Flo Rida

Feel-good party rapper Flo Rida was one of the best-selling artists of the 2000s, notching a handful of international hit singles and Billboard chart-toppers. Unsurprisingly a native Floridian, the MC toured as a teenager with 2 Live Crew’s Fresh Kid Ice and began popping up on high-profile mixtapes by 2006 (most notably on DJ Khaled’s “Bitch I’m from Dade County,” where he joined Rick Ross, Trick Daddy, Trina, and Dre of Cool & Dre). Signed to the Atlantic-distributed Poe Boy that year, he recorded Mail on Sunday, which was released in March of 2008. “Low,” featuring T-Pain, was the album’s lead single; it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100. A year later he returned with the album R.O.O.T.S. (Route of Overcoming the Struggle), featuring the massive club hit “Round,” which introduced the world to Kesha. Only 1 Flo, Pt. 1 appeared in 2010, with some tracks produced by dance music stars like Axwell, Benny Blanco, and David Guetta. On his 2012 release, Wild Ones, productions from Dr. Luke, Avicii, and Axwell continued along this dance direction. The album offered up three big hits: “Whistle,” “Good Feeling,” and “Wild Ones,” featuring Sia. Three years later, Flo Rida reappeared with his fourth EP, My House, which included the eponymous hit single. A series of singles followed, including “Hello Friday” with Jason Derulo, “At Night” with Liz Eliasand Akon, “Zillionaire,” “Cake” featuring 99 Percent, and “Dancer.”

Bell Biv DeVoe

Multi-platinum group Bell Biv DeVoe — Ricky Bell, Mike Bivins and Ron DeVoe — are back with “Run,” the Erick Sermon-produced single that captures the BBD sound with hip hop beats, R&B harmonies and new jack swing. The group also announces the January 27, 2017 release of its anticipated new album, “Three Stripes ≡.”

(BBD) have been bridging the gap between R&B and Hip-Hop music with a pop-feel-appeal-to-it for more than 25 years. A direct byproduct of the hugely successful 1980’s vocal quintet “New Edition”, “BBD” merged the irresistible sounds of Hip-Hop beats, New Jack Swing and R&B harmonies

The group’s wildly successful debut album Poison sold 4 million copies and featured 4 classic hits. In addition to the the Platinum selling title track, the album featured “Do Me,” “When Will I See You Smile Again,” and “BBD…I Thought It Was Me.”  BBD’s follow up album, “WBBD-Bootcity” (A Remix LP)“ sold over 700,000 units, while the 1993 album Hootie Mack was gold-certified.

Presently, the group is still going strong! BBD’s many accolades include numerous Grammy nominations, three American Music Awards, two Soul Train Awards, countless “Keys to The City,” as well as an abundance of esteemed salutations for their many humanitarian efforts. Not only do they continue to tours regularly as BBD, [as members of New Edition] they have been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Awards from both Soul Train and BET. Not to mention, most recently, coproducing the BET bio-pic; The New Edition Story. The 3 part miniseries has been seen by over 29 million viewers domestically and abroad. Ricky, Mike and Ron are stronger today than ever before. Since the early days with New Edition, BBD has sold over 20 million albums worldwide and has won the hearts of millions of fans globally.

BBD’s extraordinary accomplishments have set them apart from their peers and have cemented them as pioneering icons in their own right.

Years before they climbed the country charts with songs like “Stay a Little Longer” and “Rum,” the Brothers Osborne grew up in Deale, Maryland, a small fishing town on the Atlantic seaboard. It was a cozy place, filled with blue-collar workers who made their living on the water. During the weekends, many of those workers would head over to the Osborne household, where a series of loose, all-night jam sessions filled the Maryland air with the sounds of Bob Seger, Hank Williams, Tom Petty and George Jones.

