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Divine Brown
Soul / R&B / Pop




Canada

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Last Login:  7/4/2009
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   Divine Brown: General Info
Member Since5/19/2005
Band Websitewww.divinebrown.ca
Band Members



Record LabelWarner Music
Type of LabelMajor


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   Upcoming Shows ( view all )
Jul 5 2009 8:00P
Calgary Stampede - Coca Cola Stage with Eva Avila Calgary, Alberta
Jul 6 2009 7:00P
Metropolis - Co- Headline with Estelle Montreal, Quebec
Jul 11 2009 5:00P
Festival D’ete with Sean Paul - ALL AGES Quebec City, Quebec
Jul 12 2009 4:00P
Cisco Bluefest w/Estelle & Joe Cocker Ottawa, Ontario
Jul 17 2009 8:00P
Ed Fest with K-OS Edmonton, Alberta
Jul 18 2009 7:30P
Uptown Waterloo Jazz Fest Waterloo, Ontario
Jul 24 2009 6:00P
Hillside Festival Guelph, Ontario
Jul 25 2009 7:00P
Dundas Square - Green Living Festival - ALL AGES - FREE Toronto, Ontario
Aug 1 2009 3:00P
Festival in the Square - Town Square Toronto, Ontario

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Michael Jackson... One in a million!  (view more)

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New York City - April 15 - S.O.B.S - Tickets $10  (view more)

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   About Divine Brown
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For years, musical powerhouse Divine Brown (formerly Divine Earth Essence) has been quietly carving out her own history on the Canadian R&B and soul circuit. A kid who used to mimic the greats (Chaka! Aretha!) she heard on scratchy vinyl and filtered through radio waves, Divine paid her dues on the exhausting Toronto club circuit before she was old enough to legally hang out in bars, then honed her skills as a live performer with stints on the musical theatre stage, busting moves and belting her heart out as a cast member of shows like Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Rent.

Despite the fact that she didn’t have a proper recording on store shelves, Divine’s effervescent energy and formidable stage presence – not to mention her mind-blowing vocal range – made her a star before she finally released her much-anticipated self-titled debut in 2005. That album, bolstered by the strength of its gorgeous retro single ‘Old-School Love’ – a swooning return to a time of slow dancing and doo-wop choruses – cemented Divine’s reputation as one of the country’s strongest urban talents.

Three years later, Divine has returned with a tour-de-force album, a virtual trip through both the last half-century of soul music and the roller-coaster ride of love dubbed – appropriately – The Love Chronicles.

The Love Chronicles spans everything from bop-shoo-bop secret crush confessions (lead single ‘Lay It On The Line’) to sassy surf ‘n’ soul kiss-offs (‘Bebe’) to sultry late-night neo-soul (‘Next Best Thing’), all held together by Divine’s magnificent, shape-shifting voice. And thanks to expert assistance by a killer band and a team of producers (Bryan Joseph, Colin Munroe, James Bryan, David Williams and Divine herself), it’s an album that should catapult her to the stratospheric heights of her heroes.

What was the initial spark behind The Love Chronicles?
“The Love Chronicles was germinating in my head for a good two and a half years. There were songs I started writing just as the first record was tapering off. And the funny thing is that the first song I wrote ended up being the first single, ‘Lay It On The Line.’ I don’t know how or what the inspiration was at the time it hit me, but I know that that was the start of something. The fact that it happened and I was like, ‘Wow, this is kinda cool,’ and then I think that song spawned the idea in my head that I really wanted to put something together that’d be a trip through different periods of soul music.

“Soul encompasses so many different things and styles and themes, from rhythm and blues to rock ‘n’ roll to gospel and blues. It’s pretty interesting how it all sorta melded. I’m thinking about, y’know, the 60s when Ike and Tina were doing their thing, and that was such a rock ‘n’ roll driven energy. It was so soulful because of the output of what she was doing vocally, and it had soul elements too, but it just had this driving energy about it. It wasn’t necessarily so much a thought so much as the feeling I had listening to all these different styles of music growing up. I remember what I felt like when I heard the Manhattans’ ‘Shining Star’ for the first time, and how I felt the same way from different angles every single time I heard it. It still hit my gut. Or the first time I heard Tina Turner and thought, ‘My god, wow, what a powerhouse! How do you sing like that?’ And she’s still doin’ it! You my idol, Tina! Or, like, Chaka Khan. I remember hearing her and thinking, man, how amazing to be so strong. I love that light and airy stuff too, whether it’s Minnie Ripperton light and airy or Deniece Williams.

“I’m glad I took the time to incorporate all those influences in my own way, to develop my voice into what it is now. I like being able to weave in and out of different styles.”


You’ve talked in the past about being a kid crouching by your radio, listening to Chaka Khan, but can you remember the first time you heard a song that walloped you?
“‘Help Me’ was one of the first ones, by Joni Mitchell. I remember going to bed, and there was a radio by the headboard in my bedroom. And ‘Help Me’ came on, and I was mesmerized by that song. There was something about the way the guitar licks tapped in, and then there was something about Joni Mitchell’s voice… There was something about… just her vibe. It was unexplainable. There was no way I could’ve put it into words at the time. I was young, probably four or five years old or something like that, but it was very impactful. And I remember later on, hearing it on the radio again and being reminded of that memory. I remember thinking, ‘At some point in my life, I wanna make sure I cover that song.’ And I got to do that with my first record, a few years ago.

