Anthony Hamilton

There is a tradition in classic black music that goes back to the smooth crooning of Sam Cooke, the earthy gritty sound of Otis Redding, the lyrical beauty of Curtis Mayfield and the unfiltered intensity of Donny Hathaway. It’s a combination of church-rooted hallelujah praisin’ and tell-it-like-it-is storytellin’ . Few contemporary artists are equipped to carry the torch with any sense of authenticity. Anthony Hamilton may be the sole – indeed, soulful – exception. Filling an obvious void in today’s marketplace, Anthony’s pure unadulterated emotion-filled vocals mixed with a no-holds-barred approach to truth-telling appealed to music buyers worldwide as evidenced by the response to his platinum-plus 2003 set COMIN’ FROM WHERE I’M FROM. Simply put, Anthony proved to be the real deal, as audiences discovered during an almost two -year–long road trek performing night-after-night before packed crowds of – as he puts it – “young thugs, white and black, mothers with babies on their knees, old school G’s and kids looking for something they could feel and relate to”.

Now with the release of his much-anticipated new set AIN’T NOBODY WORRYIN’, the Hamilton tradition – born of his Southern roots and the pathway created by soul greats such as Bill Withers, Bobby Womack, Al Green and Marvin Gaye – continues. “I didn’t approach doing this new record with the intention of outdoing the last album,” says Anthony. “I wanted it to have the same amount of quality, putting raw emotions and experiences to music, you know, re-living as much as possible what I’ve been through in the past few years of being out there, being on the road, singing songs that keep the listeners interested.”

Working with producers that include Mark Batson (responsible for key cuts like “Charlene” and the title track of his last album), Raphael Saadiq, Ced Solo, Kelvin Wooten and A Wuden Children’s Musical,the Charlotte, North Carolina-born singer/songwriter has crafted a record that deals with the everyday realities of life, love, and pain. .. Take the slow burnin’ first single from his latest album which epitomizes Hamilton’s unfettered take on love, mixing the tough with the tender as he declares, “No matter what the people say, I’m gonna love you anyway. People are going to have their judgments even if they’re pulling you away from someone but when you’re in love, it’s like, whatever…I’m gonna love you even more…”

Another standout track from AIN’T NOBODY WORRYIN, the righteously funky “Sista Big Bones,” (also produced by Batson) . No question tagged to be a big favorite among Anthony’s legion of female fans,it’s Hamilton’s straight up tribute to “the big women who try so hard to shed the extra pounds. I’m paying my respects to those sistas. You see, I’m standing firm when I say, ‘you look great…go ahead on, keep some of that meat on you.’ I appreciate those women and I know they need to hear that, they need to know that there are brothers out here who love them just the way they are.”

With its Afrobeat influenced sound, “Where Did It Go Wrong?” begs the question, “How did I make those mistakes? If I’m finding myself doing the same stuff again and again, then I gotta ask why,” Anthony says of the song, which he adds has “an almost tribal ‘slave ship’ feeling to it.” Delving deeper into the challenges of love and relationships, the thoughtful slow jam, “Never Love Again” addresses an all-too-common reality for men in particular: “When a man truly loves,” Anthony expresses as one who knows, “and he gets hurt, it takes a lot for him to love again. It’s a very sincere song ‘cause outside of their moms, most guys only really love once or twice…”

Packed with a mix of funky rhythms and soulful love songs, AIN’T NOBODY WORRYIN is a continuation of the journey Anthony Hamilton began during his formative years in Charlotte. Citing musical pioneers such as Johnny Guitar Watson, Womack, Green and Withers among his primary musical influences, Anthony also credits “the muddy water I grew up on as a child” for his rich-yet-gritty vocal sound. Anthony, began singing in his local church choir at age 10, and spent his teen years making the rounds on the local nightclub and talent show circuit, performing alongside fellow Charlotte natives Horace Brown and the members of Jodeci. “I outgrew that real quick, though,” he recalls, “I knew I had to leave Charlotte in order to make it in the music business.”

A barber stylist by trade, Hamilton left Charlotte in 1993 for New York City, signing with Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records imprint, at the time the epicenter for ‘new jack swing’ and the bourgeoning hip-hop–soul movement with an all-star roster that included Jodeci, Heavy D, Mary J. Blige and Guy. The label folded soon after he completed his unreleased first album in 1995 and Hamilton switched to MCA which released his widely overlooked debut CD, 1996’s XTC. A move to the Los Angeles-based Soulife label (launched in 1999 by his hometown cronies Mark Sparks and Chris Dawley) looked promising and Anthony recorded another album’s worth of new material while penning songs for other artists, including Sunshine Anderson (“Last Night”) and Donell Jones (“U Know What’s Up,” “Pushin’”).

