Van Hunt (born March 8, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He released his debut album, Van Hunt, in 2004, and a follow-up, On the Jungle Floor, in 2006, both on Capitol Records. He won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for appearing on the tribute version of the Sly & the Family Stone song, "Family Affair", in 2007. He transitioned to Blue Note Records where his 2008 album, Popular, was shelved and never released. He self-released the compilation album Use In Case of Emergency in 2009.

Early life[link]

Hunt was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised by his single mother. His father, Van Hunt, Sr., was a factory worker and part-time painter, who was a friend of Ohio Players drummer Jimmy "Diamond" Williams. Hunt took up the drums at age 7, and saxophone at the age of 8, later adding bass and keyboards.^[1] Guitar was the last instrument he learned to play; he played guitar in a rock band called Royalty. Hunt moved to Texas for a short time before relocating to Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 to attend Morehouse College, where he studied English, but soon dropped out.^[1][2] In Atlanta, he started producing a few hip-hop demos for Atlanta rappers in order to pay bills. Hunt met up-and-coming record producers and artists like Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri and TLC through his work on demos.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Hunt wrote and co-produced the song "Hopeless" for singer Dionne Farris, formerly of Arrested Development, and joined her band on guitar and keyboards. "Hopeless" appeared on the soundtrack for the film Love Jones (1997). Hunt co-wrote several songs with Rahsaan Patterson on his album Love in Stereo (1999), and co-wrote with Cree Summer, including the song "Mean Sleep", for her album Street Faërie (1999), produced by Lenny Kravitz. He also collaborated with Joi on the single "Missing You" (2002). Through Dionne Farris, Hunt met A&R person Randy Jackson (who later went on to be a judge on Fox's American Idol). Jackson would become Hunt's manager in 2002.

Capitol Records[link]

Hunt recorded much of the material from his debut album in 2000. Producer Dallas Austin took Hunt's recording to Capitol Records, leading him to sign with the label in 2001. Hunt's first album, Van Hunt, was released in February 2004. The album included the singles "Down Here in Hell (With You)", "Dust", and "Seconds of Pleasure", and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Hunt's second album, On the Jungle Floor, was released in 2006. The album featured the single, "Character," a revisited "Mean Sleep", as a duet with Nikka Costa, and a cover of "No Sense of Crime" by The Stooges. The album was co-produced by Bill Bottrell. Hunt has toured and appeared with Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Boney James, The Roots, Seal, Angie Stone, Coldplay, The Brand New Heavies, the Dave Matthews Band, and Kanye West.

In 2006, Hunt appeared with Nikka Costa on the Sam Moore album, Overnight Sensational, on the song "If I Had No Loot". Hunt was also featured on "Half the Fun", a track on the Count Bass D album, Act Your Waist Size, released on Fat Beats Records.

In 2007, Hunt won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, along with John Legend and Joss Stone, for their cover of the Sly & the Family Stone song, "Family Affair", which appeared on the 2006 tribute album Different Strokes by Different Folks. Hunt described winning the award as "one of the bigger pleasures I've had" to The Athens Blur Magazine in 2009.^[3]

Blue Note[link]

Hunt released the 4 track digital EP, The Popular Machine, on August 7, 2007. Hunt announced a full length album, Popular, to be released on Blue Note Records on January 15, 2008.^[4] Hunt moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles in 2007 while the album was nearing completion.^[5] Blue Note had taken over Hunt’s recording contract after corporate restructuring at Blue Note and Capitol's parent company, EMI. In December 2007, Blue Note announced that they would not be releasing the album, and that Hunt and the label mutually agreed to part ways.^[6] Hunt wrote on his MySpace blog in January 2008, that he couldn't promise that Popular would ever be officially released.^[7] Blue Note owns the master recordings and opted not to sell it back to him at an affordable price. Hunt commented that he "didn't think that they had enough money" to promote the album properly.^[8] LA Weekly called the album an "appealingly trippy fusion of funk grooves, punk guitar and soul vocals", and "a left-field stunner".^[5] Hunt told the Atlanta alternative weekly newspaper Creative Loafing that he was "devastated" when the label decided not to release the album.^[9]

Independent[link]

