RCA to close Jive, Arista and J label imprints [Updated]

 RCA Music Group is slimming down for the holidays by shuttering its Arista, Jive and J Records subsidiaries, a move by new label execs to strengthen the identity of the RCA brand. Artists who have been with those three imprints, which have been home to Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Pitbull, Whitney Houston, Justin Timberlake, Barry Manilow, R. Kelly, Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Dido, Jennifer Hudson, Leona Lewis and others, will be shifted to RCA.

[Updated at 11:11 a.m. Oct. 7: "In an effort to refresh RCA Records, all label imprints -- J Records, Arista Records and Jive -- will now be under the the iconic RCA Records label," according to a statement RCA issued Friday.]

Jive produced several of the biggest-selling albums of all time in the midst of the youth pop boom a decade ago, including the multiplatinum hits for 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and Spears.

There’s no mention so far of what role under the new arrangement will be played by Davis, who in recent years had continued to sign and develop artists on J.

On Friday morning, there was no indication of the change evident on Jive Records official website, but sites for both J and Arista now default to the RCA Music Group site.

[Updated at 1:27 a.m. Oct. 7: The changes do not affect the Arista Nashville label, or the other three country music labels that are under the Sony Music Nashville umbrella: RCA, Columbia and BNA.  "Arista Nashville and its respective roster are not impacted in any way," Gary Overton, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Nashville, said Friday in a statement. "Our four-label Sony Music Nashville operations remain unchanged."]

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"Steve Jobs gave the blind eyes; the deaf ears" -- Stevie Wonder

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Britney Spears. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Album review: Jennifer Hudson's 'I Remember Me'

In the seven years since her “American Idol” launch, Jennifer Hudson has been such a visible part of the pop culture landscape, it’s hard to believe that “I Remember Me” is only the Chicago singer’s second album. The spotlight has shone on her for extra-musical reasons both honorific (her Oscar in 2007 for “Dreamgirls”) and horrific (the 2008 murder of her mother, brother and nephew). When she sings “I’ve been through some things” — honey, we know. Those things have made her old self a “memory” to her new self, as she writes in the title track. The change has manifested physically; the Weight Watchers spokeswoman has lost 80 pounds. Unfortunately, the 12 new songs don’t capture such a radical transformation.

On screen and in life, Hudson’s story has been that of the underdog. More than ever, we want to cheer her on. Declaring “I Got This,” she doesn’t ask for our pity — which makes us love her even more. Her “Feeling Good” (a song made famous by Nina Simone) makes us feel good.

Hudson has a big, warm, church-trained R&B diva voice, a sure instrument for belting the blues and affirming the spirit. But that voice has never seemed comfortable among the bright shiny toys of a pop studio — like an old hardwood cutting board in a stainless steel kitchen. As on her 2008 debut, she tries on a variety of guises — pop, disco, soul — and collaborators (this time, there’s Alicia Keys and R. Kelly). Again, she works with Ne-Yo and Diane Warren and closes with a gospel tune. But as much as we want it, she never quite delivers that reason to believe.

—Evelyn McDonnell

Jennifer Hudson
“I Remember Me”
Arista
Two and a half stars

Singing Aretha's praises: Jennifer Hudson

 

Singer Jennifer Hudson said she and Florence Welch bonded big time during their part in the Grammy Awards show’s salute to a common influence, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.

“I just love her energy,” Hudson said of Welch after they’d rehearsed the career-spanning medley of Franklin signature songs on Thursday. “I love how much she loves music, and we just feed off each other—it’s like a magnet."

As intimidating as it might seem for any singer to interpret the songs of one of pop music’s great vocalists, Hudson said: “At the same time, it’s an honor, and that outweighs the nerves. The fact that we get to do this—I just hope we reflect her in the best way.  I got a call to do this and I said, ‘Yay! I’ll be there with bells on.'

“They asked us to submit a list of whatever song we’d like to sing, then they called back and said, ‘OK, you’re going to sing this,’” Hudson said. “I was like, ‘Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Anything, I would love to do it.’”

Franklin appeared Sunday night in a videotaped greeting to the audience at Staples and those watching the telecast, thanking fans for their get-well wishes during her recent hospital stay for surgery stemming from a still-undisclosed condition. But she said she hoped to attend next year’s ceremony.

“There was absolutely no competition” among the tribute participants, who also included Christina Aguilera, Yolanda Adams and Martina McBride, Hudson said. “It was all celebration and honoring of Aretha Franklin. I’m just honored to be on stage with such amazing talent. I’m standing up there in awe. Wow.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: From left, Yolanda Adams, Martina McBride, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Florence Welch during Sunday night's Grammy Awards salute to Aretha Franklin. Credit: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters.

