ENTERTAINMENT
BRIEFS
U 0
Trio T c I
Tough Topic
Four top-five hi nd 8
million copie I ter, Wit on
Phillip i bac in th tudio
recording Shadows &: Light
(in tore June 2), recapturing
the magic they ere ted on
their elf-titled debut album.
"We drove everyone in the
tudio crazy .. .including our­
selve ," laughs Carnie Wil-
on, "but the end re ult is an
album which I think take
to a new level. It' much
more intense."
Deciding to take their time
with thi one, the trio dug
deep, tackling uch erio
topic a parental relation-
hip , child mole tation in
ociety and the plight of
refugees. "The first order of
busine was to explore every
musical and vocal pos­
sibility," explains Wendy
Wilson.
"We've definitely taken
ome risks on this album,"
adds Chynna Phillips, "but
we're very proud of it. I think
it shows we've matured both
musically and lyrically."
Their first single, a heart­
wrenching ballad titled "You
Won't Se« Me Cry" i avail­
able.
Young Black
fllmm k1 on
the ri e
Claude Brooks ("True
Colors") has produced a 28-
minute documentary, "Todd
Bridges: On A Mission."
Brooks began following the
case of Todd Bridges early
on, later approaching him
with the idea 'of a documen­
tary.
It follows Bridges from his
initial arraignment through
scenes in prison. Brooks and
the Lakers' A.C. Green put up
the money and all proceeds
will go to benefit Green's
Youth Foundation. In the
meantime, Brooks is fielding
offers from Fox to create a
sitcom, ('Quentin's Place".
Danriy Glover
heads to
small screen
Actor Danny Glover is
headed to the small screen for
the' Alex Haley mini-series,
"Queen. "
Glover doesn' t normall y
do television, but he
promised Haley he would
play an important role in the
six-hour' miniseries, and he's
planning to keep his word to
the late writer.
. Ar enio
Elbow the,
Competition
. Ar enio Hall grabbed
headlines when he told
"Entertainment Weekly" he
was going to "kick Jay Leno's
ass." Hmm, sounds familiar.
He told'RadioScope the same
thing about Spike Lee in
1989. '
Anyway, Hall ay he
doesn't want anybody on hi
how if they've been on the
"To.night Show" first, while
adding that Leno cannot fill
Johnny Carson's shoes. He
feels Leno should get his 0 n
pair of shoes because "he
can't replace Johnny."
- COMpiled by K. aarka
_ Special coetrlbutore: Liu
Collio (Bebind-Tbe-SceD ) &
RadioScope." The Column
Since you're itting there re d- In 1 5, elly too ride
ing thi , your intere t in popul r through the rong p n of town on
m ic i prob bly pretty intense. hi ne ly-purch ed Huffy bicycle.
You've hard thous nd of records A couple of hoodlums decided the
and en hundreds of performers bike w worth more than R.
nd you know when that old bl ck Kelly' life nd they opened fire.
m gic tar curling the h irs on the elly pedaled furio ly a y from
b ck of your neck and little prickly the gunsho until one fiery lu
bol of electricity tart hooting up liced into hi houlder, ndlng
through your body and your feet him prawling nd bleeding to tbe
start moving and your brain ex- Concrete. Lying there dazed, R.
.plode with a clear bUnding light. Kelly uddenly knew what death
And you want everybody in the felt like and refused to go down. A
world to hare that feeling. burst of energy from God knows
Like falling in love, that feeling where filled hi aching body nd
come once in a lifetime and when Kelly managed to print (some y
it hi ,you want omebody to tell faster than the bullet he'd caught) to
you what it is and how it happens. the afety of home. Fearing that
On Born Into the 90's, R. Ke y moving the bullet would ver a
bas that feeling - by the carload. nerve, the medics opted to leave the
Only problem is, R. Kelly' not slug embedded in Kelly' shoulder.
talking abou what it is and where It sits there to thi day, a grim tali -
he got it. Like Prince or Michael man and reminder of the reality of
Jackson or Garbo, R. Kelly lives in the treet.
a private world, preferring to let hi When, R. Kelly turned 17, he
work speak for him. - joined hi high chool glee club,
In the case of Born Into the 90's, where a teacher ked him if he
Kelly's music tell his raw and knew how to play piano. Having
refined story much better than any never atat a piano bench in hi life,
bio. It's the music of the street cut Kelly began pounding the higb
with a diamond-Chisel, soaring school's ivories with all the instinc-
melody and a heart-stopping eye tive prowe of a seasoned old pro:
and ear for emotional detail. major, minor, augmented, and
diminished chords formed themsel­
ves through Kelly's whirling
fingers and the glee club' song
repertoire manifested itself on the
keyboard; R. Kelly wa
awe truck-a orld of music was
opening up beneath hi hands-and
the teacher's jaw just about broke
the floor open. R. Kelly, the
teacher, and everybody in that glee
club rehearsal sp ce knew the ex ct
same thing in the exact same
second: R.l(elly.was going places.
