| Livin Out Loud | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | R&B, soul, hip hop, pop |
| Labels | Kin Productions |
| Associated acts | Crisis, Dminor, Karl "Tuff Enuff" Brown, MJ Cole |
| Website | livinoutloud |
| Members | Reuben MacCalla Sylvia MacCalla |
| Past members | Dminor J. Martini Lisa LaShawn |
Livin Out Loud is an R&B music group consisting of brother and sister, Reuben and Sylvia MacCalla. Reuben MacCalla, also known professionally as Reuben Alexander, is the creative producer for the group and its label, Kin Productions. He is also a performer, songwriter, and producer. Sylvia MacCalla is an actor (Rent, Hairspray, etc.), singer, songwriter, and co-executive producer. The group also formerly included Lisa LaShawn, Dminor, and J. Martini. J Martini is a singer, songwriter, and actor ( Jersey Boys , General Hospital , etc.). Lisa LaShawn is a singer and songwriter (written for Mandy Moore and others). Though no longer in the foreground, J. Martini and Dminor both maintain involvement with the group, the former as a guitarist and songwriter, the latter as a music video director. The group is known for its tracks "More Than a Fantasy," "Where's the Love," "You Make Me Smile," "What About Us" and "All That Really Matters."
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, pop, soul, funk, hip hop and electronic music.
Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson, loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan's East Village in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
Hairspray is an American musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on John Waters’s 1988 film of the same name. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues. In 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight, and meets a colorful group of characters, leading to social change as Tracy campaigns for the show's integration.
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Livin Out Loud was launched when Reuben and Sylvia collaborated with their brother, Thomas MacCalla, to form Kin Productions as a vehicle to combine their respective artistic and business talents. According to Reuben, "We've all been very blessed with the opportunity to work in an industry that we love... and the name, 'Livin Out Loud,' is all about sharing that love."
Livin Out Loud has received praise from numerous publications on both sides of the Atlantic. UK press has called them "America's best-kept secret." [1] The group was a featured artist in Billboard Magazine (4 October 2009), which said:
- Livin Out Loud seemingly exists in a series of alternate universes. In the United Kingdom, a handful of the R&B quarter’s singles have been in rotation at dance clubs and urban radio, remixed by prominent DJ’s for the last four years. In the American South, they have attracted listeners and programmers at adult R&B radio. In Japan, the act has sold 2,000 vinyl copies of the single "More Than A Fantasy," released via Mo’s Music. Not bad for a group based out of Hollywood.
In the United Kingdom, Soul and Jazz and Funk magazine (27 April 2010) said:
- LIVIN' OUT LOUD are an American four piece group who are well known to the UK soul cognoscenti. What few copies of their 2006 album What About Us that were available in Europe were quickly snapped up... The first track to be leaked from the album is called Cuz I Gotta Know (in a special Souled Out mix) and it's a smooth slice of steppers soul that will delight sophisticated groovers.
In London, Livin Out Loud achieved chart success with the single, "All That Really Matters," which went to #1 on the DJ Play list. This led to a deal with Fontana Distribution, a Universal Music Group company. Two other singles, "Lately" and "I Can’t Stop," made it onto Billboard’s Hot Adult R&B Airplay chart. "Lately" made it to #1 in several markets, including Little Rock and New Orleans. "Lately" and "I Can't Stop" charted at #31 and #34 respectively on the Urban Adult Contemporary Chart. [1] "So Amazing" was the featured track on Bob Mardis' award-winning documentary, Keeping The Faith, about rebuilding efforts by faith-based organizations after Hurricane Katrina.
Fontana Distribution is a division of San Francisco-based Isolation Network. A minority stake of the company was owned by Universal Music until INgrooves acquired Fontana Distribution from UMG in 2012 to form INgrooves Fontana.
Universal Music Group is an American global music corporation that is a subsidiary of the French media conglomerate Vivendi. UMG's global corporate headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. It is considered one of the "Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Since 2004, the corporation is no longer related to the film studio Universal Studios.
Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is also the county seat of Pulaski County. It was incorporated on November 7, 1831, on the south bank of the Arkansas River close to the state's geographic center. The city derives its name from a rock formation along the river, named the "Little Rock" by the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe in the 1720s. The capital of the Arkansas Territory was moved to Little Rock from Arkansas Post in 1821. The city's population was 198,541 in 2016 according to the United States Census Bureau. The six-county Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is ranked 78th in terms of population in the United States with 738,344 residents according to the 2017 estimate by the United States Census Bureau.
Livin Out Loud's music can be found on music download sites such as iTunes, Amazon, etc. In 2010, the music video, "Brokeazz (Radio Edit)," received over 300,000 YouTube views in the first few months of its release. [2] In the UK, Urban Essentials released the single, "Cuz I Gotta Know (Souled Out Mix)," in anticipation of the group's new album later in the year.
iTunes is a media player, media library, Internet radio broadcaster, and mobile device management application developed by Apple Inc. It was announced on January 9, 2001. It is used to play, download, and organize digital multimedia files, including music and video, on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating systems. Content must be purchased through the iTunes Store, whereas iTunes is the software letting users manage their purchases.
YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. Three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—created the service in February 2005. Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion; YouTube now operates as one of Google's subsidiaries.
On 10 April 2015, Livin Out Loud released their first album as a duo since their debut. This UK-exclusive release, entitled Take It Easy and subtitled "A Musical Timecapsule," includes ten new songs and four re-mastered songs. The album's title track has received radio attention in London, and the group has performed in support of the album in the UK. [3]
