• Raheem Devaughn Love Behind The Melody Rarest Album

Category Music; Song Woman; Artist Raheem DeVaughn; Licensed to YouTube by SME (on behalf of Jive); CMRRA, LatinAutor - UMPG, Rumblefish (Publishing), LatinAutor - SonyATV, Abramus Digital, UNIAO.

Raheem DeVaughn (born May 5, 1975) is an American singer and songwriter.^[1] His debut album, The Love Experience (2005), reached No. 46 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. It featured the singles 'Guess Who Loves You More' and 'You'. His second album Love Behind the Melody was released in January 2008. It features the singles 'Woman', and 'Customer'.

DeVaughn was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards for the single 'Woman'. His third album The Love & War MasterPeace was released in 2010. A Place Called Love Land, his fourth album, was released in 2013. In 2015, he had released his fifth album, Love Sex Passion. DeVaughn released his sixth album Decade of a Love King on October 19, 2018.

Early life[edit]

DeVaughn was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 5, 1975, the son of jazz cellist Abdul Wadud. He was raised in Maryland (Montgomery and Prince George's counties) by his mother, Imani Smith, a now retired federal worker. He is a cousin of singer Chrisette Michele.^[2][3][4] His mother states that her son first expressed an affinity towards music in preschool, recalling how whenever the class had musical events, he would conduct them. DeVaughn's love for music solidified during his early teens, when he began to envision his career path. One of his favorite artists was Babyface, and Smith recalls that her son once begged her to visit the Waxie Maxie's record store in the District to buy a promotional picture of the singer. DeVaughn visited his father during the summer, mainly in New Jersey. With his father, DeVaughn attended gigs and experienced his first taste of the life of a working musician.

He graduated from High Point High School in Beltsville, Maryland, an unincorporated section of Prince George's County. DeVaughn had an epiphany early in his college career at Coppin State University in Baltimore City, when he saw a group of street corner singers and began harmonizing with them. DeVaughn said his focus became music: 'Before I knew what was going on, I was.. cutting class to write lyrics and record'. His focus turned to becoming a professional singer.

Career[edit]

DeVaughn took a job at Tower Records, where he put price tags on CDs. During that time he also began working the D.C. music circuit—performing with various groups, the most prominent of which being Urbanave31, and at venues such as the State of the Union and Bar Nun on U Street NW, all while having CDs of his songs ready at hand. Locally in the DC Metro area he attained relatively quick success, winning local awards and successfully releasing some independent work over the next few years. He won $2,000 from the Washington DC nightclub Bar Nun talent show.^[5] CEO Cliff Jones (Soul World Entertainment) and partner Jerry Vines, now the singer's longtime manager, met DeVaughn while managing the Baltimore-based quartet Dru Hill, and asked him to write a song for the group. DeVaughn ultimately gained the attention of record producers DJ Jazzy Jeff (as Rahiem) and Kenny Burns (known as former A&R for Roc-A-Fella Records) and with the help of Jones and Vines they signed a recording contract with Jive Records in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

DeVaughn's first solo single released on a major label was the song entitled 'Guess Who Loves You More', his second single was 'You'. DeVaughn's first Jive Records release The Love Experience, was acclaimed, selling around 250,000 units.^{[citation needed]} While promoting the album, DeVaughn took to wearing a crown and cape at shows, a ploy to make himself stand out, calling himself the 'Underground King.' Around this time, DeVaughn also began making appearances at different shows in D.C. with artists such as W. Ellington Felton and Asheru of Unspoken Heard, hiding his face behind a hooded sweatshirt performing under the alias Chronkite. Felton comments that that alter ego was engendered for complicated reasons: 'Chronkite represents that part of every artist who started what they're doing singing in front of a mirror as a child with a brush in their hand. At that time, it was based love, the initial attraction that draws you to music. In his business, unfortunately, your passion, your love, your individuality as an artist, can be stripped away the further you get into it.'^{[citation needed]}

DeVaughn has been compared to Dwele, Van Hunt, D'Angelo, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. DeVaughn has described himself as a 'R&B hippie neo-soul rock star,' a take on the difficulty media types have classifying him. Although Jive has been thrown considerable weight behind his recent album, DeVaughn doesn't leave promotion duties entirely to his label: 'I'm my best marketing tool. I'm building the brand Raheem DeVaughn. I have to do it.' He worked on the street to spread the word around, sold mixtapes of unreleased material to build hype, and provided impromptu shows at local venues. In another act of self-promotion, DeVaughn made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in late January, wearing a shirt that read 'Grammy Nominated on the front' and 'Love Behind the Melody-- In Stores Now' on the back. He also appeared on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing 'Woman' on January 18, 2008.

His song 'Woman' was featured as iTune's single of the week the week of January 27, 2008 and received a nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the 2008 Grammy Awards.

