Brandy Enters Partnership With Motown, Teases Eighth Studio Album

One of R&B’s most enduring icons is teaming up with the record label credited with perfecting the art form.

Friday, Brandy, who had hinted at the deal in her social media posts during the previous month, announced she has partnered with Motown Records and plans to release a new album soon.

The 43-year-old singer, songwriter, actress and model, who has sold over 40 million records worldwide, rushed to Instagram to share the news of her first major label record deal since 2012.

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A post shared by 4 e v e r b r a n d y ♠️💎🙏🏽 (@brandy)

“Thank you God for a dream come true! I’m so excited to announce my partnership with @motownrecords and the incomparable @theethiopiandream,” she wrote. “Thanks to my team and my beautiful fans for riding with me all these years.”

Motown Records CEO & Chairwoman Ethiopia Habtemariam said of the partnership in a statement, “Brandy is one of the most prolific voices in the history of music.”

She added, “Her contribution to R&B continues to influence newcomers and contemporaries around the world. We are ecstatic to welcome Brandy to the Motown family and eager to join her in making musical history.”

To celebrate the announcement, she released a performance of “Rather Be” from her seventh studio album “b7” as the finale to the COLORS SHOW — a performance and content series by Motown and COLORSxSTUDIOS celebrating Black Music Month that kicked off June 17 and has featured other Motown artists such as Ne-Yo, ELHAYE

The label and the artist teased an upcoming eighth studio album from the diva, who released “B7” independently in 2020. Critically lauded, the album was No. 1 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart and peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200.

 

Patrick Adams, legendary disco producer, has died at age 72

Photo Credit: Red Bull Music Academy

Prolific music producer Patrick Adams, the driving force behind countless disco hits who helped shape the evolution of hip-hop, passed away Wednesday at the age of 72.

Adam's daughter Joi Sanchez announced the composer's death in a social media post.

"My father passed away earlier today at on his sleep at the golden age of 72 after living a life of music," she wrote. "Forever grateful for what I learned from him? Who I became because of who he was. I’m amazing because he was literally legendary."

A musical renaissance man, Adams earned 32 gold and platinum records during a career that began in the 1960s and spanned decades and genres.

Born in 1950, the New York City native got an early start in music. Already an accomplished songwriter, instrumentalist and budding engineer — he joined the Harlem band the Sparks as a 16-year-old. The group was signed to Curb/MGM and played shows with acts like the Commodores and Jerry Butler.

By 1970 Adams had been hired as the vice president of A&R for New York-based Perception/Today Records, after discovering and signing the teenage R&B trio Black Ivory in 1968. The group's first single, powered by the vocals of lead singer Leroy Burgess, peaked at No. 38 on Billboard's R&B chart in 1971.

His success as a manager was quickly eclipsed by his highly coveted work as a producer. Adams eventually started his own production company focused on dance — Patrick Adams Productions Music and went on to produce and arrange music for some of the biggest disco, R&B and hip-hop acts of the 70s and 80s.

#ripPatrickAdams One of my favorite #composer #producer #musicians and #people.

The world of music owes you so much. pic.twitter.com/WmDhZKGvhT

— Nile Rodgers (@nilerodgers) June 22, 2022

Gladys Knight, Candi Staton, Keith Sweat, Salt-N-Pepa, Eric B & Rakim, Loleatta Holloway, Sister Sledge and Eddie Kendricks, are just a few of the artists and icons who the arranger and composer elevated with his work. His songs have been heavily sampled by some of hip-hop's greatest rappers including Kanye West, Nas and Wu-Tang Clan.

In 2017 Red Bull Music Academy honored his work and its impact on the music industry with a celebration in New York that worked to shed more light on his then mostly overlooked legacy.

“You can tell a Nile Rodgers record a million miles away because it has an imprint that emanates from his guitar,” he told Red Bull Music Academy. “In my case I tried to avoid that. I didn’t want my records to sound the same. Whether that was a positive thing or a negative thing, I don’t know. But at the same time there is a signature in my music—sometimes it’s harmonic, and sometimes it’s just in the quirkiness of things. And sometimes you just don’t hear it until somebody points it out to you and asks, ‘Oh, he did that record too?’”

Lil Baby Named ASCAP Songwriter of the Year

Frank Schwichtenberg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rapper Lil Baby has been named Songwriter of the Year by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

ASCAP announced the news Tuesday in conjunction with the beginning of its 35th annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards.

The virtual event is taking place on @ASCAP and @ASCAPUrban's social media channels through Friday.

It is the second consecutive win in the category for the 27-year-old rapper, who won his first Grammy in April as a featured artist on Kanye West’s “Hurricane."

A prolific songwriter, Lil Baby took part in the creation of some of hip-hop's biggest hits, while working with some of the genre's top artists such as Drake and DJ Khaled. A brief list of some of the hits he helped create includes "Every Chance I Get," "Girls Want Girls," "On Me," "Rags2Riches 2" and "Wants and Needs."

The artist made his studio debut in 2018 with "Harder Than Ever." The album was certified platinum. His second studio effort, "My Turn," topped the Billboard 200 in 2020, and "The Voice of the Heroes," a collaborative effort with Chicago rapper Lil Durk gave him his second project to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Earlier this year he announced his third studio effort would be out sometime this summer.

7/?/22 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

— Lil Baby (@lilbaby4PF) May 22, 2022

Other notable winners included the R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap Song of the Year award being presented to songwriters Orville “Buggs Can Can” Hall and Phillip Triggerman Price (a.k.a. The Showboys), Dion “Devious” Norman, Trè Samuels and Dave Welcome for “Go Crazy,” performed by Chris Brown and Young Thug. 

The hit song broke the record for the most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart (29).

Click here for a complete list of winners.