Welcome
to SE community and industry news!
Send us your news or event –- mail to:press@studioexpresso.com
|
| |
Who would you like to see interviewed? Send us your feedback.
Past interviews include:
Ken
Allardyce - Sarm West, UK
Chris
Fogel - Fig, Glendale, CA
Greg
Ladanyi - Tidal Wave Sound, Studio City, CA
Joseph
Magee - O'Henry Studios, Burbank, CA
Michael
C Ross - Royaltone Studios, North Hollywood, CA
Tolbert
& Sutton - Studio Atlantis, Hollywood, CA
Rafa
Sardina - Abbey Road, UK
|
|
Billboard
charts
Top 100 Positions /Issue Date:Nov 23, 2002
Welcome
to "Express Tour" of following world-class studios
available here: express
tour gallery!
|
| Studio
Spotlight - November |
|
Band
ENDO with engineer Dave Schiffman working in Chalice Studio
A
(photo: David Goggin)
|
Welcome
to Chalice
Studios
New LA facility busy with sessions!
World-class studios featuring SSL 9000J, Neve 88R and Yamaha
DM2000 recently hosted great sessions...studio A (SSL) where
Band ENDO with engineer Dave Schiffman and Wyclef Jean and
Jerry Wonda working on Tom Jones' new album . From Zero (Arista
Records) with Producer/engineer Warren Riker and hip-hop artists
including Mystic and Mos Def have been mixing in studio B
featuring the Neve.
Take an
SE express
tour or call: Ben
Tao or manager Stacey Dodds at 323.957.7100 to get the
grand tour.
www.chalicestudios.com
|
|
 Andy
Brauer Guitar Rentals -- Michael Schenker's famous
Gibson Flying V guitars are now available exclusively from
Andy Brauer!
Back to top
|
The Hit Factory
orders a Third SSL XL 9000 K Series SuperAnalogue Console for Studio
3 at its New York facility.
Pictured is Hit Factory CEO Troy
Germano, standing at one of the studio's XL consoles.
The Hit Factory's goal was to have a balance in the New York
facility with three 80 input XLs and three 80 input Js, offering
clients an even higher level of recording quality, speed and flexibility.
The Hit Factory's
Studio 3 is primarily used for stereo mixing and 5.1 projects, and
CEO Germano believes that the new XL 9000 K will be as successful
in Studio 3 as it is in the new Studios 6 and 7. Studio 3's console
changeover will begin in late December and the room will open on
Monday, January 6, 2003.
"Our clients
love the console, the speed of the mixing features and its inherent
SuperAnalogue sound, which were major factors in our purchasing
decision. Another significant reason was SSL's announcement at the
AES Convention of the console's ability to export mixes back to
the J Series, which now gives us true compatibility between all
six 9080 J and XL 9000 rooms."says Troy Germano, CEO of The
Hit Factory.
SSL's
4 Refugee Camp at home or on the road
L-R: Wyclef Jean and Jerry Wonda in Chalice
Studio A, Los Angeles (photo: David Goggin)
Super-producers Wyclef
Jean and Jerry Wonda known as Refugee Camp are literally drenched
in platinum projects - Sinead O'Connor, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson,
Tom Jones, Mary J. Blige, Mya, Destiny's Child and Carlos Santana,
to name a few.
To keep this
incredible momentum up and to keep up with sheer demand, the decision
was made to make their New York City studio, Platinum Sound. "Basically,
New York City is where the business is at," claims Jean. "We
found ourselves doing a lot of recording in New Jersey and a lot
in New York, so we decided to build our own facility in New York
because everyone is already there and that makes life easier for
us."
The duo who
spent some time at Los Angeles' Chalice Studios 9000J room and recently
purchased a SSL's new XL 9000 K Series SuperAnalogue console, which
will be installed at Platinum's second room this fall.