The Osborne siblings strummed their first chords during those jam sessions. From the very start, TJ Osborne was the brother with the voice. He sang in a thick, low baritone, crooning like Johnny Cash long before he was even old enough to drive. Older brother John, on the other hand, was the family’s guitar shredder, his fingers capable of down-home bluegrass licks, arena-worthy rock riffs, country twang, and everything in between. Combined, the two Osbornes could play everything from traditional country music to rock & roll, creating a broad, full-bodied sound that would eventually fill the 11 songs on their major-label debut, Pawn…

On September 13th, 2017 Foreigner’s catalog sales were celebrated in Business Insider magazine as hitting the Top 40 among the Best Selling Music Artists of All Time.  The Beatles were justifiably #1, but Foreigner came in ahead of Britney Spears, Bob Dylan, Phil Collins, Prince, Queen, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard.

With ten multi-platinum albums and sixteen Top 30 hits, Foreigner is universally hailed as one of the most popular rock acts in the world with a formidable musical arsenal that continues to propel sold-out tours and album sales, now exceeding 75 million.

Responsible for some of rock and roll’s most enduring anthems including Juke Box Hero, Cold As Ice, Hot Blooded, Waiting For A Girl Like You, Feels Like The First Time, Urgent, Head Games, Say You Will, Dirty White Boy, Long, Long Way From Home and the worldwide #1 hit, I Want To Know What Love Is, Foreigner continues to rock the charts more than 40 years into the game with massive airplay and continued Billboard Top 200 album success.  Foreigner also features strongly in every category in Billboard’s Greatest of All Time listing.  Catalog sales often eclipse those of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Aerosmith and most of their Classic Rock peers.  (Source: Nielsen SoundScan week ending 8/3/17).

Founded in 1976, Foreigner’s debut album produced the hits “Feels Like The First Time,” “Cold As Ice” and “Long, Long Way From Home.”  The album Double Vision followed, as did a string of hits like “Urgent,” “Juke Box Hero” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You.”  Those songs helped give Foreigner’s next album, 4, its impressive run at #1 on the Billboard chart.  At the zenith of 80’s sound, Foreigner’s fifth album, Agent Provocateur, gave the world the incredible #1 global hit,” I Want To Know What Love Is.”  This musical milestone followed the record-breaking song “Waiting For A Girl Like You.”

At Foreigner’s core is the founder and Songwriters Hall of Fame member Mick Jones, the visionary maestro whose stylistic songwriting, indelible guitar hooks and multi-layered talents continue to escalate Foreigner’s influence and guide the band to new horizons. He reformed the band after a 2002 hiatus and selected lead singer Kelly Hansen to help write an inspired new chapter in the history of Foreigner. One of rock’s greatest showmen, Hansen is known for his innate ability to connect with the crowds. As a front man and lead vocalist, Hansen is among the most respected, consummate professionals in rock and roll. With a 35-year career that spans almost every area of music, from the role of lead vocalist to producing and engineering, Kelly has the unique ability to advance and excel when faced with new challenges.

Mick also brought in bassist Jeff Pilson, multi-instrumentalist Tom Gimbel, guitarist Bruce Watson, Michael Bluestein on keyboards, and Chris Frazier on drums. An unprecedented new level of energy lead the group to a re-emergence of astounding music that speaks to long time Foreigner fans and younger generations. With renewed vitality and direction, Foreigner hit the Billboard charts again with the 2005 release of their live greatest hits album, Extended Versions. Can’t Slow Down followed in 2009 and entered the Billboard chart in the Top 30, driven by two Top 20 radio singles, “In Pieces” and “When It Comes To Love.”  To follow was the release of the band’s 3-disc set, Feels Like The First Time, which included an acoustic CD with an intimate and unique re-interpretation of many Foreigner classics, studio re-records by the new lineup and a live performance DVD showcasing the group’s exceptional live energy.

Foreigner experienced another surge in popularity when several of their hits were featured on the Rock of Agessoundtrack, including “I Want To Know What Love Is,” “Juke Box Hero” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You” – more songs than any other one band on the soundtrack.  Hollywood quickly took note, and several more tracks were featured in hit films “Anchorman 2,” “Magic Mike” and “Pitch Perfect,” sending Foreigner downloads up 400%.  The video game industry was soon to follow with the blockbuster release, “Grand Theft Auto V”.

