyone’s laundry, but they do care a lot about students’ education.) Here’s what they have to say:

Reach Higher is an initiative started by former First Lady Michelle Obama during her time in the White House, dedicated to inspiring every student in the U.S. to complete their education past high school by attending a professional training program, a community college or a traditional university.

This video is brought to you by Reach Higher’s student-facing campaign, Better Make Room, in partnership with Fullscreen, a global leader in social-first entertainment experiences and services for the world’s top talent, digital influencers, brands and avid fans.

You can take the pledge here: https://www.bettermakeroom.org/laundry/

For more info about Better Make Room : https://www.bettermakeroom.org

Be sure to follow Reach Higher’s Laundry campaign on social media:

@BetterMakeRoom: https://twitter.com/BetterMakeRoom/status/1060547502271676417

@BetterMakeRoom: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp7GFTunInI/

Beyonce and Jay Z Help Raise Over $6 Million for Cancer Research at City Of Hope Charity Event

by Zoe Johnson via vibe.com

Apart from giving away more than $1 million dollars in scholarship funds to students across America, The Carters have been working overtime to raise more than $6 million dollars for the City Of Hope charity, Forbes reports.

The organization, which specializes in cancer treatment and research, held a gala earlier this week in Santa Monica, California. The power couple was in attendance to help raise money for the non-profit organization.

JAY-Z and Beyonce partnered with Warner/Chappell Publishing CEO and Chairman Jon Platt to combine their efforts to bring forth a well-rounded event with top-notch industry players. According to Forbes,  Dr. Dre, Tiffany Haddish, Usher, Quincy Jones, Wiz Khalifa, Timbaland, Kelly Rowland, and Rita Ora showed up in support of the event.

With more than 1,200 members of the entertainment industry present, Beyonce performed “Halo” and “Ave Maria” for the crowd.

The combined billionaires have greatly given back to their communities over their decades-long careers and constantly prove why they are considered the king and queen of hip-hop and evidently philanthropy.

If you would like to donate to City of Hope’s cancer research and treatment fund or find out more about the organization, click here.

Source: https://www.vibe.com/2018/10/beyonce-jay-z-city-of-hope-charity/

Stevie Wonder Announces ‘Positive’ Concerts To Counter ‘Confusion,’ Like Kanye’s ‘Foolishness’

The Stevie Wonder Song Party at The Peppermint Club on May 9, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (photo via Getty Images)

via newsone.com
Stevie Wonder’s birthday was Sunday, but it seems like the celebration has been under way since at least last week. And if he has his way, it won’t stop anytime soon.
The legendary soul singer who has a history of social activism recently offered up his opinions, and solutions, surrounding several contentious topics, including but definitely not limited to the sad state of affairs in the world.
To counter the widespread “confusion” and surge of hate around the globe, Wonder’s first order of business, he said, was to perform a series of “positive” shows, according to the Associated Press, which attended the Hollywood performance.


“So much is going on in the world. And there is too much confusion,” Wonder said during the performance last Thursday. “The one thing we know for sure that we can celebrate is our life, our love and our music… The positive will win in the end.”
He also had an impromptu jam session with Donald Glover, the actor who also sings and raps as Childish Gambino. Wonder said he wanted to work with Glover for an upcoming album.
Source: Stevie Wonder Announces ‘Positive’ Concerts To Counter ‘Confusion,’ Like Kanye’s ‘Foolishness’

Review: Beyoncé is Bigger Than Coachella | New York Times

(photo via instagram.com)

by Jon Caramanica via nytimes.com

INDIO, Calif. — Let’s just cut to the chase: There’s not likely to be a more meaningful, absorbing, forceful and radical performance by an American musician this year, or any year soon, than Beyoncé’s headlining set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Saturday night.

It was rich with history, potently political and visually grand. By turns uproarious, rowdy, and lush. A gobsmacking marvel of choreography and musical direction.

And not unimportantly, it obliterated the ideology of the relaxed festival, the idea that musicians exist to perform in service of a greater vibe. That is one of the more tragic side effects of the spread of festival culture over the last two decades. Beyoncé was having none of it. The Coachella main stage, on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club here, was her platform, yes, but her show was in countless ways a rebuke.