In 2008, he was featured on T-Pain's song, 'Reality Show' from the album Thr33 Ringz. The song also featured Jay Lyriq and Musiq Soulchild.

His song 'You' was featured in the Grand Theft Auto IV video game.

DeVaughn was nominated for 'Best R&B Album' in the 2011 Grammy Awards.^[6]

In September 2013, DeVaughn released his fourth studio album A Place Called Love Land on new label Mass Appeal Entertainment. The first single released from the album was 'Love Connection'.

On March 3, 2014, DeVaughn released a mixtape for free download titled King of Loveland.^[7]

Awards and nominations[edit]

• BET Awards
  • 2008, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
  • 2008, BETJ Award (Won)
  • 2010, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
• BET J Virtual Awards
  • 2008, Album of the Year: Love Behind the Melody (Won)
  • 2008, Song of the Year: 'Woman' (Nominated)
  • 2008, Live Performer of the Year (Nominated)
  • 2008, Male Artist of the Year (Won)
• Grammy Awards
  • 2008, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance 'Woman' (Nominated)
  • 2009, Best R&B Song: 'Customer' (Nominated)
  • 2011, Best R&B Album 'The Love & War Masterpeace' (Nominated)

Discography[edit]

Studio albums

• The Love Experience (2005)
• Love Behind the Melody (2008)
• The Love & War MasterPeace (2010)
• A Place Called Love Land (2013)
• Love Sex Passion (2015)
• Decade of a Love King (2018)
• The Love Reunion (2019)

References[edit]

1. ^Sisario, Ben (24 January 2008). 'Keys Is No. 1 as CD Sales Plunge TWITTER PRINT REPRINTS SHARE By BEN'. New York Times. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
2. ^Remekie, Tanya. '10 Questions For Raheem DeVaughn'. interview. rapup.com. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
3. ^Foster, LaToya. 'What is the magic about Raheem DeVaughn'. interview. s2smagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 17 September 2013.Cite uses deprecated parameter dead-url= (help)
4. ^Nichole, Arlice. 'Raheem DeVaughn: Master At Work'. interview. clutchmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 17 September 2013.Cite uses deprecated parameter dead-url= (help)
5. ^'Soul World Entertainment'. Soul World Entertainment. Retrieved 8 August 2013.Cite web requires website= (help)
6. ^'Raheem DeVaughn'. TVGuide.com. Retrieved 9 February 2011.Cite web requires website= (help)
7. ^'Raheem DeVaughn - King Of Loveland - Raheem DeVaughn'. orangemixtapes.com. Retrieved 30 July 2014.Cite web requires website= (help)

External links[edit]

• Raheem DeVaughn at AllMusic
• Mitchell, Gail (January 4, 2008). 'Raheem Devaughn's 'Love' Revolution'. Billboard. Retrieved on January 21, 2008.

Raheem DeVaughn didn't get the radio support with the independently released A Place Called Love Land that he received during his time with the Jive label. The 2013 album nonetheless peaked within the Top Ten of Billboard's R&B chart -- just as the Jive albums did -- a clear indication that DeVaughn needn't rethink his approach. Now with eOne, a larger independent organization, the transition is once again imperceptible to most listeners. Love Sex Passion, another lengthy release, delivers generous portions of romantic ballads and sensual slow jams, a mix of heartfelt sentiments and side-splitting come-ons, and a balance between current and bygone sounds. DeVaughn does not curtail his frankness. In 'Strip,' for instance, the initial instruction is 'First, you take your clothes off.' And, as usual, whenever he boasts in metaphors and similes -- 'I'll be that pipe that make it burst,' 'High like a pistol at the range,' and so forth -- annotation isn't necessarily required. Two highlights are blatantly nostalgic, among DeVaughn's best performances. They're like two scenes from a fictional biography about a late-'60s/'70s soul singer: the bluesy, slightly ragged 'Baby Come Back,' co-produced by BJ the Chicago Kid, would be the shoestring-budget 45 that lands him on a major to record 'When You Love Somebody,' a pained and polished ballad with a horn section and Larry Gold-arranged strings. In relatively contemporary-sounding songs, seasoned R&B heads are just as likely to catch nods to specific artists, such as Lenny Williams (in 'Black Ice Cream,' where an unmistakable 'Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh' is let loose), Jodeci (in 'Pretty Lady' with modern disco-funk featuring Trombone Shorty), and Leon Ware (in 'Feather Rock Lovin,' a sighing seducer). While some of the material sounds reheated, DeVaughn at least uses a top-of-the-line oven instead of a microwave. 'Queen' is an apparent rewrite of 'Woman,' and it's nearly as remarkable as a tribute to women, as necessary in 2015 as its predecessor was in 2008. Speaking of queens, maybe one of the women in DeVaughn's life should be employed as the singer's artwork consultant.

Raheem Devaughn Love Behind The Melody Rarest Album