Introducing Joss Stone
Encyclopedia
Introducing Joss Stone is the third studio album
by English recording artist Joss Stone
. It was released in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2007 by Relentless Records
. While not as commercially successful as Stone's previous albums in her native UK, Introducing Joss Stone debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200
selling 118,000 units in its opening week, yielding the second-ever highest debut for a British female solo artist on the chart. It also achieved success across continental Europe, charting inside the top five and the top ten in several nations. According to EMI
, the album has sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
head Jason Flom
gave the responsibility for A&Ring the album to new charge Chris Anokute
. Anokute, who would go on to guide Katy Perry
to breakthrough success, told HitQuarters
: "[M]y first real A&R job is A&Ring a record for Joss Stone with a budget of $1 million", since Stone was, according to him, the biggest artist on the label at the time. In April 2006 Flom sent Stone to Barbados with Anokute for two months in order for her to start writing the lyrics and for the two to work on developing the songs. In collaboration with Marty Maidenberg and Merck Mercuriadis, Anokute developed the vision for the album, bringing in producers and songwriters Raphael Saadiq
, Novel
, Dallas Austin
and Mix Master Mike
, and artists Joi
and Common
. Anokute also engineered a duet with Lauryn Hill
, a considerable coup as this was the first time Hill had guested on anyone else's record after 1998's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
.
The album's production is solely credited to Saadiq, known for his previous work with the likes of D'Angelo
, Macy Gray
, Mary J. Blige
, Kelis
and The Roots
. "Raphael is the most incredible musician I've ever met in my whole life", Stone said. "Musically, I feel like he reads my mind. I'll give him a look and he'll know exactly what I want." After Barbados, Stone went to Nassau, Bahamas
to meet up with Saadiq. The two spent two months there recording at Compass Point Studios
, followed by the album's mixing
at New York City
's Electric Lady Studios
.
Virgin Records described the album as "an electrifying mix of warm vintage soul, '70s-style R&B
, Motown
girl-group
harmonies
, and hip-hop
grooves." Stone herself described it as "truly me. That's why I'm calling it Introducing Joss Stone. These are my words, and this is who I am as an artist."
launched a music series titled Album Autopsy: Introducing Joss Stone on the channel's broadband video channel VSPOT. The series took an in-depth look at the entire album process, including Stone's songwriting process, recording sessions, creation of the album cover art and interviews with Stone and people involved in the album's production.
The album's lead single "Tell Me 'bout It
", released on 5 March 2007, debuted and peaked at number twenty-eight on the UK Singles Chart
, and became Stone's first solo single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100
when it reached number eighty-three. Follow-up single "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now
" (featuring Common), released on 23 July 2007, missed the top seventy-five in the UK, peaking at number eighty-four. The Diane Warren
-penned ballad "Bruised but Not Broken", although not commercially released as a single, went for adds at US urban adult contemporary
radio stations on 16 July 2007, which allowed the song to chart at number fifty-five on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
charts in November 2007, as well as number thirteen on the Hot Adult R&B Airplay in October 2007. It was ultimately ranked at number thirty-eight on Radio & Records
s urban AC year-end chart of 2007 with 9,049 plays. The official third (and final) single, "Baby Baby Baby
", received a physical release in the UK on 14 January 2008, but due to lack of promotion and a music video to back its release, the song failed to chart in major markets.
A North American tour in support of the album took place from 27 April to 13 June 2007, visiting sixteen cities in total: Ledyard, Connecticut
; Philadelphia; New Orleans; Dallas; Alpine, California
; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon
; Vancouver
; Seattle; Denver; Chicago
; Toronto
; Montreal
; New York City; Boston
; and Vienna, Virginia
. Two months later, Stone embarked on a North American late-summer tour which lasted from 27 August to 29 September 2007 and covered twelve cities: Los Angeles
; Park City, Utah
; Snowmass Village, Colorado
; Seattle; Jacksonville, Oregon
; Las Vegas
; Mexico City
; Austin, Texas
, Texas
; Biloxi, Mississippi
; Chicago; San Francisco; and Kansas City, Missouri
.
The deluxe edition of the album includes a bonus DVD
containing thirty-five minutes of material, including recording footage, interviews with Stone and the music video for "Tell Me 'bout It".
