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Dell Music Center

2400 Strawberry Mansion Dr, 19132, Philadelphia, PA, US

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Doors open: 19:00

Concert in your area for Hip-Hop, R&B, Funk & Soul, and Pop.

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Keyshia Cole biography

Keyshia Cole is an R&B singer and songwriter hailing from Oakland, California, US who was born on the 15th of October 1981. Since her debut in 2005 she has released six studio albums, three of which have gone platinum, and five top 40 hits on the Hot 100.

It’s not normally a good idea to meet your idols, so goes the accepted wisdom. It’s doubly true if they happen to be musicians, since one builds up such a convincing portrait of them based on their music that’s probably still false. However, it seems Keyshia Cole had the experience that every musician dreams of having when they meet their idols. At the age of twelve, Cole and her brother Sean were trying to make it in the music world so they decided to go straight to the source for information. They called MC Hammer. Of course, Hammer was nothing if not a busy man in the early 90’s, so it took many, many calls and many terse conversations with his secretary but miraculously, they managed to get through to him, and the twelve year old Cole found herself recording with him soon afterwards.

What’s more, it would happen again, but this time in infinitely more tragic circumstances. After working with Hammer Cole became something of a name in the Hip-Hop scene and later struck up a friendship with Tupac Shakur. Again, it was almost too good to be true, as he promised to help her out with her singing career, giving her a leg up by letting her write and sing a hook on an upcoming track of his. However, that would all happen on the same night he was tragically murdered. However, Keyshia Cole turned out to be the kind of artist who wouldn’t need that kind of help, and true to form, her first major successes would come on her own terms.

At the age of 18 she moved to Los Angeles from Oakland, and by the time she was 21 she was introduced to Ron Fair, an A&R man from A&M Records. He heard a demo of “Love”, a song that would go on to be her first platinum single, and signed her almost immediately after. Her first singles may not have set the charts alight but they showed off some impressive collaborators, with hr debut single featuring Eve and her second single being produced by some no-hoper called Kanye West. Her first mixtape came out soon afterwards, which again saw some impressive team ups with Fat Joe and Ghostface Killah. However, her debut album was what made her a star.

It was an immediate top ten smash, selling nearly a hundred thousand copies in its first week. Everything that followed “The Way It Is” was a hit, third single “I Should Have Cheated” hitting number 30, and “Love” going straight in at number six. Cole had arrived. Since then she’s gone from strength to strength, with two other platinum albums following her debut and since 2006, she’s had a succesful side venture as a reality TV star, with a number of shows following her personal life to this very day. Clearly, Cole is an artist that every fan of Hip-Hop and R&B should feel pretty blessed to have going, and she’s not out of her prime yet. One to see as soon as possible.

Jaheim biography

Jaheim Hoagland, who simply goes by his first name, is an R&B singer from New Brunswick New Jersey. He has experienced impressive chart success in the States, with his first two full-length albums being certified Platinum.

It started for Jaheim at a young age, with the influence of his grandfather who had previously sang in The Drifters. He grew up with music all around him, and would take part in talent shows, he won the Apollo Theater’s talent show at the age of fifteen, three times.

He got his break when he recorded a demo tape that found its way into an A&R at Divine Mill Records, which is a division of Warner Bros. Records. He received great reactions from his debut singles, “Could It Be” and “Just in Case”. The former shot right up to number two in the US R&B Charts, and 26 in the Billboard Top 100. Following these singles came the release of an album entitled “Ghetto Love”, released on March 13th 2001. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200. His sophomore album “Still Ghetto” followed suit, peaking at #8 on the Billboard 200 chart. Jaheim featured on the song by Nelly, “My Place” which was released on July 16th 2004. His third album however, “Ghetto Classics” released on February 14th 2006, shot right up to the number one spot of the Billboard 200 Chart.

His fourth studio album, “The Makings of a Man”, released on December 18th 2007 saw Jaheim move to Atlantic records, with his album debuting at #11 on the Billboard 200, with upwards of 176,000 copies being sold in the first week. The album “Another Round” followed suit, but reached #3 on the Billboard 200 Chart. “Appreciation Day” released September 3rd 2013, Jaheim’s sixth studio album, reached #6 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Live reviews

Keyshia Cole might not be one of those R&B artists who shot up to fame very quickly, but she is definitely one who’s managed to have some longevity in a this volatile business. So what keeps people coming back to see her? Her resilience, passion and her ability to wear her heart on her sleeve.
Starting her career at the age of 18, Keyshia dropped her debut album, ‘The Way It Is,’ in 2005. Eventually going platinum, this put Keyshia in prime position to be a contender in the R&B market that was already filled with some heavy hitters. However, she held her own and dropped five more albums including ‘Point of No Return,’ her latest LP.
If there’s something that makes Keyshia Cole a great performer is the fact that she personifies whatever she’s singing. While other singers do that when they start moving down toward the ground or shutting their eyes while belting out that high note, Keyshia is a bit more dynamic. When she’s singing an upbeat banger like ‘Rick James, she’s put her bitch mode into overdrive to show her diva side. Then if it’s a song like ‘Trust & Believe,’ she makes us feel like she’s just been heartbroken and makes you want to weep along with her achingly beautiful lyrics.
So if you’re in the mood to feel the music, not just hear it, Keyshia Cole might be the R&B artist for you.

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evtan

Jaheim, on the face of it, is by no means an exclusive case over the past couple of decades of mainstream urban music - somebody who’s both rapped and turned his hand to smooth R&B - but the difference with this New Brunswick, New Jersey native is that he hasn’t tried to do both at once, which we’ve so often seen to be to the detriment of the artist’s output; instead, he left his dalliance with straight-up hip hop behind early in his career, and instead decided to croon his way to R&B success; he achieved that, too, in 2003, when his second album, the misleadingly-titled Still Ghetto, spawned the platinum-selling smash ‘Put That Woman First’. In the years since, Jaheim has turned out an additional four albums, with last year’s Appreciation Day the most recent. He continues to be a popular live performer across the States, showcasing his formidable vocal talent with a full live band, but hasn’t made any UK appearances in almost a decade; he retains a significant cult fanbase over on these shores, and they’ll no doubt be hoping for the opportunity to stage an appreciation day of their own sooner rather than later.

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