In 2000, D’Angelo recruited Hamilton to sing background vocals on his worldwide Voodoo Tour. “I went all over the world—Europe, Brazil—and had the best time of my life,” Hamilton recalls. But by the time he returned from globetrotting with D’Angelo, the label who had signed him had gone under. “I became depressed,” Hamilton confesses. “I was like, ‘Why? Lord, why? All this love I have for the music—what’s going on?’ Still, I kept praying and working and looking for a better deal.”

For the next two years, Hamilton kept busy by singing background vocals and appearing on songs by likes of Eve (“Ride Away”), Xzibit (“The Gambler”) and 2Pac (“Thugz Mansion”). Finally, in 2002, he received the break he’d been waiting for when he was tapped to sing the catchy chorus on “Po’ Folks,” the lead single from Nappy Roots’ debut album, Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz. Thanks to Hamilton’s contribution, the song became an instant smash that was nominated for Best Rap/Song Collaboration at the 2003 Grammys. The day of the ceremony, renowned entertainment attorney L. Londell McMillan, invited Hamilton to close the show at his star-studded Grammy brunch. Blown away by the singer’s galvanizing performance, Michael Mauldin, a music industry veteran with a famously keen eye for talent, urged his son, Atlanta hitmaker Jermaine Dupri, to take a meeting with Hamilton. Dupri indulged his father’s request and, after absorbing an earful of the singer’s work, eagerly signed him to his So So Def imprint within 48 hours.

Anthony’s all-important debut for the label signaled his ‘arrival’ on the music scene after almost a decade of false starts. Rather than leave him embittered, the sometime-rocky road that finally led to the 2003 release of COMIN’ FROM WHERE I’M FROM only served to make Anthony stronger – and ready. “Everything that had happened up until that point in my career had been preparing people for my arrival,” he reflected just before the album hit the streets. “Back when I was signed to Uptown, my music was labeled ‘alternative soul.’ Now, people have reference points for my sound…”

Whether termed ‘alternative soul,’ ‘retro-soul’ or ‘neo-soul,’ Anthony’s music clearly hit a chord with an audience eager to hear real soul music. COMIN’ FROM WHERE I’M FROM, spurred on by the success of its title track, the massive follow-up “Charlene” (which reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart in the spring of 2004 and garnered another Grammy nomination) and other prime cuts such as “Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens ” and “Float,” not only sold over a million copies but garnered Anthony three history-making Grammy nominations: the album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album while the Hamilton-penned title cut was nominated for both Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song (a songwriter’s award).

Hitting the road, Hamilton earned much respect and acclaim from veteran critics like Jon Pareles whose “New York Times” review had high praise for the kind of stomp-down, emotive performances which have now become Anthony’s stock-in-trade. “He was preaching love and loyalty,” Pareles wrote after seeing his debut at New York’s Bottom Line in December 2003, “to his lover, his mama, to his Southern roots.” Pareles noted, “He was offering amorous pleasures but his conviction, and his timing. came straight from the church.”

For Anthony himself, the last few years on the road (“you know, I am slightly ‘t-i-e’d!’” he chuckles with a Southern drawl”) and the overwhelmingly positive response to COMIN’ FROM WHERE I’M FROM are both an affirmation and a validation. “It allowed me to see that what I was talking was necessary, that people really wanted to hear what I had to say. The reaction made me even more of a believer in my own stories. When I would perform some of those songs, I found myself asking, ‘did I really go through this?’ Yeah, man, the people’s response to my music gave me that much more fire!”

That fire is evident throughout AIN’T NOBODY WORRYIN which includes prime cuts like “I Know What Love Is All About” (“about coming into my manhood, about growing up”) and “Ain’t Nobody Worryin ” (“which deals with how so many folks don’t care or are not paying attention to all the things that are going on in the world today”). Also included is a tune that’s sure to spark controversy, “Preacher’s Daughter.” Hamilton, who was heard in 2004 on the Grammy-nominated Top 5 R&B political hit “Why” by Jadakiss (from the “Kiss Of Death” album) is – not surprisingly – unafraid of the controversial impact Preacher’s Daughter may incite. “There are some preacherswho are so busy being high and mighty that they sometimes forget their own households and what’s going on with their own daughters right under their noses – so the song is like a ‘wake up call’ for a lot of preachers. Hey, there’s always going to be controversy when you bring the truth out…”

With the release of AIN’T NOBODY WORRYIN, Anthony Hamilton – as proficient as a songwriter and musician as he is a singer with a voice that evokes the ‘golden age’ of late ’60s and early ‘70s classic soul music – is poised for ‘round two’ in the big league. “I feel like I’m a musical ‘nanny,’ he laughs. “When you put on my music, you can feel like you’re being taken care of, kids and parents too. All I know is that when people hear me, they’re hearing an old ‘familiar’ voice, something that sounds reminiscent of something, someone they heard back in the day. And all of them, the thugs, the young mothers, the old folks, the big sistas, they all encourage me, they tell me, ‘keep sayin’ it!’” And on AIN’T NOBODY WORRYIN, his latest solidly soulful album for So So Def/Zomba, what else could Anthony Hamilton – naturally and honestly – possibly do?