, which assigns a normalised
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 64, based on 22 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone
s Christian Hoard felt that "[t]here are a couple of moments on Stone's third album when she clobbers a melody with enough showy vocal oomph to make even Christina Aguilera
fans squirm. But for the most part, Stone employs her remarkable instrument with focus and nuance on Introducing, and the result is an album full of solid pop
-wise R&B." Mike Joseph of PopMatters
commented that "[i]t's certainly the first great R&B album I've heard this year. While there's still the occasional affectation that I wish she would get rid of, Stone has grown into her music quite a bit."
Tim Perlich
, writing for Canadian magazine Now
, noted that "[w]ith the fast-maturing Stone gaining greater control of her powerful pipes and a recent breakup adding to the underlying sexual tension while stoking the creative fire, the craftily reconstituted 70s R&B concept works exceptionally well." Blender
critic David Browne
wrote that "[n]early every song is a souped-up retro-funk
tornado, pushed along by blaxploitation
-soundtrack guitars, scenery-chewing backup singers and, of course, Stone's husky pipes." Both Billboard
and Entertainment Weekly
praised Saadiq's production; the former called it "brimming with horns and seriously in-the-pocket rhythm sections, but there are also enough hip-hop touches and contemporary arrangements to keep the tracks in the now", while the latter opined that "[h]e brings a strong focus to Introducing Joss Stone, blending the digital crispness of modern R&B with Stone's preferred flavors of retro: swooping Motown-style strings, girl-group background vocals, gutbucket soul guitar." In a review for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine
believed that "Introducing does sound brighter, fresher than her other two albums, pitched partway between Amy Winehouse
and Back to Basics
Christina yet sounding very much like Texas
at their prime, but it's all surface change."
for the week of 24 March 2007 selling over 27,000 copies in its first week, and spent only four weeks on the chart, failing to reprise the success of Stone's previous efforts. Nevertheless, the album debuted on the US Billboard 200
at number two (behind Modest Mouse
's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
) on the issue dated 7 April 2007 with first-week sales of over 118,000 copies, earning Stone her most successful album in the United States to date, as well as the highest-charting debut for a British female solo artist on the Billboard 200, outdoing the record previously held by fellow English soul singer Amy Winehouse, whose album Back to Black
had debuted at number seven the week before. This record would later be broken by Leona Lewis
's Spirit
, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 on 26 April 2008. The album earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) on 1 May 2007, within two months of release, having sold 608,000 copies in the US as of November 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan
. It was equally successful in Canada, reaching number six on the main albums chart
and number one on the R&B chart. It was eventually certified gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association
(CRIA) on 11 April 2007 for sales in excess of 50,000 copies.
In mainland Europe, Introducing Joss Stone enjoyed top ten success in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands (where it landed at number one in its third week on the run), Portugal and Switzerland. It was awarded with gold and platinum certifications by, respectively, the Austrian and Swiss legs of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The album was less successful in Nordic countries, peaking at number twenty-seven in Norway, number thirty-one in Sweden and number thirty-eight in Denmark, while failing to chart at all in Finland. With a peak position of number three on the European Top 100 Albums
, it ended 2007 as the eighty-eighth best-selling album on the chart. In March 2007, EMI
reported that the album had sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by English recording artist Joss Stone
Joss Stone
Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
. It was released in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2007 by Relentless Records
Relentless Records
Relentless Records, founded by Shabs Jobanputra and Paul Franklyn in 1999 is now a part of Sony Music based in London, UK. Having achieved large scale successes with Joss Stone, KT Tunstall and several urban artists such as Artful Dodger and So Solid Crew, the label is now building a small focused...
. While not as commercially successful as Stone's previous albums in her native UK, Introducing Joss Stone debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
selling 118,000 units in its opening week, yielding the second-ever highest debut for a British female solo artist on the chart. It also achieved success across continental Europe, charting inside the top five and the top ten in several nations. According to EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, the album has sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
Background and recording
Virgin RecordsVirgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
head Jason Flom
Jason Flom
Jason Flom is an American music industry executive. He has served as the Chairman and CEO of music labels including Atlantic Records, Virgin Records, and the Capitol Music Group. In 1995, he founded Lava Records...
gave the responsibility for A&Ring the album to new charge Chris Anokute
Chris Anokute
Chris Anokute is an A&R executive. While at Capitol Records he oversaw artists including Katy Perry, Joss Stone and Varsity Fanclub. He is currently Senior Vice-President of A&R at Universal Motown.-Career:...