Downloads continued to soar after their worldwide #1 hit “I Want To Know What Love Is” was featured as the 2015 season finale end title of “Orange Is The New Black.” Foreigner hits have also recently been included in such primetime TV shows as “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” among others.  Hot Blooded is on the trailer for the Angry Birds movie and has been streamed more than 6 million times. The high visibility of Foreigner’s songs continues to introduce the band’s music to a whole future generation of fans, exemplified by Jack Black’s version of “Juke Box Hero” in Kung Fu Panda 3.   “I Want To Know What Love Is” featured in the summer 2017 box-office #1 “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You” is featured in Netflix’s “Stranger Things”.

In June 2013, Mick Jones was inducted to the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. A multi-talented and multi-dimensional “musician’s musician,” Jones has also written songs such as “Bad Love” with Eric Clapton and “Dreamer” with Ozzy Osbourne, and produced records for others including Billy Joel’s Storm Front and Van Halen’s 5150.  A Grammy and Golden Globe-nominated songwriter, Jones is the winner of the prestigious British Ivor Novello Songwriter Award for “The Flame Still Burns”, the soundtrack music for the film Still Crazy.

In May 2014, Atlantic Records Chairman Craig Kallman presented Mick Jones with RIAA gold and platinum digital awards for six Foreigner songs.  These awards signify 500,000 and 1,000,000 downloads of Foreignerhits.  That is more individual awards than any other heritage rock band, and an illustration of Foreigner’sresonance in the digital era.

The year continued with Foreigner’s headline run in The Soundtrack of Summer US amphitheater tour.  The hits compilation album of the same name was released to coincide with the tour and immediately hit the Billboard Top 200 chart, peaking at #64.  For most weeks during the tour, Juke Box Heroes joined The Soundtrack Of Summer in the Billboard Top 200 making Foreigner the only Classic Rock band to have such a remarkable presence in today’s chart.

Foreigner made headlines again in the summer of 2015 while gaining legions of new fans by joining mega act Kid Rock on his “Cheap Date: First Kiss Tour,” rocking amphitheatres and stadiums across the United States.

Foreigner kicked off 2016 with a much hailed unplugged appearance on The Today Show on February 11th followed by a short run of New York area sold out acoustic shows culminating with an epic concert at The Lincoln Center as part of the acclaimed American Songbook Series.  These appearances coincided with the release of Foreigner’s first ever live acoustic album In Concert: Unplugged. The band’s royalties are donated to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and the album is available exclusively via Amazon. Foreignerrecorded this unique acoustic album at a once-in-a-lifetime private concert hosted by Edsel B. Ford II on August 24, 2015 at the Ford Motor Company Conference & Event Center in Detroit, MI.  In October 2016, Foreigner performed for the very first time at New York’s iconic Carnegie Hall with a sold out acoustic show.  The show highlighted the band’s ongoing relationship with the GRAMMY Museum’s initiative to promote music education in our nation’s schools.  It included an a cappella contest among New York high schools who competed for a $5,000 prize donated by the band.

2017 marked the celebration of Foreigner’s 40th anniversary.  It commenced with a European tour that included Foreigner performing orchestral versions of the hits with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra in Lucerne, Switzerland.  The Warner Music Group released a double CD set ‘40’, which includes 40 songs recorded between 1977 and 2017.  The album features two tracks recorded especially for this release, ‘Give My Life For Love’ and a new version of ‘I Don’t Want To Live Without You.’  The album spent nine weeks in the Billboard Top 200 chart.  The US anniversary headline tour played 40 shows across the United States where the band was supported by Cheap Trick and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience.

Foreigner is one of the most viewed YouTube artists with anywhere between 700,000 and 900,000 weekly viewings of their songs (Source: Next Big Sound).​