Clive Davis talks of projects with Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson

In the midst of my conversation a few days ago with Clive Davis, the veteran label chief, talent scout and record producer offered up a particularly welcome bit of news about Aretha Franklin, who went through some serious surgery last fall reportedly related to a diagnosis of  cancer. She has subsequently discredited widely circulated reports that she has pancreatic cancer.

Davis said that if all goes according to plan, he'll be working this year with the Queen of Soul, who he brought over to Arista Records in 1980, overseeing the dawn of a new era of chart success for her over the next decade.

"I just got off the phone with her, and she's sounding very good," Davis said. "We had a wonderful conversation, and we’re looking forward to working together. She's planning to come here when the weather gets a little warmer in New York."

He said he's also just wrapped up work with one of Franklin's myriad R&B disciples, Jennifer Hudson.

"I'm very excited about the new Jennifer Hudson album we've just completed," he said. "I love the idea of showcasing big voices of someone unique like her, who can not only break through with hits but also have a big career."

Davis will host his annual pre-Grammy Awards bash on Saturday night, and he'll also be on hand Wednesday night at the Grammy Museum to be the first honoree in the facility's new "Icons of the Music Industry" question-answer series.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Jennifer Hudson and Clive Davis at the 2010 Grammy Awards "Salute to Icons honoring Doug Morris" in Beverly Hills. Credit: Jason Merritt / Getty Images

White House civil-rights concert moved up to Tuesday by snowstorms

Among the myriad other disruptions that massive snowstorms are causing on the East Coast, a Black History Month concert at the White House delineating the role music played in the civil-rights movement has been hastily bumped up a day, to Tuesday. It originally was scheduled for Wednesday.

“They’re expecting another 20 inches of snow, and the federal government probably will be shut down tomorrow,” the Grammy Museum's executive director, Robert Santelli, said Tuesday morning from Washington, D.C., where he was caught up fast-forwarding plans both for the concert with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Smokey Robinson, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and numerous others, as well as an educational program that First Lady Michelle Obama was hosting for about 100 high school students from around the country.

“If we didn’t do it today, it probably would have been canceled,” said Santelli. A planned broadcast of the  concert Thursday on PBS stations is still in place, he said, as well as a live stream of the educational program for the benefit of students around the country starting at noon Pacific time. The telecast is being handled by veteran Grammy Awards show producer Ken Ehrlich, and the concert also will be streamed live Tuesday night on PBS' website.

Because of the schedule change, Santelli said a portion of the program will be recorded and made available at a future date for those who weren’t able to watch it live.

Clive's pre-Grammy party: Whitney Houston returns, Kelly Clarkson shows sass

Suddenly there she was, after all this time.

Whitney Houston walked onstage at the end of Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday in a leopard-print corset dress and a coat that made her look a bit like a big cat -- her hair a nimbus of curls, her smile a tolerant mask.

She didn’t waste time warming up with a minor hit. The big band’s flourishes signaled the start of her signature ballad, “I Will Always Love You.”

Everyone -- the entertainment business moguls schmoozing their way through this Grammy weekend; the stars for whom this annual fete is a way of renewing their membership in the glamour club, including Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia and Jamie Foxx; and even the servers still filling wine and water glasses -- stopped to listen. But Houston did not milk the moment. She simply sang, strongly but without melodrama. And before the high notes could challenge her, she moved on, switching to her 1983 hit “I Believe in You and Me,” the scariest part of the night behind her.

The rumor that the singer would appear at Davis’ party had solidified during rehearsals for the event, when Davis himself confirmed it to MTV. It was the latest scene in the story of pop’s most famous Henry Higgins and his wayward protégée, a woman who’s struggled with drugs and a disastrous marriage to the singer Bobby Brown, but who is finally back and ready to fight for her spot at center stage.

Houston’s short set, which also included her hip-hop-flavored “It’s Not Right but It’s Okay” and “I’m Every Woman,” a cover song that’s been part of her repertoire forever, enraptured the crowd. Hudson and Fantasia hugged the stage, waving their arms in testifying fashion. Foxx caught the whole thing on his camcorder.

Was Houston’s appearance worthy of the crowd’s joyous reception? On one crucial level, yes, though the voice that once seemed able to topple mountains had grown more subdued, and the high notes just weren’t there.

Houston, who had grown disturbingly thin in recent years, looked healthy. Most of her recent performances have happened outside the U.S., and the press reports haven't always been kind. Last night, she hit her cues and delivered the songs with confidence. This felt like the beginning of something, not its climax: a tentative though friendly rapprochement with the diva role Houston once defined.

Now in her 40s, she may simply never regain the astonishing range and power of her youth. Onstage, she seemed to be working on ways  to sing distinctively though those natural gifts have slightly dimmed. The performance was enough to inspire hope that her next step won’t be disastrous.

Comebacks formed a defining arc within the long show.