The production
team with their "home" project studio and record labels
named Booga Basement and Clef Records feel that the choice of SSL
console will help them with their vision of the future "because
we are looking at many types of media production to include DVD
and surround mixes for film and TV," says Wonda.
AMS
NEVE DFC and 88R Consoles dominate sound for latest James Bond
Thriller "Die Another Day"
R- John Hayward, Chief Mixer in Pinewood's
Theatre 1, preparing for the final mix on the NEVE DFC
UK - Pinewood
Studios' DFC being chosen to do the final mix and the 88R at AIR
Studios scored the soundtrack produced by Eon Productions, Michael
G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
:"The DFC
does everything I want it to very successfully. There is no doubt
in my mind that the beneficial feature of the DFC when mixing Bond
will be
the extensive use of the 'sweet spot'," Hayward said. "With
so many tracks (up to
72 for explosives and debris alone) you need to be able to have
all the
tracks loaded and be able to select any permutation of eight in
front of you
at any given moment, without having to roll up and down the console
to
control them."
London's AIR
Studios was the first choice for Geoff Foster when he was
chosen to score Die Another Day. Foster scored the previous two
Bond movies
on Neve VR consoles so it was only fitting that he returned to his
"favorite
room" which is now equipped with an 88R.
soundtrack (click the image)
The 88R is recording and mixing the film's soundtrack that includes
the title track by Madonna and a variety of contemporary orchestral
sounds.
"The 88R
is definitely the greatest sounding modern desk around - I love
the
sound of the channels and the Neve remote mic pre amps. We're mixing
in 5.1
and are certainly going to make use of all 96 channels - we've also
got AIR'
s AMS Neve Libra on standby to which we can link the 88R solo system
and
extend the channel capacity" says Foster.
Prairie
Sun Recording (link to SE spotlight) upgrades and helps
out artists on a budget
Living at the
Ranch while working on your project offers an environment of creativity,
and focus unsurpassed in achieving that "Great Performance"
in the recording studio.
Welcome to Prairie Sun in beautiful Cotati (Sonoma Coutny) California.
With the support of Neve guru Geoff Tanner of Phoenix Audio International,
Prairie Sun has opened its second AMS/Neve tracking room, which
features a Neve 8024 console loaded with 24 1073 mic pres, 24-monitor
inputs and eight aux sends.
The control room also features a Studer A80 2-inch analog tape machine
with 24- or 16-track head stacks. Located in between and with access
to the "Waiting Room" and the "Prairie" live
chamber, the new tracking room is intended to "provide a real
analog alternative to hard-disk project studios, for artists on
a budget."
More gear...the studio has acquired a Glyph Ultra Trip system with
an AIT 2 backup drive, CD burner and 18 Gb hot-swappable hard drives
for its main Digidesign Pro Tools Mix Plus system, which has also
recently been upgraded to a Cube system. The studio's second Pro
Tools system has been upgraded to a Mix with two additional DSP
farms. The new Furman HDS-16 headphone system has also been installed
in Prairie Sun's tracking rooms and live chambers, giving up to
eight independent headphone mixes that the artists can mix themselves.
In recent sessions at Prairie Sun, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band mixed
an upcoming Atlantic release in Studio B with producer Craig Street
and engineer Husky Hoskulds. Susana Baca for Luaka Bop also recently
worked at Prairie Sun, with Street and Hoskulds. Studio A's newly
installed SSL 4080 E/G, G+/TR 80-input console was also used to
mix the new Shrapnel Records release from U.F.O. with Grammy-winning
engineer Steve Fontano and co-producer Mike Varney. The album was
tracked in Prairie Sun's Studio B.
For booking,
on-site accommodations or more info e-mail or call: Mark
"Mooka" Rennick
at 707-795-7011 PSR
web site
Dr. Dre to
Tyra Banks to River City High...celebs are flocking to Track Record
Studios in North Hollywood to track, mix and produce new songs.
