The singer will make his return tonight with a show at Hamilton's Cedar Gardens. A portion of the proceeds will benefit City of Angels.
HAMILTON -- Stevie B may be from Florida, but the King of Freestyle will always have a second home in Hamilton.
"Hamilton has always been a wonderful market for me," the singer said. "The people in the area just love freestyle and I am going to come and give them my best. I've been doing this now for over 30 years and it's a blessing to be in this position still after all of this time."
Stevie B Stevie B will make his return tonight, Feb. 6, with a show at Hamilton's Cedar Gardens. A portion of the proceeds from the show will benefit City of Angels.
"Stevie B is one of the most talented singers in history of Club and Freestyle Music. He puts everything he has into his shows and his music just makes your body move, and his music was known around the world," said John Rossi, owner of TN-Tertainment Disc Jockeys and promoter of the show.
"I became friends with Stevie from my last show three years ago which this town went crazy over and people are demanding for him to come back and sing."
Hearing that is music to Stevie B's ears.
"After all these years it's great to still be wanted in the market and still have some value," he said.
Stevie B will sing his classic top 40 hits, including "Party Your Body," "I Wanna Be the One," "Spring Love" and the massive No. 1 hit, "Because I Love You," at the show, which features local artist Kym D on the bill.
"Because I Love You" will always be his crowning moment. It spent exactly four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in December of 1990, and was a big win for freestyle.
"Not very many people get to go to number one," he said. "There are only 12 artists a year that get to go to number one, if the other artists don't lay over. But I'm in a wonderful class of people that have made history and it has extended all these years. "
It is also still a big moment in concert.
"It still gets great sing-alongs at my show," he said.
The 57-year old singer has big plans for 2016. The entertainer is back in high demand, performing shows in Brazil where the dollar is strong and money is no object for fans of good music.
"So there is a fever for freestyle music," he said. "That cycle is back."
Recently, freestyle artist Brenda K. Starr appeared with her daughter, Gianna Isabella, on American Idol.
The Jackson teenager impressed judge Jennifer Lopez, a fan of Starr's hit, "I Still Believe" and gave the genre a boost by singing along to the song on national television.
"I'm glad to see Jennifer Lopez is embracing and endorsing Brenda and her daughter, and that only helps us, no doubt," he said. "That's what we need more of."
The Ft. Lauderdale native addressed these issues in a recent book where he discusses what freestyle artists need to do to survive in the music business.
"Rock and roll succeeded because there were a lot of bands that were involved and when they got into executive positions they went back and called on some of their favorite artists to be involved in business endorsements, these types of things," he said. We don't get that in freestyle very often."
He has a plan, he said, that will help artists like George Lamond, Starr and others get back out there to the fans with a Freestyle Fest he is putting together. He will package artists Rob Base, Vanilla Ice and TKA with newer musicians like Frankie J committed to the freestyle sound.
"A lot of the freestyle artists are still very healthy, look great sound great, not overexposed, drugged out or looking like old rockers from the '70s," he said. "They are in the prime of their life, have great voices, great looks and there is still a big demand."
"Right now is the time," he said.
The Steve B "Spring Love Tour" concert will start at 8:30 p.m. at Cedar Gardens, Route 33, Hamilton. Kym D will open with DJ sets by Moe Green, Augie V and Perry Angelozzi. DJ John Rossi hosts.Tickets are selling for $35 on Eventbrite or $40 at the door.
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