MUZU.TV is thrilled to present a World Premiere for “Sunlight” by Acid Jazz group The Brand New Heavies – exclusive to the MUZU.TV platform and partner network until 7th April, 2013.
‘Sunlight’ featuring N’Dea Davenport will be the first single released off the forthcoming album ‘Forward’. The track is an uplifting slice of absolutely classic Brand New Heavies with a contemporary edge. The lead single will be released on 15th April.
Pioneers of the London acid jazz scene, The Brand New Heavies are a British music institution whose unique mix of jazz, funk and soul has lit up the UK music scene for well over two decades. And now they are back with their first full studio album in over six years, ‘Forward’, featuring original vocal collaborator N’Dea Davenport and introducing new vocalist Dawn Joseph.

The artist Rick James has died. He was 56.

He was found at his home at 9.45 a.m., and apparently died from natural causes reports state.

Humpty Dumpty is not the traditional egg, but a somewhat egg-shaped bass playing cat! This track is from the CD release "Music in Motion" from Groove Kid Nation. Rodney Lee is a professional musician and with this release he wants to bring the funk into the next generation!

Thursday, April 1, 2004; Page B06

Ernesto McKenzie Phillips, 50, a Columbia resident who was a musician in pop rhythm-and-blues groups and then produced a series of local entertainers, including singers Toni Braxton and Kimberly Scott, died March 25 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after a stroke. He had hypertension.

Mr. Phillips, a native Washingtonian, was raised in Crownsville and graduated from Arundel High School in Gambrills. He was a self-taught guitarist, and during high school he attended the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore to study trumpet.

He was a graduate of Anne Arundel Community College and attended Howard University, where he intended to study medicine as his father -- a psychiatrist -- had. He decided instead to make music his career.

With his four brothers -- George, Lloyd, Orlando and Gregory -- Mr. Phillips formed Licyndiana, an R&B group named after his mother and his sisters. Ernesto Phillips sang and played guitar. He also wrote songs and did production work.

Singer Renee Diggs, who was Mr. Phillips's longtime companion, and musician-songwriter Kayode "Ky" Adeyemo later joined Licyndiana.

Mr. Phillips had greater success as leader, co-producer and primary songwriter of a successor pop R&B band called Starpoint, which included the same members except for Lloyd.

The band toured nationally, opening for such performers as Luther Vandross, and appeared on "Soul Train," "Solid Gold" and other television programs. Its album "Restless" (1986) sold more than 500,000 copies, according to news reports, and included the hit song "Object of My Desire."

At the 1990 Washington Area Music Awards, Starpoint was named best R&B/urban group. Mr. Phillips, on guitar, was named best instrumentalist.

The group disbanded about 1990 as members went in different directions professionally. Until his death, Mr. Phillips worked as a producer. He owned and operated Longevity Records and Pearl Studios, both in Columbia.

"I pledged that once we made it, I was going to prove there is a lot of talent in this area," he told The Washington Post in 1995.

His best-known find is Braxton, the Grammy Award-winning singer whom he met through a friend.

In recent months, he worked as a counselor for teenagers at Sheppard Pratt psychiatric clinic in Ellicott City.

Survivors include his mother, Ana Phillips, of Columbia; four brothers, George Phillips and Lloyd Phillips, both of Columbia, and Orlando Phillips and Gregory Phillips, both of Annapolis; and two sisters, Diane Laguerre of Elk Ridge, Md., and Lisa Phillips of Columbia.

HAPPY NEW YEAR       ANO NOVO FELIZ                              _{NOUVELLE ANNÉE HEUREUSE}                          NUOVO ANNO FELICE      GLÜCKLICHES NEUES JAHR            _{GELUKKIG NIEUW JAAR}   FELIZ AÑO NUEVO