(August 9, 2021) Kevin Ross is one of the contemporary artists who keeps the art of the R&B ballad alive in the 21st Century. He has mastered giving the public smooth, mid-tempo love songs that find a nice balance between arrangements that sound timely with lyrical content and a vocal delivery that’s timeless. We heard this on 2017’s “Long Song Away,” a cut that dominated the airwaves. Ross wrapped his tenor around the equally smooth “God Is A Genius” last year.
(August 9, 2021) Kevin Ross is one of the contemporary artists who keeps the art of the R&B ballad alive in the 21st Century. He has mastered giving the public smooth, mid-tempo love songs that find a nice balance between arrangements that sound timely with lyrical content and a vocal delivery that’s timeless. We heard this on 2017’s “Long Song Away,” a cut that dominated the airwaves. Ross wrapped his tenor around the equally smooth “God Is A Genius” last year.
Ross’s latest, “Looking For Love,” once again showcases that qualities that make the tenor crooner one of the guys who can connect with all ages who gather in the backyard or park for the family cookout. Ross demonstrates mastery when it comes to the control of his vocal instrument, taking that sweet tenor into falsetto range or alternating between that conversational phrasing that owes a great deal to hip-hop, and the kind of soulful range that has been an arrow in any good R&B soul man’s quiver since, like, forever. Lyrically, he finds that classic sweet spot by telling the story of a guy who is patient enough to wait until the lady reaches the same conclusion that he’s already reached – she’ll find what she wants when she stops overlooking him.
Ross brings a great deal of academic and real life application to his craft, having graduated from the Berklee College of Music and working as a vocalist and songwriter. He’s been an in-demand songwriter for some of music’s biggest stars and still manages to keep quality material like “Looking For Love” for himself. Check it out here.
By Howard Dukes