Music is in my soul, my soul is my music. My soul comes through my music, my music comes through my soul.
I am a very compassionate and caring person. I have a very soulful singing style. Early inspiration comes from the church. Growing up in the church has molded me to the man I am today. The music I grew up hearing in the church is central to my musical tastes. The church has a rudimentary influence on my musical craft. I honor and love the Lord. My music is crafted with that in my heart and in my mind. I am interested in getting the industry back to real music, music with a wonderful message and a soulful conveyance.
I grew up shy, and did not sing in public for most of my childhood. My first musical break came when attending college. My freshman year I laid low, but my sophomore year, I threw away my timidity and insecurity in search of a new more fulfilling life in music. I was excited, but very afraid, but I knew I had to let loose and do my thing. The first time I performed in public was at a talent show at Hamilton College, my alma mater, hosted by the West Indian African Association (WIAA). I was at the time serving on the executive board for the organization as the Ambassador. Because of my position I played a role in putting the show together. I was the co-chair of the talent show committee with a friend.
My performance that night was of a song Musiq Soulchild is know for, "Love." I had an instrumental of the song, and I had been performing it in my room for a couple of weeks, to master my rendition of it. I did master it and it was my time to share it to the crowd. It turned out to be amazing! The people loved it! The girls were screaming while I was singing, and I got a thunderous applause after the song. From that day forward my life turned around. I was no longer timid about my abilities, and I was more confident in myself. People came up to me after the event and were hugging me and kissing me and telling me what an amazing job I did. I tried to contain my elation with a simple smile and a humble “thanks” or “thank you,” but what was going on inside of me was totally different than my outward appearance. My adrenaline was still rushing from the performance and I had this special feeling that engulfed my heart. The mixture of the two made me feel like I was on top of the world.
That same night I saw the Hamilton College Gospel Choir perform. I was interested in what they were doing. They were singing together and that was the kind of network, connection, and closeness I needed to support my singing. I wanted to have friends that I could share my music with and I want to sing with the choir to help mold it. The gospel that I knew of at that time was totally different from what I heard the Hamilton Gospel Choir singing. This choir did not seem like a choir to me because they lacked that soulful feeling. They sang well, but there was something missing. I wanted to be someone who could attempt to fill that void. Over the next three years I did. I filled the void and I loved doing it. It helped me to grow musically and I loved serving the Lord. It has been one of the most important decisions in my life.
I also had the opportunity to work with a Hamilton College student I already knew, by the name of Mike Allen. He was an amazingly talented pianist and he played for the gospel choir. He noticed my talents, and I noticed his and we would get together to practice music. He knew some music that was contemporary at the time and he would play it on his keyboard. I would sing along with it. He started me out with a couple of songs by John Legend. We did well with that, and we practiced it often. We did "Ordinary People," and "So High." We did so well, we actually decided to take it to the public and no longer just stay rehearsing it the empty Hamilton College chapel. We did about five different events spread out throughout the year and they all were great. Some of my friends would call me little Legend, because I sounded so much like John Legend. I can say today that much of my style was crafted in the hours I would spend rehearsing with Mike. The John Legend songs made me more John Legend-ish with my style. However, Andre did come out in the rehearsals too, and although John Legend is a big influence he is not the only one. I had a love for music by Babyface, Silk, Bilal, Musiq, etc.
Through my tenure with the gospel choir I met an amazing director by the name of Roxanne Bellamy-Campbell. She was an amazing talent and she was very caring and in touch with every choir member on an individual level. She has proven to be a spiritual mother to me then and she still is now. I had the great opportunity to minister to more people through my music at Annual Gospel Workshops. I sang at Wells College, Hamilton College, and Muhlenburg College in gospel workshops led by simply amazing and very blessed and talented individuals. Kirk Hatcher and Ed "Chief" Menifee have been big brothers to me from the time I met them. They have given me solos at gospel events and helped to culture my voice to where it is today. It would only be right for me to honor and thank them for noticing me and devoting their time to me.
I began to realize that I would not always have Mike as my (kind of) personal keyboard player so I began to dabble in musical software that would allow me to compose my own beats and record my own songs. I began making simple beats and writing songs. I would eventually move to a point where I would use other producers beats more often because they were better at making beats than me and I was a great singer and I knew I should focus my time and energy more on my singing than on my beat making. I still use the same software I initially used to make beats to make my recordings today. So that is a brief overview of my musical journey and my musical style. I am happy I could share it with you and I know you must be a fan to have read this far, and I thank you for that. Much love and God bless you!
-André
More of Rakeem-André's Music
Click Here for Rakeem-André's Garage Band Page
Check me out! I was awarded R&B Track of the Day for Saturday, June 9, 2007 on www.GarageBand.com so stop by to listen to a great song and see my accomplishment. If you click on my Track of the day badge below you can go straight to the page where my track can be played, but on June the 9th you have to click on this LINK to listen to it as displayed as Track of the Day.