R&B hunks: serving up soul and sensuality - singers - Interview

Ebony, June, 2002

NOT only do they sound good, but they also look good. Avant, Montell Jordan, Joe, Glenn Lewis and Musiq Soulchild represent a new school of R&B artists who mesmerize with their voices and tantalize with their model-like sex appeal. For many Sisters, just the sound of their names can conjure up delicious little fantasies of being swept off one's feet.

Boasting the soulful sensuality of legendary R&B artists of the past, these five balladeers perform the songs that capture the heart and seduce the mind.

JOE, 27, is the handsome Southern prince who arrives just in time to save his legions of female fans from a broken heart. To the Brothers, Joe offers the slow grooves that pave the way out of the doghouse and back into a woman's good graces.

With his latest album, Better Days, the Opelika, Ala., son of two Pentecostal preachers takes on social causes. "I wanted to talk about the things that are really happening in the world ... I wanted to go deeper."

Rest assured that Joe isn't abandoning his status as the poster child for romanticism any time soon. Although he's not ready to settle down yet, the single father (he has a young daughter) knows what he wants in a woman.

"The kind of woman I want is educated," he says. "When I come home, she can enlighten me about certain things, but even with all that knowledge, she can also wind it down, kick back and laugh."

MONTELL JORDAN, with his staggering ballplayer height (6-foot-8) and well-kept goatee, prefers to "bring it" from the male perspective. Fans are familiar with the softer side of the 32-year-old married South Central, Los Angeles, native because he's not afraid of showing his vulnerability; he's very open about his marriage, fatherhood, being adopted and, of course, his spirituality.

"You can't run from yourself or God," he says. "And the Montell Jordan I see in the mirror now is doing all right." Jordan's artistic growth is apparent in his latest release. Montell Jordan.

Judging from his previous four-album streak, Montell Jordan can rest assured that he will remain in the hearts and minds of many.

AVANT began his music career in a church choir. Today the platinum-selling artist says he contributes his success to understanding what really turns Black women on, and of course, realizing how to treat Sisters with love and respect. Avant's latest release, Ecstasy, touches heavily on doing whatever it takes to make the relationship work.

"My definition of ecstasy is making love to a woman mentally," the Cleveland native explains. "It's about getting into a relationship that lasts. Men must treat their women right and make [a woman] feel like she's the queen of the Earth, because that's the truth."

The 25-year-old crooner says he's still searching for his perfect love. "I'm dating now," he says, "but I'm still looking because I don't ever want to be in a separated situation again."

GLENN LEWIS, 26, offers a handsome shoulder for the lovelorn rest their heads. When five-time Grammy Award-winner Alicia Keys heard Lewis' super smash hit, Don't You Forget It," she was so inspired that she invited him to go on tour with her. In Lewis' debut album, The World Outside My Window, he tackles some everyday situations. "The album is all about situations that are beyond our control," he says. "You either have to adjust or adapt or sometimes conform or compromise. And within that I think that you really have to know yourself."

In reference to Lewis' personal life, he says he's in a committed relationship now and encourages others to give into love completely. "In relationships, communication is everything," he says. "I'm very secure and confident in who I am as a man. And I feel that it make you more of a man to hide whatever is that you're feeling, especially when you have concerns or when you're disappointed or hurt."

MUSIQ SOULCHILD (aka Talib Johnson) emerged with the hypnotic single "Just Friends,"--a song where he insists on just hanging out and taking it slow--at the height of a piping hot summer dominated by a catchy song dedicated to ladies' underwear. And the ladies loved him for it.

"I just wanted women to know it's not always about sex. I can just be that boy who goes to the library with you," he says.

Today the critically acclaimed Philadelphia-born singer with the soft curly locks and stylish shades is bringing more soul to the forefront with his sophomore effort, Juslisen (just listen). Musiq Soulchild says the hectic pace of the music business keeps him busy, but when it's time to wind things down, he's looking for just one thing in a mate--her ability to keep it real.

"I don't really have too many preferences," he says, "Basically, all I want is that person to be as real as she possibly can, not just with me, but with herself as well."