First Artist Tribute

Hello all! I have been a very busy woman, which is great! I have a bunch of exciting projects I am working on. I am launching my brand new website this week (clap! clap! clap!). And this Saturday, June 4th, 2011, I am headlining in my very own show! That isn't even the half of it, so as always "Stay Tuned!"

I've decided to create something titled "Artist Tributes" in my blogs periodically. This will honor and give recognition to hard-working singers/songwriters/producers/entrepreneurs of the past and present. As an artist, you love to be recognized and lifted up. It is a wonderful feeling, and great fuel. So even if he never sees this, I feel good knowing that I've shared his greatness with my fans...

My first Artist Tribute is for Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.

Born April 10th, 1959 (Age 52) in Indianapolis, IN. He is a Singer-Songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, record producer, film producer, entrepreneur.

I can almost guarantee you have heard, hummed, or sang one of Babyface's songs and didn't even realize he was apart of it. Shy as a child, he wrote songs to express his emotions. This man is simply incredible.

I remember when I was in 2nd grade, my sister, female cousin, and I performed "For The Cool In You" in a talent competition. We were dressed in suits with lipstick on, and I sang lead. We had dance moves and all. We won 2nd prize.

How about the major film "Waiting to Exhale" (Did you know this movie was directed by Forest Whitaker?).  All songs were written and produced by Babyface (except for "My Funny Valentine"). If your memory has become foggy over the years, songs from that soundtrack include Exhale (Shoop, shoop)/Why Does It Hurt So Bad- Whitney Houston, Sittin' Up In My Room- Brandy, Not Gon' Cry- Mary J. Blige, Count On Me- Whitney Houston/CeCe Winans, Let It Flow- Toni Braxton, and Kissing You- Faith Evans. How does a movie soundtrack go 7x platinum? When you have Babyface behind it.

Babyface has produced and written music for many artists including Patti LaBelle, Chaka Kahn, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Prince, Al Green, Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Diana Ross, Sheena Easton, Toni Braxton, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, Paula Abdul, Pebbles, Tevin Campbell, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Tamia, Shola Ama, 3T, Sisqo, Dru Hill, Fall Out Boy, Céline Dion, Katharine McPhee, Mariah Carey, Vanessa L. Williams, Chanté Moore, En Vogue, Eric Clapton, Kenny G, Kristinia DeBarge, Lil Wayne, Boyz II Men, Ashanti, Monica, Japanese singer Ken Hirai, P!nk, Marc Nelson, TLC, and Phil Collins among others. He helped form the group Az Yet and contracted Jon B. as a songwriter before he achieved his own stardom. He received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year in 1995–1997.

In the mid-1990s, Babyface and his then wife Tracey Edmonds expanded into the business of motion pictures, setting up Edmonds Entertainment Group and producing films such as Soul Food (1997), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), and also the soundtrack for the film The Prince of Egypt, which included contributions from numerous artists, including Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. They are the current executive producers of the hit BET reality series College Hill. Edmonds also worked with David Foster to compose "The Power of the Dream," the official song of the 1996 Summer Olympics, performed by superstar Céline Dion. Linda Thompson provided the lyrics.

Other associated acts include After 7 (his brothers' group), Tevin Campbell, Karyn White, Wale, and Timbaland.

A MUST-LISTEN album is "Babyface Unplugged 1997". It includes other performers such as Eric Clapton, Shanice, K-Ci & JoJo, Kevon Edmonds (brother), Melvin Edmonds (brother), Sheila E. and Stevie Wonder all singing your favorite Babyface songs! It's LIVE & awesome.

How can you not listen to Someone To Love (Jon B.), A Song For Mama (B II M), We're Not Making Love No More (Dru Hill), For The Cool In You (Babyface himself), and not feel something? There is so much more to say about this wonderful man. I hope some day to work with him, or even just have the opportunity to pick his brain and be mentored by him. Be inspired ladies & gentlemen. I am.

I wanna thank you for the "chill" in you, especially for you being so cool...

Until next time friends...

BABYFACE

Click Here To Watch "Everytime I Close My Eyes" Video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbrSO81KhBY

(Some excerpts from Wikipedia.com)

"You know you're the sh*t when Mariah Carey's your background singer."

(YouTube Comment)

Music Is My Life

I have a lot of promising things coming up, but don't want to spill the beans too soon. I have learned not to get excited off of word of mouth. But stay tuned!

