"SO, WHAT'S in a name? Well, maybe that depends on what particular career you happen to be pursuing. What, I wonder, would have happened to Tina Turner had she pursued her professional career under her real name Annie Mae Bullock or Edwin Starr who entered this mortal coil in January 1942 under a Charles Hatcher monniker. Possibly the results would have remained the same, but you never do know. Is it First Circle or Full Circle?.

"We try not to be analytical", say David Frank and Mic Murphy, better known as The System. "We reckon all things must be equal and, when our time comes, we'll drink the wine".

It's one of those times in Larry Blackmon's pretty long, fairly illustrious career when everything must seem to be happening so frustratingly slowly.

Last year saw his band Cameo consolidate ten years of powerful, consistent music with their biggest selling album to date, "Single Life" — not to mention their first hit singles in the U.K., "Single Life" and "She's Strange" — and it now seemed that, at last, Cameo were destined for true international recognition.

If you've been a funk lover for at least ten years, you will no doubt remember George and Louis as the two brothers who got you out on the dance floor with a string of hits for A&M that included "I'll Be Good To You", "Get The Funk Out My Face", "Ain't We Funkin' Now", "Stomp!" and "Light Up The Night".

 WHEN IT comes to making quality music, Angela Winbush is no slouch. As record buyers on both sides of the Atlantic discovered when the former member of the hit duo Rene & Angela released "Sharp", her first solo LP, in 1987, the lady's talent as a producer, songwriter and vocalist clearly put her in a class of her own.
Following the success of "Angel" (a No. 1 U.S. blackmusic hit) and subsequent singles such as "C'est Toi" and the super-soulful duet "Hello Beloved" (recorded with Ronald Isley of the legendary Isley Brothers, who is also Angela's personal manager), the St. Louis-born star has put her hit stamp on records by Sheena Easton, Stephanie Mills and The Isley Brothers.   

THE timing certainly seems ripe for some changes in the Maze camp. It was obvious with the release of a second "live" album set that
everything was not A-OK with Frankie Beverly and his Maze cohorts.
However, let's first of all dispel the rumour that circulates the most when the names of Frankie and Maze are mentioned. No Beverly solo run!

FINDING out that Atlantic Starr? whose music has marked them as a real staple in anyone's black music diet for the past 9 years ? have only ever had one gold album came as a shock to me when keyboardists Jonathan Lewis revealed that very information during the course of our recent interview, held in conjunction with the forthcoming release of the group's Warner Brothers' debut, "All In The Name Of Love". You could, as they say, have knocked me down with a pennyfeather ? or some kind of feather!

  Lucky fellow Scott Preston interviewed Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power.

No matter who you are, where you live, or your taste in music, Tower of Power will find you. And once that happens, it's all over. You will come to believe not only that soul music is the salvation of us all, but that Tower of Power is one of those rare bands who can claim to be the real deal, 100 proof, aged-to-perfection, ground zero Soul. And the thing is, they're everywhere now.

Who's next?

Interview by Scott Preston  read more on  Cincy Groove

Whilst the name Miki Howard may be new to you, the gifted vocaliste is anything but a newcomer. In fact, quite the contrary because Miki's prior main claim to fame was as lead singer with Side Effect, a group who were by the critics but whose commercial pedigree never materialised.

Rick was a musical prodigy, producing records when he was 16 years old instead of going to school. He and Harry Wayne Casey (KC) worked at TK Records in Miami, where they joined forces to write and record five #1 hits as KC and the Sunshine Band. Two white guys with a black rhythm section, they shaped the sound of what would become known as Disco. Here's how it happened. Read the full interview on Songfacts.com

"AFTER a series of near misses during his Arista years, 35-year-old {safm}Jeff  Lorber{/safm} has attained that elusive crossover hit first time out on Warner Brothers. "Facts Of Love" is the record and it not only provides Jeff with a slab of gold, it also welcomes two exciting new vocal talents to an unsuspecting world ? Karyn White and Michael Jeffries.

WHILE, as a family group, Mason have that fact in common with the likes of the Jacksons, Pointers and Isleys, they have one further common factor with the Wilson Brothers, a.k.a. the Gap Band. Both families hail from the unlikely city of Tulsa, Oklahoma.