Excelsior is In His Hands

www.freddiebell.com

Morning Show Update

September 25, 2006

Welcome to the Update

Freddie Bell, velvet morning voice talent and General Manager of Z 1470 Totally Gospel
(KZTG – 1470) is a mellifluous voice actor, broadcast-journalist and speaker who is also a National Voice Actor. His vast voice over credits, include hosting several radio programs including the Tom Joyner Morning Show, The Love Train, It’s The Gospel in Tampa, The Freddie Bell Morning Show in radio on KSGS – 950AM, Solid Gold Soul in Minneapolis, plus This is Music, The Freddie Bell Countdown Show and The Minneapolis NAACP Community Affairs television Programs in Minneapolis.
Invite Freddie to your next event or seminar as a Keynote Speaker, covering topics including You Gotta Have H.E.A.R.T., Tuning In to R.A.D.I.O, Maximizing Your Potential, Imagination, The Secret Key To Success, Winning Through Community Service, Dreaming Your Way to Success and a variety of topics related to sales and sales management. Freddie shares ideas and techniques he used to propel Solid Gold Soul Radio into a household name and the launch of Totally Gospel radio in the Twin Cities. Call today for booking details. 888-639-9738.

Listen to the Freddie Bell Show, 4 to 7pm, weekdays on Z 1470 KZTG, Totally Gospel, or on the web at www.totallygospel.com.

JOHN LEGEND SERENADES ‘OPRAH’

Multiple Grammy winner John Legend appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday (September 21st) to perform two songs from his upcoming album Once Again, which is due October 24th from G.O.O.D./Columbia. Legend serenaded the audience with the single “Save Room For Love” and the romantic “Heaven.”

Legend told Winfrey that winning the Grammys for his 2004 debut Get Lifted has only made him feel freer to pursue his music. (Legend) “In a lot of ways it hasn’t changed. I’m still a musician, I still love to write music, I love to perform, and that part of it is the same except I get to do it more now, I get to do it all the time, and I get to do it in front of thousands of people cheering now instead of hundreds. (laughs)” (Winfrey) “Yeah.” (Legend) “I’m just happier, I think. I think this whole success has made me feel more fulfilled, and just more motivated and inspired.” (Oprah) “Really.” (Legend) “Feels good.”

Legend also noted that he plans to embark on a film career, and will shoot a project with rapper-turned-actor Mos Def sometime in the next year.

Legend wrote 13 new tunes for Once Again, which features production by Will.I.Am; Kanye West; Devo Springsteen & Tom Craskey; Raphael Saadiq; Eric Hudson & Jack Splash; Craig Street; and others.

EXCELSIOR WOWS FINELINE!!

Nobody knew it’d be like this! Excelsior is set to release their latest project, In His Hands, in stores tomorrow, however, they gave Twin Citians a preview last night at the Fineline. And what a preview it turned out to be. It should have simply been billed as a concert instead of a listening party. The 30-member group, led by Bobby Champion, along with a full backup of musicians filled the Fineline stage and took control of the audience from beginning to end. In an interview on Z1470 Totally Gospel radio, Champion told me the group would perhaps do a number or two. Some half a dozen songs later, Excelsior had the packed house standing, shouting and waving thier hands. In His Hands is the seventh CD for Excelsior and is being produced on their own record label. I ran into Gary Hines, Sounds of Blackness founder, last night, who says he’d heard the CD master in the studio which he deems an incredible work. There were a number of special guests in the house including congressional candidate, Keith Ellison;Stairstep Founder, Alfred Babbington-Johnson; Event Organizer, Hattie Webb; General Mills Executive, Celois Steele; and a number of Z 1470 Totally Gospel volunteers and employees. The event was punctuated by a host of singers, a gospel comedian and was emceed by Television Personality, Angela Davis. In His Hands lands on store shelves tomorrow.

MARIAH CAREY’S ‘MIMI’ GETS SECOND CHANCE AT AMAS

This year, Mariah Carey gets another crack at a slate of American Music Awards for her 2005 album The Emancipation Of Mimi. After heading into last year’s awards as the leading nominee in four categories, the diva only took home one trophy for Favorite Female Soul/R&B Artist, an incident that Entertainment Weekly calls a “snub.” Carey is again a leading nominee in this year’s AMA race.

The “Fly Like A Bird” singer is again competing in three categories: Favorite Female Artist in both the Pop/Rock and Soul/R&B categories, and Favorite Soul/R&B Album for Mimi. She’ll have to beat out pop/rock divas Kelly Clarkson and Nelly Furtado and soulful singers Mary J. Blige and Keyshia Cole to earn the female prizes. Her album competitors are Blige’s The Breakthrough and Jamie Foxx’s Unpredictable.

Carey has been earning mixed reviews for her North American tour to promote The Emancipation Of Mimi. While critics praise her vocal prowess, some reviewers have complained about too many costume changes, a short set list, and over-the-top staging.

LIONEL RICHIE GETS FIRST TOP 10 CHART DEBUT IN 10 YEARS

Veteran singer and songwriter Lionel Richie’s brand-new album Coming Home has debuted at Number Six on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, making it his first Top 10 album debut in a decade. The new album, which also landed at Number Three on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, moved 75,000 copies in its first week, making it Richie’s best one-week sales total in the Nielsen SoundScan era.

