Diamonds is looking for men who would like to enter the Mr Diamonds competition and win £1,000 cash. Call 07956 951 150. Enter on your own or with friends.

Michael Simon Promotions Good Friday Black and White Ball at one of London’s landmark venues, The Decorium near Alexandra Palace on Friday 2nd April
 
The night opens with Casino Royale style funny money games and a buffet menu with cocktails followed by musical entertainment  from a mix of main stream and pirate radio DJs including Rampage from BBC1, Mistri, Company Soul Sound, Special Touch, Santic and Station FMs Mr Undercover
 
For early discounted tickets visit www.mspromotions.co.uk or contact the MSP Box Office

Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire is a 2009 American drama film directed by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation of the award-winning 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film’s mainly female cast features Gabourey Sidibe as the title character, with Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz in supporting roles. The film marked the acting debut of Sidibe.

The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, under its original title of Push: Based On The Novel By Sapphire.^[2] At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, as well as a Special Jury Prize for supporting actress Mo’Nique.^[3] After Precious’s screening at Sundance in February 2009, Tyler Perry announced that he and Oprah Winfrey would be providing promotional assistance to the film, which was released through Lions Gate Entertainment. Precious won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The film’s title was changed from Push to Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, to avoid confusion with the 2009 action film Push.^[4]

Lions Gate gave the film a limited release, which would be expanded on November 20, in North America on November 6, 2009. Precious received largely positive reviews from critics; the acting, the story, and its message were generally praised, with criticism mainly aimed at fears of the film’s content sending a negative message; some reviewers felt that the film did not live up to its hype. In the film’s opening weekend in limited release, it grossed $1.8 million, putting it in 12th place at the box office. The film, as of 6 January 2010 (2010 -01-06)^[update], has made over $43 million, recouping its $10 million budget.^[1] The film has received awards and nominations including three Golden Globe and Screen Actor Guild nominations.

20th March

Indigo2Greenwich, GB
19:00

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The SOS Band is an American musical ensemble, founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. Originally known as Santa Monica, the ‘SOS’ initialism in the band’s name stands for Sounds of Success.

The band, fronted by Mary Davis, was initially famous for the hit “Take Your Time (Do It Right)” in 1980. In 1983, they joined forces with then new production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who went on to craft a string of R&B hits for the group, including “Just Be Good to Me,” “Tell Me If You Still Care,” “Borrowed Love,” “No One’s Gonna Love You,” “Just the Way You Like It,” and “The Finest”.

The Jam-Lewis-produced SOS Band hits are notable for popularizing the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine (and its distinctive cowbell sound) in popular music. The group continues to tour and perform to this day.

The song “Just Be Good to Me” was remixed by Beats International (aka Norman Cook or Fatboy Slim); the resultant song made its way to UK number one single as “Dub Be Good to Me.” The song was reworked with the bass line of The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton.” It was also covered by Shayne Ward on his album, Breathless. Also, the song “Tell Me If You Still Care” was covered in 1995 by fellow Atlanta native Monica on her debut album Miss Thang and sampled by Janet Jackson in her hit “Call On Me, as well as by Mariah Carey for a remixed version of her hit “Always Be My Baby“.” The Bingoboys performed a cover of “Borrowed Love” as the follow-up single of its 1991 dance hit “How to Dance.”

Lead vocalist Mary Davis left the group in 1987 to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by Chandra Currelley beginning with the band’s 1989 Diamonds in the Raw album. More recently, Currelley has been active as an actress and vocalist in Tyler Perry plays and films. When Davis’s solo career was not a successful as hoped, she reunited with the band in 1994.

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In-depth Biography
A singer, a self-taught keyboardist, and a prolific songwriter, Angie Stone’s first claim to fame was being the lead vocalist on Vertical Hold’s smooth urban dance track “Seems You’re Much Too Busy.” An R&B Top 40 hit during the summer of 1993, it eventually led to a solo career, and her debut album Black Diamond was issued in 1999 by Arista. In six years, Stone had definitely gained an old-school, autobiographical vibe, exemplified by her hit ballad “No More Rain (In This Cloud),” which has samples from Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye).” Contributors included Lenny Kravitz and former Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad as producers, and Stone’s ex-boyfriend D’Angelo as a vocal guest on “Everyday.”

