“Natural” seems the perfect title for the new album from one of the UK’s most gifted and enduring urban music talents Don-E, for whom writing, producing and performing comes naturally. Already DJs at 1Xtra, Choice, Kiss and Radio 1 are jumping on upfront tracks like ‘Addictive Love’ and ‘Stay A While’.
There are some stand-out duets, including ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ with Keisha Buchanan of the Sugababes, for whom Don wrote songs back in the day, and ‘Like I Like It’ with Kele Le Roc. The album closes with a stunning ballad duet on ‘The Time Is Now’ with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena.
He recalls: “I was involved with the Sugababes from the very beginning of the group, and produced a lot of their initial demos at my studio in Brixton, working with Ron-Tom from Metamorphosis, who put the three girls together. It’s great, now they’re all grown up and successful, that I got to work with Keisha and Mutya on my new project”.
‘So Cold’ features Don-e on vocals and keys, Stuart Zender, ex- Jamiroquai, on guitar and drums, and a guest cameo on Fender Rhodes keyboard from D’Angelo.
Don-e recalls: “Stuart and I hooked up as Azure in the late Nineties, recorded some tracks at Electric Ladyland in New York, then did some more in London at Eastcote Studios. “So Cold” was one of the tracks from those sessions. D’Angelo was in town, passed by the studio to chill, heard the track and said he’d jump on it".
“Copies of this track leaked out years later, bootlegs or whatever, and everyone thought it was a D’Angelo track, so I felt it was time to put the record straight by including it on the new album”.
Also attracting a lot of attention is the slow-jam version of the Bob Marley classic ‘Waiting In Vain’, and TV talent shows get the Don-e treatment on ‘(You Ain’t No Good) Get Off’, which tells it like it is.
In recent years Don-e has been focusing primarily on writing and producing for other artists, among them Shaun Escoffery, Mica Paris, his cousin Beverley Knight, Omar, Rahsaan Patterson and the Sugababes. His other activities have included touring with Grace Jones and presenting vocal master classes on MTV.
Album Released 25th August 2008 on Dome Records.
‘Natural’ Track List:
01: Addictive Luv
02: Love Shine In
03: Kool
04: Stay A While
05: Writing’s On The Wall featuring Keisha Buchanan
06: Waiting In Vain
07: You & I
08: Get Off
09: E-scape (interlude)
10: Drive
11: Like I Like It featuring Kele Le Roc
12: So Cold
13: Holla At Me!
14: Natural
15: The Time Is Now featuring Mutya Buena