(l to r): producer Lauren Christy,
producer Scott Spock, producer Graham Edwards, engineer Paul Lani,
and assistant engineer Eric Williams. Seated (l to r): guitarist
Mark Avery, drummer Jay McMillan, guitarist Bobby Raw, and bassist
James Menefee (Photo:
Alan Morphew).
Dr. Dre and
Redman were on hand to collaborate on a new track, "Flow Pedico,"
on the studio's 9000 J console in Track Record's North Studio, as
was Dave Fortman, of Stephen Perkins fame, to produce and overdub
the song "Bring Me To Life" for the major label debut
of indie goth-rock group Evanescence.
Members of production
group The Matrix (Christina Aguilera, Avril Levigne) produced new
songs for North Carolina-based River City High in the North Studio.
Engineer Paul Lani, who previously worked with Megadeth, tracked
and mixed the songs on the 9000 J.
Supermodel Tyra
Banks also turned her talents to song, recording the song "Best
Friends" in Track Record's South Studio with producer Mike
City (Brandy).
For more information
about Track Record Studios or for booking inquiries, please contact
Studio Manager Al Morphew at 818-761-0511.
Westlake
- homebase for Gatica.
(From
left to right): Engineer Chris Brooke, Singer/Songwriter Alejandro
Sanz and Producer/Engineer Humberto Gatica proudly display their
plethora of Latin Grammy's after the awards ceremony this fall.
"Westlake
Audio is my choice for a home base because you can always get the
sound you are looking for and the staff treats you like family.
Simply put, when you spend half your life working in a room, you
need to feel comfortable with the equipment and the people. The
Westlake team cares about me and my projects, and that's what keeps
me coming back,"
says Gatica (Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Lionel Richie, Chicago,
Barbra Streisand, Elton John and Robert Palmer, to name a few).
Gatica
received three Grammys, one for Best Rock Album, La Ley's "MTV
Unplugged," and two with Sanz for Record of the Year and Album
of the Year.
A world-class recording facility, Westlake
Audio, with two locations, has a total of seven rooms fully
equipped with Solid State Logic and Neve consoles, Westlake monitors
and an abundance of outboard gear. For more information contact
VP of recording services Steve Burdick or booking manager Charity
Lomax at:(323) 851 9800 Fax: (323) 851 9386
| Producer
Profiles |
|
Raphael
Saadiq, producer/songwriter/musician
With his
first-ever solo album release, INSTANT VINTAGE, Saadiq is
the writer-producer behind such stellar hits as Angie Stone's
"Brotha" and D'Angelo's "Lady"
and the Grammy Award-winning "Untitled," among numerous
immortal R&B tracks he's produced for others likes of
Babyface...
Read more...
|
 |
|
Joe
Chiccarelli, mixer/engineer/producer
Multi-Grammy
winner Chiccarelli is responsible for capturing some of modern
times beloved sounds. As a producer/mixer/engineer he has
worked with an impressive group of artists to include: Elton
John, Beck, U2...
Read more...
|
 |
|
Brad
Haehnel, engineer/mixer/producer
Brad's
been busy in 2002. He has recorded and mixed 6 film scores
including "Ararat" directed by award-winning director
Aton Egoyan and the
Denzel
Washington's upcoming directorial debut "The Antwone
Fisher Story" and Both films were composed by Mychael
Danna. This year Brad mixed "Barenaked" by Jennifer
Love Hewitt; "The Detour Home" by indie Canadian
artist Scott Merritt and UK artist Ashton Lane on the single
release of "Yesterday's Too Late." Read
More...
|
 |
|
Speaking of film... check out Mr
Bonzai Film Fetival
SE pick is Vanessa Carlton's short in the studio during the
recording of her now Platinum cd "Thousand Miles/Twilight
Live" for A&M with producer Ron Fair. Michael
C Ross recorded/mixed tracks for this album.
|
 |
| Back
to top |
| Talkback |
| |
 |
|
Labels
& Artist News
Men
of Steal
After a fab year of Toxicity and a summer with Ozzfest, all
systems are go with System
of A Down. The band to finish a new album, "Steal
this Album" by year end (songs from the Toxicity sessions
leaked on the web). Additionally, leadman Serj Tankian has
launched a new label Surjical
Strike.
