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AVANT BRINGS ROMANCE BACK TO MUSIC: 'Director' is Singer's Attempt to Resurrect Chivalry in Relationships.
Scroll down to hear the album's second single, “Lie About Us,” featuring Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls.
Luckily, there are still singers like Avant who are brave enough to defy conventional thought and resurrect the spirit of romance. For his fourth album, Director, the velvet voiced singer and songwriter returns with a disc full of moving melodies and a mission to rep for the real men who aren’t afraid to embrace their emotions and love a woman fully and freely.
“I think we’ve lost the chivalry in relationships,” says Avant. “Our lifestyles and music have changed and that makes it hard for some men to understand what a woman really needs.”
Avant, a Cleveland Ohio native who still lives in his hometown, learned how to appreciate and admire the strength and resilience of women who are mothers, sisters and lovers from the most important woman in his life, his mother.
“One of the most valuable things my mother taught me is that you can love someone and not expect anything back.”
As the youngest son in a family of six, he watched his mom sacrifice mightily to provide the best for her children. Money might have been tight, but her affection never faltered. She encouraged Avant to develop his musical gifts and played classic R&B artists like Smokey Robinson, The Supremes and Marvin Gaye who later influenced his creative direction.
Avant loved the great ones, but to him, his uncle, the late Andrew Pittman was the ultimate performer. “My uncle was the inspiration for me to be in the music game doing what I do,” he says simply. “I would watch him perform with his group when I was 5 years old and I wanted to be like him.” Avant’s uncle never made it in the record business, but Pittman’s experience played a huge part in teaching Avant valuable lessons about discipline and hard work.
At 14, an age when most teen boys are preoccupied with sports, video games and girls, Avant began penning his own songs.
“I started writing songs when I realized the different ways a person can approach love. I had just begun to understand what love is, and I wanted people to hear my voice and see my vision as an artist.” Avant honed both his vision and his voice at the Cleveland School of the Arts, where he learned to integrate his smooth tenor, songwriting ability and dramatic flair into a sultry stage persona. Avant entered and won innumerable talent shows, but unfortunately, Cleveland just couldn’t provide any professional outlets for his budding talent.
After graduation, Avant worked a few factory jobs holding fast to his dreams of music industry success. “I would sometimes get discouraged,” he admits. “But, I recognized that this was a stepping stone to the next phase in my life.” Avant continued to make music, using downtime at work to write material and a friend’s studio to record after hours. “I had a bunch of sleepless nights,” laughs Avant, who would often bring a change of clothes and head directly back to work.
His big break came in 1998 when Avant made his professional debut with the independent release of his first single “Separated.” Radio embraced the song and the resulting buzz helped the singer land a deal at the now defunct label, Magic Johnson Music. His debut album, My Thoughts, sold over a million copies and garnered the singer legions of devoted fans. His subsequent releases Ecstasy and Private Room were also well received, earning gold plaques, but his career has not been without its share of controversy.
The singer had to contend with critical backlash that much of his style was borrowed from other crooners. And though his music was unquestionably well received, even the singer acknowledges that his distinctive musical gifts weren’t always showcased in his earlier material. This time around, Avant assumed more control over his sound and the key people supporting him. He signed with new management and collaborated with a bunch of A-list producers like Jermaine Dupri and Rodney Jerkins to take his sound to the next level.
The result is a fourth album that is his best to date, a replete with dreamy ballads detailing the different stages of love. Instead of adhering to a cookie cutter soul formula, Avant pours his heart into Director, an album titled to celebrate his creative control. His lead single “You Know What” is a saucy mid tempo cut featuring Lil’ Wayne that skillfully captures the heat-filled first words of a man approaching a sexy female spotted from across the room. Avant’s lyrics create rich visual images that place the listener in the middle of an emotional whirling vortex.
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Avant publicity photo (Michael Lavine)
In “4 minutes”, an emotionally powerful slow jam describing a man’s attempt to mend a broken relationship, the singer’s desperation and grim realization that the best thing that ever happened to him is about to walk out of his life forever are tantalizingly present in the lyrics and underscored by a haunting echo and the soft clock ticking. Avant isn’t afraid to get real and describe scenarios without happy endings.
In “Right Place, Wrong Time,” when he sings “Someone else is filling my shoes/but I’m not mad at you/’cause I wasn’t there/now he’s taking my place,” he assumes responsibility for the break-up and acknowledges his ex-lover’s right to move on. The sinuous bassline of “Mr. Dream” charms listeners and compliment Avant’s lyrics, which seductively chastise a woman for chasing an elusive Casanova and ignoring his very real affections, while the lush melodies of “Imagination” reinforce his promise to fulfill all fantasies.
Avant’s Director proclaims a grown and sexy love between consenting adults that is both uplifting and mutually satisfying. It’s obvious that Avant knows how to treat a woman and now he wants to share his knowledge with the fellas.
“I try to talk about things that guys need when smoothing over the situations that arise in relationships,” Avant reveals. “Sometimes, guys do crazy things, but deep down they know that if they have the right woman, they should try to please her.” With his latest release, Avant has the experience and accolades for the job as Director and most importantly the power of his magical soothing vocal and lyrical abilities to put the love back into lovemaking.
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“Lie About Us,” featuring Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, is the second single from Avant’s latest album, Director. Click on the links below to listen to the song.
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/geffen/avant/audio/director/lieaboutus/00_lo.asx
http://boss.streamos.com/real/geffen/avant/audio/director/lieaboutus/00_lo.ram
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/geffen/avant/audio/director/lieaboutus/00_hi.asx
http://boss.streamos.com/real/geffen/avant/audio/director/lieaboutus/00_hi.ram
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source:
Kim Trick
The Room Service Group
718-408-1151
AIM: uh huh kim
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