Monthly Publication NEWS FOR THE CONSCIOUS MIND December 2007
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Featured Musician
John Fluker
-- CD Baby |
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Fluker made big waves with his previous recording, THE SOUND OF PEACE, which spent two months in the #1 position on the national New Age Reporter Top 100 radio airplay chart. That contemporary instrumental debut album spotlighted his piano-playing and composing. Now he is showing a whole other side of his musical personality by showcasing his singing talents on J IS FOR JOY. Fluker’s CDs can be purchased at such top online stores as amazon.com and cdbaby.com, or from digital download outlets including iTunes.com. For more information about John, visit his website at www.johnfluker.com.
J IS FOR JOY begins with a half-dozen vocal selections that paint a vivid picture of the birth of Jesus Christ including the call to bring people together, the star marking the site, travelers paying homage, the baby in the manger, the joyous celebration, and then the quiet, peaceful setting as the baby falls asleep during his first night on earth. The recording ends with Fluker reprising four of the previous songs, but this time in mostly-instrumental versions punctuated with only a few vocal highlights.
John chose to sing five traditional carols – “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” “We Three Kings,” “Away in a Manger,” “Joy To The World” and “Silent Night” – but fits them with new arrangements like they have never been heard before. “There was no point recording these standards unless I could bring something fresh and different to them,” he explains. “I enjoyed the freedom of embellishing them my own way and using elements of Pop, R&B and Jazz.” The upbeat “Joy To The World” is a duet between John and Florence LaRue of the group 5th Dimension (they have 20 Top-40 hits and six GRAMMY Awards). Fluker does a slow, peaceful version of the classic song “Away in a Manger,” influenced by the late Jazz-Gospel pianist Thomas Whitfield. “I wanted the song to be as delicate as the feeling of holding a newborn baby in your arms,” John says.
The other full-vocal piece is “Follow The Brightest Star,” written by Fluker with Melissa Vardey. John says, “The bright star in the heavens above where Jesus was born was a sign of hope and guidance, and in this song I wonder why can’t we make life better for one another and have the Christmas spirit all year long?”
The mostly-instrumental Smooth-Jazz version of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” features two Jazz musicians, saxophonist Brad Leali and guitarist Greg Bowden. The final piano-spotlighted “Silent Night” ends the recording with a New Age sound reminiscent of John’s previous album, THE SOUND OF PEACE.
Fluker has worked extensively with legendary singer Gladys Knight over the past decade-and-a-half and for several years served not only as her piano accompanist, but also as her musical director. Some of the highlights of working with Knight include John penning several songs for her musical “Madame Lilly,” performing for President and Mrs. Clinton at the White House, playing piano with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Utah, and performing at the televised 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Concert with a full symphony orchestra. In addition, Fluker performed on two CDs with Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices – the GRAMMY Award-winning ONE VOICE (Fluker sang a duet with Gladys on “Did You Know,” co-wrote another song, played piano and arranged various hymns) and A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION (which he also sang on). Fluker has accompanied Knight on many television shows from “Good Morning America” to “Lou Rawls’ Parade of Stars,” but one of the most memorable moments was on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” when Rosie and Whoopi Goldberg became honorary “Pips” (Gladys’ original vocal group) and sang harmonies while John played piano.
Fluker won two rounds on Ed McMahon’s “Star Search” in the “Best Male Vocalist” category and got to sing an original song, “Just As Sure,” on national television. John also works as a vocal coach (and is featured in Seth Riggs’ book “Singing For The Stars”) with clients including Jennifer Lopez, Roselyn Sanchez (“Rush Hour 2”), Devon Aoki (“Sin City,” “Fast and the Furious”), Kim Fields, Mary Hart, Florence LaRue, and Shawn King (Larry King’s wife). John also has done arrangements for Florence and Roselyn, and written songs for Devon. Fluker co-wrote the music for “Parley Pratt’s Great Escape,” a stage musical, and he co-produced the soundtrack recording as well. For the television show “Living Single,” John composed instrumental background music and appears on-screen playing piano in various scenes including a party episode in which he backs Queen Latifah. Fluker also has backed Stephanie Mills, Mavis Staples, David Hasselhoff, Brenda Russell, Sam Harris, Vesta Williams, Clifton Davis, Dorian Harewood, Hinton Battle, Will Wheaton, Jenifer Lewis, and jazz saxophonist Michael Lington.
Currently living in the Los Angeles area, Fluker was born and raised in Lansing, Michigan. He heard classical music at home and spiritual music at church (both his grandmother and sister played piano). Early on he was influenced by R&B/Pop artists including the Jackson 5, James Brown, The Stylistics and Earth, Wind & Fire as well as gospel acts such as Richard Smallwood, Andre Crouch and The Hawkins. John learned his first piano piece at age five, but didn’t begin formal lessons until he was eight. He also learned trombone and played in his junior high and senior high bands as well as the school Jazz band. He began writing songs on the piano and his father formally copyrighted the tune “Candyland” for him when he was 16. That same year he starred in a city-wide musical play (“The Me Nobody Knows”) and joined a professional spiritual group, The Earl Nelson Singers, that performed in many churches and at benefit shows. John additionally sang in the school chorale and his church’s choir.
He attended his father’s alma mater the first year of college (The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) on a full scholarship, but the next year transferred to the University of Michigan School of Music where he graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Music Theory. During college he listened to acts such as Prince and Luther Vandross, sang in the University Chorale and Men’s Glee Club, studied dance and acting, expanded his compositional skills, performed with singer Valerie Pinkston (who later was in Chapter Eight), and sang in talent shows and Gospel concerts accompanied on piano by Cedric Dent who became a member of Take Six.
Fluker moved to Los Angeles, began performing regularly in church (sometimes as choir director), started his vocal coaching career, and performed his own vocal music at many top Los Angeles clubs. He also handled music for community theater presentations of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Tell Me On A Sunday” (serving as accompanist and music director) and the based-on-Shakespeare “All The World’s A Stage.” John’s first experience with a professional touring act came when he began backing the Fifties vocal group The Diamonds (“Little Darlin’,” “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”) on tours that included playing Las Vegas. This led to working with The Chordettes as well. Years later Fluker would return to Vegas with Gladys Knight and spend several years performing nightly with her at The Flamingo. When Jenifer Lewis (Lifetime Channel’s “Strong Medicine”) decided to do a three-week show called “Now What?” at the Tiffany Theatre in Hollywood, she chose Fluker as her music director and accompanist, and she also had him sing a duet with her each night. In recent years, John has gotten inspiration from such Gospel acts as Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Thomas Whitfield, the Clark Sisters and The Winans.
“Christmas is always a magical time of the year when people are kind,
giving and peaceful. I have wonderful childhood memories of Christmas
pageants, caroling, sledding, my mother’s gingerbread, chocolate
ornaments that were always disappearing off our tree, candle-light
church services, and reenactments of Jesus’ birth. With my holiday
album, I look at each of these songs as gifts that I have wrapped up in
colorful, new arrangements and handed to the world. Merry Christmas!”
PUBLICITY AGENCY: THE CREATIVE SERVICE COMPANY (CreatServ9@aol.com) 4360 Emerald Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80918 * 719-548-9872 * fax 719-599-9607
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