| This Year “The Urban Music Seminar Awards” are designed not to honour the big names and artists in the industry but to give thanks and recognition to the people behind the scenes. Without these people behind them, the big names may never occur. The urban music scene in this country owes them a debt of gratitude for aiding the development of the industry.” We’ve had a number of high profile guests at UMS over the past 7 years from all spectrums of the industry including artists, A&R execs, producers and entertainment lawyers. Here is an outline of some of the guests you enjoyed learning from…Ms Dynamite was the hottest young talent of 2002. 21-year-old Naomi McLean Daley burst into the urban music scene 2 years ago when she collaborated with garage producers Sticky on the song Boo! Since then, the North London based MC has won best RnB award at the Top of the Pops award show, 3 MOBO’s including Best Newcomer and the prestigious Mercury Music Prize for ‘A Little Deeper’ where she famously donated all the money to charity. This year, the anti-gun campaigner won 2 awards at the Brits for Best Urban Act and Best British Female Solo Artist. www.msdynamite.co.uk Tim Westwood , one of the most influential figures in British Hip-Hop, began on pirate radio station LWR and Kiss FM. He joined Radio 1 in December 1994 after seven years presenting the Rap Show on Capital FM. Last year, Westwood had a residency at the Temple Club in North London, which featured Hip Hop stars including Lil Kim, Gang Starr, Jay Z and Busta Rhymes. Over the years, he’s won numerous awards including the Sony Award for Best Specialist Music Programme and Best Radio Show at the Muzic Magazine Awards. Westwood is loyal to supporting UK talent on the Radio 1 Rap Show and publicizes unsigned acts through open mic competitions and showcases. www.timwestwood.com MCs Bushkin and Mighty Moe along with DJ Fonti formed Heartless Crew in 1992 and they’re now one of the biggest names within the UK House and Garage scene. This highly respected trio launched as a mobile sound system mixing bashment, hip-hop and soul at parties all over the southeast before locking their first residency at Hackneys Chimes Nightclub in 1996 where they began incorporating garage. After slots on Mission 90.6FM and Freek FM they were given a show on 1XTRA last year. Their first compilation album ‘Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit’ was released last May on eastwest records. www.heartless-crew.netKelly Rowland rose to fame with the success of Destiny’s Child during the late ’90s. During that timeDestiny’s Child catapulted into the new millennium as one of the best-selling female musical groups in history. Rowland , who was barely in her twenties, had been imagining such stardom for a long time.Born and raised in Atlanta, GA. Performances with the church choir followed, but Rowland ‘s developing interest in music blossomed when she and her family moved to Houston, TX. She befriended another inspiring singer, Beyoncé Knowles , and the two became fast friends. They formed a band called Destiny’s Child made an impressive debut in 1997 with first single “No No No”; Two more albums followed — The Writing’s on the Wall (1999) and Survivor (2001) — earning Destiny’s Child countless fans across the globe as well as millions of records sold.Upon the success of Survivor, Rowland followed her band mates in taking some time off. During that time, Rowland began writing material for her first solo album. In 2002, Rowland ‘s stylish R&B solo debut, Simply Deep, was released on Columbia. “Dilemma,” the album’s first single, featured a duet with southern rapper Nelly which won them a Grammy. It had a one-month stay at number one during 2002. |
| SEAL Seal (born February 19 , 1963 ) is a British soul , rap and rock musician. Seal was born Sealhenry Olusegun Olumide Samuel , in Paddington , England . A childhood bout of lupus left him with distinctive facial scarring. After school, he studied architecture and engineering. His career started in 1989 , where he released a demo recording in 1989 . In the 1990s his music became popular for a while. Featured vocalist on the Adamski single, “Killer”, which was a UK number one hit in 1990 (he signed a contract to Sire Records ), he subsequently had solo hits such as “Crazy”, “Prayer for the Dying”, and “Kiss from a Rose” in 1995 , which became the theme for the film Batman Forever . In 1996 he released “Fly Like An Eagle”, which was originally recorded by Steve Miller Band , but released from Space Jam . He has released 3 eponymous (self-titled) albums in 1991 , 1994 and 2003 . The first single released of the 2003 album was called “Get It Together”. |
| TREVOR NELSON Trevor’s career began when he started fronting ‘warehouse parties’. In 1986 he became a DJ on Kiss FM presenting an early morning programme, later (1990) moving to daytime. His profile was popularised by playing in Soul II Soul at the Africa Centre. 1996 saw him move over to Radio 1 to present The Rhythm Nation show. After just a year he began a second show on Saturday afternoons and won the DJ of the year award at MOBO awards. Trevor’s passion is R&B music. |
| JAMELIA Jamelia has been won 2 BRIT awards for Best Female Artist and Best Single. It seems unbelievable now that her first single was released in 1999 when she was at the tender age of 18. Even more unbelievable is that she’d been discovered by Parlophone at the age of 15, when she stood up in an A & R man’s office and sang her own songs accapella, with a confidence that women twice her age would be proud to display. Parlophone signed her on the spot, but let her develop in her own time, until she was ready to release a single, which, 3 years later, she was. |
| LEMAR Less than two year ago, Lemar Obika’s hopes of making it, as a singer seemed to be dead in the water. Having actually achieved his ambition of securing a record deal with a major record label, the twenty five year old singer’s dream suddenly turned to dust when, before even getting a record out, his contract was cancelled: a victim of internal changes at the label. This was a cruel blow for the twenty five year old Tottenham born singer who had spent nearly seven years building his reputation on the London R&B scene: performing alongside the likes of Destiny’s Child and Usher along the way. A few years later he was on Fame Academy and came 3 rd . He then went to work with Beverly Knight. She saw him on a few episodes on the show and saw his talent. He did a few songs with her at her concerts. |
| URBAN ACHEIVMENT AWARDS 2001-2002 Michelle Escoffery Singer Songwriter accepting urban music acheivment Award 2002. |
Wayne Hector, Songwriter
After a successful performance at the I.A.A.A.M/Best Conference in 1994, Wayne was invited to collaborate on songs for some of the U.K’s most popular bands, such as Damage, All Saints, Five & Boyzone. These bands have all benefited from Wayne’s talent both as a vocal producer and an arranger.
Wayne has written songs for artists on both sides of the Atlantic such as Barry White, Gladys Knight, Samantha Mumba, Westlife, Whitney Huston, O Town (including top US Radio song “All Or Nothing”), Charlotte Church & Atomic Kitten.
He has also had success down under in Australia, writing hits with the hugely successful Australian band Human Nature, “He Don’t Love You”reached number 1, and Madasun’s “Don’t You Worry” which was the most played UK song on Australian Radio for the year 2000 achieving triple platinum status.