. Anokute, who would go on to guide Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
to breakthrough success, told HitQuarters
HitQuarters
HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for in-depth interviews with industry figures, with past subjects including Simon Cowell, Martin Kierszenbaum, Jason Flom, Diane Warren, Peter Edge, Ron Fair and RedOne, as well as its A&R...
: "[M]y first real A&R job is A&Ring a record for Joss Stone with a budget of $1 million", since Stone was, according to him, the biggest artist on the label at the time. In April 2006 Flom sent Stone to Barbados with Anokute for two months in order for her to start writing the lyrics and for the two to work on developing the songs. In collaboration with Marty Maidenberg and Merck Mercuriadis, Anokute developed the vision for the album, bringing in producers and songwriters Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as TLC, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, Mary J...
, Novel
Novel (musician)
Alonzo Mario Stevenson, professionally known as Novel, is an American hip-hop artist based in Los Angeles, California. He is a rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer...
, Dallas Austin
Dallas Austin
Dallas Austin is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of his most notable clients include Michael Jackson, TLC, Boyz II Men, Pink, Monica, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Stacie Orrico, Another Bad Creation, Fishbone, Sugababes, Anastacia, Namie Amuro, Kim...
and Mix Master Mike
Mix Master Mike
Mix Master Mike is an American turntablist and contributing member of the Beastie Boys.-Life and career:Born Michael Schwartz in San Francisco, California, Mix Master Mike is of German and Filipino descent. He first came to prominence upon winning the 1992 New Music Seminar/Supermen Inc...
, and artists Joi
Joi (singer)
Joi Elaine Gilliam , better known by her stage name Joi, is an American R&B/Rock singer, songwriter and record producer associated with the Dungeon Family collective based in Atlanta, Georgia, and as such often performs with OutKast, the Organized Noize production team, and Goodie Mob Joi Elaine...
and Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
. Anokute also engineered a duet with Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
, a considerable coup as this was the first time Hill had guested on anyone else's record after 1998's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American musician Lauryn Hill, released August 25, 1998, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from late 1997 to June 1998, and were held primarily at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica...
.
The album's production is solely credited to Saadiq, known for his previous work with the likes of D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
, Macy Gray
Macy Gray
Macy Gray is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress, famed for her distinctive raspy voice, and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday and Betty Davis.Gray has released five studio albums, with her fifth studio album, The Sellout,...
, Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
, Kelis
Kelis
Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers (born August 21, 1971 is an American musical artist. She is a BRIT Award, Q Award and NME Award winner and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. She has had nine top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart...
and The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
. "Raphael is the most incredible musician I've ever met in my whole life", Stone said. "Musically, I feel like he reads my mind. I'll give him a look and he'll know exactly what I want." After Barbados, Stone went to Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
to meet up with Saadiq. The two spent two months there recording at Compass Point Studios
Compass Point Studios
Compass Point Studios were founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records.In the late 1970s and mid-1980s, many musical artists from across the world came to the Bahamas to record music at its facilities. Many producers, including Chris Blackwell himself, used the studio to produce...
, followed by the album's mixing
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios, at 52 West 8th Street, in New York City's Greenwich Village, is a recording studio originally built by Jimi Hendrix and designed by John Storyk in 1970...
.
Virgin Records described the album as "an electrifying mix of warm vintage soul, '70s-style R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
girl-group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
harmonies
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, and hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
grooves." Stone herself described it as "truly me. That's why I'm calling it Introducing Joss Stone. These are my words, and this is who I am as an artist."
Release and promotion
On 13 March 2007, VH1VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
launched a music series titled Album Autopsy: Introducing Joss Stone on the channel's broadband video channel VSPOT. The series took an in-depth look at the entire album process, including Stone's songwriting process, recording sessions, creation of the album cover art and interviews with Stone and people involved in the album's production.