“Other songs? ‘Shining Star,’ by the Manhattans. I was in New Jersey visiting family, and my cousin Karen said, ‘Let’s go for a drive.’ She was much older – she must’ve been, like, 16, 17 at the time. She took the car and we went driving around. It was the coolest feeling – that song came on the radio, and she turned it up. We were just singing at the top of our lungs whenever the chorus came around. It was really cool. That was a pretty intense memory, for sure.”


What appealed to you about those songs that you’ve brought into your own songwriting process?
“When I had the opportunity to pick up Court and Spark, and just get to know it – it was the first Joni Mitchell CD I ever bought, and it has ‘Help Me’ on it… She’s got a way of writing that’s so vivid. It really puts a picture in your head. And that’s something I took with me, I think, because I really enjoy songwriters who have that ability. It can be really simple, or in a complex way. I think she’s so descriptive as a songwriter because she is a painter as well, so it’s almost as though she writes the way she paints, and I really appreciate that about her. I don’t paint, but I listen, and I enjoy the pictures that come in my head, so I enjoy songwriters like that. In my own simple way, I think I try to incorporate elements of that.”

When you were figuring out what to visit on this journey through soul, were there certain periods or certain representative tracks or artists that you knew had to be included?
“It didn’t come to me that way. It had everything to do with what I felt when I heard certain artists. When I heard Chaka Khan, I remember what it felt like when I was pumping her and trying to sing her notes when I was 18. It was the feeling I got when my dad would put on, say, a Dennis Brown record, or a Gregory Isaacs record, or Bob Marley – the reggae I heard a lot of growing up. Or what it was like hearing Al Green. I was more able to figure out the influences after I was done writing each song.

“If I said I wanted to write something that had, say, a 50s style to it… my dad used to listen to a lot of Skeeter Davis: ‘You got me where you want me!’ Or ‘Why do the birds go on singing?’ I remember the feeling that I got when I listened to that stuff, so I’d try to write based on the emotion of what I’d felt. I didn’t have the Skeeter Davis records on hand to work from. So it was feeling, and then writing based on the feeling, not referencing something.”


Walk me through some of the tracks on the album and tell me where they’re coming from.
“The basis of ‘Lay It On The Line’ is being in a situation where you’ve been friends with someone for a really long time, and you have those secret emotions you don’t necessarily talk about. And you see them go through this trail of relationships that just basically suck. And every time you see that person in the next one, you know it’s gonna be a trainwreck before it even starts, but you don’t have the heart to say anything. And it’s not really your place, and you always hope you’re wrong. But it’s mostly about the hidden feelings that you have for somebody and working up enough nerve to actually tell them. You know, ‘Do you think I’m hot?”

Is it based on a real-life experience?
“Yes.”

Did it work out well?
“Ha! I mean, I don’t think it was one of those things that, y’know, was meant to be. It didn’t go as far as it could’ve, and secretly, I think I’ll always have those emotions. But whether or not they’re gonna know about it…”

Let’s talk about ‘One More Chance.’ Where did that come from?
“By the time I got well into the concept of the record, of wanting to take people on a trip through different periods of soul music, I knew that I really needed to have a song that was reminiscent of the feeling I got listening to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, when she first came out. But in terms of the inspiration of the song, where it came from… That was just real life, real talk. And that was probably the hardest song to do in the studio. I did about thirteen takes of that song, and I cried nine times. It was real.”

What’s the story behind ‘Sweet Surrender.’?
“That hit me out of nowhere. I think I wrote it right around late 2005, early 2006 – somewhere around there. It was just something that came through that channel. And it was really nice, after the fact, to look at it and say, ‘Wow, this has a real 50s feel to it.’ This age of videos, it kind of ruins what you might hear or see in your head. With ‘Sweet Surrender,’ I think of a high school dance, with the ball turning… Or, like the Lawrence Welk Show, with all those bubbles? I really wanted to keep it as traditional as possible.

“In terms of subject matter, I’m talking about those times when you remember that love in your life that was so influential. You think about him, and you’re like, ‘Wow, I totally remember what it was like when you were by my side.’ I think of ‘Old-School Love’ in that way too. It captures that sense of missing that love that you had that was so great. You could be in something else, you could be by yourself, but you still have those moments of being like, ‘I know I can’t turn back the hands of time, but the memory is still there. It feels like you’re still here in my mind.’”


How did becoming a mom change your relationship to music?
“That’s a part of my experience in a big way. The toughest time for me, as a vocalist, was the first six months after having my daughter, because I couldn’t sing. Or I could sing, but everything was all weird. I couldn’t hit any high notes. Everything was all wonky. It was rough. I was depressed about it for awhile. I thought I’d lost something in my voice, but no. Because once everything really healed up, that experience of having a child and really feeling connected to the earth as a result of it just added to my power. The earth brings things into life and sustains life on a regular basis, and that’s something you get to share, as a woman. It’s your responsibility to sustain it as a woman and as a parent. And that experience definitely did something to my voice in terms of growth and depth.