Stone, a native of Columbia, SC, began singing gospel music at a young age at First Nazareth Baptist Church. Her father, a member of a local gospel quartet, would take his only child to see performances by gospel artists such as the Singing Angels and the Gospel Keynotes. During her youth, she wrote poetry, played sports, and, after high-school graduation, was offered college basketball scholarships. While working dead-end jobs, Stone began saving money to record her own demos at a local studio called PAW. She joined Gwendolyn Chisolm and Cheryl Cook in the rap trio the Sequence, who recorded hits for Joe and Sylvia Robinson’s Sugarhill label — “Funk You Up,” a remake of Parliament’s hit “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker” called “Funky Sound (Tear the Roof Off),” and “I Don’t Need Your Love (Part One).” Soon after, Stone was working with futuristic rappers Mantronix and rocker Lenny Kravitz and formed the neo-soul trio Vertical Hold, who first charted with the Criminal single “Summertime.” Besides “Seems You’re Much Too Busy,” the group’s self-titled A&M album spawned another charting single, “ASAP.” She moved to J-Records in 2001 for her second record, Mahogany Soul, and the record cracked the Top 40 thanks to the pop/R&B hit “Brotha.” Three years later, her third record Stone Love became her biggest hit, with a number 14 placing. In 2004, Stone Love was issued, followed by a live recording of her greatest hits in 2005 ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

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Urban R&B producer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter R. Kelly and his supporting band Public Announcement began recording in 1992 at the tail end of the new jack swing era, yet he was able to keep much of its sound alive while remaining commercially successful. While he created a smooth, professional mixture of hip-hop beats, soul-man crooning, and funk, the most distinctive element of Kelly’s music is its explicit carnality. He was able to make songs like “Sex Me,” “Bump n’ Grind,” “Your Body’s Callin’,” and “Feelin’ on Yo Booty” into hits because his production was seductive enough to sell such blatant come-ons. As his crossover success broadened, Kelly also developed a flair for pop balladry that helped cement his status as one of the biggest-selling male artists of the ’90s.

Kelly and Public Announcement released their debut album, Born Into the 90’s, at the beginning of 1992. It was an instant R&B smash, while earning a fair amount of pop airplay; “Honey Love” and “Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)” were number one R&B hits, while “Dedicated” was his biggest pop hit at number 31. 12 Play, released in the fall of 1993, established Kelly as an R&B superstar, eventually selling over five million copies. The first single, “Sex Me, Pts. I & II,” went gold, and the second, “Bump n’ Grind,” hit number one on both the pop and R&B charts in 1994; it stayed on top of the R&B charts for an astonishing 12 weeks, while logging four weeks at number one the pop charts. The follow-up, “Your Body’s Callin’,” was another gold single, peaking at number 13 pop. Also in 1994, he produced Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, the hit debut album for then 15-year-old Detroit R&B singer Aaliyah. Late in the year, it was revealed that Kelly and Aaliyah had wed in August and gotten an annulment shortly thereafter. The news sparked a small storm of controversy in the media, yet it didn’t hurt the careers of either singer. Kelly next wrote and co-produced “You Are Not Alone,” the second single from Michael Jackson’s HIStory album, which was released in the summer of 1995. Later that year, Kelly released a self-titled album which became his first to top the pop charts. R. Kelly sold four million copies and produced three platinum singles — “You Remind Me of Something,” “Down Low (Nobody Has to Know),” and “I Can’t Sleep Baby (If I)” — all of which hit number one R&B and reached the pop Top Ten.

Kelly truly consolidated his crossover success with the 1996 single “I Believe I Can Fly,” which he recorded for the Michael Jordan movie Space Jam. Transcending Kelly’s prior sexed-up image, the song reached number two on the pop charts and won Grammy Awards for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television. Kelly remained in the public eye in 1997 with another Top Ten soundtrack tune, Batman & Robin’s “Gotham City.” The ambitious two-disc R. followed in 1998, and even though it downplayed the explicit lover-man routine that had made him a star, it became Kelly’s biggest-selling album yet, going platinum seven times over. Its first single, a duet with Celine Dion titled “I’m Your Angel,” became Kelly’s second number one pop hit with a six-week run on top. Even though subsequent singles “When a Woman’s Fed Up” and “If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time” were more successful on the R&B charts, Kelly was well on his way to landing more Top 40 hits in the ’90s than any other male solo artist, and notched another with his guest appearance on Puff Daddy’s R&B chart-topper “Satisfy You.” Moving his blockbuster success into a new decade, Kelly returned in 2000 with TP-2.com, which spent three weeks at number one on the album charts and scaled back the ambition of R. to return to familiar lyrical themes. He scored two more R&B number ones with “I Wish” and “Fiesta” (the latter featuring guest Jay-Z), and had further hits with “Feelin’ on Yo Booty” and “The World’s Greatest,” the latter from the soundtrack of the Will Smith film Ali.

