Motown Recording Keyboardist and Song Writer

Rodney Shelton

Rodney Shelton , Grammy nominated producer/songwriter/ keyboard player. This former Motown recording artist has worked with James Brown,Howard Hewitt, CeCe Peniston,Keith Washington, Stephanie Mills just to name a few.

Vocalist, Trumpet and Song Writer

James Michael Brown

James Michael Brown started his career in his early teens performing with The Drifters, Ben E. King, Bj Thomas and Arthur Conley as a backup artist. He also performed with several well known regional bands most notably, The Aqualads, Sugarcreek, The Catalinas, Clifford Curry, and The Entertainers Band, the 2014 CBMA Group Of The Year. James Michael Brown won the CBMA Rising Star Of The Year Award in 2017. James Michael Brown performed with Bruce Springsteen on tour and was also the pilot for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.

The James Michael Brown Band with Co Writer, Rodney Shelton, was formed in 2016 and went into the studio to record the first set of songs. “We wanted songs that would have a familiar sound yet be something original and new,” stated James Michael Brown. In the summer of 2016, their first EP “Ready For Love” was released. It includes the original songs “Ready For Love” and the single “Pretty Girl” which went into the Top 100 on I Heart Radio.

The title track “Ready For Love” is an original song reminiscent of bands like Shalamar and Average White Band. While another original, “Pretty Girl,” was poised to be a beach music staple. The bonus track on the EP is a cover of The Beatles song “Don’t Let Me Down.” The James Michael Brown Band’s take on this classic favorite brings more of a southern feel that calls to mind the sound of bands like The Eagles.

In 2017, The James Michael Brown Band released two additional original hit songs notably; “The Moon Is Watching You” and “Your Love.”

While The James Michael Brown Band currently spends most of their time in the studio writing, arranging, and recording their songs, plans are in the works for the band to begin live performances in the future.

The project is available digitally on CD Baby, iTunes and Amazon!

Saxophonist

Adrian Crutchfield

Adrian Crutchfield is known around the world for his neo-soul sound – creating music in a variety of genres such as jazz, R&B, pop, funk, soul, hip hop, and fusion.

His high energy show brings a diversity to jazz never seen before with music for every generation! Adrian takes pride in bringing a new and powerful sound, merging jazz with today’s pop and hip hop.

Adrian Crutchfield has taken the world by storm in recent years, not only as the last sax player to perform and record with Prince, touring the world and being featured on Prince’s last three albums, but also touring domestically and internationally with acts such as Lionel Ritchie, Bette Midler, and Cee Lo Green — all the while writing and building his 2017 release titled ‘Leap’.

Adrian’s star began shining at the age of four when he received his first saxophone during a concert in Roanoke, Virginia, from acclaimed jazz artist Kenny G; who noticed Adrian’s interest
from the audience, stopped the show, and invited him to the stage, playing a childish melody, and finally bestowing the sax to young Adrian.

Known as the last horn-man to perform and record with Prince (2012-2016); Adrian is featured on many of Prince’s final masterpieces including the 2017 Grammy-Nominated Hit-N-Run Phase 2, and the unreleased but highly anticipated “Black Is The New Black” Album.

Adrian has also had the privilege of performing with many of today’s brightest stars such as Lionel Richie, Bette Midler, Ceelo Green, R&B icon Anthony Hamllton, Fantasia Barrlno, KC and JoJo, and hip hop superstar Young Jeezy.

In jazz, Mr. Crutchfield has been featured by names such as Kim Waters, Mike Phillps, Alex Bugnon, Jeff Lorber, and Branford Marsalis; and with legendary groups such as Fourplay and The Gap Band featuring Charlie Wilson.

Adrian is a 2008 graduate of Florida State University (B.A. in Music with a concentration in jazz, contemporary media, and commercial music).

Although young, this saxophone aficionado is one of his generation’s most prolific and successful professional musicians.

Check out his website:  http://adriancrutchfield.com

Bassist

John Dillard

Known to many as the “BASSIST TO THE STARS”……”My GO TO GUY”…… “ONE OF THE FUNKIEST”….. ” One of the top jazz/R&B bassists on the scene today…”.  2 time Grammy Award winning bassist JOHN DILLARD has been a SOLID CHOICE for many artist across multiple genres.

JUNE 2015, the world was introduced to the artistry and creativity of John Dillard  as he released his first solo project titled “LET’S RIDE”. “LET’S RIDE” features smooth jazz artist that include Marc Antoine, Matt Marshak, Marcus Anderson, Oli Silk, Art Sherrod, Jr, Lin Rountree and many others. The hit single “CRUISE CONTROL” featuring Marcus Anderson continues to be added to playlist around the world and is considered one of the “Smoothest yet Funkiest” smooth jazz singles of 2015 by fans, DJ’s, and promoters.

