Check out this interview Kiete Young does with Felicia Mancini where he speaks about his music and what he thinks about “Pop” musicians.

Digital Sista on “If We Were Alone”

Digital Sista on “My Change”

Digital Sista on “Pray”

Keite Young
By Norman Mayers

Love and pain. Joy and sorrow. Spirituality and sexuality. Hidden Beach recording artist Keite Young is all about the dual nature of life. His music is equal parts blues, soul, gospel, and rock, referencing the many traditions of African-American music and weaving them into a complex tapestry. Ordained as a minister at a young age yet having experienced his share of heartache, the album The Rise and Fall of Keite Young is a powerful testament to a life truly lived.

Nu-Soul: Are you excited about your album coming out?

Keite: I am. I am excited about that. It’s my first release. I’m excited that people out there are looking forward to it.

Nu-Soul: You were ordained at age 14. How and why did that happen at such a young age? And how instrumental was that experience in the music you’re creating now?

Keite: I think just like being a musician or an artist, being a minister, you don’t choose that. It kinda chooses you and you either respond now or respond later. As far as the age, I didn’t really have much to do at that age. I was raised in the church all my life. Apart from that I had a relationship with God all my life. It was more so a matter of me knowing that yes it was real and that is was going be a part of my life. I guess the way that affected my music is I think I’m more sensitive to things of a spiritual nature and I am able to incorporate that into a sensual environment because I’m both. I’m don’t deny that. I am a very sensual person and I’m a very spiritual person. I don’t think the two conflict at all.

Nu-Soul: Now what was your experience touring with Kirk Franklin like. I’m taking it back here a little.

Keite: It was a bunch of fun. There were some hard lessons I learned. I had some great time. I think I really learned first hand what the struggle between art and commerce was like. It was a huge learning process. I’m very thankful for it.

Nu-Soul: Your music is a lot more sexual or sensual than your gospel roots would lead people to believe. What really lead to that change of shift?

Keite: I think it was always there. Not only was I influenced by gospel but my Great grandfather was also a deacon and a renowned blues singer. And he still sings the blues until this day. There was an old juke joint by the name of the Blue Bird that he still performs in today. So the blues was also a profound influence on my musical maturity. As well as Led Zeppelin, and rock, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and all these blues cats. When I look back at it, I think I’ve come to terms with it so quickly because my family they were huge Prince fans, Parliament fans, Sly Stones fans, but we went to church six days a week. It was really a beautiful thing to grow up like that.

Nu-Soul: What is the significance of title of your album The Rise & Fall of Keite Young?

Keite: The album title describes my rhythm. The rise and fall. Not so much from a finality standpoint. Everyone thinks it’s so finite or it’s tragic. To me what I wanted to convey was not only my rhythm, my day to day, my experience, but I wanted to reflect and to show some commonality between my rhythm and your rhythm. My theory is we are not all as different as we appear to be. We all want the same things, Joy. Success. We all fear the same things. Pain. Discomfort. So that’s what I wanted to convey with the title.

Nu-Soul: So how did you come to work with Hidden Beach?

Keite: Well my Great Uncle, by the name of William Tidsdale, he was at my grandparents for a family gathering and I was in the game room, which was my makeshift studio at the time. He just came in and was listening to what I doing. It was just some songs I was doing and he heard it and he was taken aback. He told me to put what I had on a CD and he would bring me back a record deal. He shot it over to Steve Harvey and he loved it and the next week I went out to meet him and it pretty much went from there.

Nu-Soul: How did your collaboration with N’Dambi come about?

Keite: N’Dambi are from the same place practically. She’s from Dallas. I’m from Fort Worth. We’ve known each for a few years. We’ve always been close and admired each other. I had an idea for a song I wanted to write with her so we just sat down and wrote it. She was working with a producer who had a track that we took a stab at it. It was really very casual. We have a lot of synergy her and I.

Nu-Soul: Now you’ve gone through a lot of major life changes during the recording of this album. How much of that comes through in the finished work?

