The raspy-voice and soulful sound of Anthony Hamilton first jumped on the Hip-Hop/Soul mainstream scene when he was featured on the Atlanta-based group, Nappy Roots song, “Po’ Folks.” His voice was something different and refreshing to the ears and held the attention from beginning to end. The music critics described his genre of music as Neo-Soul but we all know soul music is just soul music. “Po’ Folks” was released in 2002 and since, Hamilton has released 7 studio albums, on several different record labels. His most recent, Back to Love, was the first under RCA since its JIVE merger. Over 15 years in the business and Anthony Hamilton is still a force to be reckoned with.
In support of Back To Love, which was released in October of 2011, but with singles that continue to impact radio, Hamilton has began the Back to Love tour to get his fans and music back into the traditional sound of soul music. Hamilton explains the difference of this album from his previous work by simply stating, “I don’t think it’s so churched-out. I think most the songs are not as churchy or heavy.” Those who are familiar with his work know Hamilton has a way of turning an R & B song into a Sunday Morning classic without missing a beat, but the latest work was slightly less down that alley.
Anthony Hamilton’s first musical home was the church choir in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of 10. In 1993, he made a trip to New York to pursue a career in music and ended up signing to Uptown Records/MCA which was ran by Andre Harrell. There he released his first studio album, XTC which was received well, but didn’t quite turn out to be the launch pad he anticipated. After being in the background enduring the trials and tribulations of the industry in 2000 he was one of the background singers for D’Angelo on the Voodoo tour. But more was in store. “Of course being commercial is attractive to any artist because not only do I want to have great music, I want to have great business. It’s taking a little longer for me but I’m still keeping the integrity of the music,” Hamilton explained of the journey thus far.
Along came the collaboration with Nappy Roots and the star that was shining in the mist of the others began to shine a little brighter. Soul and Hip-Hop music lovers wanted to know who was the man that possessed the voice. “Po’ Folks” also garnered him his first Grammy nomination. From the attention, he joined forces with Jermaine Dupri and So So Def and his second studio album was released, Comin’ From Where I’m From. The album went platinum and featured the singles, “Charlene” and “Comin’ From Where I’m From.”
The Back to Love Tour will be headlined by Anthony Hamilton and feature Grammy winner Estelle and the new R & B kid on the block, Antoine Dodd. “Estelle is great, I’ve been a fan of hers and she’s soft, mild and has all that chocolate. I should have named it the chocolate tour,” Hamilton jokes. “Antoine Dodd is somebody who opened for me before and he’s a newcomer and I like to give people like him a chance at making it happen for themselves because it happened for me.”
“Back to Love Tour looks like this time I want to give the people something to see, like nice lights, nice stage and all the arrangements. I want it to be a nice return home because we’ve made it all right for you to travel back to love.”
The Back to Love Tour kicks off in Columbia, South Carolina on September 8th and will end October 7th at the Johnny Mercer Theatre in Savannah, Georgia. He’ll be at the Beacon Theatre in New York on September 13th.
For more information on Anthony Hamilton check out the site: www.anthonyhamilton.com
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