Soul Beach Music Festival Starts Today!

Courtesy of: The Morning News
By: Rosalie Klein

Producers of the annual Soul Beach Music Festival, which has found a home on Aruba, were proud to announce that the man who started it all, Sinbad, will be back to rock the Aruba Entertainment Center of Friday, May 24, for the opening Comedy Concert of the Memorial Day weekend. Opening for Sinbad that evening will comedian Damon Williams.

Saturday night’s headliner for the musical events taking place at Nikky Beach, next to the Surfside Marina will be R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter D’Angelo and Sunday evening, May 26, Grammy Award winning artist Ne-Yo, will close out the five-day event.

D’Angelo’s musical talents were discovered at an early age. When only  3 years old,  he his older bother 10- Luther observed him playing the house piano. “It was a full-fledged song, with melody and bass line,” recalls Luther. “Soon he started playing for my father’s church and he had to slide down to reach the pedals of the Hammond organ, but he did that very well.”

His debut album,” Brown Sugar” was released in June 1995. The album earned platinum status. The much-delayed follow-up album, “Voo-doo”, was  released in 2000 on Virgin Records, which had purchased EMI Records Group. During the interim he had performed duets, wrote for other artists. His albums are considered to have contributed substantially to the Neo-Soul movement of the time. After the release, D’Angelo embarked on what would become one of the most fabled series of live soul shows in history, the Voodoo Tour. In 2002, Q magazine named him in its list of “50 Bands to See Before You Die.”

Grammy-nominated Canadian R&B singer-songwriter Tamia will also be on stage Saturday night.

Tamia’s music spans several genres: R&B, neo soul, hip hop soul, pop, gospel, jazz, and soft rock.

Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit “Let Me Love You” for the singer Mario. The single’s successful release in the United States prompted an informal meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam’s label head, and the signing of a recording contract. His debut album, “In My Own Words”, which contained the US number one hit “So Sick”, was released in 2006.

He immediately followed this success with two albums, “Because of You” and “Year of the Gentleman” in 2007 and 2008. The first included the US top 3 hit of the same name, earning him a nomination for a Grammy as Best Male R& B Performance. The album won the a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album of the year. The subsequent album  contained three numbers that placed in the top 10, “Closer”, “Mad” and “Miss Independent” and was nominated for a Grammy as Best Album of the Year. Ne-Yo won the Grammy that year for Best Male R & B Vocal Performance and Best R & B Song for “Miss Independent.” 

In the spring of 2011, Ne-Yo collaborated with American rapper Pittbull on his single, “Give Me Everything,” which peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Ne-Yo his second U.S. number-one single since 2006.

Multi-talented singer, composer  musician and Grammy nominee Elle Varner will share the stage with Ne-Yo on Sunday evening.

Top local bands  Claudius Phillips with O.R.E.O. and Le Groove will be adding the local  groove to the concerts, with O.R.E.O taking the stage on Saturday and Le Groove on Sunday.

The holiday weekend begins today, May 22, with their famous welcome party, All five days of the SBMF 2013 will be punctuated by daily beach parties and their famous after-concert events.

For more information on the artists and a full line up of activities and purchase tickets, visit their website: http://www.soulbeach.net/2013/.

Event Schedule