R & B Haven

This website is the exciting place featuring the R&B album reviews, artist’s biographies and song lyrics. The site has a detailed list of the popular music videos of the artists. Also it has a well maintained discussion forum, where you can share your views. If you are a music freak, this is the coolest site you can visit.

R&B Haven

Regina Belle – The Electrifying Soul Singer

Regina Belle burst onto the music scene in 1987 with her rhythm and blues album All By Myself. Read more

Shuggie Otis: One Of The Best Songwriters In The Business

One of the best songwriters, record producers, and funk, rock, blues and American R&B singers is Shuggie Otis who was born as Johnny Alexander Veliotes on 30th November, 1953 in Los Angeles, California. ‘Strawberry Letter 23’ is one of his popular compositions that The Brothers Johnson had covered and this number had topped the Billboard R&B chart while finding its place in the Billboard Hot 100 chart at the 5th position in 1977. 1975 also saw his hit single ‘Inspiration Information’ making it to the R&B chart at the 56th position. Read more

James Carr: The Magician

Adding life to Rhythm & Blues and soul music, James Carr has successfully curved out his very own niche. James Carr, unlike his passion for music was born to a Baptist family in Coahoma in Mississippi on 13th June, 1942. Contrary to his identity as an R & B and soul artist, James Carr realized his passion for singing during gospel performances for a small recording label based in Memphis named Goldwax Records during the mid 60s.

The year 1966 saw him come to fame for the first time with his R&B number hitting the charts. “You’ve Got My Mind Messed Up” was his popular number hitting the R&B list and then he came up with “The Dark End of the Street” which is till date recognized as the most famous song he had worked on. Goldwax continued to work with James Carr till 1969 until the label managed to survive in the business. However James Carr failed to attain the same level of success with his consecutive releases.

Unfortunately Carr’s career suffered major setbacks due to his ailment of bipolar disarray. During his Japan tour, this disorder was rearing its head in 1970s and the audience for the first time found him freezing due to antidepressant overdose, though he steered through successfully from the Japan trip. The 1986 book named Sweet Soul Music, encouraged a revival of interest in his music and this set the stage for Carr to return to the world of soul performances but by then Carr who had lost his charm, failed to deliver further popular numbers on the chart.

Compared to the contemporary R&B and soul artists like Solomon Burke and Otis Redding, James Carr probably could never attain the position of popularity among the common audiences, but for numerous soul music and R&B fans few of his selected performances are till date an experience that’s unparalleled. At the age of 58 James Carr bid adieu to his fans in a hospital in Memphis and lung cancer was the reason for his demise. James Carr’s tragedy occupies some space among the list of tragedies popularizing the genre of soul and R&B. Carr’s mental illness took away his world of popularity from him.

Recently James Carr has been rated among the best singers of the genres of soul. He has been pitted along with the other popular soul artists like Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, and Percy Sledge. But he is more popular among the die-hard fans of the genre of soul music. Few of the other popular numbers of James Carr are ‘A Man Needs A Woman’ (1968), ‘Take Me To The Limit’ (1991), and ‘Soul Survivor’ (1994). Few of his popular hit singles are ‘Pouring Water on a Drowning Man’, ‘Love Attack’, ‘Let It Happen’,

Despite being a popular singer Carr was not the mover and shaker types neither did he crave for publicity. In fact as a person he was quiet person confined to his own world. Carr’s involvement in gospel performances has always been reflected in his performances.

TJ Grooves - Soul Music TV & Rare Soul Grooves.com