Hamilton, Anthony

1971—

Vocalist

Vocalist Anthony Hamilton managed to retain "the pre-rap values of old soul" without making his music sound "retro," according to Jim Farber of the Buffalo News. Hamilton's sound, Farber concluded, was instead "wholly contemporary." Hamilton himself described his sound as "Raw, uncut, whoop-that-ass cornbread, straight to the point authentic" to Vanessa Craft of Darkerthanblue.com. Hamilton's unique sound took a while to catch on, and a combination of bad luck and music-industry uncertainty about how to market Hamilton as an artist impeded his progress for years. In the mid-2000s, however, Hamilton's passionate classic soul vocals and elegant falsetto finally conquered radio and music sales charts. With a downhome image completely at odds with the high fashions and jewelry favored by other top African-American male stars in the R&B and hip-hop fields, Hamilton showed that older styles of African-American music remained vital in the 21st century.

A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Anthony Hamilton was born on January 28, 1971. His "gritty voice," noted Farber, "could only come from someone reared below the Mason-Dixon line." Hamilton agreed, telling

Farber that "I got whooped by a big ole country belt." His religious family allowed very little secular music in the house—only Elvis Presley and the country-themed television comedy show Hee Haw—but there was plenty of music in church. Hamilton's musical career started at age ten in his church choir. Although his recordings rarely have religious content (and "Preacher's Daughter" took direct aim at the behavior of some ministers), Hamilton told Ebony that "[m]y gospel roots are embedded in me, so it's hard to separate it from my music. It's a solid part that will never change." A great deal of the religious influence on Hamilton came from his grandmother, whom he saw collapse and die while she was frying fish.

Gained Life Experience

After he finished high school, Hamilton embarked on a career as a barber. That too helped him understand the world. "It was the best experience, man, getting to work in a place like that," he told classic soul vocalist and major influence Bill Withers in an Interview magazine conversation. "If you're a young man and you're about to go off into the world, go to the barbershop and just listen. Sit back and take notes." For a short time, he told Ebony, he dealt drugs, but hated it: "It was a dead end. A road with no future. Besides, I couldn't stand seeing people weakened by a substance." In the early 1990s he moved to Englewood, New Jersey, near New York City. He fathered two children, one in Charlotte during his teen years, and one after his move, and he continued to be involved with them later in life. Hamilton married gospel singer Tarsha McMillian in 2005, and she brought a son to what became a blended family of three children.

Hamilton had sung in talent shows as a teenager. After his relationship with his sons' mother broke up, he moved from Englewood to New York's Harlem neighborhood. "I needed the energy. I needed to heal," he told Withers. For a period of several months he lived in his car. But Harlem's creative atmosphere did him good, and he began to make connections in the New York music industry. Hamilton's vocal style partially fit into the so-called new jack swing R&B subgenre of the day, and producer (and Charlotte native) Mark Sparks signed him to the Uptown label. As a labelmate to such stars as Mary J. Blige and the vocal group Jodeci, Hamilton plunged into work on recording his debut album.

Hamilton's first brush with the frustrating shifts of the recording industry came when Uptown went out of business, just as his first album was being readied for release. He then signed with MCA, the large label that had absorbed the remnants of Uptown, and he recorded a second album, XTC, in 1996. Paul Clifford of the All Music Guide raved that the album was "an absolutely stunning debut set…a superb fusion of '70s soul and '90s R&B." But with MCA itself in transition, and the Southern presence in African-American music far smaller than it would be a decade later, XTC was ignored by executives and given little promotional support. It faded away with little chart impact but was later rediscovered by Hamilton's new legions of fans in the mid-2000s.

Overcame Setbacks through Hard Work

Refusing to give up despite these setbacks, Hamilton began to work as a songwriter (he eventually placed compositions on albums by Donell Jones and other artists) and as a backup vocalist. He recorded an album's worth of music for Sparks's Soulife label. In 2000 he backed neo-soul star D'Angelo on the latter's Voodoo tour, returning from his international travels to find that Soulife, too, had gone belly up. Two years later, however, Hamilton found the perfect outlet for his talents with a featured vocal slot on the single "Po' Folks" (from the album Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz), by the innovative Kentucky hip-hop group Nappy Roots. "When I got the connection with Nappy Roots, that was when I really started making noise," Hamilton told Craft. The recording garnered a Grammy award nomination in the growing Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category.

Performing "Po' Folks" at a Grammy lunch, Hamilton appeared not in tailored clothes but in the plain trucker's cap that had become his trademark. The simplicity carried a message. "I didn't shave or wear nice clothes—that was my protest," Hamilton told Lorraine Ali of Newsweek. "I was angry at the music industry for the mess they were putting on the radio. It was pretty and all dressed up, but it said nothin'! I came in as dusty as I could. That way, there was nothing to concentrate on but my music, and I sung it like it was my last shot." Hamilton won over the industry attendees was signed to Atlanta's So So Def label by producer Jermaine Dupri.

