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Solid Gold Soul

June 22, 2007

Welcome to Solid Gold Soul

About Freddie Bell

Freddie Bell, velvet morning voice talent is a mellifluous voice actor, broadcast-journalist, speaker and 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.
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KANYE WEST PREMIERES ‘STRONGER’ VIDEO

Rapper and producer Kanye West will release his third album, Graduation, in August. The first single and video from the project is “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” The star recently hosted an exclusive viewing of his latest video, “Stronger,” which was directed by Hype Williams. West told MTV.com, “This is one of the first times we got to make a video like how we make music — we got to go back to it.”

West previewed the clip on Tuesday night (June 19th), at the Tribeca Cinemas in new York City. LA Reid, Babyface, and Swizz Beatz all attended the screening.

The video was a major undertaking that took West and Williams over three months to complete, including nine days of shooting in Japan. West explained that by the end he had to convince Williams to stay on board. He said, “Hype almost bailed three times.”

R&B singer Cassie was the leading lady and they even used a real Japanese motorcycle gang. West shared that he wanted to start a movement with the new video and that he felt he had a lot to prove. The rapper said, “I made so many mistakes the past year, I started swimming in wack juice I needed to get out of. would read blogs and they would be like, ‘His shoelaces are untied, he’s a b***h.’”

The song features a sample of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” and the group is featured in the video dressed as helmet-clad scientists or doctors who are pushing buttons on a machine that is putting Kanye West together Six Million Dollar Man style.

West is still working on the final cut of the video which should hit video outlets in the coming weeks.

ROBIN THICKE READY TO HIT THE ROAD WITH BEYONCE

Robin Thicke is busy working on material for his album follow-up to the smash Evolution Of Robin Thicke and preparing for the launch of the Beyonce Experience tour, which kicks off July 7th at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

Asked if he and the B’Day girl will perform any duets on stage, Thicke said he doubts it but anything could happen. “I just feel lucky to be a part of it,” Thicke told Jam! Music.com about the Beyonce tour. “I know she loves my music and I love hers, so we’ll see what happens. I never try to force those things.”

As to touring, Thicke recently joked that he’ll stay on the road until a fistfight with his manager gets him off. But on a serious note, he added that he wants to keep a balance between live performing and creating in the studio: “Because I’ve been writing my whole life and I’ve always had a studio in my house, every day that I have off I go right to my home and my studio and I write songs for two or three days. So I’ve already got half a brand new album ready to go. And I really don’t want to be on the road too long that I can’t go back in and make great records, you know. Because you still gotta go in and make great music to be able to go out and perform it.”

Thicke’s current single is “Can U Believe.”

JOSS STONE GETS MULTIPLE CALLS FROM PRINCE WILLIAM

R&B/pop songbird Joss Stone says she was both honored and freaked out to receive a number of friendly phone calls from none other than England’s Prince William. The heir to the British throne apparently wanted to consult with the throaty singer about her choice of songs for the upcoming Concert For Diana, being organized by Wills and his brother Prince Harry to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of their mother, Princess Diana.

Britain’s Daily Mirror reported this week that the King-in-waiting and the 20-year-old vocalist have enjoyed several lengthy phone conversations. According to the paper: “Joss is delighted by the fact that Wills is phoning her and they hit it off instantly. They’ve spent ages talking about which songs she should perform and have painstakingly gone through a list of Diana’s most loved artists. They’ve settled on Queen and Tina Turner and Joss is incredibly honored to be asked to perform them.”

The paper goes on to say that Prince William initially spoke to Stone earlier this year to personally ask her to appear at the charity bash.

Fergie, Kanye West, Diddy, Elton John, Duran Duran, Tom Jones and Nelly Furtado are among the other artists lined up to perform at the Concert For Diana, set for July 1st at Wembley Stadium in London. The event takes place on what would have been Princess Diana’s 46th birthday.

Stone’s current CD is titled Introducing Joss Stone and features the urban radio hit “Tell Me What We’re Gonna Do Now” featuring Common.

BRIAN McKNIGHT GOES COUNTRY AS WELL AS R&B, POP ON CURRENT ALBUMGIRLS’

On his latest album, Ten, Brian McKnight stretches out, showing off not only his vocal abilities, but his songwriting and instrumental talents in a number of genres. Featuring his signature R&B dance tracks and heartfelt pop ballads, the album also includes a tune he wrote and recorded with country act Rascal Flatts, titled “Red White And Blue,” a patriotic tune about the life of soldiers fighting in Iraq.

