Interviews

  From residential and commercial interior design consultant of a private firm to Season 7’s “Design Star” winner to host of her own HGTV hit television series “Shop This Room” – Danielle Colding continues her rise to the top Self-professed interior designer, lover of fashion, collector of all things beautiful, …

  If you are a fan of the late Luther Vandross, then chances are you are familiar with the singing voice of Chicago native Paulette McWilliams. You’ve heard her singing many times because she was Luther’s back up singer for over 20 years. The famous laugh on “Having a Party” …

  We have all at one time or the other heard the cliché “home is where the heart is”. The commonly used phrase as poignant as it is trite is a genius assertion because it invites us to search our heart to find our “home” and its open ended nature demands …

  iRJ: In your bio it mentions “you dodged early pressures to become a prodigy”. How so? GC: I mean, I think the word prodigy is a silly word. I think I dodged early pressures to put myself out there as an artist. There were a few occasions where people …

  To Jill Scott, artistry equals defiance. For her May taping of VH1 Storytellers, rather than using the sing-a-song-then-tell-the-back story-repeat 10x format that’s been in place for 17 seasons, she, as the show’s executive producer Bill Flannigan told the audience, did “something never done before.” The Grammy winning singer/poet turned …

  And now I think the scene is as good as it has ever been. As far as musicians, we have a lot of great musicians; musicians have come here from other places. I am very proud of the musicians here in this city. – Willie Pickens [The following is …

Because it’s not about anything but individual choices and individual feelings of being together and experiencing something together and sharing love, which is incredible. – Anat Cohen [The following is an edited version of a longer conversation] With a refreshing effervescence, Anat Cohen continues to explore the boundaries of her …

Steve Cole, the jazz artist, returns to his roots as a classically trained musician on his latest release Moonlight. “I started off as a classical musician. I love the sound of the orchestra, and some of the great relationships between arrangers and artists,” said Cole. Moonlight is a seamless combination …

It can be quite risky admitting to a well-known musician that you’ve never heard of them. One, that revelation could be result in a tongue lashing by the artist. Two, the interview could come to an abrupt end, and three, my music journalistic credentials could be damaged all in the …

It’s easy to believe that the advancement of social media is a key factor in Brian McKnight current predicament. Some may even think that it’s his naïve attitude toward the internet that contributed to the outrage of the “If You’re Ready to Learn” video. McKnight perhaps did underestimate the rapid …

One of the worst kept secrets in history is that music has a way of affecting how we feel about people. Music also makes us feel a certain way about the artists that create the music. Whatever emotions the message and the melody conjure up for us, we subconsciously associate …

When music scholars and recording artists think about the harmonica, two names come to mind: Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder. Gregoire Maret certainly feels that way, and ever since he arrived in America from Switzerland; he’s been doing his damndest to make sure he’s the third name. He shares his …