Underrated Talent: Donnie

I first heard about this artist one day while walking through HMV about 6 years ago. In fact, I hadn’t actually heard Donnie so much as I’d seen him on the cover of his first album, The Colored Section. I found the cover of the album so interesting that I couldn’t resist buying it. As it turned out, The Colored Section was one of the best album purchases I’ve made in the last 10 years.

Donnie is an Atlanta-based neo-soul singer (emphasis on the ‘soul’ and less on the ‘neo’) who was originally discovered on the lounge circuit by India.Arie. He was signed to Motown, but left them sometime between his first and second album and joined the independent label Soul Thought Records.

Donnie’s music is nothing short of brilliant; his writing, his style and most importantly, his voice. He’s definitely the kind of full-bodied singer whose craft was honed in church- not the thin- voiced, barely in pitch, overproduced crooner that has become de rigueur over the airwaves today. His writing is on point- he discusses everything from love, race relations, politics, to societal hypocrisy, to sexual abuse on his records. This is probably the reason why he has not had the Billboard success of his soul/r & b counterparts, as most consumers would much rather listen to big beats over big topics. What I like most about Donnie is that he sings from a place of pure joy even when the topic up for discussion may be painful.

Anyway, I encourage all of you to take a listen to Donnie. You will not regret it!

Albums Released To Date:

The Colored Section, 2003

The Daily News, 2007

My favourite songs: Cloud 9, People Person, Turn Around, Rocketship, Impatient People, Over the Counter Culture, Atlanta Child Murders, If I Were You

Here's one of his music videos: