EMI AND S-CURVE ROMANCE
THE STONE
She’s got Soul and she’s superbad. Joss Stone isn’t just your typical British teenager.
The rising star recorded her debut, The Soul Sessions (S-Curve/EMI), a collection of covers, with soul legends Betty Wright, guitarist Little Beaver, pianist Benny Latimore and organist Timmy Thomas, as well as Roots drummer ?uestlove and neo-soul diva Angie Stone.
The album, recorded in just four days and intended as an introduction to the talented teen when it was released last September, is now taking off on its own.
Sessions has sold 1 million copies worldwide, and is now poised to explode stateside thanks to Stone’s version of the White Stripes track, renamed “Fell in Love With a Boy” and featuring the Roots, which, thanks to EMC’s Kevin Carroll and his team, is ready to cross from Adult Post Modern to Pop.
Sales of the album have tripled over the past few weeks, and shipments now approach 300k.
S-Curve’s Steve Greenberg, who originally discovered the ingenue, says the main elements of the campaign have been live performances, press, touring and television appearances. “It was a totally grass-roots effort. Everyone showed a great deal of patience and restraint. We didn’t rush it. We let it grow at its own speed. We let radio and the music video channels discover her for themselves. We feel there’s a ton of growth still to come here in the States.”
There is a new album of all-original material scheduled to come out before the end of the year that is 90% done, according to Greenberg. “We’re going to work this one for awhile, and then go right into the new one,” he says. “We don’t want people to live on just a taste for too long. Those who like The Soul Sessions will dig the new album.”
Highlights include:
· “Fell in Love With a Boy” video is Buzzworthy at MTV, Buzzworthy/Heavy on MTV2, “The Cut” on mtvU, and Stone is an Inside Track artist on VH1, where the song is receiving Top 20 airplay. Video debuted on TRL last Friday (2/20) at #18.
· TV appearances on Leno (2/24) and Carson Daly (2/ 27), VH1 Divas Live (4/18), Austin City Limits (taping 4/23), MTV’s Music Stars of Tomorrow (mid-March), Motown 45th Anniversary Special (CBS in May).
· Performances Sunday night at Elton John’s post-Oscar party and a SXSW in-store at Waterloo Records.
· Past TV includes Conan O’Brien and MTV You Hear It First in Sept., Good Morning America and Ellen Degeneres in Oct., Letterman and Craig Kilborn in Nov.; Kennedy Center Honors.
· Upcoming press includes Glamour (March), Elle (“Women on the Verge”), Jane and WWD.
· Previous print: Vibe, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, People, NY Times and more.
· Borders-sponsored promotional tour.
· Opened for Simply Red last fall, set to open six shows in May for Sting at Royal Albert Hall in London.
