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With a voice that is wise beyond her years and a set of self penned songs that have that unmistakable lived in feel of classics, Syleena Johnson takes you back to the day when music came from the heart.
The name of Syleena's Jive Records debut is Love, Pain Forgiveness and as the title indicates, this.is more than just another record. It's a story that this gifted singer/songwriter has.lived. "The story behind the record is a real life process," Syleena explains "it's the story of a young woman, who got into a relationship with an older man and what she went through because this man was bad to her. There's songs on this CD that happened-when I was going through the situation; instead of crying, I would sit down and write a song."
That raw honesy is reflected in Chapter 1, Love., Pain & Forgiveness's bluesay emotional sound and attitude. With her powerful womanly vocals and an unflinching way of presenting a love song, Syleena takes on tough issues and tough choices and emerges with an-album that is both richly entertaining and filled with hard earned lessons and resolutions.
Chapter 1: Love. Pain & Forgiveness was produced in NYC by veteran Bob Powers (D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, A Tribe Called Quest). Syleena wrote all of the tracks and her ability to write (as well as perform) is what makes this young woman such a rising star. In fact Syleena is signed to jive both as a singer and as songwriter. "Jive looks as me as more than just an artist," Syleena offers "They see me as a writer, as well and that's why they gave me the full freedom to do whatever I wanted to do on this album. I know that's pretty incredible, especially in R&B when the producer often dominates, but I had that freedom, to make this album be a total expression of myself."
That expression begins on the opening cut, the intense "She Don't Mean A Thing", which is the first paragraph in the chapter. "She Don't Mean A Thing" concerns itself with an unstable relationship and the need to be with someone, even if that someone isn't the right one. "This is my story,' Syleena says softly. "This is about what I went through and how I survived and became a better stronger woman, who's now in love with a great guy".
The first single is "Ain't No Love," which also happens to be the first song that Syleena recorded for the CD. A smoky stroll down heartbreak and disappointment "Ain't No Love" is the part of the book that chronicles the growing realization that all is not what it seems. That true love is just more lies. "I came into the studio with the lyrics and the melody." Syleena says "and I would sing it to Bob and he created this wonderful , magnificent arrangement. That song was very special probably because it was our first collaboration."
Since Love. Pain i was written to be heard as a cohesive story, Syleena is hesitant to single out individual tracks, preferring that her listeners follow along With the plot from its beginning to its conclusion. Yet she points out one song, "You Said" as a favorite. A duet with Jive recording artist Liberty City, "You Said" is one the earliest signs in the telling of the story that things may not be all that they seem in the happy home "It's a moment of awareness," Syleena offers, "and it starts to set things in motion."
Along with the theme of love, pain & forgiveness, a constant throughout the CD is the persuasive and soulful sound that Syleena has. It is a blues drenched sound that this Harvey, Illinois native comes by genetically. Her father is acclaimed blues and R&B singer Syl Johnson and as a kid, Syleena would,,watch her father record at his tiny home studio.
Syleena credits both her father and her mother, who is a politician back home in Harvey, as being both guiding forces and sources of love throughout her life. Despite having music literally in her genes, Syleena didn't decide to make music her life until she was in college, although she studied and played numerous band instruments and sang from an early age. While attending college, Syleena sang at a school talent show and when she was greeted with a standing ovation form the audience, Syleena felt something she had never felt before. "It wasn't just my friends and family telling me how good I sang. It was strangers and it was at that moment I said. Yes. I can do this. And I changed my major to music.
While at college, Syleena recorded an independent record, produced by her father. The album received little attention yet being in the studio convinced Syleena once and for all that performing was her destiny and even if the world hadn't paid attention to her first attempt at making an album, Syleena wasn't discouraged.
In 1997 a then 21-year-old Syleena attended a party thrown by Chicago native (and fellow jive artist) R Kelly following a charity basketball event. Syleena approached him and immediately began to sell her musical skills to the stranger. "I wanted to get my tape to R Kelly," Syleena laughs, 'and I was really sweating this guy cause I figured you had to really push to get information. I was telling him that I was singer and songwriter and finally the guy gave up and gave me a phone number."
The number was for Wayne Williams, an A&R executive at jive and Syleena sent him some of the tracks she had recorded for her ill-fated album. Three days after jive received her music, they contacted her and in an unbelievable stroke of fate, divine assistance and musical industry luck, Syleena signed with jive in 1998. "I know that my being signed was a gift from God,' Syleena says humbly.
Ask Syleena what she wants people to get from Love, Pain & Forgiveness and she thinks, "I want them to say, man! That's a great story. I want them to be able to relate to it. I want them to feel what I felt and to learn from what I learned and to grow and to love and to be able to be happy, the way I am now. I want people to be emotional and to be touched and to get positive input from what I write all I can say is that I am very proud of this album."
And it's only the first chapter in what promises to be a very lengthy series of soulful songs from an, extraordinary young artist.
Source: http://www.syleena.com/
