Born in Mobile, Alabama on 15 October 1966 and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the late 1980s Benet sang with a Top 100-style group called Gerard, and then in 1992 formed a band with his sister, and cousin called Benet. Together they released a self-titled album, which went on to sell over 100,000 copies. Eric Benet then went on to pursue his solo career, having signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records. He released his first solo album in 1996 entitled “True To Myself.”
His second album, “A Day In The Life,” was released in 1999 and the single, “Spend My Life With You,” went on to earn a Grammy nomination in 2000. Additionally, the album also won a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Album, Male. Benet also took part in various side projects such as recording with Earth, Wind and Fire, as well as releasing an album with his label-mates called “Somethin’ For The People.” In 2001 he released his next album, “Better and Better,” but due to the controversy about change in music style that this album had and lack of creative freedom, Benét changed to Reprise-distributed label Friday Records and recorded his next album, “Hurricane.”
“Hurricane” was followed by “Love & Life” in 2008 which earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album, as well as Best R&B Male Performance for "You're the Only One," a single from the record. On June 5, 2012 Eric then released his latest album “The One,” which won him the SoulTracks Readers' Choice Award for Best Male Vocalist. In 2014 Benet released an international album, “The Other One” in which he teamed up with the European production collective.
Tamar Braxton discovered her talent for singing at a young age along with the rest of her sisters. She began singing at the age of 2 and was performing in her church choir throughout her childhood. Tamar is known for her extensive vocal range that covers five octaves, allowing her to hit some of the most difficult notes. She is also influenced by many great artists including Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
In 1989 Tamar Braxton formed the R&B girl group The Braxtons with the rest of her sisters: Toni, Trina, Traci, and Towanda. In 1990 the group released the hit single “Good Life”. Toni Braxton left the group in 1991 to sign to LaFace records as a solo artist, and her sisters supported her as backup singers on her first US tour. Tamar continued to perform with the remaining members of The Braxtons after Toni had left, and released the album “So Many Ways” in 1996 with her sisters, Trina and Towanda. The album produced the single “The Boss”, which reached the No. 1 position on the Billboard Dance Charts.
In 1998 Tamar had left The Braxtons to pursue a solo career and signed to DreamWorks Records. Tamar released her self-titled debut solo album in 2000, which contained the singles “Get None” and “If You Don’t Wanna Love Me”. The album placed on the Billboard 200 chart and featured several notable guest artists like Missy Elliott, Jermaine Dupri, and Tricky Stewart. Apart from her solo career, Tamar continued to provide backup vocals for three of Toni Braxton’s albums in the early 2000s.
In 2004 Tamar switched record labels and signed with Casablanca Records. During this time she released the single “I’m Leaving”, which was highly inspired by the song “Grindin” by the rap duo Clipse. After leaving Casablanca Records, Tamar would sign to Universal Records in 2010 and release the single “The Heart In Me”. The single was later featured on the “Adidas 2: The Music” compilation. While not making music Tamar was busy with the reality television shows “Braxton Family Values” and “Tamar & Vince”. Tamar would also go on to host the television shows “Tiny Tonight” and “The Culturelist”.
In 2013 Tamar released her second studio album “Love and War” through Epic Records. The album was a great success critically and commercially, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and No. 1 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album contained the singles “Love and War”, “The One”, and “All The Way Home”. The album also received a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album, and the title track from the record gained Tamar another two Grammy nominations. In 2013 Tamar also released a Christmas album “Winter Loversland”, which featured many traditional renditions of Christmas tunes. Tamar is also known for her amazing live performances and has embarked on headlining tours as well as toured with several notable musicians such as John Legend and R. Kelly.
This was my second time seeing Eric Benet and he did not disappoint. His voice is incredible and it was great to experience him up close and personal at such an intimate venue!!
256) Tamar Braxton With Grammy nominations under her belt, the American pop and R&B singer/songwriter Tamar Braxton has had an incredibly successful career. Following in the footsteps of a successful sibling is always a challenge, but Tamar didn’t let her R&B sister Toni Braxton over shadow her, ad she broke away from their family band and signed to DreamWorks.
Although her debut album wasn’t a commercial success at all, she persevered, and it paid off with the release of her second album Love and War. She opened her show with the title track from the album, and blew the audience away with her great dance moves and her high range. She was great at interacting with her backing dancers to create an exciting show to be a part of, as well as screaming out to the audience for us to copy her dance routine which was a lot of fun. She played a couple of older tracks from The Braxton’s days, as well as some of her original gospel tracks.
She gave us a sneak preview to a track from Winter Loversland which I’m now so excited for, because it sounded great. To make the show even better, the acoustics and visuals form the lighting and projectors were spot on, and made it even more exciting to watch.
‘Home’ is one of my favourite songs, and Ruben Studdard’s R&B twist on the song that opened the show was absolutely magical, and as his gospel voice rang out across the auditorium, he held every single member of the crowd in complete silence. After winning American Idol back some years ago, he was one of the lucky ones who rose to fame from the success, and has released many albums and singles with much success since his win.
He played through a great selection of his tracks, both covers and originals, and focused mainly on his 2009 album, Love Is. He was great at encouraging us all in the audience to sing and dance along to his music, and would shout out ‘if you know this one sing along and put your arms in the air’, which was awesome to feel so involved in his performances.
Studdard is an incredibly performer as well as vocalist, and his witty humour and confident stance held the audience captivated from start to finish. He even took requests for songs after he’d finished playing through his set list, which I thought was an awesome and really personal touch.