Anthony Hamilton, Leela James, et Raheem DeVaughn

Anthony Hamilton’s music career has its beginnings in the gospel choir at church he used to sing in since he was 10 years old. Having signed with label Uptown Recordsin 1993, Hamilton moved to New York to pursue music. He was a backup singer on tour for artist D’Angelo’s album “Voodoo” and subsequently collaborated with southern rap group Nappy Roots on albums “Watermelon, Chicken, and Grits,” “Wooden Leather,” and “The Humdinger.” The collaboration on single “Po’ Folks” won them a Grammy nomination for “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration” in 2003.

Hamilton signed with label So So Def Imprint by Jermaine Dupri and came out with an independent album called “Comin’ From Where I’m From” in 2003. The album went platinum and features the single “Charlene.” His sophomore album, entitled “Ain’t Nobody Worryin” was released in 2005 with successful single “Can’t Let Go” and the album became certified gold.

Hamilton has collaborated with numerous R&B artists, even snagging a duet for "Buon Natale" with Nat King Cole on his holiday album. In 2007, Hamilton had a cameo role as a singer in the film “American Gangster” and also contributed to the soundtrack. He sang “Freedom” with Elayna Boynton on the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino film “Django Unchained” in 2012.

The young songstress has a voice beyond her years and is hailed by critics as a soul revival. She includes artists such as James Brown, Roberta Flack, Toni Braxton, Mavis Staples, Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway as influences whilst her vocal abilities and tones are often likened to Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. Her debut album 'A Change Is Gonna Come' was praised for its rich, gravelled tone incorporating traditional soul techniques with contemporary genres such as R & B and funk. It included collaborations with Raphael Saadiq and Kanye West.

She is wise beyond her years when it comes to lyricism too, she has an elevated view of the music industry and often condemns the glorification of materialism and misogyny in popular R & B and pop music. She is a firm believer that artists should rely on the credibility of their music and be rewarded for these similarly to how they were in former decades. She released her second album 'Let's Do It Again' through Shanachie Records and the title is a homage to one of her noted influencers, The Staple Sisters. It was far more commercially successful in the States that the debut, peaking at #84 on the US albums chart and #11 on the R & B chart.

That year she received two prestigious award nominations, one from the NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Artist category and another from the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist. With this elevated critical acclaim and notoriety, her third album 'My Soul' sold even better than its predecessor. It peaked at #37 on the US charts and broke the top 10 on the R & B chart. After this Leela decided to release a cover album in tribute to one of her favourite artists, Etta James, and critics praised the beautiful re-imagination of the iconic singer's most popular hits.

Son of jazz cellist Adbul Wadud and cousin of singer Chrisette Michele, DeVaughn has lots of musical blood, however even in pre-school DeVaughn’s mother said he had an affinity towards music. After graduating from high school, DeVaughn attended Coppin State University in Baltimore City, U.S., and began harmonising with a group of street corner singers, and it wasn't long before he began skipping classes to write and record lyrics.

After winning a talent competition at the Washington DC nightclub named Bar Nun, CEO of Soul World Entertainment Cliff Jones asked DeVaughn to write a song for soul quartet Dru Hill. In doing so the singer caught the attention of DJ Jazzy Jeff and Roc-A-Fella A&R guy Kenny Burns which led to DeVaughn being signed by Jive Records in 2002.

After the successful single releases of “Guess Who Loves You More” and “You” DeVaughn released his major label debut “The Love Experience” on June 28, 2005. The album received critical acclaim, sold around 250,000 copies and reached No. 46 in the Billboard 200.

The music of DeVaughn has been compared to that of Dwele, D’Angelo and Marvin Gaye, with his mix of R&B, neo-soul and soft rock.

DeVaughn’s follow-up album “Love Behind the Melody” was his biggest charting hit, which peaked at No. 5 in the Billboard 200. The album also produced the song “Woman” was the singer’s most commercially successful ingle and was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Male R&B Performance in 2008. The R&B singer’s two subsequent albums “The Love & War MasterPeace”, which received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album and the independently released “A Place Called Love Land” both charted well, and secured DeVaughn’s position in the R&B mainstream.