We are experiencing a great moment in music. I think with what is going on in our country and our everyday lives as a people, we can surely say that our music is speaking loud and clear to the many diversities, that are plaguing our cultural society. Many of our very talented artists are indeed using their voices to speak on many of these pressing issues surrounding our communities. One artist I would like to shine a spotlight on this week is “Dawn Richard”.
Dawn Richard graced the music scene a few years ago, after auditioning for a little show called “Making the Band”. Dawn’s roots begin in New Orleans. She has always had deep ties with father Frank Richard, being the former lead singer and percussionist of the group Chocolate Milk. So, this means she always has been surrounded by music in some form or another.
Now prior to Dawn attending that audition, which eventually landed her a spot in the very successful group, she had already landed a deal with “Octarve Anderson, Jr.” and his Atlanta Independent record label. “Yeah! Brother Records” and she had already recorded a solo album called “Been a While” that featured a single entitled “So What”, which was co-produced by “Ne-Yo”.
So now fast forward, enters “Sean (Diddy) Combs” of “Bad Boy records”. Diddy along with her previous New Orleans Management Company began negotiations to postpone the release of that Album and the immediate release of the artist from her contract.
Now, we could say that the rest is history, or we could continue the narrative and outline this artist’s achievements. Dawn shared great success being apart of the group “Danity Kane”. But, what many of you may not know is how the group got its name. Dawn created a drawing of an Anime character. The drawing caught the eye of Sean Combs, when asked does the character have a name. Dawn responded with her name is Danity Kane. Now, you can say that the rest is history. Following her success with the Danity Kane, Richard also had the pleasure of being a member of the eclectic group Diddy’s “Dirty Money”.
Dawn is back with yet another amazing project. The Album is entitled “Infrared Deluxe”. This album is jammed pack with deep downtempo vibes and infectious melodies along with catchy choruses. Production on this album is carefully mastered. While watching an episode of this season’s “Being Mary Jane” featured the track “Paint It Blue” in the background. The tracks soothing sounds filled the scene with so much passion as if it was the official video release of her song. Dawn’s voice almost hypnotizes you with her smooth transitions. I will be surely putting this fire track into heavy rotation at several events this spring. This season is starting off to an awesome start.
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