23 | THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012
POSTER BATTLE
ALICIA KEYS & MASHONDA
Jer maine Riley uper man flying solo
Shock crash
Which celebrity survived this?
Triple threat
Stars who can do it all
24 THE VOICE NOVEMBER 1 - 7, 2012
Triple Threat
Here we showcase the stars with more than one string to their bow
ALICIA KEYS The Grammy award-winning singer is also an accomplished pianist and actress. Her major acting debut was in the film Smokin’ Aces
P DIDDY The Bad Boy founder is a talented actor, rapper and music producer. His producing credits include 1997 hit I’ll Be Missing You.
CHRIS BROWN The Don’t Judge Me singer is no stranger on a film set and knows how to beautify canvas. He recently launched a range of toys
TINIE TEMPAH The British rapper cofounded record label Disturbing London and a clothing line of the same name. Quite the entrepreneur!
JIL SCOT Jil’s mesmerising vocals sit beautifully on a soul track, when delivering spoken word poetry and in the film Why Did I Get Married?
BEYONCÉ Beyoncé needs little introduction. The former Destiny’s Child singer knows how to work a film role, the stage and is an accomplished songwriter
IDRIS ELBA The Wire actor is a wiz in the DJ booth and can also place music producer on his CV too. He has also been tipped as the first black James Bond
RIHANNA Our favourite Bajan singer proved that she still had the x-factor in no make-up and a pair combats in film, Battlefield. She also boasts a line of top-selling perfumes
ASHLEY WALTERS Former So Solid Crew frontman is a talented rapper, actor and music producer. Walters produced 2008 studio album The Appetiser
ICE CUBE We all loved him in 1995 film Friday, but Ice Cube also has rapping and directing credits to his name
JLS The British boyband can sing, dance and write a mean hit. They’ve definitely got the whole package. For more on the boys, see page 33.
WILL SMITH Again, little introduction needed here. The talented actor started his entertainment journey rapping, moved into acting, film producing… The list is endless
OPRAH The talk show host is also an accomplished actress, film producer and magazine publisher. Is there anything this woman doesn’t do?
LABRINTH The east London producer, and man behind Tinie Tempah’s hit Pass Out, is also a talented singer and songwriter
JENNIFER LOPEZ The Love Don’t Cost a Thing singer, is excellent on the big screen and would light up any dance floor with her moves
MELBA MWANJE
JAMIE FOXX What can’t this man do? He sings (beautifully), acts (beautifully) and can knock out a tune on the piano (beautifully). Just beautiful.
ALESHA DIXON The former Mis-Teeq rapper has moved into TV making a name for herself on Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent. She can also belt out a ballad too!
AT THE age of 13, Melba secured a staggering £230,000 of funding for her charity, SE1 United, a focal point for social and educational rehabilitation and engagement for young people, and remains heavily involved in the organisation. She has spent the year completing a fully funded MSc in African studies at Oxford University. Her graduate research took her to Angola for two months, where she conducted independent ethnographic fieldwork in the city of Luanda. She lived and worked with the local community and conducted interviews entirely in Portuguese.
The former Oxford University African Caribbean Society President, who also speaks German, Arabic and Luganda,
became one of only a handful of people around the world to specialise in research on Angola. Melba hopes to continue her research when she takes up a fulltime role as a Graduate Audit Analyst with professional services firm KPMG. In 2010, Melba was recognised for her outstanding academic achievements and equally impressive contributions to charity. She was invited to the House of Lords for an event celebrating outstanding alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford. Melba was the guest of honour and dined alongside former speaker of the House of Commons, Baroness Boothroyd. "I shall never forget that night," she said www.rarerecruitment.co.uk
NOVEMBER 1 - 7, 2012 THE VOICE 25
Former FDM frontman Jermaine Riley talks to YV’s Akilah Russell about flying solo, love in Japan and a possible reunion with his bandmates
H
E CALLS himself ‘Superman’ and it’s not hard to see why. Jermaine Riley, the former frontman of UKbased R’n’B trio FDM, is clearly a man of many talents. Not content with having the ability to sing girls into a frenzy, blessed with moves only a select few can lay claim to, or even being able to write a
beautiful song and edit the accompanying video, this south London star is also a dab hand at graphic design. With all of these elements combined into one superhuman, it seems like a solo career would have been a natural choice for the Hello Earth singer. This is why it comes as a shock when he reveals that
striking out on his own was not a part of his original plan and the split from FDM was in fact “bitter sweet”. He explains: “I loved being in a group. I wasn’t doing it to springboard myself into a solo career and I never had any intentions of going solo. I wanted FDM to be like a Boyz II Men thing, where the legacy is the group.”
