article in the Boston phoenix
New Edition Masspike Miles, Lisa Bello, and the little R&B scene that can
By CHRIS FARAONE | December 9, 2009
Everything I’ve accomplished so far has been through my live performances rather than smoke or hype,” says Boston Music Award winner Bello. There’s no underground scene for pop-minded R&B. Not in Boston, and not really anyplace else. The next Ne-Yo or Beyoncé might regularly record and gig around town, but such Bean talents as Masspike Miles and Lisa Bello (who play, respectively, Harpers Ferry and the Alchemist Lounge next weekend) are gunning for pinnacle marquee success. In hip-hop and indie rock, there’s a comfortable middle ground where performers can ride out their careers with blue-collar valor. In R&B, you haven’t made it until several million adolescents masturbate to your videos. (Or, in the case of R. Kelly, until you’ve masturbated onto several million adolescents.) Despite recently rocketing to just outside the star realm — and signing with Miami rapper Rick Ross’s Def Jam–backed Maybach Music — Roxbury singer Miles understands the struggle of a contemporary R&B artist out of Boston. He belted his first high notes more than 15 years ago with the Maurice Starr–spawned quartet Perfect Gentlemen. That group, who also claimed Maurice Jr. as a member, were the closest thing Massachusetts had to New Edition after Bobby and the boys broke up. But though Perfect Gentlemen toured with New Kids on the Block and landed one joint atop the Billboard singles chart, the ride ended soon after take-off. “I didn’t want to sing anymore after that,” says Miles, who spent his subsequent teenage years “hustling in the streets” to fend for himself before writing and performing on Roxbury rapper Smoke Bulga’s “Smoke Did It,” which went on to become one of the top-selling singles in Hub-rap history. “I was pretty much done — like a scorned child. On top of that, after the Starr era — when hip-hop got really big but started problems at the clubs — we got lumped in with the rappers and couldn’t really perform anywhere. Before that, there were always venues, talent shows, and block parties.” “Hip-hop killed the R&B scene in Boston,” adds my close family friend and Hyde Park talent Louie Bello (who is also Lisa’s brother). “We had to reinvent ourselves and do shows that draw more than just rap fans now. You have to really make every concert a party — which is cool because it brings the old vibe back.” The Boston R&B establishment may be tougher to define than the genre itself — as we saw during the Web melee that ensued following the announcement of this year’s Boston Music Awards nominees. The selections for R&B Act of the Year — Louie and Lisa Bello, Miles, Lee Wilson, Jesse Dee, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, and Dwight & Nicole — fell into two catastrophically distinct niches. Whereas the latter three emanate Sam Cooke soul, Miles, Wilson, and the Bellos ring more in the vein of such pre-AutoTune modern R&B acts as Jodeci and Mary J. Blige. Although he’s since made peace with the scenario, prior to the gala (where Lisa snagged the trophy), Miles ranted that his competitors were ill fit for the R&B designation; the Bellos, he alleged, ought to have been in the new Pop Act of the Year category, which was dominated by indie-rockish bands including Passion Pit and the Everyday Visuals. All styles considered, Boston has bred a number of exceptional and even renowned R&B artists, from Cantab Lounge legend Little Joe Cook to cats like Stevie Wonder protégé Ellis Hall and the ever-jazzy Toni Lynn Washington. They sharpened their chops serenading clubs in the old Combat Zone. But though no one would deny their talent and success, or that of soul revivalist Reed, there’s another side to Boston’s rhythm set that better resembles what, say, your average JAM’N 94.5 listener conjures at the thought of R&B. 0912_bostonrb_MAin BEEN THERE: A former teen protégé of Maurice Starr, Masspike Miles understands the struggles of young Boston R&B artists. “I’ve been watching Miles for years,” says DJ Geespin, who after nearly a decade left JAM’N last year for POWER 105.1 in New York. “He’s one of the few Boston acts who have done big things in that genre. The R&B element has always been kind of light, and that’s especially amazed me since Berklee is right there. To be honest, the fact that there hasn’t been more R&B success out of Boston is more shocking to me than the notion that there hasn’t been more mainstream hip-hop success.” One act that Geespin and other long-time scenesters bring up when discussing commercially postured Bay State R&B is Chris Bender, an Epic and Atlantic recording artist out of Brockton who was gunned down days after his breakthrough album dropped in 1991. Although he was just 19 at the time of his death, many saw in Bender the potential to carry forth the New Edition tradition. “He was a super talented kid who just got caught up in the streets,” says Terryl Calloway, Boston’s most successful urban promoter of all time (having presented Prince and Stevie Wonder, among many others) and Bender’s former manager. “He sounded just like Michael Jackson before the wave of Michael sound-alikes came along. It was a tremendous loss — he truly was ahead of his time.” One could fairly say that Miles and the Bellos are carrying on the rhythmically romantic æsthetic that Bender took to the grave. And they’re hardly alone: Calloway’s daughter, Ty Sade, has her voice in the arena, and this past year, another Brockton soul man, Noel Gourdin, registered on the adult-contemporary charts with his Aaron Neville–caliber single, “The River.” There’s also the group Ahmir, who’ve clocked millions of YouTube hits and widespread critical acclaim, as well as hungry notables like Berklee grad Melissa Jane, Lee Wilson, Bre, Suge Avery, Amandi, and Makio — the last of whom gained exposure on Diddy’s Making the Band 4. The ball appears to have been set — such local production houses as Sure Fire Music Group and Underground have backdrops capable of propelling several Boston ringers onto MTV and BET. The only question right now is whose notes will soar high enough to spike it home. “Everything I’ve accomplished so far has been through my live performances rather than smoke or hype,” says Lisa Bello, who records with major-league Boston DJ Clinton Sparks, and with former Marky Mark and Guru collaborator John Johnson. “With this award and the projects I have coming up, though, I think it’s definitely time for me to make that next, much bigger move.” “I love what’s going on here,” says Miles, whose major-label debut, The Pursuit, is set to drop this spring. “There’s no doubt that the R&B scene has grown. I spend about 80 percent of my time in Miami and Atlanta these days — that’s where everything is happening that I need to be around — but I love where I’m from more than anything, and that’s why it’s right up in my name. At the end of the day, I just want people to know that we’re doing our thing here.” MASSPIKE MILES | Harpers Ferry, 154 Brighton Ave, Allston | December 19 at 9 pm | 18+ | $20 | 617.254.9743 orwww.harpersferryboston.com | LISA BELLO | Alchemist Lounge, 435 South Huntington Ave, Jamaica Plain | December 18 at 10 pm | 21+ | Free | 617.477.5741 orwww.alchemistlounge.com | TY SADE | Strand Theatre in Dorchester | December 11 at 8 pm | 13+ | $25-35 | 617.635.1403
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