Musical technology certainly has drastically changed from when I was a child. In my earlier years, I remember falling asleep on the floor in my Mom's studio. My goodness, that woman would be at it all night long. That is where I learned mostly everything I know. She is phenomenal. She had her own record label at the time and had many accomplishments as a singer/songwriter and female producer. She also plays a few instruments like drums, keyboard, and some acoustic and bass guiter. My friends thought my Mom was the coolest person ever. She taught me to play keyboard by ear. To which I learned my very first classical song by ear called "Cannon". Shocked the heck out of her! I began producing my own music at a very early age. I wrote my first song at age 12. It was called "Sound of my Voice". Putting together a song in the 90's was not as easy as it is now. Let my Mom tell it, she'll tell you how hard it was in the 70's to put together a song. There was no, cut/copy/paste. It was "start all over from the beginning if someone was off". We had a Roland XP60 keyboard. You could slide a floppy disk into to save your music. Of course I had my own disk with my own beats I created or re-created. Sometimes I would re-do mainstream beats just to see if I could do it. I was only 13 years old. Staying up until 6am. I had a book full of songs by age 14. Don't get me started on talent shows. I've lost count of those. We'd rehearse all day while our friends played outside. Our moves had to be identical and on point. My Mom was no Joe Jackson, but instilled discipline in us for the stage. That is why people say I turn into such a serious person when on stage. It is not a joke to me. Music is all my family knows really... that and Jesus. Each one of us can sing, write or play an instrument. A family full of songwriters is surely a gold mine.

One day, the world will know my story. I'm not just a girl who decided to get into music by watching Tv. I was born this way, into a family of musicians. This is my passion. My joy. My pain. My life. So when you hear my song "Music Is My Life", it truly is and I mean every word.

Until next time..

Great Start

Today was great.
I am pleased to announce that one of my songs was played today on a radio station during the 5 o'clock traffic jam in Columbus, GA. THAT phone call was AWESOME.
I am told that 4 out of 5 callers LOVED the song. The fifth caller called the song "typical". Well, we can't please everyone. But this is surely a start to something epic!

This week is going to be a busy one for me. Plus Simon Cowell's "X Factor" auditions are in Seattle this Wednesday, April 20th, 2011. I thought about going, but remembered how horrible of an experience I had with American Idol and vowed I'd never do anything like that again... Yes. I auditioned for American Idol in 2004 in San Francisco. We drove there. It was the last audition city and pretty much not exciting at all. What they DON'T show you on TV is that you have to audition at least 2-3 times BEFORE you even make it to (then) Paula, Simon, and Randy. You also have to sign a waiver before the process that they have permission to use your image in any way they want (i.e. make fun of you, etc.). Then it was hours on end of filming once you got into the place after hours of standing in line. And the most horrible part? They had about 20 booths set up with about 10 people auditioning at the same time PER BOOTH. It was a noisy mess! Needless to say, I did not make it through. But that is never a reason to give up! If you google or bing, you'll see how many artists got boo'ed at the Apollo or lost on Star Search back in the day before stardom.
"Our mental attitude is the X factor that determines our fate." -Dale Carnegie

I want to encourage you and inspire you, that whatever you desire in life can be yours no matter who says so! Remain positive in your everyday dealings and the laws of attraction will bring those things to you! Well, I am off. Until next time friends...

Welcoming Thoughts

Greetings! You have accidentally ended up at the blog of Kree Davis!... So since I have you here, I'm going to try my best to both make you think I am insane and creep you out at the same time! But before those blogs occur, I am going to start out by saying I have A LOT of random things going on in my head at any given moment and they must come out. That is a big reason why writing comes so naturally to me. I literally have pages titled "Random Lyrics" in my song books, and recordings on my cell of lyrics that come to me when I'm out-and-about. Cool? Kind of.

So... I used to think, as a child, that every artist wrote their own material. So not true! Actually I'm quite disappointed at the amount of artists who DO NOT write. But that's why people like myself are such a gift to this world. I kind of fall into a creepy trance when writing. One time, I spent an entire hour on ONE LINE (5 words) in like zombie-mode. What does a good song need? Easy... A catchy hook right? Well, I'm here to tell you that if you truly have skills, you can both have a great hook and A SONG WITH SUBSTANCE! Why are most of today's mainstream artists NOT DOING THAT?? @#$%&%$*!, I'm annoyed. (sigh) Please Save The Music. It's really all we have to escape nowadays..

I am excited to share my experiences and thoughts with you all. It is a struggle, and you sometimes go without a lot of things like sleep, food, quality time, money, etc. But all in all, I'm one of the sweetest, down-to-earth people you will ever meet. Until next time friends...