The album's lead single "Tell Me 'bout It
Tell Me 'bout It
"Tell Me 'bout It" is a song by English soul singer-songwriter Joss Stone from her third studio album, Introducing Joss Stone . Written by Stone, Raphael Saadiq and Robert Ozuna , the Saadiq-produced track was released in March 2007 as the album's lead single...
", released on 5 March 2007, debuted and peaked at number twenty-eight on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, and became Stone's first solo single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
when it reached number eighty-three. Follow-up single "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now
Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now
"Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now" is a song by English soul singer–songwriter Joss Stone, featuring American rapper Common. Written by Stone, Alonzo "Novel" Stevenson, Tony Reyes and Common and produced by Raphael Saadiq, the song was released as the album's second single in July 2007. The song...
" (featuring Common), released on 23 July 2007, missed the top seventy-five in the UK, peaking at number eighty-four. The Diane Warren
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...
-penned ballad "Bruised but Not Broken", although not commercially released as a single, went for adds at US urban adult contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
radio stations on 16 July 2007, which allowed the song to chart at number fifty-five on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart is the airplay component chart of the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. It is not the R&B subset of The Hot 100 Airplay, but rather a separate panel of R&B stations in urban markets used for the R&B/Hip-Hop chart...
charts in November 2007, as well as number thirteen on the Hot Adult R&B Airplay in October 2007. It was ultimately ranked at number thirty-eight on Radio & Records
Radio & Records
Radio & Records was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It originally started out as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006, up until its final issue in 2009.-History:The company was founded in 1973 and...
s urban AC year-end chart of 2007 with 9,049 plays. The official third (and final) single, "Baby Baby Baby
Baby Baby Baby
"Baby Baby Baby" is a song by English soul singer–songwriter Joss Stone from her third studio album, Introducing Joss Stone . Written by Stone, Danny P and Jonathan Shorten, the track was released as the album's third and final single...
", received a physical release in the UK on 14 January 2008, but due to lack of promotion and a music video to back its release, the song failed to chart in major markets.
A North American tour in support of the album took place from 27 April to 13 June 2007, visiting sixteen cities in total: Ledyard, Connecticut
Ledyard, Connecticut
As of the census of 2000, there were 14,687 people, 5,286 households, and 4,101 families residing in the town. The population density was 385.1 people per square mile . There were 5,486 housing units at an average density of 143.8 per square mile...
; Philadelphia; New Orleans; Dallas; Alpine, California
Alpine, California
Alpine is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. Alpine had a population of 14,236 at the 2010 census, up from 13,143 at the 2000 census.Alpine is the residence of former United States Representative Duncan Hunter...
; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
; Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
; Seattle; Denver; Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
; Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
; Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
; New York City; Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
; and Vienna, Virginia
Vienna, Virginia
Vienna is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 15,687. Significantly more people live in zip codes with the Vienna postal addresses bordered approximately by Interstate 66 on the south, Interstate 495 on the east, Route 7 to...
. Two months later, Stone embarked on a North American late-summer tour which lasted from 27 August to 29 September 2007 and covered twelve cities: Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
; Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
; Snowmass Village, Colorado
Snowmass Village, Colorado
Snowmass Village is a Home Rule Municipality in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,822 at the 2000 census. A popular winter resort location for skiing and snowboarding, the town is best known as the location of the Snowmass ski area, the largest of the four nearby ski...
; Seattle; Jacksonville, Oregon
Jacksonville, Oregon
Jacksonville is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, a few miles west of Medford. It was named for Jackson Creek, which runs through the community and was the site of one of the first placer gold claims in the area. It includes Jacksonville Historic District which was designated a U.S....
; Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
; Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
; Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
; Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
; Chicago; San Francisco; and Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
.
The deluxe edition of the album includes a bonus DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
containing thirty-five minutes of material, including recording footage, interviews with Stone and the music video for "Tell Me 'bout It".
Critical reception
Introducing Joss Stone received mixed to positive reviews from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalised
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 64, based on 22 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Christian Hoard felt that "[t]here are a couple of moments on Stone's third album when she clobbers a melody with enough showy vocal oomph to make even Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
fans squirm. But for the most part, Stone employs her remarkable instrument with focus and nuance on Introducing, and the result is an album full of solid pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-wise R&B." Mike Joseph of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
commented that "[i]t's certainly the first great R&B album I've heard this year. While there's still the occasional affectation that I wish she would get rid of, Stone has grown into her music quite a bit."
