Email Author Dan LeRoy

2007 Stories by Dan LeRoy

• 2007: The Year in Movies and Music

  published December 19, 2007

  Revenge of the Nerds Absolutely, unequivocally, this has been The Year of The Apatow: Judd got Knocked Up to the tune of... More >>

• Duran Duran

  published December 5, 2007

  Duran Duran had two options when it set out to make Red Carpet Massacre, its first album in three years: Try to reclaim new-wave disco from... More >>

• Alicia Keys

  published December 5, 2007

  Like many of her R&B contemporaries, Alicia Keys comes up short in the melody department: they've got the chops, the feel and even the look of... More >>

• Frankie Beverly and Maze

  published October 31, 2007

  Lots of acts call themselves the music industry's "best-kept secret," but Frankie Beverly and Maze make a convincing claim to the title.... More >>

• Lyrics Born

  published October 24, 2007

  If you don't know Lyrics Born's rhymes — and that possibility is diminished, thanks to the presence of his signature song, "Callin'... More >>

• Dio of Reckoning

  published September 19, 2007

  Back for his third stint as Black Sabbath vocalist, 65-year-old Ronnie James Dio retains his booming vibrato, his commanding stage presence and... More >>

• T-Pain

  published September 12, 2007

  The epiphany T-Pain experienced prior to recording his sophomore album seems to have been this: If I keep on emulating my mentor, Akon, I will... More >>

• T.I.

  published September 5, 2007

  A lot has already been written about hip-hop's most anticipated disc of the year. But not much of it is complimentary. Sure, the split-personality... More >>

• Filthy Lucre

  published August 29, 2007

  In 1977, the Sex Pistols were named "Young Businessmen of the Year" by the buttoned-down publication Investors Review. The honor belonged as much... More >>

• Kelly Rowland

  published August 8, 2007

  The genesis of Kelly Rowland's sophomore album is a sad commentary on the aesthetic currently choking R&B. The singer and member of Destiny's... More >>

• Young Buck

  published August 1, 2007

  The autumn release of 50 Cent's Curtis surely has Interscope execs sweating like pigs praying not to be butchered. Will Curtis save... More >>

• Musiq Soulchild/ Chrisette Michele

  published July 25, 2007

  Who says nice guys finish last, even in today's rougher-then-ever urban music world? Philly singer Musiq Soulchild is something like the... More >>

• Teena Marie

  published July 18, 2007

  Countless R&B veterans have attempted comebacks during the hip-hop era, and to call most of the results embarrassing is harsh but true. One of the... More >>

• Daddy Yankee

  published July 11, 2007

  Three years after introducing the States to reggaeton via the smash "Gasolina," Daddy Yankee (aka Ramon Ayala) has a new joint venture with... More >>

• R. Kelly

  published July 4, 2007

  The most perverse moment on R. Kelly's new album is, surprisingly, neither "The Zoo" — a slow-jam full of animal noises that suggests he and... More >>

• BeyoncÉ/Robin Thicke

  published July 4, 2007

  She's bigger than Destiny's Child, bigger than her own last name, and bigger than pop music. If it's a diva for our age that you want, look no... More >>

• Jonas Brothers

  published June 27, 2007

  The disturbing implications of their recent Kim Wilde rewrite "Kids of the Future" (and you thought straight kiddie covers of your fave old songs... More >>

• Ne-Yo

  published June 20, 2007

  For those too young to understand the goal of Ne-Yo's sophomore album, Because of You, the head of his label decided to make the... More >>

• Kool & the Gang

  published June 13, 2007

  With veteran funkateers Kool & the Gang signed on to headline Zoofari, the Saint Louis Zoo's annual black-tie fundraiser, the big question... More >>

• Dance, Dance, Dance

  published May 23, 2007

  The stories already circulating about the recording of !!!'s third album are strange enough. You know, the ones about the eight-man... More >>

• Redman

  published May 9, 2007

  It's hard to say what's more surprising: that Redman's sixth solo album is actually decent or that it even exists. The long-rumored Red Gone... More >>

• MIMS

  published April 18, 2007

  It sounds utterly conventional, but Shawn Mims' debut is courting plenty of controversy. That's because it teeters fascinatingly on the precipice... More >>

• Nas

  published April 18, 2007

  You can file Nas' career under You've Come A Long Way, Maybe. From his conscious-rap beginnings came 1994's Illmatic, a debut that... More >>

• Jill Scott

  published April 11, 2007

  Let's get the public-service announcement out of the way first: This is not the new Jill Scott album. Instead, it's a stop-gap compilation, and... More >>

• Joss Stone

  published April 11, 2007

  The young, urban starlet is a wondrous thing to behold, isn't she? Well, no, not usually — particularly because, in this day and age, we... More >>