The lead-off single from the new album, “I Call It Love,” has been a multi-format radio smash for the former Commodores singer, with urban, pop, adult contemporary, and smooth jazz radio all airing the tune. Richie says he’s thrilled with the acceptance he’s receiving at this point in his career: “Isn’t this amazing? When they called and told me, ‘You’re not gonna believe this, are you sitting down? We have now urban radio and also we have rhythm radio,’ I started laughing myself to death. Because when you start thinking about the demographics across the board, the Lionel Richie story just continues. It’s going forward and backwards now.”

Richie plans to hit the road later this month. The 16-city trek kicks off October 27th in Detroit and ends November 25th in Oakland, California. Another leg of the tour is likely for 2007.

BOBBY BROWN FEELING DOWN ABOUT IMPENDING DIVORCE

Bobby Brown says he’s feeling down about his separation from wife Whitney Houston, who slapped him with divorce papers earlier this month. Brown opened up to People Magazine, saying, “I’m really saddened by the whole situation.”

The R&B bad boy spoke to the magazine from his hometown of Boston, where he was celebrating the 17th birthday of his eldest daughter, LaPrincia. Brown was also seen Sunday night at Boston’s Comedy Connection to watch comedian Mike Epps. A source told the magazine that Brown seemed to be in good spirits, mingling with guests at the club and posing for photos with Epps after the show.

The entire Brown interview will be in the new issue of People, on newsstands now.

Pop princess Houston and 37-year-old Brown, an original member of the group New Edition, were wed in a lavish, star-studded ceremony in 1992 at her mansion in New Jersey. The couple have one child, 13-year-old Bobbi Kristina. In her filing, Houston reportedly asked that she get custody of Bobbi Kristina and that Brown be allowed visitation rights. Divorce proceedings are expected to begin next month.

JONATHAN BUTLER CONTINUES GOSPEL CAREER WITH NEW ALBUM

Jonathan Butler, who is known to many smooth jazz fans as a vocalist and guitarist, is expanding his gospel music output this Tuesday with a new album recorded in tandem with gospel star Juanita Bynum. The new set, Gospel Goes Classical, will be released September 26th.

The album was recorded at a live concert the two performed in Birmingham, Alabama, with the 60-piece Gospel Goes Classical Symphony Orchestra and a 75-member mass choir. The album is a co-production of Bynum’s Flow Records with the Maranatha Music label.

Butler is currently signed as a secular artist to Rendezvous Entertainment, which released his album Jonathan last year. He says that Rendezvous co-founder Dave Koz had to twist his arm, because at that point in his career he was planning to focus exclusively on a career in gospel. Butler told me: “Gradually he was just asking me questions about how I would feel making another smooth jazz record. Because when I left Warner Brothers, I just kind of gave up the ghost and said, you know, ‘I’m done with this smooth jazz stuff. I’m just going to serve the Lord and make gospel records.’ And I was pretty much happy just to pursue that journey.”

Butler will join Bynum at two appearances this weekend to celebrate the album’s release. They will appear September 25th at the New Life Christian Bookstore in the Jamaica section of Queens, New York, and September 26th at the Wal-Mart in Lithonia, Georgia.

TIGER WOODS DEFENDS WIFE’S HONOR IN IRELAND

In Ireland this week for the Ryder Cup championship, golf star Tiger Woods is fighting mad. Seems an Irish magazine and a tabloid have linked photos of his wife, Elin Nordegren, to pornographic Web sites. Woods is considering a lawsuit, his agent told the Associated Press. At a press conference the golf star called Wednesday to address the issue, Woods said, “My wife, yes, she has been a model prior, and she did do some bikini photos. But to link her to porn Web sites and such is unacceptable, and I do not accept that at all. Neither does our team.”

The September issue of Dubliner Magazine ran an item saying, “Most American golfers are married to women who cannot keep their clothes on in public. Is it too much to ask that they leave them at home for the Ryder Cup? Consider the evidence. Tiger Woods’ wife can be found in a variety of sweaty poses on porn sites.” The magazine’s publisher, Dubliner Media Limited, has apologized to the couple, claiming it was “a satire.”

But the tabloid The Irish Daily Star picked up the story Wednesday under the banner “Tiger’s Fury at Naked Pictures.” The piece included bikini shots of Nordegren as well as a nude photo of a woman that was purported to be Nordegren when it was released three years ago. Woods has denied that the picture was of his wife.

At the press conference, Woods said his anger wasn’t aimed at the Irish people, and that he had seen how the media treated his late father and coach in the past. “I know the media can be a little bit difficult at times, but when you … it’s hard to be very diplomatic about this when you have so much emotion involved, when my wife is involved in this,” Woods said.

The golf champion’s agent, Mark Steinberg, said a lawsuit may be in the offing. “I’m not sure what we’ll do in the future,” he said. “Everyone knew (the nude photo) wasn’t her. It’s plain as day. You can see it’s not factual. It’s kind of ironic they bring it up this week.”
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Words To the Wise

You win when God is in the mix
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Contact Information
Freddie Bell
PO Box 650961
Sterling,VA 20165
newsletter@voiceunique.com
888-639-9738