Bo Benton Turns It Up

Poised as the next ‘Don Diva,’ daring enough to step outside the box, singer, songwriter, producer Bo Benton exemplifies the annotated lyrics below to her next single “Blue Flame (Turn It Up).”

Temperature rising…(turn it up)

On fire…(turn it up)

Hot, hot, hot…(turn it up)

Blistering…(turn it up)

Boiling point…(turn it up)

Ignite my soul/give it all you’ve got

It ain’t hot enough

Take me to the blue flame!

Turn it up!

In preparation for the July 28 release of her pop/rock/R&B/dance-infused debut album, Queen of the Night, exclusively on her own Gold Starr label through Bungalo/Universal Music Group, the electrifying vocalist is already riding the airwaves of urban from Chattanooga’s WJTT-FM  to Chicago’s WGCI-FM,  rhythmic and Top 40 from Tucson’s KOHT-FM to Salisbury, Maryland’s WOCQ-FM, and urban AC from Fayetteville, NC’s WCCG-FM to Augusta, Georgia’s WIIZ-FM.  Hot on her current single, “I Know You Want It,” radio is spreading the sound of what’s in store.

Backed by a stellar production team that includes producer Lil Ronnie (Bow Wow, Nelly, R. Kelly, T Pain), writer and Gold Starr labelmate Pusher Deville, and mixer KD aka Kevin Davis (Pink, Usher, NSYNC), Benton personally assembled the right ingredients to satisfy any musical thirst. “I have great producers,” she says confidently.  “This is a very exciting album. I wanted to make a classic album and that’s why it took me so long to complete. I did 40 songs, but I only chose ten for this album.”

Formally trained at the Chicago Sherwood Conservatory of Music, the Southside Chicago native began performing as a child.  A writer and producer as well, she also plays the piano and isn’t too bad with a guitar. “I was always a natural performer,” Benton shares. ” My father is a bass player and ran a small record label in Hollywood back in the ’70s.  My mother is a pianist and my grandmother was an opera singer. It’s in my DNA.”

“This is the first song that I ever made where I’m outside of it.”

Expect the unexpected on Queen of the Night. Cameos with Raekwon of Wu Tang Clan on the cut “Baller” with a rare appearance by Too Short. ” There are one or two slow songs and I’m rapping on this album as well,” says Benton. “Sometimes I might hear a track that motivates me or I might be in a certain mood and I want to write about what’s happening in my life. It’s not one particular thing that happens at one particular moment. The continuity, however, between everything is that it’s always in the moment, whether it’s a beat, the mood or just in the studio having fun. We capture those moments in time.”

These moments manifest in one of Benton’s favorite songs, “Blue Flame (Turn It Up).” “This is the first song that I ever made where I’m outside of it,” Benton exclaims. “It’s like wow! I’m a fan of this song. I knew when I was getting ready to record “Blue Flame” that I had to come out of myself. It wasn’t about Bo; I had to let it go.”

Letting go seems to be just one theme in many of the tracks. Empowerment is another. The title track, “Queen of the Night,” is a power anthem that aims to motivate women to rise above and live their own lives.  Inspired by a personal experience, Benton wrote the lyrics to “Queen of the Night” in 15 minutes during a stay in room 403 at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California. “It’s a rock song. It’s a hellified song,” she explains, “about a girl getting her heart broken, but she finds the power in herself to not only move on, but also, not be bitter and to cherish what they had.  It’s like she’s saying, ‘Thank you for that, it’s going to make me stronger and better.’” Produced by Jason Edmonds (Michael Jackson, Jon B., Sisqo), Mark Tabb and Ansone and mixed by Rob Beaton (”Devil Wears Prada,” “Batman Begins”), the song radiates the heat and passion that radio and clubs can feel.

Referred to as the “hot chick on rollerskates” on one blog for her first single “Bounce” that independently surged to the top spot on YouTube.com and MySpace.com in December 2006 knocking out both P. Diddy and Jay-Z for the number one spot, Benton showed she had all the moves visually as well. Her second single, “Make That Move,” confirmed the buzz was real. Leaked to servers, it quickly attracted more than 3.6 million viewers.