Projects include: Britpop start-ups Slow
Motion Reign (pictured above) with Tankian producing,
Goth rockers Kittens
for Christian, debut for Bad
Acid Trip with Systems guitarist Malakian producing and
Tankian re-mixing. Meanwhile Tankian completes a collaboration
with multi-instrumentalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan dubbed "Serart."
.
New label aimed to expose the world to good music.
Pete Yorn has teamed with Wallflowers
keyboard player Rami Jaffee to start a new independent label
dubbed Trampoline
Records. The label's purpose "is to expose the world
to good music," according to a note on the label's official
website.
The Los Angeles-based effort made its debut in September with
the various-artists collection Trampoline Records Greatest
Hits, Vol 1. The disc boasts new songs from Yorn, the Sake
Sushi Orchestra (Jaffe's side-gig with fellow Wallflowers
members), the Minus 5 featuring R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, and a
collaboration between Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan and
rock photographer Mark Seliger.
Others on the L.A.-centric collection include Minibar,
Peter Himmelman, Gingersol, and the Jukebox Junkies, the latter
fronted by the third co-founder of Trampoline, Marc Dauer.
Meanwhile, Jaffee and Wallflowers bassist Greg Richling have
also produced a batch of songs from the aforementioned Brit-gone-L.A.
band, Minibar. The Unstoppable E.P. is currently available
only through the group's live performances. Minibar's 2001
debut album, Road Movies, was produced by T-Bone Burnett.
The Wallflowers return with their fourth album, Red Letter
Days. Yorn is currently on tour in the U.K. in support of
his debut album, Musicforthemorningafter.
The Neptunes are one of today's
most successful hip-hop production teams. Over the last five
years, they have worked with Jay-Z, Mystikal, Noreaga, Kelis,
Mary J Blige, Usher and No Doubt. The Neptune duo of Pharrell
and Chad recently joined up with their friend Shay to introduce
N*E*R*D and the album IN SEARCH OF…. The album mixes
everything from hard hip-hop beats to black psychedelic pop
to classic rock to new wave.
N*E*R*D
wins, Iggy jams.
N*E*R*D was awarded
the Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music on Oct.
29th at Los Angeles' Henry Fonda Theatre. The group, fronted
by ubiquitous producers the Neptunes, was recognized for its
debut Virgin album, "In Search Of...." The act was
one of three of the 10 finalists who performed at the second
annual ceremony, and was upstaged only by a surprise appearance
from Iggy Pop. Last year's inaugural Shortlist prize went
to Icelandic rock act Sigur Ros, which won $10,000 and had
a matching amount donated to the Sept. 11 charity of its choice.
For its prize, N*E*R*D was awarded $3,000 each from TowerRecords.com
and Guitar Center. DJ Shadow, Flaming Lips, Bjork also Made
the Shortlist Cut. Read
more...
The winner
was selected by a group of 24 listmakers, including U2's Larry
Mullen, Alanis Morissette, Beck, Jill Scott, filmmakers Baz
Luhrmann and Spike Jonze, and journalist Greg Kot. For more
information, visit the Shortlist
Web site.
TOP signings
l-r: TOP at HOB and manager
Michelle Zarin surrounded by WM booking agent and wife.
Former Epic Records senior VP of A&R Michael Caplan and
former Reciprocal and a2b executive Larry Miller have teamed
in forming Called Or Music, a new label distributed by RED
and aimed at a 25-plus demographic. First signings include
Tower Of Power, female singer Essence, and Texas group Los
Lonely Boys.