At a Glance …

Born January 28, 1971, in Charlotte, NC; married Tarsha McMillian (a gospel vocalist), 2005; children: Anthony, Tristen, Romeiro.

Career:

Charlotte, NC, barber, 1990s; Uptown label, recording artist (unreleased tracks), 1993(?)-95; MCA, recording artist, 1996-?; sideman and backup singer for various musicians, 1990s; Soulife label, recording artist and songwriter, 1999-2000; Nappy Roots, sang lead vocal on hit "Po' Folks," 2002; So So Def label, recording artist, 2003-.

Selected awards:

Grammy award nomination, for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (with Nappy Roots, for "Po' Folks"), 2003; Grammy award nominations, for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, for Best R&B Song, and for Best Contemporary R&B Album, 2004; Grammy award nomination, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, 2005.

Addresses:

Label—So So Def Recordings, 1350 Spring St. NW, #750, Atlanta, GA 30309. Web—www.anthonyhamilton.com.

Often referred to as his debut, Hamilton's 2003 release Comin' from Where I'm From was actually his fourth album. On the strength of "Charlene," a classic soul ballad about a relationship that threatens to dissolve under the pressure of distance, the album rose into Billboard magazine's R&B/Hip-Hop top ten and brought Hamilton four new Grammy nominations (three in 2004 and one, for the later-released "Charlene" single, in 2005). The album went platinum in sales in 2004.

Developed Soulful Music

Many of Hamilton's songs, in contrast to the sensual bounce that dominated urban airwaves, dealt with the downsides of love and life, and some of them, evoking the music of 1970s vocalist Marvin Gaye, had social or political themes. "I…noticed, from your music, that you've been watching the world while you're living in it," Withers told the singer. A group of sides from the Soulife sessions was released (slightly tweaked in the studio) under the title Soulife in 2005 as Hamilton's popularity grew and he worked on material for his next album. Ain't Nobody Worryin' appeared on So So Def at the end of that year, and the serious tone of Hamilton's music intensified.

The album's title was not meant to indicate that people shouldn't worry, but rather that they weren't worrying enough. The title track was born when Hamilton visited his wife's hometown of Cleveland and saw the numerous closed schools in the troubled city. "And even at the schools that are still around, the kids are sharing books. How are you supposed to learn if you don't have a book to read?" he asked Withers. "So I just felt like I wanted to say something about it." The song "Pass Me Over" was about the death of one of Hamilton's friends. But Ain't Nobody Worryin' also contained a generous helping of love songs as well as "Sista Big Bones," a tribute to plus-sized women that provided a fine example of Hamilton's sense of humor.

By 2006 and 2007, Hamilton was earning comparisons to Withers, Al Green, Bobby Womack, and the other great soul artists of the 1970s. Yet he was never classified exclusively as a retro or old-school artist; the variety of producers he employed on his albums tended to create smooth sounds that set off his powerful voice and suggested the instrumental sounds of the 1970s rather than imitating them. "When you put on my music, you can feel like you're being taken care of, kids and parents too," Hamilton told Jet. "All I know is that when people hear me, they're hearing an old ‘familiar’ voice, something that sounds reminiscent of something, someone they heard back in the day. And all of them, the thugs, the young mothers, the old folks, the big Sistas, they all encourage me, they tell me, ‘Keep saying it!’" In 2007, Hamilton's cache of unreleased earlier material was raided once again for the release Southern Comfort on the Merovingian label. Hamilton's long trajectory toward stardom had allowed him to store-up years of material that he seemed to relish being able to finally share. "I'm thankful I was standing in the way when God was throwing out musical talent," Hamilton said in an artist's profile on the Music Life Entertainment Group's Singersroom.com. "I just wanna pass it on to the people and remain humble and shine a little bit…and smile."

Selected works

Albums

XTC, MCA, 1996.

Comin' from Where I'm From, So So Def, 2003.

Soulife, Atlantic/Rhino, 2005.

Ain't Nobody Worryin', So So Def, 2005.

Southern Comfort, Merovingian, 2007.

Sources

Books

Contemporary Musicians, volume 58, Thomson Gale, 2006.

Periodicals

Buffalo News, December 18, 2005, p. G8.

Cleveland Scene, May 10, 2006.

Ebony, October 2006, p. 26.

Houston Press, April 26, 2007.

Interview, September 2003, p. 112; February 2006, p. 116.

Jet, February 13, 2006, p. 22.

Newsweek, January 9, 2006, p. 54.

On-line

"Anthony Hamilton," All Music Guide,www.allmusic.com (June 18, 2007).

Anthony Hamilton Official Website,www.anthonyhamilton.com (June 18, 2007).

