New Faces In Music

When you hear new singer India. Arie's hit Video, you can't help but feel good about yourself.

The tune is a hit with women because it celebrates high self-esteem, respect and loving yourself unconditionally.

The tune is a hit with male fans because it celebrates proud, beautiful, Black women--whose worth is not determined by the price of their clothes.

India.Arie is among a group of new talented singers that includes Jaheim, Alicia Keyes, Tank, Sunshine Anderson, Blu Cantrell, Craig David and Syleena Johnson--who are rapidly rising to the top of the music industry.

Their music seems to be everywhere--on the charts, on the radio, and their sizzling videos are on cable music stations across the country.

Each of these singers' style and sound is different, but they all are proving that they've got the right stuff to enjoy long careers in show business.

India.Arie's unique sound and message have earned her a spot on the top of the charts as well as the opening act on superstar Sade's highly anticipated concert tour and a recent appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

"I was never searching for a deal," she reveals. "I knew that I wanted as many people as possible to hear my music, but I made a decision early not to compromise myself or my music." She recalls, "Meeting Reen Nalli (a talent scout for Universal Music Group) and trusting her, I knew she was going to help me do it right. Then I met Motown President Kedar Massenburg, and he told me he'd never make me compromise my artistic integrity."

Motown has kept its promise and allowed the 25-year-old performer to sing what she wants to sing on her Acoustic Soul CD, which features such must-play tunes as I See God In You, Brown Skin, Nature, Simple, Part of My Life and Beautiful.

Music's new hunk Jaheim has won a special place with soul music lovers with his debut hits Could It Be and Just In Case from his top-selling Ghetto Love CD. The 21-year-old New Jersey native lists Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Teddy Pendergrass and Stevie Wonder among his biggest music influences. "I focused on teaching myself how to sing by keeping Luther Vandross in my ear all day long. Everywhere I went I'd sing."

He got his big break when he dropped a demo tape at Newark New Jersey's Naughty Gear store, owned by the hit group Naughty By Nature. Fortunately, his tape did fall into the hands of producer and Naughty By Nature group member Kay Gee, who produced hits for Next, Zhane and Naughty By Nature. A week later he was asked to audition for Kay Gee. Two years later, Kay Gee helped Jaheim sign a deal with Warner Bros. Records. And the rest, as they say, is soul music history.

Jaheim is one of the headline performers on the "Seagram's Gin Live" tour, which features Mystikal, Public Announcement, SuperVision and Nivea. Looking ahead, he notes, "I thought if I took my time and got right with God first and put Him ahead of everything, He'd bless me. I know He's got a job for me to do. Like, if I can get everybody to sit down, be quiet and listen, I'll touch the whole world." And with his blend of R&B and hip hop on Ghetto Love, Jaheim is well on his way to doing just that.

From the very first note of Alicia Keys' hit Fallin', listeners immediately fall in love with her.

Alicia was signed to Arista Records in 1998 and began writing, producing and recording her debut album Song In A Minor. She followed Arista Records thunder Clive Davis to his new J Records, which has just released her first CD. Highlights on the CD include the moving Troubles, Girlfriend, which she collaborated on with hitmaker Jermaine Dupri, and Rock Wit U with Isaac Hayes from the Shaft soundtrack.

The 20-year-old vocalist and classically trained pianist was born and raised in Manhattan. She recalls the best advice from her mother: "You can quit anything else, but you can never give up your piano lessons."

She has taken her mother's advice and has launched what music fans and industry observers say will be a big career in music. Her early influences are everyone from Miles Davis to Tupac Shakur, Biggie, Jay-Z, Nina Simone and even Beethoven.

New singer Tank says he wants "people to feel rolled on when they hear me, I want them to feel completely taken over."

And he certainly is knocking his his fans out with Maybe I Deserve from his debut CD Force of Nature.

The honest, straightforward tune is about a man who has been cheating on his girlfriend. The story is more than a confession, it's the paranoia of projection, about a man prepared to forgive his woman for hurting him, the way he's hurt her. He admits that maybe he deserves for her to go out and find somebody new.

Tank, who doesn't reveal his real name, says "Tank" refers to the unassailable military machine used to begin and end a ground attack quickly and decisively. "I didn't want to be confused with anyone else out there. I wanted to come out aggressive and forceful from the beginning."