Erica Abi Wright, known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut album Baduizm (1997), placed her at the forefront of the neo soul movement, earning her the nickname "Queen of Neo Soul" by music critics.
Molde International Jazz Festival (MIJF) or Moldejazz (established 1961 in Molde) takes place annually in July, and is known as one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. It was initiated by the local Storyville Jazz Club. Since 1964 it has received government support, and the government Buddy Award was for several years awarded at this festival. To the extent Molde festival operates with records, is probably the bassist Bjørn Kjellemyr holder of "Most festivals in a row" musicians record. In 2015 he visits Moldejazz for the 17th time in row as performer. Two club gigs with Dag Arnesen's band is on the program for the versatile bassist. Guttorm Guttormsen (1974), Jon Balke (1975), Karin Krog (1978), Knut Riisnæs (1984), Terje Rypdal (1985, 1986, 1988) and Jon Eberson (1987, 1989) are among the artists he has visited Moldejazz through the years.
The 40th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998, at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.
Baduizm is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Erykah Badu. It was released on February 11, 1997, by Kedar Records and Universal Records. After leaving university in order to concentrate on music full-time, Badu then began touring with her cousin, Robert "Free" Bradford, and recorded a 19-song demo, Country Cousins, which attracted the attention of Kedar Massenburg. He set Badu up to record a duet with D'Angelo, "Your Precious Love," and eventually signed her to a record deal with Universal. Recording sessions for the album took place from January to October 1996 in New York City, Philadelphia, and Dallas.
The 41st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill received the most nominations with 10, setting a record for the most nominations for female artist in one night. Hill received a total of 5 awards, and became the first female rapper to take home Best New Artist. Her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill became the first hip hop album to win the award for Album of the Year.
Vincent Peter Colaiuta is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014. Colaiuta has won one Grammy Award and has been nominated twice. Since the late 1970s, he has recorded and toured with Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, and Sting, among many other appearances in the studio and in concert.
Pori is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, 110 kilometres (68 mi) west of Tampere, 140 kilometres (87 mi) north of Turku and 241 kilometres (150 mi) north-west of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Pori was established in 1558 by Duke John, who later became King John III of Sweden.
The Montreux Jazz Festival is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual jazz festival in the world after Canada's Montreal International Jazz Festival.
The Montreal International Jazz Festival is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 artists from 30-odd countries, more than 650 concerts, and welcomes over 2 million visitors as well as 300 accredited journalists. The festival takes place at 20 different stages, which include free outdoor stages and indoor concert halls.
Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group career, he has also produced songs for such artists as Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend. Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the "preeminent R&B artist of the '90s".
VH1 debuted the first annual VH1 Divas concert in 1998. VH1 Divas Live was created to support the channel's Save The Music Foundation and subsequent concerts in the series have also benefited that foundation. The VH1 Divas concerts were a follow-up to the channel's annual VH1 Honors benefit concert that ran from 1994 to 1997, airing annually from 1998 to 2004. After a five-year hiatus, the series returned in 2009 with a younger-skewed revamp. In 2010 the concert saluted the troops and in 2011 it celebrated soul music, doubling the previous year's ratings. After a dance music-focused 2012 edition aired live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on December 16, 2012, the show took another hiatus before being revived on December 5, 2016, at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York with a holiday theme and achieved its highest ratings in over a decade.
The Essence Festival, known as "the party with a purpose", is an annual music festival which started in 1995 as a one-time event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Essence, a magazine aimed primarily towards African-American women. It became the largest African-American culture and music event in the United States. Locally referred to as the Essence Fest, it has been held in New Orleans, Louisiana, since 1995 except in 2006, when it was held in Houston, Texas, due to Hurricane Katrina's effect on New Orleans and 2020 when it was cancelled. A spinoff iteration of the festival was also held in Durban, South Africa, in November 2016. The festival features artists simultaneously performing on a main stage as well as four standing-room only superlounge stages.
Baloise Session is an indoor music festival, which takes place every October/November in Basel, Switzerland. The festival features international as well as national artists of diverse music genres in an intimate club setting. In 2010 the festival celebrated its 25th jubilee, and in 2013 acquired sponsorship from a Swiss insurance company called Bâloise, changing the name of the event to Baloise Session.
Mawazine is a Moroccan International music festival held annually in Rabat, Morocco, featuring many international and local music artists. The festival is presided over by Mounir Majidi, the personal secretary of the Moroccan King Mohammed VI and founder and president of Maroc Culture, the cultural foundation that organizes Mawazine and other events.
New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Erykah Badu, first released on March 30, 2010, through Universal Motown. Collaborating with several hip hop producers over the Internet, Badu conceived 75 songs set to be split over three albums with New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (2008) being the first. The album was recorded primarily at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.
The Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, formerly known as the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, was created to encourage visitors to come to Jamaica during a traditionally slow tourism period for the island. The original owner of the festival, Air Jamaica, also hoped to sell more airline seats during the slow period.
Kirjurinluoto Arena is an open-air concert park in the city of Pori, Finland. It is the only venue in Finland that is designed especially for open-air events. Size of the amphitheater-type arena is five hectares. Concert park area includes also 22 hectares for camping and parking.
Kirjurinluoto is an island and a park in the delta of Kokemäenjoki river in the city of Pori in Finland. It is best known for the Kirjurinluoto Arena, an open-air concert park which hosts the annual Pori Jazz festival.
Kylie Summer 2015 was the first festival tour by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. The tour comprised six shows in Europe, commencing on 12 June in Aalborg, Denmark and finishing on 18 July in Gräfenhainichen, Germany.
The London Sessions Tour is the eighth headlining concert tour by American recording artist, Mary J. Blige. The tour supports Blige's twelfth studio album, The London Sessions. Beginning June 2016, the tour started in Europe playing various music festivals. During the fall of 2015, Blige briefly performed in the United States.
