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When music executive Steven Abdul Khan Brown was making his way to the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, he was blown away by the beautiful sound he heard as he walked closer to the parish.

One of those voices? A teenage Whitney Houston.

“That’s scary — whoa,” he thought, recalling the moment more than 40 years later in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “Why haven’t I ever been here before?”

Khan Brown, also a Newark native who had been working with Kool & the Gang and Phyllis Hyman, was encouraged to check out the talented musicians at New Hope, where Cissy Houston worked as minister of music. Khan Brown met the matriarch and a big-voiced Whitney, who blew him away as soon as she began singing.

“Lord, I’ve died and went to heaven,” Khan Brown recalls of her performance. “I thought my ears were going through something.

Exclusive: Shout! Studios, the film and entertainment production and distribution arm of Shout! Factory, along with producers Sean Fernald and Cass Paley, TwentyOne 14 Media and Doc McGhee’s McGhee Entertainment, have obtained exclusive film rights to the story of Johnny Bragg, the prisoner and doo-wap singer from the 1950s.

Bragg rose to fame within the Tennessee State Penitentiary while serving six consecutive 99-year sentences at 17 for crimes he did not commit.

As part of Shout!’s deal with the Bragg estate, the film will follow Bragg in prison and how his unique singing style catches the attention of the prison staff, specifically the warden, who came up with the idea to have Bragg and his singing group tour the prison circuit under armed guard. This eventually led to the group recording demos with Sam Philips’ Sun Records, the iconic Memphis label that launched Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Philadelphia International Records, the celebrated label behind the “Philly Soul” sound and acts like the O’Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Patti Labelle and more, has announced a year-long campaign to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The campaign is a joint effort with Legacy Recordings and Warner Chappell Music, and, per a press release, it will comprise a “series of exclusive partnerships, product and content releases, artist initiatives and much more.” To kick things off, producer/DJ Eric Kupper has shared a new remix of one of Philadelphia International’s most enduring hits: McFadden and Whitehead’s 1979 track,...

By 1979, Loretta Lynn had been recording country music for almost 20 years, with some 50 albums to her credit. The first female artist to be nominated for — and to win — the Cma Entertainer of the Year award in 1972, Lynn’s string of major solo hits was accompanied by five Number Ones with duet partner Conway Twitty. The pair also logged four chart-topping LPs as a duo between 1973 and 1976.

Also in 1979, Lynn was preparing for the big-screen adaptation of her autobiography, Coal Miner’s Daughter, published three years earlier. The story of her spotting...

The R&B singer H.E.R. has never cracked the Top 25 on Billboard‘s Hot Hip-Hop/R&B Songs chart. But when she releases her debut album this fall, she can rest assured that plenty of listeners will be interested: She has already amassed more than a billion streams across various digital platforms.

H.E.R.’s music is leisurely and soft, two qualities that have been out of fashion in mainstream R&B for around 15 years. Her tracks blend easily into each other, and, more importantly, into down-tempo R&B...

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Here are the songs that were considered forJames Bond themes but ultimately rejected. Some of them aren't half-bad, too...

Bond title songs are an intrinsic part of the series. But did you know that there were often unused tracks that were considered but rejected? Some of them are damn good too. This is bound to lead to comparisons and what if… discussions, and that's what we are here to encourage today.

As soon as we try to define what makes a great Bond song, we run into the problem that dogs any criticism of the series – every aspect of it is extremely divisive. Whatever element you nominate as a high point, best actor, score or film, for example, is someone else's least favourite and vice versa. The same goes for the Bond theme songs: some people like a bouncy pop song with a nice brass arrangement. For others,...

Join Tamara Tunie as she celebrates the music of the legendary artists that hail from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the city of Three Rivers. 'Growing up in Pittsburgh, I had an inkling of the many musical talents who were from 'the 'Burgh,' but was thrilled to learn the depth to which those waters ran,' says Ms Tunie. From Lena Horne and Henry Mancini to Phyllis Hyman and George Benson, Tamara will celebrate the variety of composers and singers in two concerts at 54 Below on May 20 and 27.

Since its debut in 2008, TV One's hour-long music series, "Unsung," has been one of the network's crown jewels, covering the sometimes tragic careers of an array of celebrated music acts such as Teddy Pendergrass, DeBarge, Teena Marie, Melba Moore, Alexander O'Neal, Minnie Ripperton and Phyllis Hyman. Earlier this year the NAACP Image Award-winning series earned its highest rated, most successful season to date as it started airing in 27 percent more homes via various cable carriers.

Though the African-American targeted network is set to premiere the show's sixth season with Sly and the Family Stone on June 25, one veteran music act who viewers will never see on the series is Stephanie Mills.

The Brooklyn-bred songstress, who catapulted to the top of music charts in the 1980s and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Michael Jackson and Pendergrass after acclaimed stints on Broadway in "The Wiz" and "Maggie Flynn," seems to have...

Since its debut in 2008, TV One's hour-long music series, "Unsung," has been one of the network's crown jewels, covering the sometimes tragic careers of an array of celebrated music acts such as Teddy Pendergrass, DeBarge, Teena Marie, Melba Moore, Alexander O'Neal, Minnie Ripperton and Phyllis Hyman. Earlier this year the NAACP Image Award-winning series earned its highest rated, most successful season to date as it started airing in 27 percent more homes via various cable carriers.

Though the African-American targeted network is set to premiere the show's sixth season with Sly and the Family Stone on June 25, one veteran music act who viewers will never see on the series is Stephanie Mills.

The Brooklyn-bred songstress, who catapulted to the top of music charts in the 1980s and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Michael Jackson and Pendergrass after acclaimed stints on Broadway in "The Wiz" and "Maggie Flynn," seems to have...

The All Stars Project hosted a very special guest at its 16th Annual Phyllis Hyman Phat Friends and Young Leaders for Change Awards on Monday, November 15 – Tony Bennett

Roscoe Orman, known to millions for his thirty-six years as “Gordon” on the highly acclaimed children’s series Sesame Street, was the event’s Mc which honored New York City’s unsung heroes and All Stars Project youth leaders.

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NEW YORK -- Sony BMG Music Entertainment has licensed the complete catalog of music from Philadelphia International Records, the label founded by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in 1971, Billboard has learned. This marks the first time that the entire PIR catalog -- which includes hits by Patti LaBelle, the O'Jays, MFSB, Billy Paul and others -- is under one roof.

Under the terms of the multiyear arrangement, Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Commercial Music Group and Legacy Recordings will issue physical and digital recordings of PIR material. The deal also extends to ringtones (another PIR first), PDA applications, synch licenses and branded entertainment.

The partnership launches in October with two double-disc compilations: "The Essential Lou Rawls" and "The Essential Teddy Pendergrass." Additionally, 50 digital releases (original albums and collections) will be ready for download by year's end.

Some previously unreleased recordings, including a live set from LaBelle and a Phyllis Hyman album, also will make their commercial debuts.