Marvin Sparks

Melanie Fiona was born and raised in Toronto to Guyanese parents. Having been signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation management after writing a song for Rihanna, she also opened for Kanye West on his European Tour in 2008. 20th July sees the release of her debut album 'The Bridge' through Universal Motown, lead by the hot single 'Give It to Me Right'. Marvin Sparks caught up with Melanie Fiona to talk about the "It" in 'Give It to Me Right', being cheated on, to opening for Kanye, her favourite things about UK including her favourite UK artist. Marvin Sparks: I first heard you when David Rodigan used to play 'Somebody Come Get Me' on his Reggae Show. On VP records annual compilation Reggae Gold the artist is listed as Melanie Hall a.k.a. Syren. How did you come to Melanie Fiona?

I don't post these videos for any old reason. Ciara, mmm mmm mmm, damn gurrrl!!! You bad as hell, ma Check 3:05 she goes to lean on the car but it isn't there so she styles it out hahaha (well I lol'd) Tunes alright; beat bangs, suggestive lyrics, singer can't sing (more off-notes than on), feature from Ludacris... video's alright; sexy whining, not much clothing... but what more do you expect from modern day r&b? Not much more than this nowadays. Ciara is a badass dancer though. Definitely throws herself back into the mix of the sexiest dancers. Keri Hilson can't move like B, RiRi and CiCi. What's the star abbreviation for Keri? Kez? Kezza!!! Ooo are ya! Blog comments give me jokes. They'll learn that music started before they were born. I mean one commment on ThatGrapeJuice suggested Ciara copied Beyonce by wearing a fur coat, and chewing gum! Puh-leaze gurlfrend, get ova yaself, shawtay Which brings me to my next point; before Pop Idol, it's ...

I'm sure I'm really late on this one but "face. Look. Bovvad?" Tunes dir-tee-tee; good tune but "Oh you so nasty" *speaking whilst moving my neck*. I wanna know if self-respecting ladies rate this tune? Some would argue "self-respecting ladies" is an outdated term. I don't subscribe to that, special ones are still out there... Many of 'em? Well that's up for debate, but I love you all! Anyway, his album is big! Beats knock, he has a good voice, but most of all it's at a normal tempo not this wannabe 4x4, borderline trancey stuff (over-exaggeration much!). Still sounds like R. Kelly. Girls LOVE this guy too; by far the most popular of all the pics I had on my Facebook page amongst the ladies. And no, I wasn't in a pic with him for groupie reasons; "Man-a-badman, mi nuh frighten fi tell no bwoy! Desso it deh uzeeit!" (that's a random defensive outburst) I interviewed him before his performance at indigo2. Spoke on hi...

I'm going to start this with a disclaimer: don't get this twisted like this is going to be full of racism. If you read it you will see it is the complete opposite to racist and is merely a question. Is it illegal to cast black females opposite black males? Not only that, are tanned, brunettes the only girls who get casted? I watched this video by McClean, formerly Digga, when the question crossed my mind I like the song, met Digga before and he's a cool guy so this is by no means an attack on the individual. Besides, I'm smart enough to know he had no control in casting. This isn't a blanket complaint because I saw Tincy's new video recently and I can understand the casting of a white girl. It's a dance/euro pop song sampling a song, makes sense So this isn't something across the board. R&B in particualar To further elaborate on the question, why can't there be mixtures of girls with all different shades, not solely depending on brunette's wi...

PyroRadio.com caught up with Ryan Leslie to discuss breaking down barriers to create opportunities for his career, his successful use of online media and his parent’s reaction to him asking for a start-up loan for his production company after graduating from Harvard. Marvin Sparks: What was the inspiration behind filming your studio sessions then distributing online? Ryan Leslie: I think that necessity breeds innovation. I needed exposure because I thought what I was doing was entertaining, because it was entertaining me and I couldn’t get on television so I used YouTube. I couldn’t get on the radio doing what I was doing so YouTube provided a great outlet and we have since consolidated and concentrated everything on my own distribution channel at RyanLeslie.com, so if you wanna see studio sessions and behind the scenes.. Well really we should be showing more behind the scenes, I only really have one guy doing the editing. It used to be me, but now its one guy, so to have him film and...

Was only a matter of time before people cottoned onto The-Dream and Los Da Maestro's style (whom run Tricky and The-Dream's collabs verrrrrrrrrrrrry close). Ultimately its copying R. Kelly; reason I say Los and Dream is due to them being what's hot right now, Sung by Def Jam signing Jeremih, this tune is gonna take over on different levels. Definitely going to top Urban Rhythmic chart, will touch top 10 in Billboard 100. Not sure whether it will catch on and make an impact outside of Urban music radio over here in the UK, but who cares? Tune will make the "back of the bus" top 5 without doubt!

