Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Who Got Next? Introducing Durand Bernarr...

Let’s get all of the obligatory introductory stuff out of the way.
He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.
He was home schooled until the age of 17.
He’s only 20, but he’s musically light years ahead of his time.
His favorite collabos, living or dead, would be Kelis, Sarah Vaughn, Erykah Badu
and Billie Holiday.
He has a serious love jones for L.A’s New Wave group J*Davey.
And his favorite color is yellow.
But follow me, it really isn’t about ANY of that.
It’s about his voice.
And the runs. The runs and that sound.
Thank God for YouTube!
It was there that I first saw him.
It was his rendition of ‘It’s so cold in the D’ that caught my attention.
He’s the cover king.
He will take what you think is your song and make it his own.
He has personality for days. He’s your younger brother.
He’s engaging and wise. I liked him immediately.
His name is Durand Bernarr.
“My real name is Bernarr Durand. I just switched it around”.
He tells me on a Sunday afternoon, 30 minutes after the interview was supposed to start because he had to shower and do his push-ups.
Bernarr, already a superstar!

Simply put ,when he opens his mouth to sing beautiful comes out.
It's the kind of sound that makes you spontaneously clap your hands.
It's that first bite of chocolate.
It’s your mama’s fried chicken.
It’s the freak um’ dress.
It’s that dude that you’ve been loving for so long…FINALLY loving you back.
It’s just… right.
His runs from top to bottom are effortless. And he was NEVER vocally trained.
No one should be singing like this in their bedroom.
It’s singing at it’s best. it’s Kim Burrell, and Donnie and Bilal and em’.
It’s pretty. It’s ridiculous!



A flip video camera and the accidental discovery of the Youtube channel was the birth of ‘Alcohol Harmony’, a name he gave himself because as he put it “Alcohol is the pain. It’s the struggle. And the harmony is the music that you use to get away from that problem.”
He has quite the following. Not yet famous, but on to big things.

A virgo, and a self proclaimed perfectionist, Bernarr's been singing since the age of 3. He's also written close to 400 songs. He will be releasing a 7 song EP on itunes, and a mixtape of cover songs like Kanye West's 'Flashing Lights' & John Mayers' 'Slow Dancing In A Burning Room' next month.

His favorite vocalists range from Maxwell to Ella Fitzgerald, from Jazmine Sullivan to Donny Hathaway. He says “I love Maxwell because he’s a niche artist. He has his own vibe. I want to be able to be myself. I want people to hear me and say ‘wow, I love that!’

When asked which producer he’d like to work with I could hear him smiling when he said “Brooke D’leau of J*Davey. The Neptunes. And I would love to work with Gnarls Barkley.”

Where will he be in the next 5 to 10 years?
He says he wants to have a family. I want him on my radio…





12 comments:

Mike Smoov said...

He is the truth, and I am a self proclaimed R&B hater (the newer stuff). I am a producer as well and we (Durand and Mike Smoov) are currently in the pre-production phase of an untitled project to be dropping sometime in '09. Be on the lookout!!

Anonymous said...

He sounds fantastic. Thanks for the tip, finally an old fogie like me can be up on the hot new thing!

Your blog is hot!

dejon said...

Durand is doin the dam thing!

Unknown said...

Really?!!! This lil necca makes me wanna tell him "Imma kill you", punch him in the face, bite up his arm then choke him unconscious.

The voice is one of the BEST on you tube. I've been watching his videos since last year and the singing gets better and better. The Valentine's video made me a lil nervous, but you cannot ignore the fact that he has a voice handed to him by God. If you haven't seen it, go to youtube and check it out for yourself.
Your life will be changed.
Thank you for posting this awesome article.

esalewis said...

You know I'm all over this right? It was only yesterday that we were screaming over it's so cold in the d! When you sent me his version...i thought about coming through the internet and choking the music outta him! He's unreal. Good looking on out on putting folks up on game. What or who else do you have in the chamber? Glad I tuned in!!

lovelawsonsoul said...

Lisa, I'm so glad you decided to put this talent on display.
What a voice! The versatility and range is so unbelievable, I know this kid can sing anything. He can churp out a cover song and make us forget the original artist. He is unforgettable!
I'm definitely excited to hear more from Mr. Bernarr very soon.

Anonymous said...

Lisa Ellis!
You know that I come to you for the music. This chile can sang!
I'll be looking for him in the future.

Great Post!

Anonymous said...

His voice is off the chain. Dang! The things you find on you tube. Thanks for the tip mama.

Anonymous said...

He's a gem. Not sure about the Kim Burrell comparison, though. But he's quite amazing and I NEVER would have seen his work if you hadn't posted it. I'm not one to look for new and hot on You Tube. Hopefully he'll get a ground swell and his career will take off. I'm wondering what these young people will listen to when they get older, cause their artists right now have no longevity.

Anietie Antia-Obong said...

Thanks for the Durand Bernarr intro. Nice voice! I want to hear more.

Anonymous said...

This kids got it. I wish him much success.

Anonymous said...

I would like to know wher I can buy his music!