Stephanie Mills and  Anthony Hamilton

Visit his website: https://johndillard.com/home

Guitarist

Joe Lindsay

Articulate, soulful guitarist Joe Lindsay smoothly grooves through jazz, funk, rock and blues with an abundance of feeling and flow, expertly expressing his personal journey and life’s diverse experiences. His ability to imprint his own distinctive style on a multitude of genres with refined sensitivity illustrates his extensive training and deep understanding of the musical universe. And his proficiency and professionalism are the products of formal study and his many experiences co-writing and collaborating live and in the studio with R&B legends including James Brown, Roy C and Howard Hewett, jazz stars Ronnie Laws, Brian Simpson and Tom Browne and exciting multi-dimensional artists like Ki-C & JoJo, Anthony Hamilton, Calvin Richardson and Stephanie Mills, plus countless others. His energetic performances, resonant recordings and gracefully-written original tunes are evocative of the timeless, talented artists that have made an enduring impression on him, such as Curtis Mayfield, Buddy Guy, Larry Carlton, Prince, Hiram Bullock and Miles Davis.

Visit his website:  http://www.joelindsaymusic.com/

Percussion

Jim Brock

Legendary Jim Brock has proven to be an innovator in the world of drums and percussion. Within his forty five year career he has appeared on literally hundreds of recordings with artists such as Joe Walsh, Joan Baez, Kathy Mattea, Joe Cocker, Janis Ian, River Phoenix, and James McMurtry. With five solo recordings and a DVD entitled The Nature Of Drumming, Jim has traveled the world extensively with performances on The Tonight Show, A Prairie Home Companion, Good Morning America, MTV, and multiple appearances on The View, just to name a few. Among these include a concert at the White House for President Clinton in 2000. Most recently, Jim was asked to compose the music for the documentary “The Spirit of Sacajawea”. For this work he is the recipient of the prestigious Telly award, and has currently been nominated for an Emmy award in the category of Composer.

Visit his website:  http://www.jimbrock.net

Lead and background Vocalist

Terrell Phillips

Terrell Phillips, a native of Lawndale, North Carolina, is an American music artist, recording producer and engineer, R&B vocalist, stage play actor and former member of the R&B/New Jack recording group, Blackstreet. After the departure of Mark Middleton, Terrell was recruited by Blackstreet group leader Teddy Riley. Throughout his career, Terrell has worked with some of the most renown producers of modern-day R&B music and performed in the most popular stage productions of this decade.

During Terrell’s tenure with Blackstreet, the group was voted Best R&B Group by Kids Choice which spawned thesingle for the Paramount Pictures movie “The Rugrats”, “Take Me There” featuring Mýa. Also in conjunction with Paramount, Blackstreet released a single “Think About You” on the movie soundtrack for “The Best Man”.

While still a member of Blackstreet, the group simultaneously worked on movie soundtracks while releasing their highly anticipated third album “Finally” (early 1999) featuring Janet Jackson on the song “Girlfriend/Boyfriend”. Although “Finally” eventually received Gold status, animosity within the group and bad publicity surrounding rumors of lawsuits and countersuits between group members and group founder Teddy Riley coupled with tension with their record label, Interscope, led to the demise of this group of Blackstreet members by the end of the year. Blackstreet subsequently re-formed without Terrell and released their fourth album, “Level II” in 2003.

With the breakup of Blackstreet leaving a negative impression of the music industry on Terrell, he paused pursuing musical aspirations and moved into stage play acting.

As a noted stage play actor, Terrell appeared as leading man in the stage play, ”Lord, All Men Can’t Be Dogs” with singer Regina Belle as well as dozens of other stage productions.
Terrell released his first solo project in 2006, “Elements Of A Man: Vol. 1.” The album is self-written and self-produced.

Terrell is also a member of the newly-formed R&B supergroup, Blayse along with Marc Nelson and Tony Grant of AzYet and Gary “Lil G” Jenkins of Silk. Blayse is scheduled to release their debut single and begin their U.S. Tour in September 2007.

Lead and Background Vocalist

Michelle Renée

Michelle Renée is an International Singer / Songwriter.  She has released CD’s both in Europe and the US.  Her sultry, breathy vocals and her signature smooth style are undeniably unique to Michelle.

She has toured all over the world as a backup vocalist and keyboard player with multiple famous recording artists such as the SOS Band, Peabo Bryson and many more.  She performed for the opening acts touring worldwide with Kool And The Gang, Patti Labelle and Natalie Coleamong many others.

Michelle Renée has appeared performing on Soul Train as well as Solid Gold, Dancing to the Hits and on BBC’s many well-known music shows.

She has built a loyal following and currently performs with several different bands. See “Performance Schedule”.

Michelle released her original self-titled double album “Michelle Renée” in both the US and Europe. The double album features original songs in both English and German.

Drummer

Brian Houze