“I strive for a perfect blend of style and substance,” she was quoted as saying about her early releases. “Style definitely has its place, especially since my album is upbeat fun music to be played in the clubs. People going to clubs are usually stylish and hot-looking.”

“Style definitely has its place, especially since my album is upbeat fun music to be played in the clubs. People going to clubs are usually stylish and hot-looking.”

But ultimately, she describes herself as “a hybrid of yesterday and tomorrow… I feel like I have a unique sound and do not sound like another artist. And that is the way I’d like to keep it.”

Inspired by such diva legacies as Diana Ross and Whitney Houston, Benton has been on a mission to establish and maintain her own identity. With an industry saturated with cookie-cutter starlets that many times are left to compete for a space on the charts through vamping up their image of seduction, Benton takes pride in discovering and signing herself to her very own label–Gold Starr Records. Described as “the female Jay-Z” because she both runs the label and is at the same time its main asset, Benton says she is very hands on.

Although analytical in her decisions as president of Gold Starr, Benton, nevertheless, sees the stuff of legends in herself as the artist Bo Benton. “Music has to be raw human emotion. It’s the purest art form for me,” Benton the artist explains. “I can be a glamour doll one day, be grungy the next and rock and roll, or go hood on you and street. I don’t think you can be a real artist unless you are making the art you’re feeling. How is somebody going to tell me I don’t want you to rap, I don’t want you to do a country song, I want you to do R&B? The industry is changing rapidly. It’s like the wild, wild west right now.”

And, with all guns blazing, she’s foraging her own path…doing it her way.

Applying the same standards for other artists as she does to herself, as a label executive she has also been building Gold Starr into an artist-friendly entertainment company.  “I have two super dope rappers–one from Atlanta and the other from Miami.” Pusher Deville, the rapper from College Park, is featured on Benton’s single “I Know You Want It” and already has his own release, “Bodies In the Club” on the streets.  Rapper Live Wire, whom she describes as “extremely talented,” is currently in artist development and almost ready. ” We have a pop female artist too,” Benton adds. “She’s 16 years old and very well-versed. Her mother is a trained opera singer and she’s been singing since she was four.”  The label’s website is open to more new artists and invites them to contact the label with the opening, “Are you ready to be a Gold Starr?”

“I met Roberto Cavalli in Milan and he promised me at the time, ‘Whenever your record comes out, find me and I will make you stage outfits.”

Looking at the long term, Benton is bent on building a career for herself as the artist and for the artists she is selecting to develop under her brand. “If it weren’t for the love of music that I have, I wouldn’t be doing this,” she assures us, “but music is in my heart and soul.”

Her planning and hard work are now paying off. With almost deadly precision, she has orchestrated the unfolding of herself, the artist Bo Benton. A 12-city promo tour kicks off in the coming weeks as radio continues to pump her singles. Her online presence at www.bobenton.com and myspace.com/bobenton add fans daily and she’s all atwitter on the Internet’s sites from blackhollywood to ca.askmen, celebritywonder to sumotv. People are calling in to find out more about Bo Benton. It’s heating up! The momentum is building for the album release on April 21.

“I’m finally feeling excited,” she exclaims. “I met Roberto Cavalli in Milan and he promised me at the time, ‘Whenever your record comes out, find me and I will make you stage outfits,’” Benton gushes. “I’m looking for Roberto Cavalli.”

BRE founder and Chairman of the Board Sidney Miller recalls the confidence and charisma Bo exuded when they first met. “When I first met Bo about two years ago at the Black Enterprise Oscar party at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, she came up to me and said, “Mr. Miller, you don’t know me, but one day I’m going to be on the cover of your magazine.” I asked her what label she was on and she replied, “My own.” I thought at the time this was someone who was going to make it.

Written by Tanisha Williams, freelance journalist/reporter and publisher of
Renaissance Women magazine. www.renaissancewomenmag.com