MEET ANTHONY ANTOINE....THE MAN OF MY DREAMS!......... AN ARTIST FOR OUR TIMES!

MEET ANTHONY ANTOINE//artist, activist, father, friend, son, sex symbol...and, TODAY...DREAM LIVER...

With the release of "CLOSETS ON FIRE," Anthony Antoine is living right smack dab in the middle of his dreams.

While many would try to suggest modesty at the arrival of such an achievement (as would Anthony, by the way), he worked on this dream on purpose. In high school, he and two (2) female classmates performed as "THE REASON," as in "You know WE are THE REASON you all came!" So, its funny, but very sweet to find him reduced to tears now that The Day ... This Day has arrived. But "it is such a blessing. I have been trying to sit still, be still and take it all in and I just can't. It's very overwhelming, but I worked hard to be here and here I be."

Anthony has really be working on this dream. He wanted to have a story to go along with the dream, so he just upped and left The US of A for London, a la Madonna's voyage from Flint, Michigan to New York City. So, I guess no one told Virginia-living Anthony Antoine that he could have just moved on up to LA, DC or NYC himself, but he wanted a FABULOUS STORY to tell. So, off he went. To the UK, which was home to Soul II Soul, Lisa Stansfield, The Brand New Heavies and the land of rhythmic dance music and lovers of true soul. He went there and worked at his craft. "I got to work with Ronny Jordan and so many other artists there. I recorded there as 'Truth Anthony' and did a lot of hip-hop styled stuff, because they just could not wrap their brains around the fact that I was tall, Black and American and didn't rap. So, being who I was, I rapped. And it was a blast!" He recorded several demos in his six years (1987 - 1993) there, but soon, America called him home and his struggle with his sexuality took him in. "That was a rough period. I didn't expect it and it just really took me through. But, as you can tell, I made it through that struggle, but not without a lot of prayer and just time, with me, to consider this new me."

And, as is so Anthony Antoine, when he got connected to himself, he REALLY got connected. "I felt like I had to be an activist. It was just in my blood." He would attach himself to the HIV/AIDS Outreach program in the cities where he lived and he wasn't scared to hit the street for the cause!


(DEBUT SOLO CD) But the music kept calling, even while he was working fabulously and diligently with Adodi Muse (THE GAY NEGRO ENSEMBLE in which he was performing when I first laid eyes and heart on this Adonis of A Spirit!)
"I knew that I still wanted to record and that it would happen. But so much else was happening. I was loving my work with Adodi Muse and I was a father (Dana Lee, featured on many of his UK demos and is sangin' her butt of on "I GOT THE MOVES" on "CLOSETS", is his lovely daughter VOGUE's mother). I didn't lose the fire, but the focus shifted. Oh, but when it returned, it was like an unscratchable itch. It would not leave me alone." That lead to a mix tape, a few extended singles and finally "SONGS FROM MY CLOSET," which served as a prelude to the work that being released now. "'Songs From My Closet' was really about having to get SOMETHING OUT and NOW! I had done 'Dante's Got A Man' (a single that mirrored Chante Moore's sister cry!) and I was really feeling a groundswell call to GET BUSY!" And busy he got! Recording over the next two years or so, Anthony Antoine, who doesn't reveal or record under his last name, but had to tell him so that I could imagine its hyphenation with mine (LOL), is clearly the parent of two children. "This is definitely a labor of love and pain and sweat and tears, but it's been worth it. DAMN! This feels really good."