It started with the horns: trumpets, trombones, sousaphones. For most of the night, the 36-year-old star was backed by an ecstatic marching band, in the manner of historically black college football halftime shows. The choice instantly reoriented her music, sidelining its connections to pop and framing it squarely in a lineage of Southern black musical traditions from New Orleans second line marches to Houston’s chopped-and-screwed hip-hop.

Her arrangements were alive with shifts between styles and oodles of small details, quick musical quotations of songs (Pastor Troy’s “No Mo’ Play in G.A.,” anyone?) that favored alertness and engagement. As always, one of the key thrills of a Beyoncé performance is her willingness to dismantle and rearrange her most familiar hits. “Drunk in Love” began as bass-thick molasses, then erupted into trumpet confetti. “Bow Down” reverberated with nervy techno. “Formation,” already a rapturous march, was a savage low-end stomp here. And during a brief trip through the Caribbean part of her catalog, she remade “Baby Boy” as startling Jamaican big band jazz.

She does macro, too — she was joined onstage by approximately 100 dancers, singers and musicians, a stunning tableau that included fraternity pledges and drumlines and rows of female violinists in addition to the usual crackerjack backup dancers (which here included bone breakers and also dancers performing elaborate routines with cymbals).

Kelly Rowland’s New Makeup Line Will Celebrate ‘Chocolate Girls’

Kelly Rowland (EDWARD BERTHELOT VIA GETTY IMAGES)

article by Taryn Finley via huffingtonpost.com

Kelly Rowland’s new makeup line will cater to women with darker complexions.  Makeup options can be scarce for those blessed with a bit more melanin than others. Luckily, Kelly Rowland has a solution for the dark brown beauties out there.

The Grammy award-winning artist announced to Essence on Monday that she’ll be launching a makeup line which specifically caters to women with darker complexions.
“My makeup artist Sheika Daley and I are actually starting a makeup line we’re making sure we make, well, we’re starting off with lashes and then we’re going to have it grow for all women,” Rowland told . “But definitely making sure we have our chocolate girls covered. Gotta get the chocolate girls in there! We have to have that, you know. I think Iman has done a beautiful makeup line and I want to do it too!”
Rowland’s line will join a growing number of products that ensure darker skin tones don’t get overlooked in the beauty world, including Cocoa SwatchesQueen by CoverGirl, among others.
To read more, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kelly-rowlands-new-makeup-line-will-celebrate-chocolate-girls_us_56f3f9bbe4b02c402f6693b6?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&

Chaka Khan, Brandy and Lianne La Havas Join Honoree Jill Scott at ESSENCE Black Women in Music

BWIM 2015-

Chaka Khan, Brandy and Lianne La Havas have been added to the lineup for our annual ESSENCE Black Women in Music ceremony.
The three performers join this year’s honoree, Jill Scott, in celebrating the best and brightest moments in Black music over ESSENCE’s 45-year history. The 6th annual event recognizes the achievements of the generations of Black women singers who have inspired and paved the way.
Past ESSENCE Black Women in Music honorees include Mary J. Blige, Kelly Rowland, Janelle Monáe, and Solange Knowles. This year’s event will feature an exclusive performance from Scott as well as several other performances from several classic eras of music. And for the first time, community fans will be able to join in the festivities of this invitation-only event.
Ten-time Grammy winner Chaka Khan has been on the scene for over three decades, racking up accolades and earning the praise of her peers, such as Aretha Franklin and Miles Davis. We’ve watched Grammy winner Brandy grow up right before our eyes since her 1995 debut. She helped shape a generation with songs like “I Wanna Be Down” and “The Boy Is Mine.” Newcomer Lianne La Havas burst on the scene in 2012 with her album, Is Your Love Big Enough? The London-based singer attracted the attention of Prince—the two collaborated for his song, “Clouds.”
The ESSENCE Black Women in Music event will kick-off our year-long commemoration of the 45th anniversary of ESSENCE Magazine, where Black women have always—and will continue to—come first.
Catch these women, along with other music trailblazers, during ESSENCE Black Women in Music on February 5 in Los Angeles.
article by Taylor Lewis via essence.com

Kanye West Takes No. 1 Spot on Billboard 200; J. Cole Takes 2nd in Rap's "Biggest Week" Since 2011