"Anthony Hamilton: A Long Way from Charlotte," Darkerthanblue.com, www.darkerthanblue.co.uk/features.cfm?method=display&ref=4683 (June 18, 2007).

"Artist Profile: Anthony Hamilton," Singersroom.com, www.singersroom.com/exposure/profile-artist-100017.asp (June 18, 2007).

Anthony Hamilton

Singer, songwriter

"My music is like the perfect haircut—a Friday-night cut!" neo-soul vocalist and former barber Anthony Hamilton told Dimitri Ehrlich of Interview. "It makes you feel like wanting to put on some nice clothes to go out and have a good time." Plenty of music fans apparently agreed, for Hamilton's rough, impassioned vocals, strongly reminiscent of the classic soul and R&B vocalists of the 1970s, exploded in popularity in the mid-2000s. Hamilton was seasoned by a decade of professional frustration, making it all the sweeter when his hit albums Comin' from Where I'm From (2003) and Ain't Nobody Worryin' (2005) entered the top five of Billboard magazine's Hip-Hop/R&B albums sales chart and the top 20 of the magazine's Billboard 200 chart.

Hamilton was a native of Charlotte, North Carolina. Various inconsistent figures have been given for his age, but he told Bill Withers of Interview in February of 2006 that he was 35, and several other interviews from the end of the previous year listed his age as 34. Thus he was probably born in 1971, a date that would place him in his early 20s as he began his major-label career. Hamilton has played up his Southern roots and pointed to his discipline-heavy upbringing as one source of his gritty vocals: "I got whooped with a big ole country belt," he was quoted as saying in the Buffalo News.

Worked Off Energy by Singing

Hamilton's large family was religious. When he was little, the only secular music he was allowed to hear in the house came from Elvis Presley or from the television country variety show Hee Haw. "Then there was church," Hamilton recalled to Lorraine Ali of Newsweek. "My mom would give me a butterscotch, then a peppermint, then pinch me 'cause I was fidgeting—but I was full of sugar! The only way I could move around was if I sung." Hamilton made his performing debut with his church choir at age ten. Another major influence on Hamilton was his grandmother, whom he saw collapse and die at home. "God is embedded in my mind, in my soul," he explained to Withers. "That's what my grandmother was about, and I can't disconnect from it." After high school Hamilton became a licensed barber.

Despite the strong religious influence in his family, Hamilton did what he described to Tonya Jameson of the Charlotte Observer as "laying and playing around" after he moved north from Charlotte to Englewood, New Jersey. He fathered a son, Anthony, when he was 18, and continued to help raise him (and, later, another son) after his relationship with the mother broke up. Hamilton moved to New York's Harlem neighborhood and began to make some contacts in the city's music scene. With the hard-edged R&B known as new jack swing on the rise, Hamilton was spotted by producer and fellow Charlotte native Mark Sparks and signed to the Uptown label, where Mary J. Blige and onetime Charlotte group Jodeci ruled the roost.

Thus began Hamilton's frustrating pathway through the maze of record industry politics, as several of his recordings disappeared from the radar just as he seemed to be nearing a breakthrough. His problems came partly from bad luck, and partly from the fact that while new jack swing and other forms of urban neo-soul were well underway in the 1990s, Hamilton's deeper rural-Southern sound had to wait until other Southern African-American acts began to drawl their way across the radio dial. By 1995 Hamilton had recorded more than enough music for a debut album, but Uptown went bankrupt. His album XTC was released by Uptown's parent company, MCA, in 1996, but it was lost in the restructuring shuffle, given little promotional backing, and allowed to disappear without a trace.

Toured with D'Angelo

Other musicians recognized Hamilton's talents, and he was able to land compositions on albums by Sunshine Anderson ("Last Night") and Donell Jones ("U Know What's Up" and "Pushin'") while looking for another record deal. In 1999 Sparks cofounded a new Los Angeles label, Soulife, and signed Hamilton. About a dozen tracks had been recorded by the time D'Angelo hired Hamilton as a backup singer for a 2000 international tour. The tour was an exciting event for the former barber. "I went all over the world—Europe, Brazil—and had the best time of my life," he told Hip Online. But he returned to the United States to find that Soulife, too, had gone bankrupt.

Depressed about his prospects, Hamilton hung on, making background vocal appearances on tracks by Eve and other artists. He began dating Cleveland native Tarsha McMillian, a gospel singer who later sang backup on his own recordings. The two married in 2005. Finally Hamilton got a break in his favor: he contributed the chorus vocal ("All my life been po'/But it really don't matter no mo'") to the Nappy Roots hit "Po' Folks," which won a Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Hamilton performed at an industry pre-Grammy brunch with such stars as Alicia Keys and Prince in attendance. In a situation where everyone else was dressed to the nines, Hamilton came in wearing his trademark trucker's cap. It was both a personal protest and a shrewd move. "I was angry at the music industry for the mess they were putting on the radio," he explained to Ali. "It was all pretty and dressed up, but it said nothin'! I came in as dusty as I could. That way, there was nothing to concentrate on but my music, and I sung like it was my last shot."

