2. You're All I Want For Christmas
3. Heartbeat Christmas Party
4. Tell Everybody It's Christmas
5. Give A Little Love On Christmas
6. This One's For The Children
7. Christmas Kind Of Love
8. Talking Bout Christmas
9. Angel
10. Christmas Oh Christmas
AMAZON MP3
ARTIST SITE
Boston based Maurice Starr was born Larry Johnson and he's long had a talent for writing hook laden soulful pop songs. As a performer, though, Larry just never took off. So he set out to find a band to perform the songs he wrote. Enter The New Edition. Singing the Starr penned "Candy Girl", the group brought Maurice his first hit in 1983. After their first major tour in support of the album, the kids that made up The New Edition were dropped off at their homes in the projects, each receiving a check for $1.87 for their efforts. Starr cited tour expenses and promotion costs. The New Edition sued to get out of their contract. Starr responded by putting together a new boy band--New Kids On The Block.
Starr and NKOTB did great things together, topping the charts, scoring Grammy awards, producing a greatly underrated Christmas album. But, ultimately, the story ended the same...with The New Kids feeling Starr was a bit too controlling and Starr concluding his mistake was that he wasn't in control enough.
Starr's latest creation is/are HeartBeat Boys. I first heard of them in 2007, when they released the holiday single "Christmas Oh Christmas". Then, last year, Starr and the boys took another stab at Christmas with the single "Tell Everybody It's Christmas". In between, there were a few records that made some inroads with the Bieber set, including the 2010 single "I Believe". Now Maurice appears to be making his move with a pair of full-length HeartBeat Boys releases on tap for August 30, including the soundtrack to a HeartBeat Boys movie, "Angel Boy" (though we're not certain there's an actual movie, there is most definitely a soundtrack), and a full-length Christmas album, "Tell Everybody It's Christmas".
You know pretty much what to expect, here. Starr is nothing if not consistent. Soulful tunes, sweet harmony vocals--hey, it's a formula that works pretty well. Starr even dusts off "This One's For The Children" from the NKOTB album and passes it on to the HeartBeat Boys. If you weren't a fan of the boy band scene, this set probably won't change your mind. But, if you're a big fan of 70s soul, songs like "Christmas Kind Of Love" will give you that Stylistics vibe and you'll groove your way through the holidays. Whether these boys go on to greater things, that story has yet to be written.