Tim Perlich
Tim Perlich
Tim Perlich is a Canadian writer and music journalist, and formerly a senior writer and music critic for Now Magazine.As of February 2009, for undisclosed reasons, Perlich is no longer working for Now Magazine.-External links:...
, writing for Canadian magazine Now
NOW (magazine)
Now is a free weekly newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It was first printed on September 10, 1981 by Michael Hollett and Alice Klein. Now is an alternative weekly mixing arts and entertainment news with political coverage....
, noted that "[w]ith the fast-maturing Stone gaining greater control of her powerful pipes and a recent breakup adding to the underlying sexual tension while stoking the creative fire, the craftily reconstituted 70s R&B concept works exceptionally well." Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
critic David Browne
David Browne
David Browne is an American journalist and author. He was the resident music critic at Entertainment Weekly between 1990 and 2006. He was an editor at Music & Sound Output magazine and a music critic at the New York Daily News before EW...
wrote that "[n]early every song is a souped-up retro-funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
tornado, pushed along by blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
-soundtrack guitars, scenery-chewing backup singers and, of course, Stone's husky pipes." Both Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
and Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
praised Saadiq's production; the former called it "brimming with horns and seriously in-the-pocket rhythm sections, but there are also enough hip-hop touches and contemporary arrangements to keep the tracks in the now", while the latter opined that "[h]e brings a strong focus to Introducing Joss Stone, blending the digital crispness of modern R&B with Stone's preferred flavors of retro: swooping Motown-style strings, girl-group background vocals, gutbucket soul guitar." In a review for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
believed that "Introducing does sound brighter, fresher than her other two albums, pitched partway between Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
and Back to Basics
Back to Basics (Christina Aguilera album)
Back to Basics is the third studio album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, first released on August 10, 2006 by RCA Records...
Christina yet sounding very much like Texas
Texas (band)
Texas are a Scottish pop band from Bearsden, near Glasgow, Scotland. They were founded by Johnny McElhone in 1986 and feature Sharleen Spiteri on lead vocals. Texas made their performing debut in March 1988 at Scotland's University of Dundee...
at their prime, but it's all surface change."
Commercial performance
Introducing Joss Stone debuted at number twelve on the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
for the week of 24 March 2007 selling over 27,000 copies in its first week, and spent only four weeks on the chart, failing to reprise the success of Stone's previous efforts. Nevertheless, the album debuted on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
at number two (behind Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...
's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Modest Mouse, released in 2007. The album is the first studio album by the band since their 2004 album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News and is also the first album with former Smiths guitarist Johnny...
) on the issue dated 7 April 2007 with first-week sales of over 118,000 copies, earning Stone her most successful album in the United States to date, as well as the highest-charting debut for a British female solo artist on the Billboard 200, outdoing the record previously held by fellow English soul singer Amy Winehouse, whose album Back to Black
Back to Black
Back to Black is the second studio album by English recording artist Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. It is the last album released in her lifetime. The album incorporates 1960s soul music styles and modern R&B production, with subjective lyrics that concern...
had debuted at number seven the week before. This record would later be broken by Leona Lewis
Leona Lewis
Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. Lewis first came to prominence in 2006 when she won the third series of the British television series The X Factor....
's Spirit
Spirit (Leona Lewis album)
Spirit is the debut album by British singer Leona Lewis, released by Syco Music in November 2007 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, followed by a worldwide release during early 2008...
, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 on 26 April 2008. The album earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) on 1 May 2007, within two months of release, having sold 608,000 copies in the US as of November 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
. It was equally successful in Canada, reaching number six on the main albums chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
and number one on the R&B chart. It was eventually certified gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association
Music Canada
Music Canada was a Canadian music television miniseries which aired approximately monthly on CBC Television from 1966 to 1967.-Premise:This series featured various special productions of music and dance, from classical to modern styles.-Scheduling:...
(CRIA) on 11 April 2007 for sales in excess of 50,000 copies.
