SOUL
GENERATION for their 10th Year…PRIME
for their 20th Year…& This Year…
JOE
BATAAN Joined To Provide Soulful Harmonies for an Evening…FOR
JUST US!
If I Had
a Million Dollars…is not just a soulful sigh…it’s one
of the breakout hits from Soul Generation.
Through the efforts of its multi-talented driving force, Cliff Perkins,
Soul Generation has wowed audiences in its native Jersey City, and beyond.
Perkins, the
group’s originator, 1st & 2nd tenor and lead singer, and manager,
has led Soul Generation to its lofty standing amongst creators of rhythm-and-blues.
Still performing,
Soul Generation shared the stage with Harrold Melvin’s Blue Notes
with Sharon Page, twice – at last year’s March 11th concert,
“A Night of Classic R&B,” at New Jersey City University,
and for a Valentine’s performance in Baltimore.
 Soul Generation |
Soul
Generation, featuring Cliff Perkins is one of those perfect blends
of soulful and sensuous R&B music past, present and future. They are
a vibrant, progressive group with their fingers on the pulse of today's
music scene. Their new music is everything you remember them for and everything
you'll want to remember.
Starting out
with Body & Soul as its first bona fide Gold hit, Soul Generation
continues its legacy of established hits by retaining a smooth, mellow
R&B sound, yet peppering its melodies with a little of today’s
hip-hop flavor. Why? Simply put, “It’s all about the music.”
That music
dwells deep within their souls, clamoring for release. It’s about
the love of what they do – they, being, Veda Larue, Crystal Perkins,
Samantha Bryant, Candice Gourdine, and, of course, Cliff Perkins –
and the perfection that goes into each performance.
It’s
such exquisite perfection that is the work ethic of Soul Generation, which
made their hit, If I Had a Million Dollars, soar…bypassing Gold,
and going Platinum.
|
|
Jersey City’s
own…PRIME…stands for Perfect
/ Rhythm / Ingenuity / Music
/ Equality.
Donald Taylor,
Alfred Nixon, Charles Brook Jr. and Vander (S.M.O.V.E.) Carter comprise
the R&B band, which has been on the local Jersey City scene for about
25 years now.
PRIME
has performed on many big stages, headlining an assortment of big-name
groups, such as Blue Magic, Escorts, Moments, and many more.
PRIME’s
most recent performance on May 22, 2004 at the landmark Loew’s Jersey,
the historic Loew’s Theatre at Journal Square, heralded a thunderous
standing ovation!
 Joe Bataan (1975) |
Known
as The King of Latin R&B, and one of the most influential Latino artists
to have ever come around, Joe Bataan has been credited
with mixing Soul with Afro-Cuban, R&B and Afro-Rican sounds in the
50s and 60s to create Latin Soul, which later became Latin Funk, and eventually,
in the 70s, Latin Disco.
A man of the
streets who depicted its rhythm in his pulsating music and lyrics, Joe
Bataan’s first band came into existence in the mid-1960s, signing
onto the famed Fania Records label, and recording such hits as, “Ordinary
Guy,” “Gypsy Woman,” “Subway Joe,” “Young,
Gifted and Brown,” and “Crystal Blue Persuasion.”
With his international
hit in 1980, “Rap-O-Clap-O,” Bataan’s breakaway from
Fania was complete, after first having co-founded, in 1974, the recording
label, SalSoul. “Salsoul” – a creative word combination
of salsa and soul – became Bataan’s first album for SalSoul
in 1974 (after jumping from Fania), along with its signature song. Equally
important, the music sound of salsoul presaged th e mixture of earthy
sounds of Latin, rock and R&B heard by such better-known artists as
War and Santana.
 Joe Bataan (2006) |
A perfect description of Joe Bataan’s musical development comes
from a review of his works by HYP Records: “Instead he drew from
his experiences of living in New York, of gang membership and of prison
to create a style truer to El Barrio than most of his peers were making.
His songs are tough yet sensitive, soulful but not overly sentimental,
and the music ranges from salsa to ballads to funk.”
