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GIANT STEP
artists
Nikki & Rich
Releasing their debut album in 2010, Nikki & Rich are Nikki Leonti, a California-born pastor's...
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releases
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Everything
Nikki & Rich

CD
Will Be Released:
Released By Reprise Records
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release description

Sultry pop-soul newcomers Nikki & Rich are set to release their debut album Everything this summer on Reprise Records. An eclectic, genre-defying debut, Everything truly lives up to its title by taking inspiration from pop, soul, hip-hop, R&B, and classic '60s girl groups and blending it all together to create a truly unique sound. Nikki Leonti's sassy, high-stepping vocals are bolstered throughout by Rich Velonskis' combination of hard-hitting, radio-ready beats, programmed keyboard flourishes, and live instrumentation. The first single is the swaggering "Next Best Thing," which the duo performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in April.

Other highlights include the soulful "Same Kind of Man," the doo-wop inspired "Cat & Mouse" (which was heard in the season premiere of the CW network's 90210), and the playful "Dreaming" (which will be used in the opening title credits of Fox Searchlight's summer film Just Wright). Digital bonus track "Money Chaser" was featured on the July season premiere of HBO's Entourage). Then there's the gospel-infused "Yellow Brick Road," the cinematic-sounding "Take The Lead," the timelessly elegant love song "Everything," the epic R&B ballad "Never Again," and the sultry "Kryptonite" (which will be used in VH-1's new show Basketball Wives).

"We didn't want to make a tribute record to past artists and have it sound like something that came out 40 years ago," Velonskis says. "We wanted to take the spirit and greatness of those times and bring them into the present day, and I think the way it's produced and the style of our writing bear that out. The album we've made sounds contemporary, not like a doo-wop throwback."

Lyrically, Leonti says the songs draw on the everyday things people deal with. "Some of it is personal to me, some of it isn't," she says, "but I think the subject matter -- like someone cheating, making bad choices in relationships, or trying to win someone over -- are things that a lot of people can relate to."

MySpace
tracks
Next Best Thing
Cat and Mouse
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Take The Lead
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Same Kind of Man
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Kryptonite
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Everything
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Yellow Brick Road
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On the Run
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December
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Dreaming
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Show Ya
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Never Again
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Money Chaser (Digital Bonus Track)
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