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The Kenny Hamber Revue with Special Guest Broca’s Area with Broca's Area

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Award-Winning R&B Artist Kenny Hamber makes his Infinity Hall Hartford debut!! Crowned “the voice of Heart and Soul,” the living legend has performed with everyone from James Brown, Jackie Wilson and the Temptations, to Galdys Knight, Dionne Warwick and the Stylistics!! Hartford’s own up and coming future soul five-some Broca’s Area warms up the stage. With so much Soul and so much grace, to miss show would sure be a disgrace!!

The Kenny Hamber Revue

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www.kennyhamber.com

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Artist Bio

Soul singer Kenny Hamber has been around a long time. The Baltimore voice's urge for singing blossomed at Weldon Baptist Church, where he served as one of the choir's most-requested male voices. From there, he went to blending notes with the many doo wop groups vying for attention in the Baltimore/D.C. area. The small Spar label released his first single in September 1960. Hamber co-wrote "Tears in My Eyes," David Robinson wrote the B-side "Do the Hully Gully" and collaborated with Hamber on "Tears....," Robinson's combo accompanied Hamber on both sides. Spar licensed both sides to the equally tiny Zenette Records in 1961. Despite the business maneuver, the record only achieved airplay at stations the principals could personally serve. Spending money to record and press records and even more to sway the jocks, getting a distributor, and sweating bullets for a check (that often never came) put Spar, Zenette, and countless other small labels out of business often before they received their Federal Tax ID numbers.

Hamber wasn't a writer; that he's credited with a co-write on his first recording was rare. The only other known Hamber composition is "I Can Feel That You Love," on that one he shares writing honors with Jerry "Swamp Dog" Williams and Philly DJ/record entrepreneur Jimmy Bishop. Without your own material, it's difficult to get a record company to take a chance on you; there is always a better-looking, more charismatic, and electrifying entertainer they'd rather take a flyer on.

He found a one-off home in 1964 with De Jac Records, which issued "Time" b/w "Show Me Your Monkey" with females on backups; the first single featured males harmonizing behind Hamber, although the most sophisticated radar wouldn't have detected it and sales were infinitesimal. A deal with Jimmy Bishop's Arctic Records, who was charting with Barbara Mason singles, seemed a good bet. But after two singles -- both sought after now by Northern soul collectors -- it was over. Kenny Gamble (a fellow Arctic artist) wrote Hamber's Arctic debut, "Ain't Gonna Cry" (1967); his second, "Looking for a Love" b/w "These Arms of Mine" (1968), like the first, got little airplay outside of Philly.

In too deep to get out, Hamber sang where and when he could and kept his eyes open for hookups. One came with a soul group based out of Bridgeport, CT, the Hitchhikers, who cut a critically acclaimed self-titled album in 1976 for ABC/Dunhill Records. When that well dried, Hamber went into recording hibernation and didn't emerge until 1996 when MCK Records dropped his first solo album -- This Is R&B, which features a heart-shattering rendition of Charles Kipps' "Walk Away From Love," popularized by David Ruffin. A second solo album, In a Romantic Mood, has spread his reputation even further. Hamber gigs regularly from Connecticut to Baltimore with the Kenny Hamber Revue, playing spots like Arch Social Club in Baltimore and Elizabeth Rose Garden in Hartford, CT

Broca's Area

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www.brocasareamusic.com

Broca's Area is a four piece future soul band based out of Hartford, Connecticut that is a unique blend of hip-hop, R&B, and soul music. Pushing the envelope of these styles towards jazz gives you the multi-dimensional, polyrhythmic band that is Broca's Area. Serving their audiences with their soulful lead singer (Mary Corso) who delivers warm breathy vocals reminding you of the classic school of neo-soul. The core band arrangements are a keyboards-bass-drum trio that’s bringing tight grooves influenced by the Blue Note catalog. Broca's Area serves its audiences with high energetic performances of original compositions and unique covers honoring some of the greats from J Dilla to Jill Scott. This is what makes Broca's Area diverse and multi-dimensional. Broca's Area has shared the stage with bands such as Mad Satta, West End Blend, Mammal Dap, Funky Dawgz Brass Band, Midnight Snack and many other artists in the scene.

Winner of The New England's The Deli Magazine 'Artist of the Month', "The interplay between Mary Corso and rapper Ghazi Omair's angular flow would be enough for a killer group, but these guys push it over the edge with a groovy drummer, Steven Cusano, whose timing creates a backbeat that puts the world in slo-mo. And that's not even mentioning the absurdly tasty keys."- Paul Jordan Talbot (March 2015)

The band was just recently named by the 2015 CT Music Awards for Best R&B/Soul/Funk and Best New Band and nominated for Best Hip-Hop Band and Song of the Year "Who is to say" for the record we put out in April of 2015. Our debut EP "Clarity" is now available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon mp3 and bandcamp.

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