TOP fans
will be happy to know that Rocco's recovery from surgery has
been steady, to date. To learn more or help click
here.
This is no joke. Spotted in K-Mart by musician, Bugs Beddow,
you can now get some Tower of Power mints. Unfunk your breath
with Tower
of Power mints!
Sony
Music Entertainment
has linked with Pepsi-Cola
North America in previewing songs by top Sony acts on Pepsi
radio commercials ahead of their release to radio. Pepsi will
also sponsor music tv specials starring Sony artists.
BMG
is supporting Westlife's "Greatest Hits" album with
a novel mobile phone messaging campaign whereby mobile phone
users who send a text message answer to a question about the
band will get a call-back with a preview of the band's new
track "Written in the Stars," along with entry into
a contest.
Artist
ON DEMAND Available in December
Musicmatch
®, the global leader in personalized music software and
services, today announced it has obtained non-exclusive licensing
agreements from BMG, EMI Recorded Music (EMI), Universal Music
Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG). The agreements will
allow MUSICMATCH to offer each label's digital catalog through
its new online subscription service, Artist ON DEMAND.
Launching
in December, Artist ON DEMAND is a new interactive streaming
service that will give users the ability to enjoy instant
playlists composed of artists of their choice. The new service
offers a unique and compelling alternative to today's music
download services.
Dennis Mudd, Musicmatch CEO
"Musicmatch
is thrilled to offer music from four of the major labels in
a new, personalized way," said Dennis Mudd, Musicmatch
CEO. "These agreements allow us to broaden the variety
and scope of our music catalog, creating new business opportunities
for Musicmatch, as well as recording artists, music labels
and other copyright owners."
EMI
Recorded Music
has offered for purchase thousands of variably priced tracks
via distribution partners including Alliance Entertainment
Corp., Ecast, FullAudio, Liquid Audio, Listen.com's Rhapsody,
MusicNet, Pressplay, Roxio, and Streamwaves. Pressplay, incidentally,
has now secured content from Warner Music Group giving it
music from all five major labels, joining Rhapsody as the
only sub services to have deals with the big five. Rhapsody,
incidentally, will be distributed by Cablevision's broadband
arm Optimum Online as Optimum Online Rhapsody; fellow cable
giant Charter Communications has likewise
linked
with FullAudio to distribute the sub service through its digital
entertainment programming site Charterzone.
Listen.com
has launched Version 2.0 of its Rhapsody subscription service
The on-demand streaming and Internet radio programming to
include burning of tracks at 99 cents apiece--from UMG and
WMG, along with TVT, Sanctuary, and 16 more indie labels.
The service, which is the only one offering content from all
five majors, will also be accessible now from any PC.
Movies
- big in box office and spirit!
8 Mile
scored big with Eminem
acting debut, as it opened at No. 1 on the box office charts
with a $54.5 million first weekend take. Even bigger was Harry
Potter with 87 Mill for its opening weekend.
"Ararat"
opened in select theaters this weekend -- story about truth
and denial, starring Bruce Greenwood, Charles
Aznavour, Eric
Bogosian (Sex Drugs & Rock 'n Roll), Marie-Josée
Croze, Arsinée Khanjian, Elias Koteas, Christopher
Plummer.
From leading Canadian director Atom
Egoyan comes the stunning new film. The soundtrack, composed
by Mychael Danna, boasts a score as powerful and emotional
as the film. Featuring Armenian chants intricately woven with
dramatic instrumentals, Danna's work evokes the personal tone
of the film in this truly haunting and beautiful soundtrack
with
engineer/mixer Brad
Haehnel.
Jurrasic 5
The Bands. The Buzz. The Biz.
More than 10,000 music professionals, artists and fans converged
on New York City for 2002
CMJ Music Marathon. In addition to keynote speakers
and live performances, the event featured dozens of panels
covering topics affecting all corners of the music industry.