Keite: It’s kinda a hotspot right now. There are some songs on the album that are 10 years old. There are some that are still relevant to me and to my experience but I think the changes that I went through during the making of the album kinda crept in on three to four songs. I think once you hear you can pick them out. I came into my own as an artist.

Nu-Soul: How would you describe your own music and who are some of your biggest influences?

Keite: I think the first word I would use to describe it is passionate. Whether it’s pain or joy I feel things very deeply. I am a bit of an extremist. You will probably listen to the record and hear several different people. As far as my influences, my earliest influences really were just movies. I’m a very visual person. So movies like Star Wars. But everyone from Sam Cooke to the guys in my old churches make chorus. I wanted to sound like those guys because they sounded like they smoked and drank all the time. To Jimi to Sly Stone. I went through a really bad Little Richard phase.

Nu-Soul: What can people expect to see in your live performances?

Keite: My live performances are based around energy. It’s not so much what you see or what you hear but a combination of both. My goal is to transport you into my world. I want each and every person to feel like it’s just me and them. It’s like making love.

Nu-Soul: After the album comes out what is next on your agenda?

Keite: Tour. Tour. Tour. I want to be constantly out on the road. Making the record is one experience but I’m a performer. I really have a heart for the stage and I just want to be everywhere.

myspace.com/keiteyoung

Keite Young’s website

SoulTrack.com ranks Jill Scott and Keite Young in Top 10 Albums!

Review of Keite Young

By Detrel Howell
Hidden Beach has never presented an artist lacking in talent or creativity. And they certainly did not stray from that formula with the much-anticipated release of Keite Young’s debut album, The RISE and FALL of KEITE YOUNG. His sampler, carefully sprinkled to various members of the media and music industry sometime in 2006, caused just the stir it was supposed to, leaving folks curious about what was to come. What has arrived is a full album that is a terrific blend of well-written tunes and funky beats.

The RISE bears a sound reminiscent of Van Hunt, Sly Stone and Prince - with an interesting fusion of blues, psychadelic funk, rock, soul and pop throughout. The song “If We Were Alone” features a welcome guest appearance by N’dambi, a vocal powerhouse in her own right who is overdue to release additional material of her own. “Shine,” a song that speaks volumes to independent spirits whose desire is to live out their dreams on their own terms, displays a clever use of percussive instruments. On “thinkuboutmi,” Van Hunt immediately comes to mind as Keite’s hushed, sensual tones make their way through the speakers. The finale comes in the form of a song entitled “Pressure,” which comes alive as the in-studio jam session brings out the very best of the assembled cast of musicians. This song is ideal as Keite exits - stage right - leaving the perfect impression on a very satisfied audience. The gifted Keite Young is able to take and make varying styles of music all his own.

The wonderful news about The RISE and FALL of KEITE YOUNG is that there are no misses on this collection. There is certainly something here for every music lover who can reflect and recall the good feeling days of psychadelic funk, creatively blended with a sound that can be appreciated by audiences today that are thirsting for versatility. Highly recommended.

To read the entire review: Review of Keite Young on Soul Tracks

To visit Soul Tracks website SoulTracks.com

To Listen to snippets from his album www.keiteyoung.com

See photos from Los Angeles Release Party for Keite Young.

For more information and photos from the event please visit:
Nu Soul

Listen to Keite Young’s new album by visiting www.keiteyoung.com or click on this image below.

Enjoy…

05:36 PM CDT on Friday, August 24, 2007
By THOR CHRISTENSEN / Pop Music Critic

Singer Keite Young is an ordained minister with deep roots in gospel music. But most of all, he’s a free thinker.

“A lot of times, gospel music comes off as propaganda,” says Mr. Young, an ex-member of Kirk Franklin’s band.

“They’re always talking about ‘Try God.’ But what does that mean? God doesn’t mean the same thing to everybody.”

And don’t even get him started on organized religion.

“I love God, but more people are being killed over organized religion than anything else. Anything that tells you ‘This decision is the only right decision’ is inherently messed up.”