In mainland Europe, Introducing Joss Stone enjoyed top ten success in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands (where it landed at number one in its third week on the run), Portugal and Switzerland. It was awarded with gold and platinum certifications by, respectively, the Austrian and Swiss legs of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The album was less successful in Nordic countries, peaking at number twenty-seven in Norway, number thirty-one in Sweden and number thirty-eight in Denmark, while failing to chart at all in Finland. With a peak position of number three on the European Top 100 Albums
European Top 100 Albums
The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...
, it ended 2007 as the eighty-eighth best-selling album on the chart. In March 2007, EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
reported that the album had sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
Track listing
Sample credits- "Headturner" contains an interpolation of "RespectRespect (song)"Respect" is a song written and originally released by Stax recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. "Respect" became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few minor changes in the lyrics, the stories told...
" by Otis ReddingOtis ReddingOtis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
. - "Music" contains an interpolation of "The Mask" by the Fugees.
- "Proper Nice" contains an interpolation of "Catch Me (I'm Falling)Catch Me (I'm Falling)"Catch Me " is a dance-pop song released by the American group Pretty Poison in 1987. It was included on the soundtrack to the film Hiding Out, which starred Jon Cryer and came out the same year; the song later appeared on Pretty Poison's debut album, Catch Me I'm Falling...
" by Pretty PoisonPretty PoisonPretty Poison is a Dance group based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Group members are Jade Starling ; Whey Cooler ; and Kaya Pryor .-History:...
.
Personnel
- Joss Stone – lead vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, executive producerExecutive producerAn executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, art directionArt directorThe art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
, A&R - Isaiah Abolin – assistant engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
(track 3) - Jawara Adams – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
(tracks 8, 12) - Chalmers "Spanky" AlfordChalmers AlfordChalmers Edward "Spanky" Alford was an American three time Grammy winning jazz guitarist. Alford was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was well known for his playing style and use of arpeggiations...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(tracks 2–4, 5, 7–13) - Chris AnokuteChris AnokuteChris Anokute is an A&R executive. While at Capitol Records he oversaw artists including Katy Perry, Joss Stone and Varsity Fanclub. He is currently Senior Vice-President of A&R at Universal Motown.-Career:...
– A&R - Mike Boden – assistant engineer (tracks 6, 12)
- Oswald Bowe – assistant engineer (tracks 2–5, 7–14)
- Brian Bowen Smith – photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
- Chuck Brungardt – engineer; mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
; Pro ToolsPro ToolsPro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
operator (track 3) - Jonathan "Meres" Cohen – body paintingBody paintingBody painting, or sometimes bodypainting, is a form of body art. Unlike tattoo and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and lasts for only several hours, or at most a couple of weeks. Body painting that is limited to the face is known as face painting...
, graffitiGraffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property.... - Anthony ColemanAnthony ColemanAnthony Coleman is an American musician. Coleman is a piano and keys player, trombonist and vocalist mainly working within the free improvised and avant-garde jazz scenes in downtown New York during the late 1970s through to the present day.His greatest impact was during the 80s and 90s when he...
– trumpet (track 3) - Lois Colin – harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
(track 10) - CommonCommon (rapper)Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
– vocals (track 5) - Tom Coyne – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Reggie Dozier – stringStrings (music)A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be "plain"...
engineer (tracks 2–5, 7–14); horn engineer (tracks 4, 5, 7, 14) - Joi GilliamJoi (singer)Joi Elaine Gilliam , better known by her stage name Joi, is an American R&B/Rock singer, songwriter and record producer associated with the Dungeon Family collective based in Atlanta, Georgia, and as such often performs with OutKast, the Organized Noize production team, and Goodie Mob Joi Elaine...
– backing vocals (tracks 2–4, 9, 11) - David Gorman – designDesignDesign as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
- Steve Greenwell – additional engineer (tracks 2, 3, 5, 8–11, 13); vocal engineer (tracks 7, 12)
- Charlie Happiness – clavinetClavinetA Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
(track 5) - Lauryn HillLauryn HillLauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
– vocals (track 7) - Lionel Holoman – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(tracks 9, 10); organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
(tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 14); RhodesRhodes pianoThe Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
(tracks 8, 11); WurlitzerWurlitzerThe Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
(track 12) - Keisha JacksonKeisha JacksonKeisha Jackson is a R&B singer, and is the daughter of R&B & Soul Legend Millie Jackson.Having grown up in a family rich with music history, Keisha’s childhood was immersed in music...