As of June 2008, Hunt was recording a fourth album,^[10] which he plans to release himself and market using the Internet. Hunt has blogged about his new approach on his MySpace page.^[11] Hunt toured the U.S. in July and August 2008. He released Use In Case Of Emergency, a compilation of demos, remixes and B-sides recorded between 1997 and 2005, through his Web site in May 2009.^[5] Hunt has also been working on autobiographical book of short stories titled Tales of Friction.^[12] In July 2009, Hunt told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he plans to release one more album and tour once more, but does not know what his plans are after that.^[13] Hunt performed at the National Black Arts Festival's tribute to Curtis Mayfield at Atlanta Symphony Hall on July 16, 2010.^[14] On June 15, 2011, Hunt released the song "June", from his third studio album What Were You Hoping For?. The album was released on September 27, 2011.^[15]

Godless Hotspot and What Were You Hoping For?[link]

On June 14, 2011 Van Hunt took to his Twitter to announce the release of his first song in 3 years. The song "June" was released at midnight via Mike Ragogna of The Huffington post along with the announcement of the title of his forthcoming album (What were you hoping for?) and its release date.^[16] A subsequent longer article about the song "June" and the new album and Van's new approach would appear later that same day on the Music remedy website. This article would not only talk about the joint venture-between Hunt's own label Godless-hotspot and Thirty-Tigers. It also goes on to say that "June" is the first of a series of free songs that will be released from various sites up until the release of the new album. The next will be "eyes Like Pearls" the first official single from the album that is set to be released to radio sometime in July^[17]

Influences[link]

• David Bowie
• Serge Gainsbourg
• The Isley Brothers
• Curtis Mayfield
• Thelonious Monk
• The Ohio Players
• Iggy Pop
• Prince
• Richard Pryor
• Sly Stone
• Neil Young

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Van Hunt (2004), Capitol
• On the Jungle Floor (2006), Capitol
• Popular (2008), Blue Note (unreleased)
• What Were You Hoping For? (2011) - Godless Hotspot/Thirty Tigers

Compilations[link]

• Use In Case of Emergency (2009), self-released - collection of outtakes

EPs[link]

• Acoustic E.P. (2004), Capitol - digital EP
• Napster Sessions (2004), Capitol - digital EP
• Connect Set (2006), Capitol - digital EP
• The Popular Machine (2007), Blue Note - digital EP

Singles[link]

• "Down Here in Hell (With You)" (2004), Capitol
• "Dust" (2004), Capitol
• "Seconds of Pleasure" (2004), Capitol
• "Character" (2006), Capitol
• "Being A Girl" (2006), Capitol
• "Eyes Like Pearls" (2011), Godless Hotspot/Thirty Tigers

Awards and nominations[link]

• 2005 Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for "Dust."
• 2006 Grammy Award win for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for "Family Affair"

References[link]

• Hoard, Christian (May 5, 2004). "Van Hunt Gives Up the Funk" Rolling Stone. Retrieved on April 29, 2007.
• "Van Hunt Laid Bare". March 8, 2005. the-raft.com. Retrieved on December 7, 2007.
• "Van Hunt - Interview". March 2004. whudat.com. Retrieved on December 8, 2007.

External links[link]

• Official website
• Van Hunt on Myspace
• Van Hunt at Allmusic

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (July 2010)

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Domenica "Nikka" Costa (born June 4, 1972) is an American singer whose music combines elements of funk, soul, and blues. She also had a career as a child singer starting in the early 1980s. She is the daughter of notable music producer Don Costa and is married to Australian producer/songwriter Justin Stanley.

Early life[link]

Nikka Costa was born in Tokyo, Japan.^[1] Her father Don Costa was a notable producer and a musician with many connections in the music business. During her childhood Costa was surrounded by famous musicians and traveled around the world with her father.^[1]

At age 5 Costa recorded a single with Hawaiian singer Don Ho. Italian producers Danny B. Besquet and Tony Renis were working with her father on the album Don Costa Plays the Beatles when they had a brainstorm to produce an album with Nikka singing while her father played acoustic guitar. The album was well-received in Europe and Costa became known as a child star. At age 9 Costa sang with Frank Sinatra in an appearance on the lawn of the White House.^[2]

Costa's career as a recording artist under her own name started in 1981, when she recorded the song "(Out Here) On My Own" (from the musical Fame). The single, recorded in Milano with the conductor Victor Bach and produced by Besquet and Renis, spent fourteen weeks at #1 in Italy, nine weeks at #1 in Spain, and five weeks at #1 in France. The song also reached #7 in Switzerland and #32 in the Netherlands. The album Nikka Costa, produced by Besquet and Remis, was released outside the U.S. in 1981. The album reached #1 in Europe and South America^{[citation needed]} and Costa toured around the world.^[1] Her second album Fairy Tales (cuentos de hadas) was released in 1983. Don Costa died of a heart attack shortly after the album was recorded. The pop album Here I Am... Yes, It's Me was released to fulfill a contractual obligation in 1989, though it still topped some charts in Europe.^[1] In 1990 she performed at the SanRemo Music Festival with a rendition of All for the Love, an English version of Vattene amore by Mietta and Amedeo Minghi.

