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QUEENCITY SOULROCK BIO

ill poetic’s Queen City Soul Rock began to take shape in mid 2007 when Cincinnati hip artist ill Poetic decided he wanted to occasionally perform his songs in a live band format. Chris Lee and Brian Day were brought on board as lead guitarist and bassist and Ray Bates sits behind the drums. Vocalists Deannah Dukes and Rae Faith round out the lineup. The band takes ill poetic’s songs and give them a bit of a 70s lean, taking from the R&B and rock worlds, while still keeping the vibe that ill poetic originally set down when the songs were originally written and recorded in his hip hop format.

ill poetic - emcee
ill poetic is a Cincinnati emcee/musician, who's 2007 LP, "the world is ours", was released to national acclaim. Recieving write-ups and mentions in such notable places as okayplayer.com, allhiphop.com, VIBE magazine, XLR8R magazine, he followed his release up with an international tour, alongside such acts as OC, Pharoahe Monche, Necro, Reef the lost cauze, and Eternia. He came back home in December 2007 to form QueenCity SoulRock, a live hip-hop/funk/soul/rock band

chris lee - guitar
Chris Lee is one of Cincinnati's most revered, respected, and well-liked musicians, adding QueenCity SouRock to his already impressive resume of versitile bands. Most notably Snaggletooth in the early 90's, and most recently 16 Piece Bucket. Chris also plays in the improv jazz comedy group The Bruce Leonard Project, which also features QueenCity SoulRock drummer Ray Bates and standup comedian Tim Jones. Early guitar influences include Randy Rhoads, Alex Lifeson, Ritchie Blackmore, Adrian Smith/ Dave Murray, Tony Iommi, and Yngwie Malmsteen.


brian day - bass
Along with playing bass for QueenCity SoulRock, Brian Day is also the guitarist for the VLADIMIRS, SONO MORTI. Influences range from 60's and 70's progressive rock, hard rock, hard pysch, acid jazz to Motown, R&B, and funk


ray bates - drums
Bio coming soon


deannah dukes - vocals
Along with singing backup on numerous QueenCity SoulRock songs, Deannah's voice has allowed her to win numerous competitions including the Cincinnati Soul Idol contest in 2003 and the 2005 Burger King Idol contest held at the Vibe Music Festival in Atlanta Georgia. She has performed on multiple stages at the “Regional Black Family Reunion” sponsored by the National Council of Negroe Women. Opened for national recording artists Floetry and Amerie, 2004 and 2005 Showtime Apollo on Tour finalist and in 2004 DeAnna was chosen out of over 15,000 people to move up in the American Idol 4 auditions in Cleveland. In addition to vocal competitions, Deanna has worked in numerous stage plays such as, “100 Years of Divas in American Music”. She portrayed one of the greatest female jazz artists, Billie Holiday. Currently, Deanna is the female singer for the legendary funk band, Zapp. Who was under the leadership of the late and talented Roger Troutman.


Rae Faith - vocals
Possessing a rare vocal ability to span multiple genres with ease, Rae Faith's influences range all over the musical atmosphere: from Billie Holiday to Sade, from Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendrix. You can find Rae Faith's voice and/or poetry most notably on releases by Tanya Morgan, ill poetic, and Dante from Mood.

Live version of 'One' (from Jan 18, 2008 Mad Hatter show) and 'Sly' (Live on Fountain Square)