In the wake of “Fiesta,” Kelly and Jay-Z teamed up to record an entire album together. The Best of Both Worlds was heavily hyped and even more heavily bootlegged, but problems of a much more serious nature arose in February 2002, when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that it had been given a videotape showing Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl. When the scandal broke, other reports surfaced that Kelly had settled a civil suit in 1998 involving a sexual relationship with a then-underage girl, and that he was in the process of settling another suit brought by an Epic Records intern making similar allegations. Copies of the tape in question were sold as bootlegs and on the Internet, and while there was some question as to whether the man was really Kelly, and whether the girl really was underage, Kelly’s past history seemed to lend credence to the charge. Some radio stations dropped him from their play lists, and anti-Kelly protests were staged in Chicago. Meanwhile, The Best of Both Worlds entered the charts at number two, but sold disappointingly; some blamed the scandal, others the extensive pre-release bootlegging, although the generally unfavorable reviews suggested that the record’s overall quality might also have been to blame.

Following the initial sex-tape scandal, Kelly was dogged by numerous civil suits, including one from a girl who alleged that during her relationship with Kelly (which occurred while she was underage), she had become pregnant and gotten an abortion at the singer’s urging. A variety of other sex videos purporting to feature Kelly appeared as bootlegs, and a onetime Kelly protégée, a singer called Sparkle, stepped forward to identify the girl on the original tape as her then-14-year-old niece. In June, Chicago police officially charged Kelly with 21 counts of child pornography-related offenses, all related to the original tape. Kelly pleaded not guilty and released a new song, “Heaven, I Need a Hug,” which got extensive airplay for a brief period.

Meanwhile, work on his next album, Loveland, stalled amid more heavy bootlegging. Kelly eventually scrapped some of the most pirated tracks, recorded some new songs, and reassembled the album as Chocolate Factory (which was slated to include a bonus disc with some of the deleted material). Released in advance of the album, lead single “Ignition” shot to number one on the R&B charts in late 2002. Chocolate Factory itself was released in early 2003, and followed in 2004 by Happy People/U Saved Me. Surprisingly, despite reports of a feud with Jay-Z, later in 2004 another album was released from The Best of Both Worlds sessions. Weeks before his child pornography trial the following year, TP.3 Reloaded was released, featuring the first five chapters of his soapy “Trapped in the Closet” saga. Double Up followed (in 2007), but not before a remix collection titled Remix City, Vol. 1. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Steve Huey, All Music Guide

It’s back! The biggest indoor gospel event in the UK, is returning to Wembley Arena on bank holiday Monday 3 May 2010 and promises to be bigger and better than last year.

With a 2009 line-up that featured Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary and Ann Nesby, the Oraclez Gospel Festival made a huge impact in the scene and attracted thousands of gospel and R’n'B fans. This year, Oraclez returns with another stellar line-up including The Winans Ft CeCe and Bebe, Yolanda Adams, Trin-I-Tee 5:7, George Nooks and Martha Munizzi.

Michael Koos of Pure Genius Entertainment, organizers of the event, said: “Last year was a dream that became a reality. This year we’ve gathered some more of the hottest gospel artists and hope that even more people will be able to enjoy the Oraclez experience.”

Leading the pack of award-winning acts will be gospel royalty, the Winans’. For several decades BeBe and CeCe Winans have been among the most commercially successful contemporary gospel acts in the United States. They have successfully reached the broader and younger audience that traditional gospel had largely lost.

Also appearing will be Jamaican artist, Stitchie. Having made the change from successful dancehall artist to born-again Christian he is easily one of the most sought after gospel artistes in the genre of reggae.

From the UK, Rachel Hylton returns to her patch at Wembley Arena to bring her soulful vocals to the Oraclez Gospel Festival. 

Performances from these acts and many more, still to be announced, are not to be missed.

Oraclez World Music Festival & Awards Takes place on bank holiday Monday 3 May at Wembley Arena in London.

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