PERFORMING WITH KELLY PRICE, meeting "Idol" SHEILA E., cuddling up with "would be" girlfriend RAPPER TRINA, have all happened BEFORE NOW, so what will the world look like with such songs as "ASS" and "DONTUEVA" being unleashed upon the world?!
"I don't know?" Anthony laughs, "but I'm excited to find out. I really am proud of this project, this cd, my cd (he says like he's still getting used to the idea). Some of these songs are so personal and some are just for the fever of it, for the kids." Some indeed, like "CURIOSITY AND THE HENNESSY" will surely catch people's immediate attention. The song, a sensual ditty about a brother whose cool in his skin and sexuality and his ongoing saga with a cat who is loving the sex of him, but scared of the love of him and blaming it on...The Hennessy. "It's a song that's about brothers who can do the do with a little something in them, including getting a little something in them. And, at the same time, it reminds me of a period of time when my vocal chords were healing. So, this song is really special to me. It's sexy and my producer Jimmy George (of Wave Motion Sound) really PUT IT DOWN!" Other songs, like "HOW TO TELL IF YOUR MAN IS ON THE DOWN LOW" and "SANCTITY" (performed with Duncan Teague and malik m.l. williams of ADODI MUSE) are a melding of his activism and his artistry, birthing his gift!

(WITH SUPERVOCALIST EXTRAORDINAIRE RACHELLE FERRELL), Anthony Antoine is ON HIS WAY!
"I have been waiting for this day, this project, my entire life. I'm ready now. I feel like I'm doing my thing and my thing isn't doing me. I feel like everything has come together and its time."

Anthony Antoine is the Man of My Dreams. It's not a simple physical or emotional reference. I'm not even talking about what you think I'm talking about, as it relates to his presence. When I say that "He Is," I mean that I have been waiting for this man, dreaming of this man, my entire life. A brother--tall, handsome, confident, loving, true to himself and his spirituality, sensuality, sexuality and his being--who would step forward and BE. Working for 15 years in the music industry, I have seen glimpses of him before. A brother who was confident, but behind the scenes, or willing to be sexual with me but never out to the public or who was on fire in his sexuality, but not palpable to the aesthetic of the mainstream of our culture, i.e. too much queen for the Kids!

But then along came

Anthony Antoine

.

Sexy behind words and committed beyond measure. He is an Artist for OUR Times! We--Black Folks, Gay Men, Lesbians, DL cats, Same Gender Loving Men, Men Who Have Sex With Men, Music Lovers and Listeners, Diva Adorers, us all-- have finally got the opportunity to support one of us.

BUY THIS CD!

Buy it because he's cute. You did that with others before (Hello Horace Brown, Glenn Lewis, D'Angelo, Maxwell, Christopher Williams, et al.) and got luckily surprised and entertained by the sonic exchange. Buy it because he's a supporter of us (Hello MARTHA WASH, RU PAUL, CE CE PENISTON and OF COURSE, LA BELL OF THE BALL, Miss PATTI LABELLE). But most of all, BUY IT BECAUSE HE IS ONE OF US! (Hello....HELLO! Hello Anybody, because we haven't REALLY been here before!). He's not afraid or ashamed. He's Anthony Antoine.

Special Shout-out of LOVE from Anthony Antoine to MICHAEL SMITH, his executive producer, greatest musical supporter and dear friend! "YOU REALLY MADE THINGS HAPPEN FOR ME AND I APPRECIATE YOU!!!"

MY GOD, HE'S SEXY

!

AND HE'S LIVING HIS LIFE, ON PURPOSE, WITH PURPOSE! "I just really feel like this is the fulfillment of my journey thus far. It's so amazing to be able to say that. I am on my journey and my journey has lead me, right now, here now, to this perfect moment. I'm surprised by it. I'm humbled by it. But I asked for it and here it is! God really is good and really pays attention, even to the things we don't think we say."

He's the Axis Of What I Desire for Everyone. He's the Embodiment of What I Speak and What I Do.

Anthony Antoine is Anthony Antoine and that's all he's been called to be.

Live Your Life On Purpose and Get What You Came For!!!

(GO TO http://www.cdbaby.com/anthonyantoine3,html to BUY HIS NEW CD "CLOSETS ON FIRE" and go to http://www.AnthonyAntoine.comto read more about this amazing artist and supercool brothafriend!)

Love and Power,
Rev Kev