Susan Boyle debuts at number one in 15 countries

Forty-seven-year-old Scottish singer Susan Boyle who is of Irish decent, makes dreaming fashionable again. Her 12-track debut album I Dreamed a Dream debuts at number one in 15 countries around the world including the United States (Billboard 200 album chart).

I Dreamed a Dream opened stateside at the number one spot with first week sales of 701,000 copies. Not only is the sales figure the biggest so far for 2009 for any release stateside, it is the biggest one sales burst for a solo female album, since Soundscan began tracking record sales in 1991.

Boyle who finished second place in Britian’s Got Talent reality series, transcends age, physical appearance and spectacle. In fact, there’s not much high-tech innovation to her songs but her self-assured renditions of show tunes such as Cry Me A River, The End of the World, Amazing Grace and Christmas carol Silent Night are more than enough to please music buffs who prefer authentic, talent-fueled singing over flashy, machine-enhanced performances.

At her age, Boyle’s success somewhat brings back memories of similar feats acomplished by veteran recording stars Bonnie Raitt, Tina Turner and Loleatta Holloway in their forties.

Turner who had been recording since the 1950’s, became the oldest female artiste to have a number one single, when in 1984 at the age of 44, her single What’s Love Got to Do With It hit number one in 10 European countries. The single was taken from the album Private Dancer which went on to sell more than eleven million copies worldwide. The album also yielded the hits Better Be Good To Me, which hit the top five stateside and the title track, Private Dancer, written for her by rock musician Mark Knopfler.

Turner would later win an MTV Video Music Award, two American Music Awards and four Grammy Awards, confirming her year as “the comeback queen”.

In Raitt’s case, after nearly 20 years of recording and failing to garner massive mainstream success, she gobbled up a handful of awards at the Grammy Awards in 1990 including Album of the Year for the disc Nick of Time. Shortly after her triumph at the Grammys, Raitt’s album shot straight to number one on the Billboard 200. At that time, Raitt was almost 41 years of age, and it was her first number one album.

Nick Of Time has sold over six million copies in the US alone.

She followed up this success with three more Grammy Awards for her 1991 album, Luck of the Draw which has sold nearly eight million copies in the United States. Three years later, in 1994, she added two more Grammys with her album Longing In Their Hearts which became her second number one album.

Holloway who started out singing gospel in the 1960’s later signed with the Salsoul label in the 1870’s. She also sang lead on recordings by the Salsoul Orchestra. She is best known for a string of R&B chart hits including the mellow ballad Worn Out Broken Heart, and the disco anthems Hit and Run and Love Sensation.

However, Holloway’s fortunes changed when at the age of 45 in 1991, she earned her first number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with rapper Marky Mark on the track Good Vibrations.

The single topped charts in several European countries and Holloway toured with the rapper to capitalise on the song’s success.

Two years earlier in 1989, Holloway’s 1980’s Chestnut Love Sensation was sampled in the Blackbox hit Ride on Time, blased to number one in the UK and topped charts in more than 15 countries globally.

Hawaiian reggae group Rebel Souljaz score with sophomore disc

Hawaiian reggae outfit Rebel Souljaz debuted at number five on Billboard’s reggae album tally with the sophomore disc Bring Back the Days.

The 13-track set is the follow up to the group’s previous effort Nothing to Hide, which peaked at number two in 2998 on the Billboard Reggae chart.

The four-man outfit has pushed the envelope and raised the bar on their latest offering, working closely with Hawaiian producers to create a varied musical statement.

Nothing to Hide spent more than 50 weeks on the Billboard Reggae album chart, and was named by Billboard as the eighth best selling reggae album of 2008.

The album also won the Reggae Album of the Year award at Hawaii’s Na Hoku Hanohano Awards in 2009.

Daniel Bedingfield teams up with Busy Signal

New Zealand born singer Daniel Bedingfield, whose sister is fellow pop singer Natasha Bedingfield, was recently in Jamaica working on tracks with dancehall artiste Busy Signal.

Bedingfield recorded three songs with Busy at DJ Karim’s Stainless Records studios in Kingson.

According to Shane Brown, Busy Signal’s manager, “Daniel has been a fan of Busy for a while now, and he made the link with us to do the recordings.”

The songs are said to be for Busy’s upcoming VP Records project as well as Bedingfield’s project on Universal Music.

Daniel is best known in Jamaica for the heart-wrenching ballad If You’re Not the One. That song scaled to number one on the UK pop singles chart in 2002.

His other hits include Gotta Get Thru This (which reached number one in the UK and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart), Never Gonna Leave Your Side, Nothing Hurts Like Love and Wrap My Words Around You.

In 2004 he won the BRIT award for Best British Male Artiste.

Papers crushes the number one spot

R&B singer Usher earns his 11th number one R&B single this week, as Papers scales to the top of the Billboard R&B Hip Hop Singles & tracks chart.

To find the first Usher title to reach number one, you’d have to flip flop back to 1997 when You Make Me Wanna spent 11 weeks at the top spot.

Usher’s growing list of number one R&B titles include My Boo (featuring Alicia Keys), Yeah (with Lil Jon), Lovers and Friends (with Lil Jon and Ludacris), Nice and Slow, U Remind Me, U Got it Bad, Burn, Love in this Club, and Confessions Part 2.

Usher’s sixth studio album Raymond vs Raymond has been delayed to a March 2010 release. It was originally scheduled to be released on December 8.

BITS AND PIECES

* Reggae Covers Country is a major project to look out for. We’ve been sworn to secrecy for the time being.

*Mavado’s video for I’m So Special made it on the list of BET’s Most Notorised Videos of 2009. The video countdown airs later this month on BET. Mavado also did an interview for the annual countdown show.

* Stacious, ZJ Bambino and Heineken Green Synergy finalist DJ Shine are featured in the new television commercial for US-based clothing line CY Clothing. The commercial was shot recently at the Phase 3 studio.

* And the boos could’ve been heard as far as Half Way Tree. It’s sad that artistes would take the stage at a high school barbeque on Hope Road and decide to preach about Gaza and Gully, especially in light of the violence in schools associated with the aforementioned. These artistes ought to know better.

DID YOU KNOW?

The song Ring My Bell was a platinum selling number one single in 1979. The song turned a then unknown singer Anita Ward into an overnight sensation.

The single not only went number one in the US but it dented several charts in Europe and peaked at number two in the UK.

But did you know that the song was originally written for R&B singer Stacy Lattisaw?

Ring My Bell has been covered by many artists since its original release, including Ann Lee, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Tori Amos, Blood Sisters, Dynamic Duo, D’Flow Production Squad, Collette, Saïan Supa Crew, INOJ, Pato Fu and Joey Boy. It has also been remixed many times over and is considered a disco-era classic.