At night, thousands of bands performed at clubs throughout
the city. Also look up CMJ
Film Fest.
Sennheiser on Santana - Shaman!
l-r: Chester Thompson, keyboardist
for Santana; Carlos Santana; Chris Garcia, recording engineer;
Jim Gaines; and Rick Nowels songwriter/producer, mixing "The
Game of Love" at Fantasy Studios. (photo: Mac Cady of
OLA.TV)
Released
on October 22, Santana's "Shaman" has soared to
the top of the Billboard Album chart and ranks #1 on the Internet
sales chart! In the first week of sales, "Shaman"
has sold over four times the first week total of "Supernatural."
Carlos' 1999 mega-hit, "Supernatural" garnered eight
Grammy Awards and is the #1 best selling album of the SoundScan
era, having been certified 14-times platinum in the U.S. alone!
Introduced
at the end of September, the first single from the album,
"The Game of Love," featuring 20-year-old singer
Michelle Branch, became an instant best seller. In
order to meet the high standard that Santana set on his previous
release, Chris Garcia (Cindy Lauper, Dido and Jewel)
one of the main engineers on the hit single, reports that
he relied almost exclusively on vintage and contemporary Neumann
and Sennheiser microphones.
"The
Game of Love" was co-produced and co-written by ex-New
Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander and Rick
Nowels (Madonna, Dido, Jewel, Celine Dion), and recorded
at Nowels' private studio in Santa Monica, California. "I
used a Neumann U 67 on Michelle Branch," recalls Garcia,
who selected the microphone for its ability to best capture
her vocal performance. "She sounds fabulous. She's a
really good singer. We used all Neumann U 87s on all of the
horns," he says. The U 87 has been an industry standard
since its introduction in 1967. Its warm sound and well-balanced
character making it well suited not only to brass instruments
but also vocals, piano, percussion and orchestra.
Sennheiser
microphones handled the drum overheads, the kick drum and
the room ambiance. For Carlos' guitar, Garcia used a U 87
with a Sennheiser MD 421 for the amp." The MD 421 is
one of the most popular Sennheiser dynamic microphones. A
natural for guitar or drums, the MD 421's large diaphragm
is capable of handling high sound pressure levels.
On "Supernatural,"
Santana and executive producer Clive Davis of J
Records set out to collaborate with chart favorites such
as Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas, who contributed vocals to the
smash hit single "Smooth," as well as Lauryn Hill,
Everlast and Dave Matthews. According to Garcia, "Shaman"
repeats the formula and features the legendary guitarist combining
forces with Top 40 artists such as Macy Gray, Seal, Dido,
P.O.D., Chad Kroeger and Musiq. "Santana pretty much
worked with a different producer for each song,"
comments Garcia. "We were at Fantasy Studios in San Francisco
and he was
cutting three songs in each of the three studios with different
producers."
More
AES 2002 Moments...
Solid
State Logic SL 9000 J Series SuperAnalogue supporters
engineers Eddie
Kramer and Rob Jacobs stopped by the SSL booth to view
the new developments of the XL 9000 K Series console during
the recent AES Convention.
l-r: Kramer & Jacobs at
AES 2002
Photo: David Goggin
Avatar
Studio wins TEC Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement
in the Category of Record Production / Album for Diana Krall's
The Look of Love
L-R: Kirk Imamura (Avatar Studios), Paula Salvatore
(Capitol Records Studio), Al Schmitt (Engineer extraordinaire),
Jeff Minnich (Capitol Records Studio)
Recent sessions at Avatar include: Sheryl Crow producing and
arranging upcoming single "Landslide" for the Dixie
Chicks. Phil Ramone producing new Concord artist Peter Cincotti
with engineers Eric Schilling, Frank Filipetti and Elliot
Scheiner.
