Producer/songwriter/director/author/singer Kashif makes his first live appearance at the Catalina Jazz Club tonight – Thursday, November 12. Billed as an “Intimate Evening with Kashif,” his rare performance celebrates the release of TV One’s “Unsung/Kashif.” Radio personalities Melanie Comarcho and Adai Lamar of KJLH will host the event.
Kashif, who has a 40 plus-year history in the music industry said, “It’s really exciting to play in front of my fans, to be on stage doing my thing.” When asked what the audience can expect from his Catalina performance, “we are going to do a 11-song set, it will be a mixture but you will not hear a song that is not a hit,” Kashif said. “I want them to leave there feeling awestruck.”
Kashif’s hits include “Stone Love,” “New Attitude,” “Are You the Woman,” and “Help Yourself to My Love,” but the six-time Grammy Award-nominee probably is best known for the song, “Love Changes,” a duet that he recorded with Me’lisa Morgan. “I do so many things…like the first walk for foster care children, or the mentorship dinner cruise for 250 foster kids where we pair the kids up with business mentors and sometimes I forget, hey man, you’re actually a singer.”
Music and advocating for kids in the foster care system are areas of life that arouse his passions. “If I had to give the foster care system a grade today, it would be a ‘D,’ Kashif said. “We have to make sure that the families that are taking foster youths in their homes are the right families. This is real social work. You can’t take care of the people without walking among them and loving them.” It is well documented that Kashif spent his formative years in foster care, living in eight different foster homes before striking out on his own at the tender age of 14. “Music discovered me and we became close friends from the day we met. I could take music with me, into every foster home that I was a part of.”
For Kashif, the sound of the music remains as important to him today as it was in the beginning. “When I take the stage on Thursday, I’m looking forward to connecting with my audience, having the music sound like the record except 10-times better. I’m looking forward to the audience response to what we are offering. The feeling…vibe…of a live audience…it’s the perfect energy coming back to you.”
The 55-year-old R&B Hall of Fame inductee is currently producing and directing a ten-part documentary series entitled “The History of R&B Music and It’s Influence on World Culture.” The documentary is scheduled for release in 2017.
Kashif will perform two sets on Thursday, November 12, 7:30pm and 10:30pm. For more information on “An Intimate Evening with Kashif,” visit catalinajazzclub.com.
For the complete Kashif interview, pick up the Sentinel on Thursday, November 12, 2015.