For more info: http://www.treysongz.com/ Trey Songz returns minus the braids, with Stargate produced lead single 'I Need a Girl' lifted from his 3rd album entitled 'Ready'. The forthcoming lp's production reads like an all-star team sheet ranging from Stargate, Jermaine Dupri, Brian-Michael Cox and Sean Garrett to the man himself. This set sees Nokio traded as co-executive producer with Johnta Austin who has written hits for Tyreese ( Sweet Lady ) Mary J Blige ( Be Without You )and helped mastermind Mariah Carey's comeback ( We Belong Together ). PyroRadio.com sat with Trey Songz to speak on his disappointment with previous album sales, why he teamed up with the 'typical' hit producers as everyone else, create his celebrity dream girl, find out the real reason behind the single 'I Need a Girl' and whether he dates fans . PyroRadio.com: 2nd time over here, how you enjoying London? Trey Songz: It’s good. I just got here. PyroRadio.com: You f...

Been banging the singer-songwriters debut album/personal classic Love/Hate since it first dropped back in Xmas 07. It was the soundtrack throughout the whole of 08. Now, he returns with the follow-up, titled 'Love vs. Money' . Needless to say the guy all the R&B dudes want to be done it again. Couple recommendations: Jump-off single 'Rockin That Thang' . There is an 'All-star Def Jam' remix but the original is better to me. I don't really want to hear 2 rappers past use by date and a copper on a R&B track. Luda merk'd tho Having created J. Holiday's smash debut 'Bed' and Usher's 'Trading Places' LOS Da Maestro and The Dream link up again. To me they are as good if not better than his partnership with Tricky Stewart. Exibhit A: Want a killer slow jam? Kells comparison was evident from Love/Hate but this is bound to draw comparisons. R. Kelly - scandal - old man wearing bling = Other hot tracks: Fancy and Love vs. Part 2. W...

Shouts to Donna Torrence and PyroRadio ! As one quarter of Atlanta’s R&B boy group 112, Mike, now known as Michael Keith, enjoyed much success including platinum selling albums, a Grammy award and many classic R&B hits. However, in 2007, Michael Keith left the group citing members Q and Daron were taking an unfair share of the royalty cheques. To mark the release of his self-titled album ( http://www.michaelkeithonline.com/ to purchase), Marvin Sparks caught up with Michael Keith to discuss his feelings on R&B and Autotune , if he’d return to 112, auditioning for Making the Band and whether or not Notorious was an accurate depiction. Marvin Sparks: What was the best thing about being in 112? Michael Keith: One of the best things was the unity we had as a group. We were able to do a lot of special things as a unit. I honestly feel like we hadn ’t reached our apex but at the same time I think we accomplished a lot and influenced a lot of artists who came after us. I would de...

Many questioned whether Senegalese Hip Hop artist Akon was just another flash-in-the-pan when he initially burst onto the scene in 2004 with the convict’s anthem Locked Up. He topped the charts early 2005 when he utilised a sped-up sample of Bobby Vinton’s ‘Mr. Lonely’ for his first UK number 1 Lonely. Much has changed since then; he has produced and/or featured on many smash hits with Hip Hop and Pop music’s elite, released T-Pain’s two Gold certified albums through his imprint Konvict, as well his own triple-platinum album Konvicted which spawned his second UK #1 ‘Smack That’. Most recently, he ended much speculation when he officially signed UK Hip Hop’s very own Sway. Marvin Sparks sat with Akon to discuss signing Sway, controversial events and negative press, being the 12th richest Hip Hop artist, charity work in Africa and the follow-up to 2 multi-platinum selling albums, Freedom. PyroRadio.com: We have to start off with you finally signing Sway. How did that come about? Akon: ...

Fame Academy’s real winner Lemar has already sold in excess of 2 million records and returns with his 4th studio entitled The Reason, which is lead by SoulShock and Karlin produced ‘If She Knew’. Marvin Sparks caught up with the 2-time MOBO and 2-time Brit Awards winner to discuss fatherhood, plans to conquer USA, the motivation behind The Reason and more... Marvin Sparks : Welcome back, what have you been up to since your last album? Lemar: What have I been up to between albums? Wow, I’ve been doing a lot of things. I ended the last album with a tour, which was pretty cool. I went to Europe for a bit, toured with Beyoncé which was cool. Then I started the album - the album recording process has taken about 9 months, I did 78 songs and shortened that down to the 10 songs, which are on the album, ‘The Reason‘ which comes out in November. That’s it really, I’ve been working hard and living life really and life doing its thing. Marvin Sparks : You forgot one important event; congratula...

Marvin Sparks caught up with 5-time Grammy award winner John Legend who returns to our ears with his infectious single 'Greenlight' [available from 6th October '08] and follow-up 2 multi-platinum albums, 'Evolver' [out on 20th October '08] Marvin Sparks : What have you been up to since ‘Once Again’? John Legend: First of all I went on tour - I went on tour for about a year and started working on the new album pretty much. It was a lot of fun to make and I worked with some great people and here we are, 'Evolver'. Marvin Sparks : How have you as a person and artist evolved between albums? John Legend : Well, I don't know if I learnt anything about myself but you just kind of grow as a person over the years and you just live life, have relationships, do what you got to do and you grow up. I feel like I keep learning from life, and each album is a reflection of where I am in life at the time. Marvin Sparks : 'Once Again' was much more mature so...