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Great Park

8000 Great Park Blvd., 92618, Irvine, CA, US

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Doors open: 13:00

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

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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.

Pretty Ricky biography

Taking gestures from artists on the forefront of mainstream R&B like Usher and R. Kelley and 90s legends such as Ginuwine, Blackstreet, and TLC, Pretty Ricky has concocted a blend of soul pop steaming with seductively coy beats and crooner style lyrics.

The rap-pop four piece formed in Miami, Florida, US in 1997 and made a point to transfer the bright and freestyle nature of the city into their music. Though their sound reflected the teen-pop qualities of acts like the Jackson 5 and Boyz II Men their style was anything, but innocent. They layered these saccharine sound nuggets with night club sleaze beckoning the obscene, but undeniably hilarious styles of Funkadelic and 70s era James Brown.

The group consists of brothers Spectacular and Baby Blue as well as members Corey Blue “Slick ‘Em” and Pleasure P; however, the group underwent several line up changes starting at the turn of the decade. One of the group’s founding members Milk B left in 2000 and Pleasure P was replaced by Mowet in 2007. Other replacement members included Ambition/4play, J. Long, and Lingerie. These members joined in the late 2000’s; however, they all departed from the group within a few years. Pleasure P pursued a solo career in 2007 and hit success with his 2009 album “The Introduction of Marcus Cooper”; however, he returned to Pretty Ricky in 2014.

Although the group formed in 1997, they did not put out their studio debut “Bluestars” until 24 May 2005. The album was released through Atlantic records and debuted on the US Charts at No. 16. Their 2nd studio album “Late Night Special” surpassed the success the group achieved with their first album, taking the coveted No.1 spot on the US Charts and striking gold status. Their sophomore release featured the 3 singles “On the Hotline”, “Love Like Honey”, and “Push It Baby”, the latter featuring Sean Paul.

Their 3rd self-titled album did considerably worse in sales as did its predecessors; however it did make it into the Billboard 200. This was their 1st album without Pleasure P; however, he returned to issue the group’s 4th studio debut “Bluestars 2”, which saw release in 2014.

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

The name Pretty Ricky actually referred to a group, rather than an individual, but in case you’re disappointed that it isn’t actually a daft stage name, rest assured that there were plenty of them making up the actual group itself; try on the monikers by which the original lineup went by on for size - they included Baby Blue, Spectacular, Slick’em and Pleasure P, with the latter being the group’s key member. He left to pursue a solo career in 2007, shortly after the group’s second full-length album, Late Night Special, had followed in the footsteps of its predecessor - their debut, Bluestars - and gone gold in their native U.S. One more album followed P’s departure, a self-titled effort in 2009, but failed to meet with the same success without him; part of the reasoning behind that, of course, was simply that they couldn’t offer the same kind of live experience without P, whose charismatic presence onstage had made up a huge amount of their appeal. Rumours continue to circulate of a follow-up to Bluestars being released, despite the official line being that the band dissolved two years ago; without P, though, you don’t really fancy their chances of further success.

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