Official sales numbers are in for the J. Cole-imposed competition with Kanye West and Yeezuslands at No. 1. Cole’s Born Sinner and Mac Miller‘s Watching Movies With the Sound Off enter at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, making it rap’s “biggest week” since November 2011, reportsBillboard.
The Billboard 200 chart tracks top-selling albums nationwide. The coveted first-week sales often determine the trajectory of an album’s overall outcome and strategies for continued marketing.
Kanye, even with the no-marketing marketing strategy, and no single pushed to radio (DJ’s, unconventionally, made their own radio edits from the album), earned his sixth straight chart-topping debut, selling 327,000. This puts him in the third slot for biggest openers this year (behind BET Awards performer Justin Timberlake with 968,000 and electro-pop duo Daft Punk with 339,000); and it puts him in a three-way tie with Eminem and Nas for almost the most No. 1’s. Jay-Z has the most with 12, including his collaborative project with ‘Ye, Watch the Throne.

People Magazine’s ‘Most Beautiful’ Issue: Kerry Washington, Gabrielle Union, Halle Berry and Kelly Rowland Featured

Halle Berry, Gabrielle Union, Kelly Rowland, and Kerry Washington
Halle Berry, Gabrielle Union, Kelly Rowland, and Kerry Washington are featured in the 2013 People magazine ‘Most Beautiful’ issue. (Photos: Getty Images)

People magazine released details on its annual “Most Beautiful” issue, which featured Beyonce on the cover last year. This year, the ever-esteemed title goes to actress and mother of two, Gwyneth Paltrow.
The issue also features such beauties as Kerry Washington, Kelly Rowland, Halle Berry and Gabrielle Union. Halle, Kerry and Kelly win the distinction of being on the list of the 10 most beautiful people in the world according to People magazinein the eighth, second and seventh spot respectively.  It’s Kelly Rowland’s first time appearing in the issue, and Halle Berry once napped the top spot with a cover. 
Read the rest of this story on Clutch Magazine.

BET Scores Makeover Show With Celebrity Trainer Jeanette Jenkins

She’s trimmed, toned and tamed the abs of Hollywood’s elite. When the hottest names in entertainment need fitness fix, she’s the first personal trainer they dial. With a client roster that includes Kelly Rowland, Queen Latifah, Kimora Lee Simmons, Serena Williams, Paula Patton-Thicke, Chrisette Michele and many other A-list celebrities, celebrity fitness trainer Jeanette Jenkins has been around the block … and has the sweat to prove it.
Stepping down from a high-profile career and into the trenches of modern-day black American health, Jenkins has recently secured her own “makeover” show on the BET network. A move that’s a win-win for both “The Hollywood Trainer” and the television network who’s content has previously lacked in quality programming.

The show will feature Jenkins whipping everyday people into shape, helping them surpass their fitness hurdles and fears, and transform their lives from head to toe. “I’m going to have a few celebrity drop-ins every once in a while, but this show is really about the people. Showing them how they can change their lives with just what they have in their own homes and in their own environments,” Jenkins explained in an article on Uptown magazine.

Jenkins is currently soliciting participants for the show who are serious about making changes in their health and want to work towards getting the fit body they’ve always desired. As the founder and president of The Hollywood Trainer Weight-Loss Plan, which promises to teach people how to make healthy living a habit in 21 days, the Bikini Boot Camp and a DVD collection focused on blasting abs, in which she partnered with Kelly Rowland, there’s no doubt that Jenkins new makeover show will inspire people to get moving.
article by Sherrell Dorsey via frugivore.com

Kelly Rowland Stars In New BET Pilot

Kelly Rowland is back flexing her acting skills with a new role in an original BET pilot “What Would Dylan Do.”
Executive produced by Warren Hutcherson (‘The Bernie Mac Show,” “Men Of A Certain Age”) and Julian Breece (of the web series “Buppies”), the show will feature the singer as an “L.A.-based struggling relationship blogger” named Dylan, who lives with the girls while attempting to get her life together.
Also set to star in the show is Brandon Scott of “Grey’s Anatomy,” as Dylan’s ex-fiancée.
If the show is picked up, it will join BET’s fall line-up with “The Game,” Gabrielle Union’s “Being Middle of Nowhere,” and Larenz Tate’s “Gun Hill.”