THE ALBUM'S ten tracks -
"She's Loving Me, n "She's Got That
Vibe," "Definition 01 a Hotti;" "I
Know What You Need," "Keep It
Street," the fltle tune, "Slow
Dance," "For You, " "Honey Love,"
and "Hanging Out" bend and blend
acrobatic soul-singing with rap &
Like falling
in love, that
feel i ng comes
.
once In a
I ifeti 111C and
when it hits,
you want
somebody to
'tell you what
it is and how
it happens.
roll and pure attitude. Like James
Brown, Sly, and George Clmton, R.
Kelly is the architect of a brand new
soul music for a future that's Born
Into the 90's.
Piecing together the R. Kelly
story is a little like reading the clues
in the saga of some dusty Delta
blues singer. Kelly was bom­
some short 23 years ago-in the
windswept and dirty, mean housing
projects of Chicago's Southside.
Hi father vanished in the hour of
his earliestmemo ies, so R. Kelly
was raised by his mother, a church­
going, hard-working woman who
took gigs in record stores and hospi­
tals to support her family. She also
ang in the local church, where R.
Kelly got his first expo ure to the
spiritual side of music.
Growing up, R. Kelly learned
the hard knocks of the street. He
ran with his own po se of guys,
good ghetto kid basically, but
drawn to the periphery of Chicago'
rough and tumble gangs. R. Kelly
was drawn to basketball and buil t
himself his own court in a vacant
lot, using garbage can for a hoop.
He called hi court Planet Dunk-A­
Lot. Kelly (a budding Michael Jor­
dan) developed an awe orne
neighborhood rep a player.
Shying away from gangland ac­
tivity, R. discovered that he w
earning respect from some of the
Southside' toughe t kids.
BUYING HIMSELF a battery­
operated Casio keyboard, R. Kelly
started singing in the streets in 1987
and passers-by found themselve
reaching into their wallets to drop
some cash in Kelly's hat. Some­
times you've gotta move down in
order to move up, so R. Kelly took
his act into the Chicago Subway
system, plying his busker's art on
the crowded platforms, often pull­
ing down two to four hundred clams
per day. He'd take the money and
pay his mom's rent or take care of
a friend's phone bill.
. Chicago's finest, those sterling
boys-in-blue didn't take too kindly
to R. Kelly's act. Seems Kelly
would create these huge knots of
people dense and cl tered a little
too dangerously close during h
hour. So the cops would ha him
and he'd pull ome character­
routine, pretend to be Stevie
Wonder and act like he-like Jus­
tice-was blind. So they busted
him. Three times in fact, cuffing
the dude, confiscating the Casio,
and yanking R. Kelly downtown for
fingerprints and greasy jail food.
R. Kelly got group together­
MGM ·they called themselves--and
went on Natalie Cole's show, "Big
Break." Fueled by R. Kelly'
songs, choreography, and sizzling
charisma, the group won everything
the show had to offer, but the real
big break came when the friction­
packed group dl integrated. R.
Kelly didn't like the vibe (or the
band' busine sense) and 10 he
an)jed. ,
, Flat busted broke, he walked
into the office of impre ario Barry
Hankerson, who was auditioning a
play.
"When I heard him," Hankerson
remembe ,"I just aid OMIOOD,
who' thi kid!" After an extremely
brief tint on an indie label, R.
Kelly's music found its way to Jive
Records.
JIVE RECORDS got R. Kelly
into the studio where the kid wrote,
ng, produced. a�ged, nd
played every Instrument on the
Ibum, ably i ted by his back-
ground ingers and dancers, the
phenomenal Public An­
nouncement. A consummate enter-
R.KeUy
tamer/drill instructor at heart, Kelly
regularly runs . Public An­
nouncement through grueling four­
hour practice session which
combine the best of aerobics, radi­
cal hip-hop, and boot camp. In be­
tween rehearsing Public
Announcement and recording 'his
album, Kelly managed to find the
time to write three songs for David
Peaston, remix a Gladys Knight
track, and lay down a radical remix
for label-mate Hi-Five.
Beyond that, the R. Kelly tory
gets pretty my terious. And that's
the way Kelly like it. Aft r all, the
'real tory's in the groove of Born - "It is always a privilege to
Into the 90's ... th real magic' in work with this multi-talented per­
the music. But one thing' for sure, son. Look out. World, here comes
once you hear him, R. Kelly' R. Kelly." - David Pe ton
gonna be a big part of your life '
story.
- "It's amazing how this young
man compose songs from the
heart lor not only himself, but for
others as well." - Glady Knight
enio all