With so much stylistic diversity, McKnight says he was hoping for a full-court press with different singles at various radio formats. He explained: “We’re trying something now that has never been done before, which I’ve been trying to tell people to do for the last three or four records, which is why not work a bunch of different songs at these different formats. So ‘Red White And Blue’ will come out AC and country; ‘What’s My Name’ will go to urban AC; we’ll have another single that goes mainstream R&B. And we’re going to figure out if we can actually make this happen for once.”

While “Red, White And Blue” hasn’t made it onto the country charts yet, McKnight says that working with his Nashville buddies Rascal Flatts isn’t that far-fetched: “Rascal Flatts, Brian McKnight, how did — ’cause they can’t even fathom how this country act — quote, unquote , because I don’t really consider them a country act — a country act and this R&B act can get together. And they don’t understand that there’s such a fine line between what soul music is and people that have soul that may not do ’soul music.’ But for me to get with my friends who do another type of music and have it make sense, makes all the sense in the world.”

McKnight is currently reigning on urban AC charts with “What’s My Name.”

GLADYS RELEASES NEW CD

Out now is Love Finds Its Own Way: The Best Of Gladys Knight And The Pips. The new 16- track set collects songs from all of the group’s eras, and includes such classic as “Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First to Say Goodbye),” “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” “If I Were Your Woman,” “Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me,” the Pips’ 1961 doo-wop classic “Every Beat Of My Heart,” and the group’s versions of “The Way We Were” and “The Wind Beneath My Wings.”

Gladys Knight credits the radio as her inspiration for loving, and going on to perform, so many different types of songs: “When I was coming up, when I was a little girl, radio was somewhere else. I mean, you could hear Patti Page and the Cadillacs another minute and Perry Como the next minute. You know, so I was exposed to all kinds of different music.”

Gladys Knight kicks off a string of dates on July 19th in Sandy, Utah at the Sandy City Amphitheater.

QUINCY JONES LAUNCHES NEW BROAD-BASED VENTURE

Entertainment mogul Quincy Jones is launching yet another business venture. This time the veteran producer and composer has joined forces with the Robert Thorne Co. to launch a lifestyle brand and digital media platform based on his six-decade career, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The new company will be called Quincy Jones Enterprises.

The new entity has formed partnerships with management company the Firm as well as licensing agency Brand Central to create a broad range of products, from media to fashion to home furnishings. The merchandising program will launch at the Licensing Show, which opened Tuesday (June 19th) in New York.

Jones will co-own the company with business mogul Robert Thorne, who will oversee Jones’ entertainment projects, licensing program and Web project.

QuincyJones.com will launch in the fall and offer access to Quincy’s Vault, containing rare and previously unreleased outtakes of his work with such artists as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, and others. It also will feature digital replicas of Jones’ original scores, rare behind-the scenes photos, and a music education and social networking division for aspiring music industryites.

“My work in music, film, television and currently on Broadway with Color Purple has been embraced by so many over the decades, and my new slate of film and television projects continues in that tradition,” Jones said. “My initiatives in lifestyle branding and digital media will be the next chapter along with my continuing priority of helping children of all cultures.”

Among Jones’ TV projects are a special celebrating his 75th birthday in March 2008 and a documentary series chronicling the history of American music through Jones’ eyes.

For the big screen he is developing a feature film based on his autobiography and a project titled Mammy Pleasant, based on the life of a freed slave who became the first black female millionaire. Another movie in development is Policy Kings, based on a book about black gangsters in 1920s Chicago.

Black History Fact

In 1832, Joseph Haynes Rainey is born. He will become the first African-American representative in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he will serve five terms.
In 1923, Marcus Garvey is sentenced to five years in prison after his conviction on charges of using the mail to defraud. Garvey said the charges were politically motivated.
In 1969, “My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder enters the Top 40 chart.
In 1978, “Sounds… and Stuff Like That” album by Quincy Jones is certified Gold.
In 1978, “Teddy Pendergrass” album by Teddy Pendergrass was certified Platinum.
In 1978, “Thankful” album by Natalie Cole was certified Platinum.
In 1990, “Little Richard Day” is held in Los Angeles as he gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1996, E. 1999 Eternal by Bone Thugs ‘n Harmony is certified Multi Platinum.
In 2001, Blues singer and guitarist John Lee Hooker dies of natural causes at the age of 83. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hooker is one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time.

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Celebrity Birthdays

Richard Jefferson, member of New Jersey Nets, 27
Camille LaChe Smith, actress (Judging Amy, Like Family), 14
Jascha Washinton, actress (One On One, Snow Dogs, Big Momma’s House 2), 18

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Words To the Wise

You can make it
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Contact InformationFreddie Bell
PO Box 390521
Minneapolis, MN 55439
fbellsolidgoldsoul@gmail.com
888-639-9738