Nile Rogers producing Canadian artist Soul Decision; RCA's
David Bendeth and engineer Ray Bardani 5.1 Surround playback
of the newly mixed Elvis Presley tracks. RCA group Eve 6's
debut with producer Gregg Wattenberg and engineers Chris Shaw
and John Agniello. The winners of the American Idol-like series
got to record with the likes of Nile Rogers, Will Lee, and
Bashiri Johnson. The entire session was filmed for a behind-the-scenes
television release.
|
|
|
|
Farewell...
Tom
Dowd -- Legendary record producer (Eric Clapton, Ray Charles,
the Allman Brothers, and Aretha Franklin) died October 27
at the age of 77.
Among the many hit singles Dowd worked on were Derek &
the Dominos' "Layla," Franklin's "Respect,"
Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash," Ray Charles's "What
I Say," and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird." Dowd
worked at Atlantic Records for more than 20 years before becoming
a sought-after independent producer in the mid-'60s. Other
artists he worked with included the Drifters, Chicago, Rod
Stewart, Neil Young, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and jazz
greats John Coltrane and Charles Mingus.
Pioneer
Dowd is credited
with introducing the first eight-track recording machine into
a major studio in 1957. Clapton described him as "the
ideal recording man." Dowd was recently honored with
the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy Of
Recording Arts And Sciences (NARAS).
Lonnie Donegan (29th April 1931 - 3rd November 2002).
The King of "Skiffle" died in England. Donegan
born Anthony Donegan in Glasgow, later changed his name to
Lonnie after the great bluesman Lonnie Johnson. He was the
key figure in the Skiffle Craze that swept the UK during the
50's and is widely known to have inspired greats
like John Lennon, Brian May, Van Morrison and Pete Townsend.
Skiffle was basically a combination of American music dating
back to the '20's blending acoustic, Folk, blues, country
and western styles. Some of the foundations for today's Rock
n' Roll.
Jam Master (January 21, 1965 - October 30, 2002) --
Legendary hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC
was shot and killed in Queens near his studio - a second-floor
loft on Merrick Boulevard. The D.J., whose real name was Jason
Mizell, 37, was killed by an unidentified gunman. While speculation
abounds as to the motive for the killing, a diverse group
including bandmates Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl
"DMC" McDaniels, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
Jay-Z, Aerosmith, Ashanti, Irv Gotti, rap entrepreneur Russell
Simmons, and Island Def Jam CEO Lyor Cohen are pitching in
to fund the education of Mizell's three kids, as well as a
$50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of his
killer.
Run-DMC
was the first rap act with videos on MTV and the first to
have an album go platinum, "King of Rock." The next
album, "Raising Hell," was released in 1986 and
contained a remake of Aerosmith's heavy-metal anthem "Walk
This Way," which was the first commercially successful
blending of rap and rock."Jam
Master Jay was a pioneer," Sean Combs, the rapper and
entrepreneur, said in a statement. "He led the way for
a whole new genre of talent."
Salute
to a working class hero.
Dozens
of troubled boys in Fla. are turning their lives around thanks
to one devoted man who uses the power of music to give them
strength and hope, Debbye Turner of CBS early show reports.
(CBS/Reggie
Grant)
Imagine
145 young men from the inner city who love to sing classical
music; they faithfully do their homework; and all of them
plan to go to college. It sounds too good to be true? Well,
you haven’t met "American Hero" Earle Lee.
"Eighty-five
percent of the boys live without fathers in the homes,"
explains Lee. "So, there's a lot of pain there and that's
why we have this Boys Choir of Tallahassee, for them
to come to and make music and receive support and love and
guidance and lots of discipline."
Any boy
between eight and eighteen can join. No questions asked. "When
they hear today is the first day of the rest of your life,
you see a smile on their face and they want to achieve after
that," says Lee. Read
More...
Spread
holiday cheer around the world while remembering children
in need - order special cards here. Save
The Children or Olive
Crest
Safe
and happy Thanksgiving.
|
|
Back
to top
|
|
