FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Rick Scott 310.306.0375
21 May 2007
email: greatscottproductions@earthlink.net
The Voice
returns…
Howard Hewett releases his first
R&B album in 10 years
“Can U Feel Me” embraced by Urban
Adult Contemporary radio,
Tour dates announced to support
If Only…
Romantics and fans of true
vocalists and real music have reason to rejoice as the long-awaited album by Howard Hewett, If
Only…, was released last week (May 15) by The Groove Records, a division of
entertainment conglomerate The Machine
Productions, which is distributed by the Navarre Corporation. It is the gifted crooner’s first new
R&B disc in a decade and ninth as a solo artist. Hewett wrote or co-wrote five new songs
for the classy collection of ballads and served as executive producer along with
Earth, Wind & Fire’s Ralph Johnson, who is credited with
originally discovering the singer.
Hewett has always been
passionately committed to delivering music of uncompromising quality, substance
and significance. He’s reemerging
now because he believes he has something to communicate and that the timing is
right because music listeners are again clamoring for authentic music from
genuine artists. Hewett is a rare
and special vocalist who sounds as satiny smooth singing live as he does on
records. A variety of producers,
co-producers and musicians contributed to If Only…including George Duke, Gerald Albright, Marc Nelson, Nils, Nathan East,
Ricky Lawson, Paulinho Da Costa
and Monty Seward. The album’s bonus track is one of the
final recordings by the legendary Billy
Preston, who is part of the all-star cast on Hewett’s soul-kissed version of
John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The other eleven songs that comprise the
disc are originals that strike a chord by exploring amorous relationships, which
remains Hewett’s muse. The
reflective “Enough” whet fans’ and radio programmers’ appetites when it went top
20 on the Urban Adult Contemporary charts earlier this year. “Can U Feel Me” was recently serviced to
radio, where the steamy, sensual song of seduction is already garnering spins
ahead of the June 11/12 impact dates.
Although it’s been a decade since
he last released an R&B record, Hewett spent those years nurturing his fan
base through frequent concerts and personal appearances in addition to releasing
two Gospel albums. To help launch
If Only…, Hewett performed intimate
sets at two album release events held over the past ten days in Los Angeles that
brought out fans and friends including Johnson, James Ingram, Denise Williams, Eriq La Salle, Harvey Mason Sr., Ollie Woodson (The
Temptations), Tomi Rae Brown (widow
of James Brown) and Lawrence
Hilton-Jacobs. He’s anxious to
support the new album with concert dates starting this summer, including a June
16th show with Teena
Marie in
After Johnson discovered the
Akron, Ohio native in Los Angeles, Hewett catapulted to international fame as a
member of the chart-topping trio Shalamar (with Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniels) that had a string of
R&B-pop hits from 1978 through the mid-1980s, including “Second Time
Around,” “A Night To Remember,” “Dancing In The Sheets” and “This Is For The
Lover In You.” He launched his solo
career in 1985 and has since solidified his place as one of the preeminent soul
vocalists with hits such as “I’m For Real,” “Stay,” “Once, Twice, Three Times,”
“Show Me,” and “Say Amen.” Over the
years, Hewett shared the spotlight on duets with Anita Baker, Kenny Loggins, Dionne
Warwick, Brenda Russell, Roberta
Flack and Stacy Lattisaw and his
supple voice graced tracks by Duke and Stanley Clarke. A spiritually committed man, Hewett
released his first inspirational album, The
Journey in 2001. Additional
information is available at www.howardhewett.com and www.themachineproductions.com.
Experience Hewett singing live on
the following dates (dates are being added):
May
26
June
1
June 15
June 16
June 24
July 14
July 19
July 21
July 28
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