After graduating from high school, Costa decided to move away from pop and moved toward funk and soul, becoming influenced by Motown artists.^[1]

Adult career[link]

While already a music business veteran, in the early 1990s Costa transitioned away from childhood pop to mature soul. She married Australian producer/songwriter Justin Stanley and moved to his country. (Costa and Stanley now have a daughter named Sugar McQueen.) While in Australia, Costa began writing her own songs and formed a "happy funk" band called Little Mona & The Shag Daddies, which broke up after four gigs in Sydney. Costa's next venture was a band called Sugarbone, which toured Australia in 1994. Costa describes the experience as "It was really scary to unveil it but the reaction was good. It helped my confidence." ^[3] After Sugarbone, she signed to the Mushroom label in Australia. In 1996 Costa released the album Butterfly Rocket in Australia, which reached the Top 20. The record led to a nomination for ARIA Music Awards Breakthrough Artist in 1996 and Best Female Artist in 1997.^[4]

In 2000, Costa's song "Like A Feather" was featured in a Tommy Hilfiger television advertising campaign. That exposure coupled with the track's music video helped launch her U.S. music career. The album Everybody Got Their Something was released in 2001 and reached #120 on the Billboard 200. The title track and "Like a Feather" were radio hits, although the latter did peak in the UK Singles Chart at #53.^[5] In 2005, Costa released the album can'tneverdidnothin'. She toured with Lenny Kravitz who also performed on the record. In 2006 she and her husband Justin recorded and performed the theme to the short-lived CBS sitcom "Courting Alex", which starred Jenna Elfman.

Costa was a guest singer on Mark Ronson's album Here Comes the Fuzz. Ronson has produced some of Costa's songs.^[6] Her song "Push & Pull" from the album Everybody Got Their Something is included in the soundtrack of the 2001 movie Blow starring Johnny Depp. Her song "Everybody Got Their Something", was used in the soundtrack of the 2009 movie All About Steve starring Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper. Her song "Stuck To You" from the album Pebble to a Pearl was used in an episode of Grey's Anatomy in season five.

Costa is currently signed with Stax Records.^[7] Her latest studio album Pebble to a Pearl was released on October 14, 2008. In 2010 she released the single "Ching Ching Ching" in Europe. The song is notable from a genre change from soul/funk to electro-pop. The single reached #77 in Germany, making it Costa's first single to chart in Germany since "On My Own" in 1981. A new album titled PRO★WHOA! was set for release in late 2010 but has been delayed until early 2011. Costa co-wrote the song "Diamonds Made from Rain" on Eric Clapton's 2010 album Clapton.

Costa sings a reinterpreted version of the INXS hit "Kick", on the INXS album Original Sin, digitally released in Australia in October 2010, and in the United States in April 2011.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Nikka Costa (1981) - Released in Europe and South America
• Fairy Tales aka Cuentos de Hadas (1983) - Spanish album, released in Europe and South America
• Here I Am... Yes, It's Me aka Loca Tentación (1989) - Spanish album, released in Europe and South America
• Butterfly Rocket (1996) - Released only in Australia
• Everybody Got Their Something (2001) - US #120
• can'tneverdidnothin' (2005) - US #157
• Pebble to a Pearl (2008) - US #157
• PRO★WHOA! (2011)

Demos[link]

• Sugarbone (1994) - Three-track demo tape recorded in Australia
• Everybody Got Their Something - Demo (2001) - Featuring unreleased tracks and alternate mixes from the album sessions
• Can'tneverdidnothin' - Unreleased Version (2004) - Featuring unreleased tracks and alternate mixes from the album sessions

Remix albums[link]

• Return of the Funky White Bitch (2001) - a promo release featuring remixed versions of songs from Everybody Got Their Something, with remixes by Mark Ronson

Live albums[link]

• Live at the Bridge (1996) - EP bundled with the re-released version of Butterfly Rocket
• Live in Tokyo (2001) - promo CDR featuring a performance at Astro Hall
• Live at the Roxy (2005) - DVD sold at concerts

References[link]