The performance inspired music executive Michael Mauldlin to call his son Jermaine Dupri, producer and head of Atlanta's hot So So Def label, and tell him to audition Hamilton without delay. Within 48 hours of meeting Dupri, Hamilton had been signed to So So Def. His album Comin' from Where I'm From was released in 2003 and sold 1.2 million copies, even though Hamilton's name was mostly unknown to the music public. His denim-and-cap look diverged completely from the name fashions and jewelry of other African-American male artists of the day. The single "Charlene," a classic romantic soul ballad, was one of the major urban radio hits of the year, and the album earned Hamilton three Grammy nominations.

For the Record …

Born c. 1971 in Charlotte, NC; married Tarsha McMillian (a gospel vocalist), 2005; children: Anthony, Tristen, Romeiro.

Worked as barber in Charlotte, NC; moved to Englewood, NJ; moved to New York City, 1993; signed to Uptown label; debut album XTC released with little promotion by parent company MCA after Uptown's demise, 1996; signed to Soulife label; toured with D'Angelo but returned to find Soulife defunct, 2000; wrote songs for Donell Jones, Eve, and other artists; sang lead vocal on Nappy Roots hit "Po' Folks," 2002; signed to So So Def label, released Comin' from Where I'm From, 2003; released Ain't Nobody Worryin', 2005.

Addresses: Record company—So So Def Recordings, 1350 Spring St. NW, #750, Atlanta, GA 30309. Website—Anthony Hamilton Official Website: http://www.anthonyhamilton.com.

Best R&B Release

Sales of that album built slowly through word of mouth, and interest in Hamilton's earlier recordings developed. Atlantic released a group of the Soulife sides under the title Soulife in 2005, and Hamilton's sophomore So So Def release, Ain't Nobody Worryin', followed later that year. Whereas many hip-hop and R&B albums featured one or more high-profile guest stars, Hamilton went at it alone. The sense of the album's title was not that people shouldn't worry, but that sometimes they needed to do a bit more worrying, The album contained several songs, including "Preacher's Daughter" and the title track, that looked back to the social commentary of 1970s vocalist Marvin Gaye. The album also contained a generous sampling of love songs as well as "Sista Big Bones," a good-natured ode to well-built women. People called the new album the best R&B release of the year. Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly declared that "Hamilton's Southern-fried slow jams go down easier than a plate of grits and gravy," and the album climbed the charts in early 2006, on track to match or eclipse the performance of Comin' from Where I'm From.

Gaye was one of several 1970s artists to whom Hamilton was often compared; others included Al Green, Bobby Womack, and Bill Withers. Hamilton's voice had an unusual coarse timbre, and much of his material looked back to classic styles. Many of his songs used an organ, and there was a religious undertone to some of them. Yet his music did not seem exclusively retro or old-school. A variety of producers employed on his recordings created smooth, modern sonic backdrops—evocations of classic soul instrumental sounds rather than reproductions of them—that made Hamilton's music fit in with Southern hip-hop styles. As much as any other artist, Anthony Hamilton demonstrated the continuing vitality of older styles of soul and R&B in an era dominated by hip-hop.

Selected discography

XTC, MCA, 1996.
Comin' from Where I'm From, So So Def, 2003.
Soulife, Atlantic/Rhino, 2005.
Ain't Nobody Worryin', So So Def, 2005.

Sources

Periodicals

Buffalo News, December 18, 2005, p. G8.

Charlotte Observer, December 22, 2005.

Entertainment Weekly, December 16, 2005, p. 79.

Essence, December 2003, p. 148.

Interview, September 2003, p. 112; February 2006, p. 116.

Jet, February 13, 2006, p. 22.

Newsweek, January 9, 2006, p. 54.

People, October 13, 2004, p. 44.

Online

"Anthony Hamilton," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (March 4, 2006).

"Anthony Hamilton," Hip Online, http://www.hiponline.com (March 4, 2006).

Anthony Hamilton 1646?–1720, French author of Scottish descent, b. Ireland. He spent much time in France, where he became a master of the French language. He fought in the Dutch Wars for Louis XIV and commanded an Irish regiment for James II in 1687. His most celebrated work is the Mémoires du comte de Grammont (1713), based on the life of his brother-in-law, Philibert, comte de Gramont . They are especially valuable for their pictures of life at the court of Charles II.

Bibliography: See translation by P. Quennell (1930).

Hamilton, Anthony, see Gramont.

Continental Army see U.S. Army.