| About RAPHAEL SOLOMON | RAPHAEL SOLOMON At 29 years old, African-born singer/ songwriter Raphael Solomon knows a little something about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. Self-describing his sound as song driven Pop with an Urban flavour and a Latin feel, the Londoner's music is based on those both basic and complex human emotions and experiences. Take Sex With My Ex, for instance - a song from his debut album, Beautiful Dancer, which is available on iTunes, was penned by the artist after preparing a supper for, then seducing, a former flame. Another song is Baby's Gone To Rio, about a girl the artist dated fours years ago, who ran off to Rio with another lover and deserted him. However, Beautiful Dancer, the title track of the album and the forthcoming single release, which feautres remixes from Starlab and Club Junkies, holds more fond memories. The song was written in New York two years ago, while the artist was living there, about a long distance relationship with a ballroom dancer. Most of Raphaels songs, in fact which he's been writing since the age of 7 are steeped in similar soils. And it sort of comes with the territory, considering his background: born to Lebanese and Chilean, party-animal parents; relocating from Africa to Europe, and dating members of both sexes before arriving at a place of self-acceptance and inner peace, that his songs would read like a personal diary. But the concept of love or the lack thereof, on occasion isn't just on what Beautiful Dancer is based. It's also on what the album was built. Especially when you consider that Raphael readily admits to not having a nickel to loan at times. An independent artist through and through, Raphael financed the expensive studio time to record his record over a period of three years with jobs as a bartender, security guard and a male model. He recalls working as a retail assistant at several of London's high fashion stores too where, he says, shoppers, on a daily basis, thought that having money was a warranty to talk down to people. Rather than discourage him, this affluent attitude did just the opposite, it encouraged him to continue pursuing his passion while providing even more material to work with, the result of which is Rich in My Heart, another of the albums grinding gems. With all this talk of heartbreak, however, don't assume that Raphael doesn't have a sense of humor. He's not the kind of cat content with licking old wounds. Instead, he prefers to pick himself up, dust himself off, and when he's not writing or recording those chapters in his life have a little fun. Just like the night he became the king of more than a few peoples jungles. "I once went onstage dressed as Tarzan, and 20 seconds into my number my loincloth came undone" he recalls laughing. "That was a very memorable experience for both the audience and me!" But, then again, maybe that faux pas was all part of The Grander Solomon scheme: To entertain, to be identifiable, and to be recognized as an artist who can be related to on a personal level. |
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