– backing vocals (tracks 2–4, 9, 11) - Priscilla Jones Campbell – backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
(tracks 8, 12) - Vinnie JonesVinnie JonesVincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones is an English film actor and retired Welsh footballer.Born in Hertfordshire, England, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team, having qualified via a Welsh grandparent. He also previously played for Chelsea and Leeds United. As a member of the...
– voiceoverVoice-overVoice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
(track 1) - Justin Kessler – Pro Tools operator (tracks 9–13)
- Dave Larring – additional engineer (track 7)
- Joshua Lutz – muralMuralA mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
- Jeremy Mackenzie – Pro Tools operator (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14)
- Marlon Marcel – assistant engineer (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14)
- Kate McGregor – art coordinator
- Mix Master MikeMix Master MikeMix Master Mike is an American turntablist and contributing member of the Beastie Boys.-Life and career:Born Michael Schwartz in San Francisco, California, Mix Master Mike is of German and Filipino descent. He first came to prominence upon winning the 1992 New Music Seminar/Supermen Inc...
– turntablesTurntablismTurntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
(tracks 6, 12) - Dror Mohar – assistant engineer (tracks 3, 6, 14)
- Sean Mosher-Smith – art direction
- Robert OzunaJake and the PhatmanJake and the Phatman are Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum producers, songwriters, DJ's and Multi-Instrumentalists....
– additional drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(tracks 2, 5, 6, 11); drums (tracks 3, 4, 9, 10, 13); percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
(tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 9–12, 14); sitarSitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
(track 2); turntables (tracks 4–7) - Khari Parker – additional drums (tracks 3, 4, 9, 10); drums (tracks 2, 5–8, 11–14); percussion (track 2)
- Jermaine PaulJermaine PaulJermaine Paul is an American R&B/soul singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.-Early life:Jermaine Paul was raised in New York City. When eight years old, he began to acquire a reputation for singing while playing the drums at local churches and talent shows with his family...
– backing vocals (tracks 2–4, 9, 11) - Tino Richardson – saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(tracks 8, 12) - Raphael SaadiqRaphael SaadiqRaphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as TLC, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, Mary J...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
; backing vocals (tracks 2, 10, 12, 13); bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(tracks 2–14); guitar (tracks 2–4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13); keyboards (track 6); pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
(tracks 7, 14); horn arrangements (tracks 3, 4, 8, 12) - Bob Scott – photography
- Ian Shea – assistant engineer (tracks 2, 8, 9, 11–13)
- Luke Smith – assistant engineer (tracks 9–13)
- Scott Somerville – assistant engineer (tracks 3, 6, 12)
- Glenn StandridgeJake and the PhatmanJake and the Phatman are Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum producers, songwriters, DJ's and Multi-Instrumentalists....
– engineer, mixing, production coordinator - Charlie Stavish – assistant engineer (tracks 4, 5, 7, 10, 12)
- Neil Symonette – percussion (tracks 4, 8)
- James Tanksley – assistant engineer (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14)
- John Tanksley – assistant engineer (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14)
- Amy Touma – A&R
- Seamus Tyson – assistant engineer (track 3)
- Kenneth "Scooter" Whalum III – baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
(track 6); tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
(track 3) - Benjamin Wright – string arrangements (tracks 2–5, 7–14); horn arrangements (track 14)
- James Zellar – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
The Benjamin Wright Orchestra
- Richard Adkins – violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Sanford Allen – violin, contractor
- Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Peggy Baldwin – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Stephen Baxter – hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
- Duane Benjamin – horn
- Sandra Billingslea – violin
- Charlie BisharatCharlie BisharatCharlie Bisharat is a Grammy-winning violinistwho has extensively toured and/or recorded with numerous artists. He was a member of Shadowfax who won a Grammy in 1988 for Best New Age Performance for Folksongs for a Nuclear Village...