Quickly addressing the elephant in the room he adds: “What led to the break-up was the fact that I did not believe in the team that we were being guided by anymore. From my end I can say that I would love to have a [FDM] reunion one day.” However, even without the help of his bandmates, who he still affectionately calls his ‘brothers’, the singer has managed to rack up thousands of musicdownloads. Hello Earth, probably one of his most successful mixtapes, is currently being sold in 600 stores across Japan. “I haven’t been to Japan yet,” he confesses with a laugh. “We are trying to sort something out for me to be over there soon. So far the feedback about Hello Earth has been really positive so I am really grateful. “I was sent some pictures of the CD on the shelves next to [US singer] Chris Brown. There were massive posters of me in the R’n’B section. That was definitely one of my highlights for the summer, I’ll never forget that,” he adds. When I explain that the subject is about to move onto romance, the heartthrob immediately takes on a more comical tone and abruptly denies having an official ‘Superwoman’. “No, there is no Mrs Riley. Marriage is not on the cards right now…I am still Superman! At the moment I am
just focused on my music!” Sad news for any prospective Lois Lanes. So how does Jermaine deal with all the female attention and screaming fans? “I think the best way to deal with fans is to hug them. I think a hug just says a lot. More so than words and more so than a wave. You can always tell how someone feels with a hug,” he says. I can almost hear the unified ‘awww’ as you read this - you big softies! But fear not, you can now add a slow jam soundtrack to those loving thoughts with the star’s new mixtape, Ten Eleven Twelve. He says: “The mixtape is another body of work that deals with re-fix’s [covers] as well as my original music. I just wanted to give people an insight into my ability to write songs and
almost put my own spin on songs that I like.” “Actually I am really excited about this project because this is the first time I am not speaking about my ‘Superman’ alter ego,” he laughs. “Now I’m just trying to get to Jermaine Riley. The next album will let fans get a chance to know the real me. Things like how I love and how I feel about certain things by giving them my perspective.” When I ask him to finish the sentence, “I want the world to know…,” he pauses and thinks for a few seconds. “I want the world to know that I will never stop doing music, you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere.” Ten Eleven Twelve will be released on November 10 via www.jermaineriley.com
TINIE TEMPAH:
The British rapper is to help launch the world's first underwater club at a popular resort in the Maldives.
EMELI SANDE:
The Scottish singer was named Best Solo Artist at the Q Awards, which were held recently.
OR BUSTED? F F U B
Dear Kat, I am into fashion and I hope to enroll at the London College of Fashion when I finish my A Levels. My dad thinks it is ‘gay’ and wants me to be a footballer. It has nothing to do with me not liking girls because I do. I want to work with clothes and I have always been that way. He thinks that I won’t make money and people will talk. I promised my mum I will think about doing something else but I doubt that I will. What should I do? Nakim, 18 GAME:
The rapper and ‘devout Christian’ has caused controversy with his latest album cover, which appears to depict Jesus as a ‘blood gang’ member.
Hi Nakim, I respect you. A lot of young people your age don’t know what they want to do beyond college; it’s great to hear that you have a clear plan. It’s unfortunate that your dad doesn’t share the same passion that you do. Your chosen vocation does not determine what your sexuality is, it’s sad that people often do, though. Your father, like many others out there, wanted you to take up a vocation deemed more ‘manly,’ hence the football suggestion. You need to explain to him that football does not make you happy, fashion does. Although he probably knows, it might be an idea to explain that fashion does not mean you have a limited interest in girls, but is something you are good at and would like to take further. We all want to please our parents, but sometimes we can’t let that be at the expense of pleasing ourselves.
BUFF
LIL’ REESE:
Twitter went into a frenzy after a video showing the rising hiphop star brutally assaulting an unidentified woman went viral.
BUFF
TWEET OF THE WEEK A N G E L A S IM MONS: Classy, effortl ess, gorgeous
US H ER :
Dapper, slick, debonair
Hip-hop mogul Diddy took to Twitter shortly after he was involved in a serious car crash. ‘Woah...that was a close one!' Diddy
KEVIN PRINCE BOATENG
26 THE VOICE NOVEMBER 1 - 7, 2012
ATTLE B R E T S O P IA KEYS
A and ALIC
MASHOND
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