ALLIGATOR PREPARES NEW RELEASE FROM VOCALIST JANIVA MAGNESS!
ALLIGATOR RECORDS PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 28, 2008
CONTACT: MARC LIPKIN / ALLIGATOR RECORDS / 773-973-7736 x235
EMAIL: publicity@allig.com
“A superb, powerhouse R&B singer who delivers blues and soul with show-stopping authority.”
–Los Angeles Daily News
Alligator Records has set a June 10 street date for WHAT LOVE WILL DO, the label debut CD from blues and soul vocalist Janiva Magness. Possessing a rich, soulful voice and absolute command over her material, Magness is an incredibly gifted performer who can lead her audience through a range of emotions, from the deepest sorrow to overwhelming joy.
Winner of the 2006 and 2007 Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Female Artist Of The Year, Magness is nominated in the Blues Entertainer Of The Year category this year. Her presence on stage is legendary, as she performs 150 nights a year at clubs, festivals and concert halls all over the world. In April 2008, she traveled to Iraq and Kuwait co-headlining Bluzapalooza, the first-ever blues concert tour to perform for American troops.
A survivor of an impossibly rough childhood, Magness’ life experience informs her music in a way that is brutally honest, emotionally moving and, above all, spiritually healing. Part of her healing includes helping others in need. In addition to her musical accomplishments, Magness, a foster care alumni, is also a National Spokesperson for Casey Family Programs, promoting National Foster Care Month.
WHAT LOVE WILL DO, co-produced by Magness and Dave Darling (Brian Setzer, Meredith Brooks, Dan Hicks), features 13 powerful songs, each overflowing with Magness’ expressive emotional intensity. Magness reaches heights only hinted at in her previous recordings, interpreting new material written especially for her and songs from Little Milton, Tina Turner, Bill Withers, Al Green, Candi Staton, Dorothy Moore and Marvin Gaye. Her impassioned singing takes each song from deep within her being and projects it out directly into the heart and soul of her audience, making WHAT LOVE WILL DO essential listening for blues, roots rock and soul music lovers everywhere.
Born in Detroit, Magness was inspired by the blues and country she heard listening to her father’s record collection and by the vibrant music of the city’s classic Motown sound. By her teenage years, though, her life was in chaos. She lost both parents to suicide by the time she was 16. She lived on the streets, was in 12 foster homes in two years, became a teenage mother who gave her baby daughter up for adoption, bounced from city to city, feeling hopeless and desperate.
One winter’s night, Magness hitchhiked across Minneapolis to attend an Otis Rush concert, and for the first time saw a path forward. She began going to as many blues shows as possible, soaking up the sounds of her favorite blues and soul artists. While working as an intern at a recording studio, she was approached by her boss to sing some supporting vocals on a track. Finding her voice, she soon began working regularly as a background singer. By the early 1980s, Magness made her way to Phoenix and befriended Bob Tate, the musical director for the great Sam Cooke. With Tate’s mentoring, she formed her first band, Janiva Magness And The Mojomatics, and before too long the influential Phoenix New Times named her group the city’s Best Blues Band.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and slowly began finding work. She married musician and songwriter Jeff Turmes, with whom she recorded It Takes One To Know One in 1997. After three more independent releases, Janiva signed with Northern Blues and recorded Bury Him At The Crossroads in 2004 and Do I Move You? in 2006. Both CDs were co-produced by Magness along with Canadian roots star Colin Linden, and both garnered Magness a massive amount of critical and popular attention. Magness and Linden won the prestigious Canadian Maple Blues Award for Producers Of The Year for Bury Him At The Crossroads in 2004. Do I Move You? debuted at #8 on the Billboard Blues Chart and was the #1 Blues CD Of The Year in 2006 on Living Blues magazine’s radio chart.
With WHAT LOVE WILL DO and a major U.S. tour planned with more dates and countries to be added, there is no doubt that even more recognition will come Magness’ way. Janiva Magness continues to wring the truth from every note she sings, amazing and delighting both old and new fans all over the world.
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