– violin - Ida Bodin – bass
- Joseph Bongiorno – bass
- Kevin Brandon – bass
- Richard Brice – viola
- Ron Brown – horn
- Mark Cargill – violin, concertmasterConcertmasterThe concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
- Susan Chatman – violin
- Robert Chausow – violin
- Giovanna Clayton – cello
- Jeffrey Clayton – horn
- Anthony Coleman – horn
- Salvator Cracciolo – horn
- Cenovia Cummins – violin
- Yvette DevereauxYvette DevereauxYvette Devereaux is an American violinist, conductor and Director at the South Pasadena Music Center and Conservatory in Pasadena, California. She was the first African American woman to attain a conductor's degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. She was honored by the city of Los Angeles...
– violin - Gayle Dixon – violin
- Barry Finclair – violin
- Ernest Ehrhardt, Jr. – cello
- Eileen FolsonEileen FolsonEileen M Folson was a Broadway composer, professional cellist and a Grammy nominee. She died on February 4, 2007.-Early life:Eileen was born in 1956 as the fourth of six children. On a whim in junior high school, Eileen and a friend auditioned for the orchestra. Eileen really wanted the bass but...
– cello
- James Ford III – horn
- Matthew Frank – horn
- Erik FriedlanderErik FriedlanderErik Friedlander is an American cellist and composer based in New York City.A veteran of NYC's experimental downtown scene, Friedlander has worked in many contexts, but is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with saxophonist/composer John Zorn...
– cello - Pamela Gates – violin
- Lionel Holoman – horn
- Stanley Hunte – violin
- Christopher Jenkins – viola
- Ronald Lipscomb – cello
- Leon Maleson – bass
- Miguel Martinez – cello
- Marisa McLeod – violin
- Lori Miller – violin
- Jorge Moraga – viola
- Patrick Morgan – viola
- Cameron Patrick – violin
- Kathleen Robertson – violin
- Robin Ross – viola
- Lesa Terry – violin
- Alexander Vselensky – violin
- Kenneth "Scooter" Whalum III – horn
- Orlando Wells – viola
- Lisa Whitfield – viola
- Belinda Whitney – violin
- Benjamin Wright – conductorConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
- James Zellar – horn
- Frederick Zlotkin – cello
Weekly charts
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
15 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 8 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Flanders) |
5 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Wallonia) |
36 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
6 |
| Czech Albums Chart | 28 |
| Danish Albums Chart IFPI Denmark IFPI Denmark is the Danish branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Denmark.-Gold and platinum awards:... |
38 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
1 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
3 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
22 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
6 |
| Greek Foreign Albums Chart IFPI Greece International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of... |
5 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
27 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
7 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
37 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
17 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
27 |
| Polish Albums Chart Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... |
25 |
| Portuguese Albums Chart Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa The Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa is currently the only recording industry association in Portugal. Created in 1989, it succeeded GPPFV and UNEVA .... |
9 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
31 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
2 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
12 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
2 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
4 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| Austria | Gold |
| Canada Music Canada Music Canada was a Canadian music television miniseries which aired approximately monthly on CBC Television from 1966 to 1967.-Premise:This series featured various special productions of music and dance, from classical to modern styles.-Scheduling:... |
Gold |
| Switzerland | Platinum |
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Gold |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2007) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Urban Albums Chart | 20 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) | 82 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 22 |
| European Top 100 Albums | 88 |
| French Albums Chart | 120 |
| German Albums Chart | 88 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 27 |
| US Billboard 200 | 92 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 71 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | 9 March 2007 | EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major... |
| Germany | ||
| Netherlands | ||
| Switzerland | ||
| Japan | 12 March 2007 | |
| Spain | ||
| United Kingdom | Relentless Records Relentless Records Relentless Records, founded by Shabs Jobanputra and Paul Franklyn in 1999 is now a part of Sony Music based in London, UK. Having achieved large scale successes with Joss Stone, KT Tunstall and several urban artists such as Artful Dodger and So Solid Crew, the label is now building a small focused... |
|
| Denmark | 14 March 2007 | EMI |
| Finland | ||
| Norway | ||
| Sweden | ||
| Brazil | 15 March 2007 | |
| Australia | 16 March 2007 | |
| Canada | 20 March 2007 | |
| United States | Virgin Records Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny... |