“I don’t know how to describe it, but being a channel for life to be brought into existence, knowing that I had to push this little thing out of me. And being like, ‘Oh my god, did that thing come out of me?’ Every mother says the same thing.What an achievement! There’s nothing like that feeling, nothing like that experience. I can try to describe it, but not unless you’ve been there.

“I think what hit me the most is that having my daughter really kicked my drive and determination to a completely different level because it was no longer about me all the time. I’ve got this little person who is relying on me to take care of her and nurture her, and that’s deep. I’ve gotta work really hard and make some sacrifices. She spent some time in Jamaica so I could get my stuff together, and that was tough, being away from her. But that, man… I tell you, I think that having her is what got me going. It kept me going and made something else happen to me on another level. The drive and determination I had before just went into 50 percent more, 100 percent more. It’s fire. I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do to make this happen.”


Divine Brown - Meet Me at the Roxy


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Management:
Jason Sakowski, 38 Entertaiment Group
38entertainmentgroup@gmail.com

Booking agent:
Colin Lewis, The Agency Group Canada
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   Divine Brown's Friend Space (Top 4)
Divine Brown has 20469 friends.
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Divine Brown's Friends Comments
Displaying 25 of 2436 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
Ace Axiom





Apr 12 2009 2:27 AM

Thanks for the add my dear.
Peace and blessing to you always
The Cunningham Sisters





Apr 27 2009 2:28 AM

Hi Divine...How are you doing?

We are recording our 1st EP.
NEW SONG UP TOMORROW - enjoy and please drop a comment for us.

Smiles♥ you are with us in our travels. Loving you!
Nataiah Natalie Natashia
ronivie





Apr 17 2009 10:00 PM

JUST SHOWING SUM LOVE DIVINE.
The Cunningham Sisters





May 1 2009 7:21 PM

Hi Divine,

How are you doing?

Our new K.I.S.S.I.N.G. song is up. Enjoy it.

Smiles♥
Nataiah Natalie Natashia
Pudding





May 1 2009 10:28 PM

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


♥…!

www.thepuddingstore.etsy.com
www.thepuddingstorevint.etsy.com

~TABEAULOUS ME~GAZA PRINCESS~





Apr 14 2009 3:09 AM

MyHotComments.com
MyHotComments CONGRATS ON UR AWARD COUSIN!!! KEEP ON DOIN UR THANG GURL!!! LUV YAH
Jeffrey





Apr 15 2009 4:17 AM

YOU ARE SO FINE

YOU ARE TRULY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN THAT GOD HAS EVER MADE BEFORE.



DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Indio





Apr 8 2009 2:09 AM

Hey babe, I hope you had a good day, enjoy the evening and stay in touch.
Crystina Maez





Apr 11 2009 9:59 AM

May you always have joyfulness and assurance in your life.
One World





Apr 10 2009 6:25 PM

add

and your friendship on myspace, it's a great pleasure for us to be your friend's.


love, peace and kind regards

'One World'
Emet





Apr 10 2009 7:44 PM

..
Send a Teddy Gram at CommentYou.com
Bob Gainer





Apr 10 2009 10:13 PM

Have A Happy Easter. Your Friendship Is Priceless.Join My Blogs Read My Page I Know it may take some time but you may find out something that may help You.

Your Friend Bob
♫DoNeLlIa♫





Apr 10 2009 6:29 PM

thank fo da request also I just wanted to swing on by and sho u sum love..peace
zolo lebo





Apr 9 2009 6:04 PM

happy easter :)
CARMEN





Apr 9 2009 6:56 PM

courtneyjohn





Apr 7 2009 11:46 PM

give a thanks.
how are you doing?
Natalie Brown





Apr 6 2009 3:57 AM

One More Chance is GORGEOUS. All the best Divine!

Peace,
from another Brown girl, Natalie Brown.
courtneyjohn





Apr 6 2009 7:17 PM

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT AND NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T WANT.
CARMEN





Apr 6 2009 7:22 PM

Lisa





Apr 6 2009 7:38 PM

Thanks for the add ,your music is awesome and its an honor to have u as a friend.
Stay blessed
Mylene Otou





Apr 6 2009 11:35 PM

Hey Divine! Never got to thank u for the friend request (its been a while).
Keep up the good work, luv your music!
~*CuRLy*LoCkZ*~





Apr 7 2009 12:17 AM

BLESSUP MY GIRL THANX FOR THE REQUEST...KEEP IN TOUCH ...LUV UR MUSIC ~DIANA~
Billy Prince





Apr 4 2009 6:33 AM

Hi Divine."Old Time Love" Loved it. We have a new "Diva" on the musical horizon... BP
Andrea





Apr 5 2009 7:40 PM

Congrats on your win Divine!!! You deserve it!!!
*GODHIMSELF*





Apr 5 2009 10:52 PM

PEACE EARTH CONGRATS ON THE JUNO
KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DOING EARTH
PEACE AND BLESSINGS FROM GODHIMSELF
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