The 30-year-old Dallas-based singer pours his strong opinions into his debut CD, The Rise and Fall of Keite Young. It comes out Tuesday on Hidden Beach, the L.A.-based label that’s home to Jill Scott. But don’t file it in the “neo-soul” bin. It’s too bluesy and rock-edged for that.

Dallas-based singer Keite Young

Mr. Young grew up in Fort Worth in a musical brood. His grandfather played blues under the name “Big Daddy” Young, and his gospel-singing mom turned her son on to Parliament and Prince. Eventually, Keite (pronounced “keet”) found his own favorite bands.

“As a teenager I got heavily into the Beatles and Led Zeppelin,” he says. “I remember riding down the highway when ‘Black Dog’ came on and my mind was blown.”

But while he was grooving on Jimmy Page, he was still heavily involved in the church. By 15, Mr. Young was ordained a minister, and a few years later, he joined gospel star Kirk Franklin & the Family, a band that also included Mr. Young’s mom, Carrie Collins, and his stepdad, Dalon Collins.

Touring behind 1998’s multimillion-selling The Nu Nation Project, Mr. Franklin and the Family played to packed arenas and at the Grammys, where “Lean On Me” was nominated for song of the year.

“It was a mind-trip,” Mr. Young says. “I was signing autographs and running from women and crowds. Even on a gospel tour, there’s groupies.”

But the party ended in 2000, when Mr. Young’s parents and three other Family members sued Mr. Franklin and Gospo Centric Records, saying they weren’t properly paid for their work on The Nu Nation Project. Mr. Young wasn’t part of the lawsuit, but he eventually left Mr. Franklin’s group along with his parents.

“It made things complicated and awkward, but nevertheless, everybody still loves each other,” he says. “I saw Kirk in the studio a year ago, and we were like we always are.”
With his Family ties severed, he turned to another well-placed connection: Wayman Tisdale, the ex-NBA star and bass guitarist who also happens to be Mr. Young’s great-uncle.
“Every Thanksgiving and Christmas he’d come in the game room and hear what I’m doing and tell me ‘Kid, you’re a star! Give me a demo and picture and I’ll come back with a record deal.’ ”
It took a few years, but Mr. Young eventually signed to Hidden Beach, an independent label distributed through Universal. He finished recording The Rise and Fall … last year. In the meantime, he’s been building buzz, opening for the likes of the O’Jays and Robin Thicke and playing South by Southwest.

At SXSW, he turned in a kinetic set that included funked-up covers of the Police’s “Roxanne” and the Beatles’ “Come Together.” He’s been known to whip out a version of the Stones’ “Miss You.” And given the chance, he’ll bend your ear about his love of Nine Inch Nails.
“I’ve got so much music inside of me from everything I listened to growing up,” he says. “Gospel wasn’t enough for me.”

The lyrics on The Rise and Fall … are almost as wide-ranging as the music. “If We Were Alone” (featuring Dallas singer N’Dambi) is a straightforward love-and-lust song, but “Masks” is about a preacher who’s torn up over his own homosexuality.

“Being gay and believing in God shouldn’t be a conflict,” he says. “It’s about taking off the artificial vibe and letting other people know the real you.”

Equally powerful is “The Wash,” a song “about the plight of black America.”
“We’ve had 400 years of deprogramming and roughly 40 years of semi-freedom. We’ve been disenfranchised and miseducated, and we’re expected to come back from that,” he says. “It’s a sad song about the truth.”

The CD-opener, “My Change,” includes a nod to Sam Cooke’s civil rights anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which had a huge impact on Mr. Young. He wonders why black artists aren’t writing songs like that today.

“It’s like, ‘What went wrong?’ And what went wrong is we got comfortable – we got sucked into the money and the cars, and we just started accepting the status quo,” he says. “I want to believe music is getting back to the point where musicians are town criers informing people of what’s going on – all great music is born out of conflict.”

Stay tuned to Keite Young’s Official Release Party in Dallas, Texas. Click Here To Pre-order the album on Amazon.com.

When: August 27, 2007
Where: Soul In The City, 5321 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Texas 75206